Shenzhen: November 2007 Archives

There are many discussions out there comparing Beijing and Shanghai. I've even written briefly about this myself, although it's a cliched argument. Yes, Shanghai is glitzy, modern, glamorous, etc. Beijing is gritty and "artistic" and "cultural". So be it. People can choose whichever one they like.

Often lost in the discussion is the Pearl River Delta region, which boasts a little bit of Beijing and a little bit of Shanghai, all in one place. I spent the weekend in Shenzhen shooting a television program, and it was nice to be back in the area. As regular readers of this blog will know, I lived for nearly a year in Guangzhou working for the Guangzhou English Channel. I spent many weekends exploring Guangzhou and other cities in the Pearl River Delta, and there are many of them: Dongguan, Shenzhen, Hong Kong, Zhuhai, Macao, etc.

I definitely enjoyed my time in the region, and I met many other foreigners who had lived in either Shanghai or Beijing before making the move to sunnier climes. 100% of them -- no exaggeration -- say their lives are far better in the south, and they have no intention of moving back.

I share their enthusiasm. Unfortunately, I am a 20-something slave to opportunity and career-growth. That means, at this point, Beijing is the place to be. In fact, the longer I live here (I lived here for a year and nine months the first time, going on six months this time around), the more I think, perhaps, I could stay. I like cycling around, the weather isn't that bad, things are relatively cheap. Lots of culture, history, and character people.

Then I go to the south and realize that I'm maybe I'm starting to believe my own PR spin.

Beijing will always have a special place in my heart, no doubt. But for lifestyle, nothing beats either Shenzhen or Guangzhou; and you can choose to live in either, because they are so close you can easily go between them anyway. I spent Saturday night in Shekou, in Nansha District, in Shenzhen. Shekou boasts a beautiful square featuring an old cruise ship that has been turned into a restaurant on one end. The other sides feature everything from western retail restaurants and cafes to excellent nightlife options. There was no hustle and bustle, no fancy cars, no talk about the Olympics or politics or business... it was relaxing. Couples walked around the square, kids were rollerblading, and others were enjoying drinks on the patio (drinks, by the way, which were much cheaper than Beijing's). And it seemed so, so far away from what's important in Beijing.

Like Shanghai, the weather is good in the south, the fashion is upscale, the nightlife is above average. Like Beijing, it is unpretentious, gritty (in Guangzhou's case), and historic. It's a good mix of the two.

Imagethief mentioned in one of his excellent blog posts (and he has many) that he left his heart in Beijing. After this weekend, sometimes I wonder if I didn't leave mine in Guangdong.

I'm heading out of town for a few days, off to the sunny climes of Shenzhen and Guangzhou. Most of the time will be spent in Shenzhen, where I'm assisting with the production of a new television program (hopefully much more on this to come).

I've always enjoyed Shenzhen. It's a border town (next to Hong Kong) and has a real pulse. People in Shenzhen come from all over China, and very few speak Cantonese as a native language despite the city's location in the heart of Guangdong. In fact, in one of our few email exchanges (and I don't mean to name drop), Da Shan told me Shenzhen and Zhuhai are the only two cities he really visits in Guangdong, because they are the two cities filled with Mandarin-speaking people who are most familiar with him. Conversely, people in Guangzhou are too busy watching TVB Pearl and Phoenix to care.

Anyway, posting this weekend (and likely early next week, when I return to work) should be sporadic. Unless Paul decides to do something useful, of course! Before I head off to fight with crowds at Beijing's horrendous airport (the new terminal can't open soon enough), I thought I'd leave you with some thoughts about Shenzhen, written by a colleague of mine based in Hong Kong. If you're depressed already though, you might want to give this a pass...

See ya when I return.

in shenzhen on the weekend joe told me he was on the edge of the planet, SZ gives you that feeling, a border town if ever i saw one, the tattered edges of the world, brimming with god's unwanted children, god's lonely men.

the alley joe sits and drinks beer in is lined with whores from all the corners of china, sitting on stools for endless hours, eating bird seed or chewing sugar cane, their empty faces staring blankly ahead, their over-made-up eyes with fake MK lashes like the glassy balls of some doll you'd see in your grandmother's house. there was some new ones this time, some looked 13 and change, others had a few more years under their belt, but not many.

i often wondered how joe ended up in SZ, what f*cked up moment of inspiration drove him to the shit hole of a whore house he lived in where he was driven insane by the whores he fell in love with and tried to "rescue," or more precisely, tried to make his sole partner.

mae mae was the latest, he was in love, and now he wanted to put another god dammed child into china. he felt he could die happy if he had a chinese baby. i didn't know what this meant to joe, except struggling with what he was doing in life, having lost himself, he wanted to leave a piece of himself in SZ, in the city he has spent so many years in, the city in which he was certain he would die. i still found it amazing to think he used to own two houses in LA and live on mulholland drive.

since the first time i met joe he told me he was on "over time" and every day was extra beyond the point he was supposed to live. that much seemed true. i remember the time joe slipped down some stairs and couldn't leave bed or move for several days. i tried to bring him some pain killers but the stubborn motherf*cker refused, instead insisting on drinking himself back to health.

joe only drank beer these days, and whisky when i bought it at the border. "my brother said, 'die young and leave a good looking corpse'," joe told me, for the first time talking about his family. "well, he died young but he didn't leave a good looking corpse." joe's brother drank himself to death, a gallon of vodka every day until his body was so ravaged that his liver burst, his eye balls burst, and he bled and bloated everywhere for 13 hours until he finally died.

joe was loosing the fucking plot in SZ, but there's not much i can do about it, he's got to live his own life. it's a mix of feelings i get from him, and whilst his I Ching (易經) readings are invigorating, the whole city itself is a f*cking downer and after joe dies i don't think i ever want to go back.