Nighttime Street Food in Shanghai

Fried Rice, Fried Noodles, and all the Fixins

Ever since my first trip over here, one of my favorite aspects of Chinese city life is the street food. It’s usually small, quick, cheap, and really 地道 (didao, authentic). One of the best things about street food in China is the variety, especially at night, when people do their greasiest post-bar eating (and some men make the trip [or are sent] from apartment to the local grill for seared lamb and chicken testicles, two examples of the many substances that are said to make one ‘strong’, as in viagra strong). Staples of nighttime street food in most Chinese cities include: fried rice and noodles; fried dumplings; 麻辣汤 (malatang), a soup with your choice of noodles, fresh veggies, meat, and spiciness, all cooked in a communal pot; and finally chuan’r, the nearly ubiquitous kebabs of various meats and veggies grilled (most often by a Uyghur or Hui person) and then dusted in spices.

Regularly these various street foods are found at different shops and stalls, spread throughout one’s neighborhood and found by wandering around. Many of the mobile fried rice and chuan’r guys will have a usual corner on which you can find them most nights. However, if you luck out like me, you could find that you have a little night market in you neighborhood.

Notice the long Chuan'r grill in the foreground

Unfortunately these places, and many street food vendors in general, are slowly being shut down. Times were I knew three places in my neighborhood where I could have live poultry slaughtered while I watched (never have actually tried this), now I only know of one. Regardless, I still have a little night market by me, at a busy intersection in front of the Shanghai friendship store and next to a KFC, but busier.

At least once a week, I’ll go there for some green bean, mushroom, eggplant, and lamb chuan’r, or the occasional flat top grilled squid. Last week I tried a new and delicious item, grilled shellfish. A few guys from Jiangsu province grill oysters, scallops, and large, attention-grabbing blue mussels.

My local shellfish griller, from Jiangsu province

As they cook, they add chopped garlic, sauce, tiny rice noodles, chives, and for the oysters a substance best described as a Chinese salsa.

Topping them with the rice noodles

The noodles kind of soak up the juices, making it easier to eat the whole deal with chopsticks. The smell of them cooking, as the garlic mixes with the boiling juices, is fantastic. The shellfish are of unknown provenance, but look, taste, and smell very fresh. This is a new favorite of mine, which at 5 kuai (RMB) a pop are not cheap, at least for street food, but well worth it.

Almost done, we've got oysters in front, a blue mussel, then scallops in back

Presidential Candidates on China

As I have heard both presidential candidates say some pretty uninformed things about China in the past, it is good to see that they have taken the opportunity to explain their thoughts and strategy regarding the world's most populous country. As has been reported by many different China related blogs, McCain and Obama have both written essays for the American Chamber of Commerce in China. It seems that both are sticking to relatively safe positions, but the essays are interesting nonetheless. The "China Rises" blog has posted both essays, along with a succinct summary of both candidates' China strategies put together by the Asia Foundation. Definitely worth checking out (here).

The writer of the blog, Tim Johnson, mentions that there may be some nostalgia for the presidencies of both Bush 41 and Bush 43 in China, as they are both considered "friends of China" (41 was de facto ambassador to China prior to the normalization of diplomatic relations). I would generally agree with his position, but add that when he mentions 'China', it should be thought of as the leadership in Beijing, not the country in general.

Addendum: From the China Law Blog, best summary of the essays so far:

"Anyway, I give you McCain and Obama, in their own words, on China, written for AmCham. The summary of both is that China has done great things (duh!), still has a ways to go (duh!), and the US should cooperate, except where it does not make sense to do so (duh!). Yada, yada, yada. One can hardly blame America for focusing more on Sarah Palin's glasses?"

Interesting China article

One of my favorite China-based writers, James Fallows, has written an excellent piece for The Atlantic, entitled "How the West Was Wired". It is an incredibly interesting read for anyone with an interest (even passing) in or link to China. I won't go into to much detail about its content, but Fallows explains the philanthropic efforts of two Taiwainese businessmen in China's vast and underdeveloped West.

I feel that it's important to write and read about such things for American and Western audiences, as the western regions are often overlooked in our mainstream media coverage. Looking beyond the financial, manufacturing, and political might of the leading cities Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Beijing, respectfully, often gives us the best impression of what challenges China continues to face. It is especially heartening to see novel approaches to surmounting these problems, like that of the Taiwanese businessmen mentioned in the article.

Phenomena Appreciated by Caucasian Folks #1: Satiric Blogs and/or books written by satiric bloggers

Note: this is the first in a long series of clever blog entries that is expected to lead to a book deal.

My brother just returned to Shanghai from a short trip back home, and brought some goodies back along with him. In addition to freedom, giardiniera, and Tapatio hot sauce; he also brought out a copy of the new Stuff White People Like: The Book. It is probably the most prominent of the recently released books springing from blogs. It is a hilarious, topical, and dorky look at stereotypical liberal white self-absorbtion. It basically expands on the concept of the blog original: and includes about double the content, with each 'entry' spoofing some facet of white culture.

I can't get enough of it, but it leaves me wondering, is this the kind of humour that we will still find funny 5, 10, or 15 years from now, or will it seems completely innane? My bets are on the latter, so I am enjoying it while it's still fresh.

Who controls Shanghai's Nighttime Teddy Bear racket?

This is one of those things that seemed really weird when I first got here in 2006, but that I hardly notice now. If you are in a relatively well trafficked area of Shanghai after about 10pm most nights, mobile Teddy Bear dealers like the one shown above will come out. If you tend to over-think things, this raises a few questions: First, who's buying Teddy Bears at three in the morning? Second, is there a Teddy Bear kingpin of Shanghai (all signs point to yes), and do rival Teddy Bear outfits ever have 'rumbles' over territory? And last, are all the Teddy Bears made in some factory town in Zhejiang Provinces that specializes in just Teddy Bears, supplying 40% of the world's carnivals with over-sized stuffed animals?

Looking Down (Literally) on Shanghai

Jin Mao Tower in front and with the World Financial Center about a month ago

World Financial Center on Tuesday with the Jinmao behind

A few days ago I checked out the newly opened World Financial Center with my friend Nic, who was visiting Shanghai. I figured that having a visitor in town was just about the best time to do such a trip, as it is a little hard for me to justify spending ¥150 to go to the top of a building which I see every day on my way to and from work (I still have never made it to the Sears Tower). Despite the high price of admission to the new tower’s observation deck, the “Bottle Opener”, as it is known to some locals, is a breathtaking addition to Shanghai’s skyline.

Shanghai's Pudong area with the Huangpu river

I first saw it in 2006, when I ascended to the observation deck of the adjacent 88-story Jinmao Tower with a group from my CIEE study abroad program. At that time it was maybe two-thirds the height of the Jinmao, so it was a bit surprising to see it towering over the Jinmao when I arrived back in Shanghai this April. When I returned to the Jinmao this summer with my cousin Andrew, the “Bottle Opener” was an impressive thing to behold, rising well above the already massive and iconic Jinmao. At that time, though the exterior looked finished, much work was still being performed on the windows and interior. As we watched from the Jinmao, clouds passed through the opening in the top of the Bottle Opener and incredibly miniscule workers were lowered from cranes to complete some work on the behemoth’s mid-section.

The top of the Jinmao Tower, the Oriental Pearl Tower, the Huangpu River, and Puxi (the west bank of the river)

The observation deck finally opened this week and Nic and I decided that the WFC would be our tourist ‘activity’ for the week. We arrived via a cab that dropped us off in what appeared to be a construction site parking lot, and eventually made our way around to the shiny main entrance. There, we were first bombarded by the forced and stilted English of the tour-guides, who were seemingly selected for their jobs on purely aesthetic qualifications.

Tourists crowd the 100th floor observation deck

After about a ten minute wait in line we were able to buy our tickets in the basement staging area, and make our way to the first of about 5 lines we had to wait in to make it to the top. Thinking we were about to board an elevator to the top, we were instead treated to a psychedelic and incoherent light show involving a spinning miniature of the tower. After five wasted minutes, we took the high speed elevators up to the ninety-seventh floor. This deck was not yet at the top of the building so we made our way up to the line to get to the very top, the small deck above the space in the Bottle Opener. After a long wait for the incredibly small elevators, we finally got up to the 100th floor observation deck, which gave us an incredible view of the sprawl of Shanghai. The deck’s floors were glass, which at 474 meters, is not for the vertigo-inclined.

Walking on glass 474 meters above ground

A highlight for me was seeing workers nonchalantly taking their break on the 97th floor open deck. Altogether it was an enjoyable experience, though I look forward to returning on a less crowded day.

A couple of workers enjoy their break

Later that night, on my way home from work, I was treated to the spectacle of the Bottle Opener lit up like some type of strobe light, as seen in this video I took from the Century Avenue Metro Station.