I have found a philospher in Shanghai's superficial nightlife world! Someone who both participates and watches from the side. I was sitting next to him in a bar the other night as he scribbled words onto a scrap of paper in the dark, occasionally glancing up to soak in another impression from the circus around us.
I asked him if I could use some of his comments, and he looked at me suspiciously. "Why?" he said.
"Because they are interesting, why else?"
He shrugged. "Everybody in Shanghai seems to want to use everyone else for their own selfish aims. These days, I suspect everyone's motives for everything."
How sad. Anway, I convinced him that I had no ulterior motives beyond wanting to pass his commenta on to my fans, and he handed over the piece of paper. So here are the Thoughts of the Philospher:
"Sociality has one pattern that we live through again and again thoughout our lives on different levels. But the pattern remains the same. The pattern is chaos. An order that looks like a mess. The Dao."
The Dao??!! I asked the philosopher, who is American, where he had come into contact with something so esoterically and intensely Chinese as the Dao. The answer was university, where he several months studying an English translation of the Taoist classic the Daodejing. Such learning!
Here is another deep snippet from his writings that night: "Soul Element. Only the soul can transcend the obstacles of understanding. True soul transcends all cultural barriers. Soul is the Gospel. 'I am the way the truth and the life ...' Chaos."
Chaos is clearly a big concern for him. Which is modern-day Shanghai makes some sense, let's face it!!!
More from the Philosopher in the future, I hope!!
I continue to receive a steady flow of letters and messages from my fans around the world, although I have cut back on the number I actually oput into the report, in order to not provoke another attack of bad manners from Princeton University. But I thought this letter from a darling man named Tacitussed should be given some air space:
"Dear Miss Mai-Mai, Thanks for ruining my life. I say that because I spend my days and nights
obssessed from afar with Shanghai's nightscene. Your column is the proximate cause of this predilection. Now I hate my boring, corporatized, yet affluent suburban American existence. What are you doing to me? Although I'm now back in the U.S., your column keeps me up on a night club scene I crave while away from Shanghai. Finally I actually have a reason to
bring my laptop computer to Shanghai -- to get your latest column. God, I've got to get me a job in Shanghai. Seattle's o.k., but nothing, NOTHING like Shanghai.... Sigh. Anyway, here's another devoted reader/admirer thanking you for your efforts. Best wishes, Tacitussed
How nice, even if he does have something of a problem with spelling!!! I have often been called a tease, so I'm used to it.
A friend of mine came back a couple of days ago from a trip to Beijing where he stayed at the Hilton Hotel, and discovered the most expensieve bread rolls in the world!!! He told me he ordered extra bread rolls via room service and they charged him 52 yuan!! For three bread rolls. Let's see. That's 17 yuan per roll. Nice work if you can get it!!!
Byeeeee!!!
Boys and girls, ladies and gentlemen. And the occasional comrade!! I see MGM nightclub on Shaanxi Lu has closed. I hear of all sorts of goings-on, at least 20 percent of which might even be true!!!
So, where will the hard girls and soft boys who used to pack themselves into MGM in the early hours of morning now go? How about Jack's Banana, just around the corner? The closure of MGM must be a godsend for them, but we'll have to wait and see if the herd head in that
direction!!! One direction they won't be heading in is Hilda's Bar. It has disappeared, buldozed along with all the other building in that block on Yanan Lu.
I went and had a drink with my good friend Annie at the Step Pub opposite the Holiday Inn. Annie is one of the most formidable ladies in the nightclub scene of Shanghai, with a viciously accurate eye when it comes to assessing the chances of success of various ventures. The Step Pub is doing alright. When many places are suffering, they have a steady bunch of regulars, including, Annie said, some Finns who should be winning prizes for the quantity of alcohol they are able to consume.
Among the tricks now being used to boost business in an increasingly difficult market: Halei Bar on Jiangsu Lu is now staging nightly lingerie shows at 10.30pm. Not an original idea, but it certainly has attractions for some people!! The Long Bar is of course still staging its "model" nights. Adam's Show Zone, meanwhile, on Fuxing Lu / Huashan Lu has re-opened with its shows of a more masculine nature.
I saw the final performance of Private Lives, the Noel Coward play which was actually written in Shanghai. It was just like life in the circles within which I move in Shanghai!!! So accurate. I thought Lily was just divine as Amanda and Basia as Cybil was even better than her impersonation of Astrid Gilberto when she sings with the Walking Eight at Superstar.
Here's an interesting website to visit. You can create all sorts of mischief, setting up blind dates between people you know but who don;t know each other!!! Click!
Byeeeee!!!
