FEELING SPECIAL 1 Shanghai is different. Shanghai is different from what we are used to, and is always surprising. [ + ]
FEELING SPECIAL 1
Shanghai is different. Shanghai is different from what we are used to, and is always surprising. It’s a city where many have found their home – and for those who haven’t, it is, at the very least, a place that changes their way of how space is perceived and used.
My dad had finally arrived in Shanghai; it would be the first time he saw the city I had fallen in love with. For someone who had travelled for so long (24 hours), he seemed quite fresh; everything was new and an opportunity to take a picture and make a video. He knew he would remember most events; nevertheless, he wanted to keep a record of the moments, figures, colours, textures – everything – in a form that could be printed in order to make recollection easier, as proof that Shanghai exists, that it’s real.
My dad became a real actor, a player on the stage that is the city, where everyone is an actor, albeit with an undefined role. Lots of people would look at him, change places on the bus or the train in order to sit closer to him, and stare at him. In a cemetery, a man even asked him to take a picture with him in front of his grandfather’s grave. He does not look that much different from any other tourist, or any other Shanghainese person, for that matter. He is not blond, tall or blue-eyed. But he has a white mane of hair, eyes that glow with curiosity, and a big smile. It seemed that this was the passport that granted him access to all the doors he encountered. He would be better understood in the grocery store than I would, and without even opening his mouth.