The Shanghai Expat E-Book

Victor de Lange

• Herausgeber: Victor de Lange
• Kategorie: Sachliteratur, Reportagen, Biografien
• Sprache: Englisch

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2021

Beschreibung

Engaging and revealing, this chronicle of Victor arriving in Shanghai with the global economy in a slump and nothing more than a suitcase and a pocket full of dreams is a story about opportunity, determination, pursuing love and finding your way in the Pearl of Asia.



It’s September 2008, and Victor is an International Business and Management graduate with study and internship experiences gained in four continents. With the global economy in a slump, the job market for graduates is doomed. Where powerhouse China is still delivering substantial economic growth, Shanghai might provide him with the best opportunity to establish a successful career. He has only one objective though; re-joining Philips, the company where he did his graduation internship.



But moving from a village with three-thousand people to Shanghai with it's twenty-four million people is quite a significant change. And thereby his height, blue eyes, and long eyelashes provide him with a high profile presence. Join Victor on a journey of starting over in China’s biggest city and a global financial hub. A city where the gap between success and failure is extremely close and family traditions weigh heavier than love. A part-time teaching job can open the door to a billionaire’s office, and a random Shanghai subway ride can lead to a meet and greet with your favourite British rock band in Beijing.



Can Victor resist the temptations of a city that never sleeps and pursue his dreams?

Leseprobe

About The Shanghai Expat

Engaging and revealing, this chronicle of Victor arriving in Shanghai with the global economy in a slump and nothing more than a suitcase and a pocket full of dreams is a story about opportunity, determination, pursuing love and finding your way in the Pearl of Asia.

It’s September 2008, and Victor is an International Business and Management graduate with study and internship experiences gained in four continents. With the global economy in a slump, the job market for graduates is doomed. Where powerhouse China is still delivering substantial economic growth, Shanghai might provide him with the best opportunity to establish a successful career. He has only one objective though; re-joining Philips, the company where he did his graduation internship.

But moving from a village with three-thousand people to Shanghai with it’s twenty-four million people is quite a significant change. And thereby his height, blue eyes, and long eyelashes provide him with a high profile presence. Join Victor on a journey of starting over in China’s biggest city and a global financial hub. A city where the gap between success and failure is extremely close and family traditions weigh heavier than love. A part-time teaching job can open the door to a billionaire’s office, and a random Shanghai subway ride can lead to a meet and greet with your favourite British rock band in Beijing.

Can Victor resist the temptations of a city that never sleeps and pursue his dreams?

Thisbookisentirelyamemoir.Someofthecharacters,names,conversationsandstorysequencesportrayedinitaretheworkoftheauthor’simagination.

1

Shanghai International Airport, 9:30

There I stood. Back in Shanghai. The city where I lived and completed my graduation internship from January till June. After graduation, I spent the summer travelling in France and Spain, divided in two weeks with two friends and two weeks with my parents. I went abroad to get an understanding of what the next step in my life could be. Heading back to Shanghai was the result of a well-weighted decision between moving back to America, Aruba or China, where I spent a significant part of my time as an International Business and Management Student. The marketing professor at Texas State University offered me help with a job in a software company in Austin, but soon after that, dark skies appeared above America’s economy.

Aruba, an island lying in the southern Caribbean Sea would have been pleasant to return to as well, but after living there for eight months, the island started to feel small to me. Not sure whether I would settle well and besides that, the opportunities of an internationally exposed career are relatively small. About seventy-five per cent of the economy and services are dominated by tourism. As a result, Shanghai would be the most logical place to return to. My professional network is most fresh and China is economically booming. At the time of my arrival in Shanghai, the Beijing Olympics had just finished. In August, as a result of the Olympics, it was nearly impossible to apply for a Chinese visa. But it gave me the chance to work at a local music festival in the Netherlands to build a financial buffer to cover myself for the first months to come.

Meanwhile more people surrounded the luggage belt now, and the first luggage arrived on luggage belt number ten. White, black, grey and yellow luggage in different sizes passed my eyes, some of them with distinctive recognition tags or labels attached. Even though the suitcases only just arrived, some people already seemed annoyed by the time it required to get their luggage. But I was not in a hurry. There was no office to go to, and it was just 07:25 in the morning. The entire day was still in front of me.

Suddenly I saw my blue luggage within reaching distance. I pulled it from the luggage belt onto the trolley and followed my way to the customs. As I had nothing to declare I could walk through and after passing a few counters that offered last-minute hotel, car and travel packages, the big diffused glass doors to the arrival hall of Terminal 1 opened. Already at this early time of the day - a midweek day at least a hundred people were waiting for their beloved family or friends. Others came to pick up colleagues, and I saw a line of Chinese men in suits carrying whiteboards and paper sheets with Chinese and Western names written on it. They are probably company drivers to pick up executives or hotel staff to collect their guests.

As I passed through the door, I could feel a couple of hundred eyes looking at me. Avoiding eye contact with all of them, I pushed my trolley forward to the middle of the arrival hall where an illegal taxi driver approached me for a drive into the city. With only a few words of English, they try to make you think they are qualified taxi drivers while approved taxis are lined-up outside the arrival hall. With a direct but kind “bu yao” I made clear that I wasn’t interested in his service. Instead, I walked to the bus stop from where busses departure to several locations in Shanghai. On the spot I bought a single ticket to People Square as it would make a convenient location to walk to the hotel I booked for the first three days.

It was an old looking bus, with a green colour affected by the sun. Soon after I found a seat on the window side, the bus started moving. It wasn’t even half-full, but they depart on a twenty-minute schedule. While Pudong Airport disappeared at the horizon, we passed by factories and small villages. Some were old, while others were still in construction. In this area, people are still free to build their own home as long as they own a piece of land. Often, the homes are narrow and just have three or four floors because it accommodates the entire family and often as many as three generations together.

Many of the people know that one day a property developer will be knocking on their door to buy the land. They pay a price depending on the size of the home. The compensation to receive is higher if the homeowner can claim that the home comes with nine rooms instead of four. With higher compensation, they hope to improve their lifestyle by buying a new apartment. Right at that moment, the Maglev train passed by, blocking my view for a second or two. It’s one of the contradictions you see in China today. There is capitalism resulting in a magnetic levitation high-speed train to connect the city with the airport with a variating speed of up to four hundred thirty one kilometres per hour. The Maglev’s rail route cut straight through villages where people live with only one aim: survive. They often depend on the vegetables or fruit they grow on their land. Or the collection of plastic bottles, carton or iron. After collection, they drive their tricycles to an assembly point where they receive compensation for every kilo of material they bring in. The carton collectors would cheat a bit by pouring water over their carton, resulting in a heavier load so they can ultimately bring more cash home. The money they earn with this presumably provides enough daily to pay for a single trip ticket of the Maglev train, costing fifty RMB.

When I looked further in front of me, we neared a crossroad and even further in the far distance I could see the skyline of the city. Always an impressive view, with on the left side the Grand Gateway twin towers. When I looked to the right, I could see the futuristic Marriott hotel on People’s Square with on the top the iconic four spikes with a resting ball in the middle. The Jin Mao Tower emphasised the Pudong skyline. We passed the Lupu Bridge over the Huangpu river, connecting Shanghai’s Huangpu and Pudong districts. It is an impressive construction and the world’s second-longest steel arch bridge after the Chaotianmen Bridge in Chongqing. It’s even possible to climb the bridge and see, obviously on a clear day an unforgettable three hundred sixty degrees view on one hundred meter high.

While we crossed the bridge with the bus, I had to think about the clear but cold winter day I climbed the bridge with a German friend of mine. The temperature on top of the arch must have been minus ten degrees caused by a strong wind. I ended up suffering three days of heavy cold and fever as a result of this little adventure. When driving on the descending highway from the Lupu Bridge into the city, I instantly felt the feeling of arriving in my second hometown. The bus continued the elevated highway in the north direction, and all I could see were hundreds of residential and office buildings on both sides of the highway. Most of them at least a thirty-meter high with some balconies only twenty meters away from the thousands of cars passing by every day. From the second level, I could watch into the streets below, where Shanghai life continued as normal. As usual, many people walking down the street. Groups of them waiting in front of red traffic lights. All with a destination in mind. I heard cars horning and noticed street sellers offering books and clothes on a busy corner of Nanjing Road. It seemed to me life was still the same compared to when I left three months ago. Even in a city with twenty-four million people, things can stay the same.

As we were nearing People’s Square the bus slowed its speed, preparing to make a right curve onto the designated bus stop. People’s Square was the first stop for the bus to take and from looking around, I could conclude that nearly everybody had the same plan to depart from the bus at this moment. Already before the bus came to a stop, most passengers lined up in the passage so that they could be out of the bus first. I always considered this to be a survival instinct shared by many locals. In a society where everything evolves around rankings starting from kindergarten and onwards, you better make sure to be the first or at least be part of the top three. Otherwise, somebody else for sure will take your place, and you may end up with nothing at all. In the Shanghai subway, it sometimes leads to funny situations as people entering and departing the subway at the same moment. When the door opens, only the strongest will survive.

I stepped out of the bus, and I could instantly feel and smell the humid air. Different compared to the cool and dry air in the Netherlands. Shanghai in September offers on average a temperature of nearly twenty-eight degrees with seventy-five per cent humidity. I let the other people go out first and took my suitcase out of the luggage compartment. It felt good to be back. I had an enormous feeling of freedom. Shanghai and China lay wide open for me. When I think back to that moment, I never feared that I could possibly end up failing as well. The drift to survive was much stronger. Before booking the flight, I had given myself three months to find a job in Shanghai. If this didn’t work out, I would be home for Christmas to find a job in the Netherlands.

Energised with this feeling, I walked up north towards East Nanjing Road. The hotel I booked for the first three days was located in a side street of East Nanjing Road and Fuzhou Road. A simple but decent hotel and good enough spend the first few days acclimatising while hunting for an apartment. While walking on the street, I remembered that it is not possible to access East Nanjing Road directly from West Nanjing Road. To do so, you have to cross the People’s Square subway station and follow the tunnel under Xizang Middle Road and ultimately walk the stairs up. This will bring you to a slightly higher part of the street, which is an ideal location for tourists to take pictures. East Nanjing Road is a massive tourist attraction and perhaps the most famous and busy commercial streets in China, if not in the world. As it is pedestrianised, it is a nice walk to the Bund. Many movies have been recorded on East Nanjing Road, and at night the building facades are all light up with neon.

As I had my luggage with me, it was easier to take the escalator up to the street level. While I stood there slowly the street entrance became more visible. East Nanjing Road did not change either since I left Shanghai in June. There is always an incredible mass of people, no matter on which day of the week you’re visiting. During my internship days, I tried to avoid East Nanjing Road as much as possible. Especially in the weekends. As a foreigner, you’re an easy target for street sellers and other individuals offering massages or sex with pretty girls in town. While overlooking East Nanjing Road, I suddenly realised that the entire population of my hometown Koudekerke in the south west of the Netherlands counts three thousand people. The first part of East Nanjing Road accommodated already at least three thousand people. The contrast here is so much different. When I grew up in Koudekerke, I always considered Amsterdam a big city located on the other side of the world while in fact, it was only a two and a half-hour drive. When measured in the total size of the population, Amsterdam comes close to just Shanghai’s Yangpu district. Although the world’s highest people density is claimed to be in the Netherlands as a country, Yangpu district’s people density is twenty-two thousand per square kilometre. No surprise considering all the high residential towers around me.

While I walked on East Nanjing Road in Northern direction, it started to rain. People were looking for shelter in nearby shops. The rain came with this typical humid smell. Luckily for me and as I was not carrying an umbrella, it disappeared pretty soon so I could follow my way to the hotel. After arriving in the hotel lobby, I hoped to check in but it was only eleven o’clock in the morning. It did not seem to be an issue, so I handed over my passport to the receptionist lady.

“Good morning and welcome to our hotel. Did you have a nice trip, sir?” she asked in flawless English.

“Yes, I surely had. Thank you for asking.” That seemed like quite a nice welcome.

“I have booked a single room for two nights.” She checked the hotel’s booking system. “Let me check. V… Victor… Ah yes, here I see your reservation.” As required by every hotel, she made a copy of my passport and the visa on which I entered China. This is for registration with the local police station. For convenience the hotel will do this for tourists but once you find a place to live for yourself you have seventy-two hours after the first entry on your visa in China or address change to register yourself in the nearest police station. When I first arrived in China, I considered this strange. Or it made me cautious, even though I had nothing to hide. Can you imagine something like that in the Netherlands?

“All done,” the reception lady said.

“Here is your room key; your room is on the fourth floor.”

I found the way to the elevators and pressed four. It was not crowded in the hotel. Perhaps because it was a Tuesday morning in September. Business traveller check-in and out behaviour usually peaks on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. And everybody on a business trip would be in an office or meetings by now.

I heard a ping and the door opened on the fourth floor. Luckily my room wasn’t right next to or in front of the elevators. Those rooms are usually noisy with hotel guests passing by and having conversations while they wait for the elevator. Not this time. I walked down the corridor and once in front of room number four hundred and twelve, I swiped the card through the room door lock. I heard a soft beep and unlocking sound. I opened the door. Immediately after walking in, I could feel the air-conditioning. I immediately raised the temperature to twenty-two and I looked through the room. The room looked decent and maintained, as I expected after booking a superior room. As a student, I once visited Hong Kong for a visa extension and stayed in a hotel in Kowloon where the room was basically the size of the king bed and the bathroom the size of the toilet. The most comfortable position while taking a shower would have been standing with one leg actually in the toilet. And not to mention the dodgy alley leading to the hotel entrance with what I considered true drugs dealers. After this gruelling experience, I promised myself that after graduation I would never stay in this type of hotel anymore.

I opened my luggage to take my toiletry bag out and prepared for a shower. I truly enjoy getting out of my clothes after a long trip to take a shower and refresh. I entered the cabin and felt the warm water streaming over my body. Shanghai tab water always comes with a chloral smell. Still, it felt wonderful when it touched my skin. It just gives you an instant kick of energy. While showering, I brushed my teeth. I avoided drinking the water as it maintains an unusually high number of irons and in some cases, chemicals. Most hotels offer complimentary water bottles in the room which is good for reasonable high water consumers like me.

After refreshing, I went out and had a walk in one of the department stores nearby East Nanjing Road. Many of these stores would represent an unknown Western brand name and sell fashionable goods at a high price, but they are all Made in China. They make an enormous margin by selling a pair of shoes for not less than two thousand RMB or not to mention the coats. Back in the days, these “Western” brands would attract Chinese consumers as in their perception it would come with high quality. In some cases it would have a good quality, but if I could spend two thousand RMB on shoes I would rather do so in the Netherlands. I had lunch in one of the many food courts around People’s Square. It’s a concentrated area in a shopping mall with many food outlets in a market set-up. There are tables in the middle of the “court” where people eat their lunch, dinner or snack. The food is often good and not expensive. As there is a high turn-over of guests, they only work with fresh ingredients. It’s a perfect location if you’re in for Chinese, Malaysian, Singaporean or Indonesian food.

After lunch I walked towards Bund, one of the main attractions in Shanghai. After arrival, I continued walking in the north direction and turned my head to the left. I noticed a few early 1900 architectural style buildings. Today they are mainly occupied by Chinese banks, hotels, luxury retailers and high-end restaurants. Another eye-catcher is the customs building, easy to recognise with the clock on top of the building. This clock is the biggest in Asia and plays the Chinese Communist song East is Red during every daylight hour of the day. And sometimes at night as well. Over my other shoulder, I saw Pudong’s financial district. The Shanghai World Financial Centre determined the top of the skyline. When I first arrived in Shanghai for my internship, the top of the Shanghai World Financial Center was still in construction and was surrounded by cranes to construct the glass windows to the skyscraper. It just opened a month ago. I saw the Oriental Pearl Tower and the Jin Mao Tower. The Bund in Shanghai has its uniqueness. By times it can be incredibly crowded, so avoid the Bund during the weekend and public holidays.

While I was walking there this early afternoon in September, I remember walking over the Bund at night. It has its own charm. The buildings on the Puxi district side of the Bund are illuminated in such way that the architecture remains visible at night. Most buildings have a yellowish look at evening hours. The Lujiazui area is dominated by the RGB colours of the Pearl Tower and the thousands of residential and office lights. The aircraft warning lights on top of the skyscrapers and high-rise buildings turn on and off slowly in a cycle of a few seconds. It provides a twinkling effect, stretched out over the entire Pudong Skyline. Furthermore, tens of Illuminated boats will cross the Huang Pu River and host tours and buffet dinners for tourists. The only boat tour I ever took over the Huang Pu river was the ferry from Puxi to Lujiazui. It’s a cheap and short one; just two RMB which was roughly twenty Euro cents. That gives you a wonderful view for roughly seven minutes while crossing the river. Those are all memories of evening walks on the Bund. Sometimes alone, sometimes accompanied by friends. Right now, it was the sun coming through the clouds, and I heard the clock of the Customs Building playing the song that defines the Bund. While passing each other, hundreds of people looked at me. Wondering where that tall Foreigner was going to.

2

Park Hotel Shanghai - 8:00

After breakfast the next morning, I planned to do some research to find an apartment to live in for at least the next three months. As there are two ways to do do this, I first went online as there are numerous websites offering apartments to rent and sell. I called one of the property managers on the first website that popped up on my screen. The phone ringed for a couple of times before it was answered with “Wei?!”. That means “Hello” in Mandarin Chinese. In addition to most Westerners, Chinese people never say their name when answering the phone. But I am Western.

“Good morning, my name is Victor. Am I talking to Mr Jeremy from Shanghai Properties?

A faltering “Yes…?” was the answer.

“Good,” I continued. “I’m searching for an apartment to rent, and I saw one listed on your website with reference number 9003845. Is it still available?”

There was a silent moment on the other side of the line as if he did not expect this cal to be in English. “Let me check,” he ultimately answered. I heard him typing on the keyboard of his PC. “No,” was the answer. “It was rented just yesterday. But we do have other properties.”

“Yes, I’m sure you have. But I like this apartment, and it looks well designed for a reasonable price.”

I suddenly remembered the moment when I first arrived in Shanghai to start my internship. I called a few property companies, but they are generally hard to trust. The apartments you like are always “just signed to somebody else”, and most of the apartments have a too good to be true rental price for what looks like a very nice deal. So in the rule, you call them and ask for a particular apartment, but it is most likely unavailable. Meanwhile, they have your number and know you’re in the market for a rental apartment. They will call you a couple of times over the next few days with available apartments which are most often not meeting your requirements. Easy lead generation.

I decided not to waste my entire day with Jeremy from Shanghai Properties and told him I would continue my online search. The next website I saw was the same story. I saw two nice apartments and called the agent, which was a lady this time. Against Chinese traditions, she introduced herself as Ping and her English was significantly better compared to Jeremy. Unfortunately, she delivered the same story, or at least the same tactics.

“Those apartments are rented Sir; we did not update the website yet.”

So, this is how it really works. She invited me to come over to their property agency so we could visit available apartments, but I refused. The next website I saw was a Shanghai Classified website where supply and demand in a variety of buy, sell, and rental categories can meet. It reminded me of the individual - often rubbish - property agents offering homes on a free website. No need to pay for Google ads or other registration fees. I should better stay away from this kind of websites.

My thoughts went back to the landlord I had during my internship in Shanghai earlier this year. The classmate I did my internship in Shanghai with found this individual property agent online, causing issues more than once over the total six-month period of our rental contract. During my internship I lived with two guys. One from Switzerland and from Ireland. All of us had issues to contact her in case something had to be fixed in the apartment.

I remember when the Irish guy moved out in May, he actually never got his down payment of two months’ rent back. And I almost did not get anything back either. We had to pay our rent for three months in advance and after that in cash for the remaining contract duration. So in June, I was leaving Shanghai to return to the Netherlands, and she owed me two months of rent I paid for deposit at the start of our contract. Three days before my return flight, I passed by her office in Jingan district which was actually a residential apartment where she used to live and work to collect my deposit. After getting up to the tenth floor of the building an unknown Western guy opened the door and told me that Katy, which was her name, did not live there anymore. He invited me in, and I had a small talk with his two roommates. One of them was dating Kathy. I wondered what kind of relationship that would be. It was nothing new for her to move her office to a new location without any notification. At least her boyfriend could tell me the address where she lived now. When I left their apartment, I started to worry a little bit about the whereabouts of my deposit.

After arriving at the address I was given earlier, I was facing five enormous residential towers, containing five apartments on each of the twenty-four floors. That would be like searching for the proverbial needle in a haystack. The needle named Kathy could be hiding in one of each of the six hundred apartments haystack in front of me. Suddenly I realised that if she is causing so much trouble, I wouldn’t be the first person here looking for her. I decided to ask the security guard of the compound. In my best Chinese I explained to him that I was looking for a lady named Kathy, who was my property agent, and whether he had any idea where she lived. Those security officers work like a magnet when it comes to tracking needles in haystacks. They know most of the people living in their compound, which apartment is empty or will become available for rent soon. For a small compensation, they are often willing to help you out or link you with the owner of an apartment. This security officer knew who I was looking for and without the need to bribe him, he told me the building number, floor and apartment number in which he thought my property agent must be living. While I was walking to building number three, I thought to myself:

“Wow. Kathy must be living here for a short time only, but she made herself famous already. That can’t be a coincidence.”

I walked into the residential tower, first entering the lobby with yellow, blue and orange bikes parked on the left side, while the other side was a wall equipped with hundreds of mailboxes. I walked towards the elevator. It was on the way down from the fourteenth floor, not the floor Kathy lived. That would eliminate a possible surprise factor in case we would meet here in the building’s lobby. The elevator doors slowly opened, and I pressed the button with number eighteen, which was according to the security guard the floor Kathy must be living. While I felt the air pressure as a result of the moving elevator, I stared at the advertisements on both walls. One was a local shampoo brand, where a model or famous movie star showed a beautiful glans in her hair. Although I couldn’t recognise the person itself, there was an autograph in the right corner of the advertisement. That means she must be famous. The other advertisement was from a local Sichuan restaurant chain. Probably with the aim to increase the people’s appetite and I have to confess it somehow worked on me. The pictures with well-prepared dishes made me feel hungry.

Meanwhile, the elevator came to a stop and the door opened slowly. I was on the eighteenth floor now. There was a little map with the location of each apartment, and I searched for number C where Katy should be living. When I stood in front of the door I pressed the doorbell, and a girl in her early twenties opened the door. It wasn’t Kathy.

“Excuse me,” I started, “My name is Victor and was told Kathy should be living here right now? She is my landlord, and she owes me a deposit.”

She didn’t introduce herself and without saying anything, she let me in. It didn’t look like a residential apartment, as the living room was filled with a couple of desks.

“Is Kathy here?” I asked again.

“Yes, let me find her for you.”

I waited in the living room while she walked to the back of the apartment. I heard short arguing before the girl returned. She seemed embarrassed.

“Kathy is here, but she locked herself in her bathroom.” She continued: “I can’t open the door.”

Damned, I thought. She must have heard me when I introduced myself at the front door. On the other side, I felt relieved that I found Kathy among twenty-four million people in this metropole city. I told the girl I could wait for Kathy to come out eventually. She didn’t object and continued her work on an old-looking desktop. I navigated the room. The atmosphere was sober. Colours were dark and grey. No flowers to find and all windows were closed. I wondered whether there was any source of fresh air in this room.

Meanwhile, ten minutes passed by and the girl was solely focussed on her desktop. She continued working as if I wasn’t even there anymore. Her body language indicated that she didn’t want to be involved in my ugly deposit dispute. I could probably wait here all afternoon while Kathy inside the bathroom hoped I would give up and leave.

“Ehm, sorry? Would you mind if I talk to Kathy directly?” I said. The girl was still focussing on her screen. As if it took five seconds for my words to travel with the time of sound for her to hear me, she looked up from her screen.

“Yeah, sure,” she said. “Go ahead.” She pointed towards the direction of the bathroom.

I followed a small corridor with open doors leading to two bedrooms. One door at the end of the corridor was closed. I knocked, but that did not result in any reaction. I turned the door handle and realised it was still locked. This must be the bathroom where Kathy is hiding.

“Hello?” I tried. I could hear a movement inside the bathroom as if she increased the distance between her and the door.

“Hello?” I tried it again.

“Is this Kathy?”

She was now a rat trapped in a maze. I thumped against the bathroom door.

“Kathy, please open the door.” Silence.

“I am at the end of my rental contract, and you owe me two months’ rent I paid for the deposit.”

I decided to put a bit more pressure on her.

“I need it now as I am leaving the country tomorrow morning. Please open the door!” Still no reaction.

“Listen, Kathy,” I tried again.

“I have nothing to do anymore this afternoon, so I’m just going to wait here for you to come out.” and I added: “And at some point, I may decide to involve the police in this.”

That threat made her move. I heard her rummaging in the bathroom. She suddenly unlocked the door. I waited for her to open it. It did not take long until I saw Kathy standing wearing pink pyjamas as if she just got out of bed. To my surprise, she had a collection of banknotes in her hand. I realised she might be using this bathroom periodically as a safe room when renters knocked on her door to demand deposit back.

“How… how did you find me?” She had a vitriolic expression on her face.

“It wasn’t as difficult as I expected beforehand.” I answered. “You may start by asking your boyfriend.”

I didn’t mind ruining a relationship at this point. Her boyfriend anyway deserved better than Kathy. She looked away and handed me the deposit. I counted the money, which surprisingly ended up with the right amount of Renminbi Kathy owed me. She remembered this damn well. Thank you, I said, and I walked to the front door of the apartment. The girl was still working at her desk. She stared at her screen as if she didn’t absorb anything of what just happened. I honestly felt a bit sorry for her. It must not be easy to have Kathy as your employer.

While I walked through the door, I looked over my shoulder to make sure Kathy did not follow me with an axe to attack me. I realised that this must be part of a solid strategy. She must, on purpose, change her office location frequently to avoid facing the mess she left behind. During the rental period, she often promised things but never delivered. Not just with me. My two housemates and another friend who rented from her told me to have similar experiences. A relocation strategy could only work if Kathy bribed the people surrounding her to guarantee protection. She was a self-claimed queen, high in a palace but all the doors and stairs leading to her room were unsecured. Although a queen status would be too much prestige for her. An unsecured Narcos suits her better.

Slowly my thoughts went back to the present. I’ve learned from this bad experience with Kathy so let’s not try to do this again. The rule of thumb is to go with a recommended property agency and if possible one with chain locations all over the city. But even recommended property agencies sometimes change location from one to another district. In case you have any issues with your contract or landlord, one of the other locations can back you up. I decided to go outside. Everything looks better online. Apartments look bigger and nicer and always for a low price. The best thing you can do is walk-in and ask which apartments they have available within your budget. Usually, when you pass by a property agency, at least eight employees are working behind their desk set up in classroom formation. For sure they would not mind helping a foreigner looking for an apartment?

I went out and took the subway from People Square to Shanghai Railway Station. From there I took line 3 in south direction towards Yishan Road. This line is entirely above ground except for Tieli Road Station. It’s providing passengers with good views of the city. There are just buildings everywhere in Shanghai. I carried a small notebook with me in which I listed down the stations I passed. In between the stations, I made notes of nice apartment buildings I saw. Next time I could get out at one of the stations to walk into that particular neighbourhood and search for a property agency.

The plan worked. After getting out in Yishan Road to take the same line back to Shanghai North Railway Station, I got out in Zhenping Road. There were a couple of nice compounds near the Suzhou Creek. Recently built compounds always have empty apartments for rent as some of the apartments are sold solely to investors who aim to rent out the place. Once I took the elevator down from the subway platform back to street level, I saw at least a hundred bikes parked in front of the station. At least in an organised manner. The interesting difference with Amsterdam is that at least half of the bikes are electric bikes. I just suddenly wondered how many electric bikes Shanghai would have.

With this question still in my mind, I suddenly recognised a powerful smell. I could hardly imagine this to be food. I looked around and saw a street seller baking sweet potatoes on the side of the subway station. Some other street sellers offered clothes and small accessories for mobile phones. I crossed Kaixuan North Road and walked into Putuo Park. Nice to see this sudden greenery in a city full of brick. Colourful flowers in yellow and orange smiled at me. Some of the trees started to have brown leaves, indicating that the fall season would arrive soon. I enjoyed watching young people and older couples appreciating this little piece of green. Imagine you were born in this enormous city and parks are the only opportunity to escape from the busy streets to witness some green?

I left the park from the Guangfu Road exit and followed a small promenade build beside the Suzhou Creek. I still didn’t see any property agents. It’s just like McDonald’s. If you’re not hungry, you see that big yellow “M” everywhere, but once you feel about eating some junk food, they are nowhere to find. Nevertheless, I was still walking in the direction of the residential compound I saw from the subway. It was relatively easy to find my way, as the three towers peaked above the average height of surrounding buildings. After walking for another ten minutes, I arrived at a T crossing where Guangfu Road meets Dongxin road. This was as close as I could get to the compound. Dongxin Road had a couple of shops in nice-looking retail spaces. I was lucky. Among some shops and restaurants, there was one property agent. This “on the spot” agent must be able to show me a couple of apartments in the compound I could see me living in. The promenade, retail spaces and the compound must have been recently built. All in the same architecture. I was easy to tell from the dusty facade, and some of the retailers seemed still in the process of moving in.

While I stood in front of the shop window, I could see through the advertisements that this property agency consisted of a small team but representing a long list of available properties. It did not take long for one of the sales representatives to come out while I looked for available properties in the window shelf.

“Are you looking for an apartment?” a young lady asked.

“Yes,” I answered. “I was hoping for an available apartment in the compound here across the street.” and I pointed in the right direction.

Without reaction to my question, she handed me her business card. Next to a Chinese name consisting out of three characters I couldn’t read, her English name was Cherry. Cherry is quite a common name for girls to name themselves in University. Just like Apple, Snow, Candy, Super or Fish. That is supposed to sound cute until graduation, but once they start working, they should be restricted to find themselves a serious name. Mentioning an English name like Foggy on your resume might not help to score a new job. Anyway, Cherry was apparently one of them who decided not to change her name after graduation.

“Are you looking to rent a place by yourself or do you mind sharing?” She asked.

“I don’t mind sharing with a clean and neat person.”

“Alright,” She added. “In that case, we have a couple of places available.”

Property agents often have keys from available apartments in their office. If not, they will call the landlord to ask whether they are available to open the apartment. Cherry grabbed a pair of keys and put on her coat.

“Let’s go.” She said.

We walked outside and crossed the street to the compound.

“How long are you in China?”

“I did my internship here in Shanghai from January till June. I graduated from University in the Netherlands this Summer, and now I’m back with the aim to find a job.”

“Wow,” she reacted. “You’re Dutch? And you are looking for a job so far away from home?” She seemed impressed.

Meanwhile, we arrived at the gate of the compound. It had a signage logo that said Xinhu Riverside Residence in English. She talked in Chinese to the security guard, who swiped his card over a sensor to unlock the door. I thought this is amazing, while entering the compound. Lots of plants and grass. There was a small lake in the middle of the compound. I could see the fountain heads reaching just above the surface of the water. I could see three tall residential towers were in front of us, while there were three lower buildings on our right side. Somehow it does not seem like many people live here yet. We crossed a red-brown coloured wooden bridge with red and purple veining over a puddle connected to the main lake. Cherry mentioned that building number three had a shared apartment for rent. I noticed that in order to enter the building, an access card was required, but the door stood open, so we could just walk in. The lobby looked a bit dark because all the lights were turned off. It smelled new but humid. Both the floor and the walls had a marble-like finish which provided the lobby with an exclusive look. Still, it seemed the developer did not feel responsible for cleaning the place before delivering the building. There was a layer of concrete dust all over the floor. This is China. The developer invests over a billion RMB to build this compound but hiring a team to clean the tower lobbies was too much to ask. Apartments are delivered like bunkers, with nothing inside but grey concrete walls. Once you move in, you need to go through an entire process of construction. That’s probably why at this stage nobody cares too much about flying dust. Two corridors were leading to the elevators. One of them was already waiting for us. The walls were covered with a wooden layer for protection against any damage by newcomers moving in their household equipment and furniture. Cherry pressed the button to bring us to the tenth floor. As if I hadn’t noticed yet she added that this was a very new compound. We left the elevator on the tenth floor. Cherry walked immediately to the right side. From a map between the elevators, I could see that each floor contained six apartments in an oval-shaped building. Even though Cherry was carrying a key, she first pressed the doorbell.

“I know that the brother of the landlord is living here.” She explained. “But he stays in the second bedroom. The master bedroom is available for rent.”

I could hear somebody approaching on the other side of the door. A gentleman in his early forties opened the door. Cherry explained him in Chinese regarding my interest to rent the master bedroom. He smiled at me and introduced himself as Mr Lu. The apartment looked simple but nice. Instead of covered with any carpet, the floor was painted in a purplish colour. Combined with the white walls, it created a basic but fashionable interior design. The dining table had a shining glass surface, and I walked to the front window in the living room. Right in front of us was one of the two other residential towers belonging to this compound. I could see some of the apartments in the other building occupied with residents. Windows were covered with linen cloths used as curtains. The balconies looked extremely messy, equipped with laundry and furniture. One of them even had a fridge. The residents probably moved from nearby cities into Shanghai but lacking the decoration skills that suit this brand-new compound.

Cherry proposed to show the master bedroom. She opened the door that led us into a spacious room in the same style as the living room and equipped with a closet, queen size bed and a desk. There was a mat glass door to connect the bathroom directly with the bedroom while on the other side of the room, a roll-door provided access to the balcony. I checked the view once again. The right side provided a clear view of Zhongshan Park, which must be five kilometres away. I asked Cherry what it would cost me to live here.

“Two thousand and eight hundred RMB per month, all included.” she answered. “There is an ayi visiting twice per week to clean the apartment.”

Ayi in pinyin means aunt, but it is a widely used description for cleaning lady.

“Is renting for three months at first an option?”

I wanted the freedom to move out without losing my deposit if I wasn’t able to find a job by Christmas. Cherry looked at Mr Lu and asked him my question in Chinese. He nodded yes. While we were still in the master bedroom, I looked around. This apartment is brand-new. The price is good, but considering I share the place with the brother of my future landlord, I may need to reduce the number of parties at home. On the other hand, Cherry explained to me that Mr Lu works for his sister and is therefore not at home frequently.

I realised that this was a unique opportunity. Usually, you need roughly fifteen to twenty apartments before you see something that meets your requirements. This time it was different. Maybe because I pointed Cherry on this particular compound, and so giving her no other options to show me. I could save myself a lot of time and frustration by accepting this apartment.

“Alright,” I said. “I think this is a nice place to live.”

I could see an appeasing expression on both Cherry and Mr Lu’s face. I shook the hand of Mr Lu, and we went back to the property agent office to finalise the agreement. I asked Cherry whether there was much interest for Xinhu Riverside Apartments.

“Not much right now, but people increasingly ask for the possibility to live here.” I carefully read through the contract before putting my signature on the bottom of the page and put a small staple of one hundred yuan banknotes on the table to cover for deposit. Good timing, I concluded to myself. Tomorrow I will check out from the hotel and move straight to my new apartment where I will be living in for at least the next three months.

3

Xinhu Riverside Residence - 7:43

One of the things about moving into a new place is the need to visit IKEA. I woke up early to witness the crowd in the morning jam but at the same time avoid a crowd in IKEA. I closed and locked the heavy hardwood apartment door. I followed the marble tiles in the dusty corridor towards the elevator and pressed the elevator button. One of the two elevators was waiting for me a couple of floors away. The moment the doors opened, I realised that my wallet was still on the table in the living room. There is not much I could do in IKEA without a wallet. I walked back to the front door, opened it and collected my wallet.

Once back at the elevators, I pressed the button and looked outside from the window. Down on the street, I saw people on their way to work. They commuted by car, bike or walking their way to the nearest subway station. The property agencies were still closed. A couple of street sellers offered breakfast. Some of them are actually quite good. During my internship, I remember driving a bike to the office, and I purchased a pancake with two eggs and green onion and parsley for breakfast at the side of the street. They are prepared in front of you for just three RMB.

Meanwhile, I could hear the elevator coming closer. Once it stopped, I turned around and after the doors opened, I saw a chubby Western guy. He was dressed well, clearly on the way to work. I smiled and walked in. He smiled and looked a bit surprised by another foreigner in the elevator. For a few floors we stood there, silently staring at the elevator’s wall.

“When did you move in here?” he asked all out of nothing.

“Oh, just yesterday.” I answered. “But I lived in Shanghai from January till June earlier this year, went back to the Netherlands to graduate from University and now I’m back to find a job and start my career. How about yourself?” I asked in return.

“I’m originally from Brazil and finished a master’s degree at Tsinghua University in Beijing, and now I’m working for a multinational company here in Shanghai.”

“How long do you live in Shanghai?” I asked.

“Just a couple of months, I graduated last June.”

He introduced himself as Raphael.

“My name is Victor. Good to meet you here.”

Meanwhile, the elevator doors opened, and we walked outside.

“Do you have any friends you hang out with here?” Raphael asked.

“Not really,” I admitted. “Most of the people I hung out with during my internship meanwhile left the city.”

Raphael nodded in agreement. “Yes,” he said. “Shanghai is like a bird’s nest. People are constantly moving in and out.” He grabbed his phone and continued: “Let me know if you like to hang out sometime. I have a couple of Western friends. We usually go out for dinner, drinks or cook at home and have a party.” He offered his phone for me to add my number. I pressed the call button to make sure I had his number as well.

“This weekend we plan to have a couple of drinks in a nice salsa bar on Yongjia Road near Hengshan Road. You should join us if you like.”

“That sounds like a nice idea; I’ll send you a text message in the next few days.” I confirmed.

At the entrance of the compound, we both waived a taxi to the side of the street. Raphael to another day in office, while I asked the taxi driver to drive me to IKEA. It was just after eight in the morning. The worst effect of the morning traffic is usually visible around nine in the morning when highways are occupied with endless traffic jams.

After driving out of Dongxin Road, I asked the driver to take the elevated highway south so we could avoid a hundred red traffic lights on our way to IKEA. It’s amazing how this city comes to life. Most people leave their compound walking to the nearest subway or bus station. The Shanghai subway system absorbs millions of passengers per day on their way to work. It’s better to be in the subway before seven-thirty in the morning unless you want to experience the feeling of being packed like a sardine in a tin. Propounding a Shanghai subway ride around eight-thirty in the morning usually gives you that satisfaction.

Meanwhile, the taxi continued the way onto the elevated highway, providing me with a clear city view. The weather was nice, with the sun comfortably decorating the Pudong horizon. Closer, I could distinguish commercial and residential building construction sites helping to fuel the fourteen per cent economic growth the set by the government for this year. Soon I saw the Grand Gateway towers getting closer. Easy to recognise with their iconic diagonally chopped rooftops, so you’re always able to locate yourself in this concrete jungle called Shanghai.

The taxi driver sorted to the left side of the highway and reverted to street level. He stopped the taxi at the designated taxi drop-off location. From there it’s easy to enter IKEA directly. For me, a visit to IKEA consists of as many as possible shortcuts to minimise the number of impulse purchases. I avoid just following the endless shopping route exhibiting every dark corner of the IKEA building. And how many times did I intent to visit IKEA just to purchase one or two things and came home with a bag full? Way too many times.

While I walked up the stairs, I remembered the one time I came up with the brilliant idea to visit IKEA on a Saturday afternoon. New and naive as I was at that time, I never expected to witness the thousands of people wandering around the shopping floor that afternoon. I mean, I just arrived from a three thousand inhabitant village located in the south west of the Netherlands. Oddly enough though the majority of people had no purchase intentions at all. One long human traffic jam was caused by visitors moving utterly slow from one to the next home display. Throughout this spectacle, people sleep ungraciously on beds and couches or just sit and watch other people slowly moving by. Sometimes three generations worth of family would occupy an entire IKEA living room to make plenty of pictures of the grandparents, parents and children in what is considered for many a luxury living environment. Witnessing this on a Saturday afternoon can be quite entertaining, or at least if you’re not in a hurry for your next appointment.

Interestingly enough IKEA doesn’t do anything against the army of people sleeping on showroom beds and couches. Yes, it can be a bit annoying if the bed you were looking for is occupied by two people who randomly choose that bed to do a nap. But IKEA understands as well that this is the best promotion a company can get. This Friday morning was different. Despite some older people chatting and enjoying a cup of tea in the restaurant area, there were not many people sharing the same idea as me. I followed the map to the products I was looking for but using as many as possible shortcuts towards the cash desks.

4

Huangpu District, Shanghai - 20:10

The subway was nearly empty on this Tuesday evening. The time was heading towards nine o’clock, and possibly most people were home already. The white TL light provided me with an unhealthy and tired look in the window in front of me, even though I dressed up and did not feel tired at all. To kill time, I tried to read and understand some of the Chinese characters in paper commercials on the wall. The air was now clearly fresher compared to a subway full of people in rush hour. The only sound I heard came from the driving subway, accelerating after a short stop and the scratching sound of the wheels changing to another rail. The computerised voice mentioned that we just left South Huangpi Road station, an indication for me that I almost arrived in Hengshan Road. The third stop from now would be the moment for me to depart from this train. Earlier today, I received a text message from Cecile that she is in Shanghai for a few days, and whether I was free to meet tonight.

Cecile was among the first the people I met after I arrived in Shanghai for my internship. Originally, she came from the city of Shantou, in the south Chinese province of Guangdong. Her dad owns a company in Shanghai, and she was visiting him during Chinese New Year together with a girlfriend. On the evening we first met I was having a drink with a girl in a Xintiandi bar. Cecile was confident enough to approach us directly and ask Chrissy whether she could dance with me for a while. Chrissy must have felt awkward, but her moderate intentions with me made her agree with that, so we danced and talked for a while. We exchanged numbers and agreed to meet again for dinner within the next few days. We first did so together with her friend in a Western restaurant in Grand Gateway, which was a nice evening to get to know each other. Both Cecile and her friend Susy had the intention to study in America and had a clear target in mind to make the American dream happen.

After this, I recall a dinner alone with Cecile in Shangri-la on the Pudong side of the Bund, where we, among other dishes enjoyed a hundred Euro lobster in soft cheese sauce. This culinary highlight added significantly to the restaurant bill, but never mind. I was on a student pension from the Netherlands and earned money out of my internship so actually had more money to spend back then compared to now. Throughout her Chinese New Year holiday in Shanghai, we grew closer to each other, leading to her staying over one night at my shared apartment where we had sex for the first time. It only happened once as her dad was a bit protective, and she would be leaving Shanghai back to Shantou to start her second semester in school. By text message and an occasional call, we stayed in touch over the next couple of weeks.

That was even when she confessed that at the time we met, she was actually still in her last year of high school and just sixteen years old. This, in addition to her claiming to be eighteen years old. She was scared I considered her too young, was her explanation. I was twenty-four at that time. Later I learned that in addition to America, where laws can be stringent - the Chinese law defines the age of consent for sexual activity to be fourteen years, regardless of gender or sexual orientation.

Meanwhile, the subway slowed down, and I heard the computerised voice mentioning that we were nearing Hengshan Road. The subway was basically empty now. Probably the next stop in Xujiahui people who finished dinner will float the subway to follow their way home in the Southern part of Shanghai. I stood up and kept myself in balance while the subway came to a stop. The door lights started flickering, and a beep sound made clear that the doors would open soon. While I step onto the subway station platform, the same voice reminded passengers once again that we arrived in Hengshan Road. It seemed I was the only one on the platform. How could a city like Shanghai be so quiet? While the subway gained speed and left the station, I saw one more person with Hengshan Road as destination. In the bright white platform lights, I could identify her as a female person. She was about fifty meters away. While I was looking for an exit to leave the platform, I heard

“Hey Victor!” When I heard the voice, I realised it was Cecile.

We walked towards each other, still the only persons on the subway platform.

“Wow, what a coincidence,” Cecile remarked while she gave me a quick but firm hug.