Sensual City Studio

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.

MIMICS

It is remarkable how you can have long conversations “just” using hand movements, facial contractions, bodily contortions and so forth… You find that there is always a way to communicate… well, maybe… actually, no, not always.
The way Westerners represent drinking with a hand gesture, for instance, might turn out to be the gesture for the number six in Chinese; the number eight might be used for indicating a person or object; and the number ten might mean to be close to someone. Most of these hand gestures correspond to the way we learned to make shadow animals on the walls, with our parents, before going to sleep. The way Westerners usually represent eating doesn’t mean anything to most Chinese people… but you can always keep trying… until the person on the receiving end gets bored and leaves, that is.

THREE

We were walking down – well, it could have been any street in Shanghai, really. Someone offered us a “lucky red envelope”, explaining to us that this envelope would bring us wealth. Inside, there was a red card, with the symbol of this year’s animal painted in golden brushstrokes.
My friend looked away, but I was curious and wanted one – two, in fact. I thought it would be a nice present to offer to someone like me, someone superstitious.
He said that he could sell us one envelope each. That would not be a problem. However, if it was just me buying, I could have one or three envelopes, five, even, if I wanted. But he wouldn’t sell me two, or four.
At the time, I didn’t understand the principle, which is in fact very simple: odd numbers are lucky. Chinese tradition dictates that material things should be given to others in odd-numbered quantities. Public holidays, too, last either one or three days. When venerating a statue or an image   of an ancestor, you should bow three times, or five times, or once… Seven or nine times would be better still. After nine, though, the golden number is twelve – an even number.

STADIUM

Each of my walks was unique. Even when I started out by walking the same route, it would differ from one day to another. One day something would attract my attention in a much stronger manner than another, effortlessly making the decision of which path to take for me.
This time, I had an early dinner at the lilong. I had a discussion over the bright red shrimps, which I would eat and savour one after the other, with some of my neighbours sitting on the tables in front of the street vendor.
I decided to go for a walk, in order to digest the feast I had just enjoyed.
Now, without noticing, since there are always so many people on the streets at this time, in the early evening I wasn’t focusing much on my walk. Suddenly, I began to wonder whether this might be one of the largest and therefore most crowded renovated streets, and continued to do so for the next three hours.
However, this time I saw more lighting items to be purchased than normally. Binoculars   , items to put in one’s hair, flags and light-up hands. I looked up to see the sky filled with bright little UFOs in every colour of the rainbow, moving up and down the plaza. For indeed there was a plaza in front of me. My gaze shifted, and I saw the stadium, where a concert was in progress. I managed to follow the people, all going in one direction. The concert was sold out; however, they allowed me to come closer, since they thought I must have a ticket; they probably assume a laowai always has one, especially in a crowd of Shanghainese teenagers.
Even afterwards, I didn’t know the name of the band, but I will never forget the view from the top of this megastructure over the city and the football pitch, brightened up by colourful objects and singing citizens.