Shanghai China Snippets Observations about living in Shanghai and China in general

Recruiting staff in China is not hindered by “weird” laws that tell you not to discriminate on age, sex etc. And if these laws exist, if so, fill me in, companies don’t seem to really care.

You want to hire a hot, Shanghainese, single employee between 20 and 21, light skin color, minimum height 1.65 and a max weight 50 kg, go ahead.

You want to hire a blackman that can dance? No problem.
Just advertise in one of many online and off line classifieds magazines

Ad scanned from the print version of Enjoy Classifieds

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[tag]Plastic surgery[/tag] is a booming business in [tag]China[/tag]. As insecurity is mounting and jobs are less available students start to use their holidays to sculpt their [tag]face[/tag], higher the nose, get double [tag]eyelids[/tag] and inflate the [tag]boobs[/tag].

The summer holiday is a convenient time as it gives the bruises time to heal.

I’ll just quote a bit. It’s sad but unfortunately a reality these days.

“I want to be more beautiful, to perfect myself,” said Pan, a student at one of China’s most prestigious law schools,… “My face is too big and flat, like all [tag]Asians[/tag]. I would also like to make my nose higher,” said the attractive 23-year-old.

She is attractive but ….

“There is definitely a trend in students having operations,” said Dr Liu Yanqun, EverCare’s director. His hospital gives students 20 percent discounts on plastic surgery procedures.

Sure, let’s encourage students that having your faced spruced up is the best way forward

“Parents encourage their kids to go under the knife with the hope that a prettier face may give them an edge. “

Thanks mum, thanks dad for putting me on this world looking like a duck.

And for all those spiced up creatures, in case you still fail to find a job you can participate in the [tag]Miss Plastic Surgery Pageant[/tag].

Source: plastic surgery holidays
Picture: China Daily –
Another read : The story of Lucy Hao on CNN –
Series: Nip & Tuck is one one of my favorite series about 2 plastic surgeons working on bored housewives. Season 4 starts 5 Sept. 2006 in the US. Probably a couple of weeks later it’s available near you, if you live in China that is.

An interesting choice. An English teacher in [tag]Chongqing[/tag] did a small experiment.

I presented two hypothetical envelopes to three of my girl students between 16 and 18 years old. One of the envelopes was labeled ‘love’, the other ‘money’. I asked the girls to pick one of the envelopes. Without doubt, all three of them chose the ‘money’ envelope, explaining that they couldn’t really trust love but that they could trust money.

I am pretty sure the outcome would have been the same in [tag]Shanghai[/tag].

If you want to know what the guys chose, go here

I just got a call on our fixed phone.

I pickup, say my name and someone blurts.

“Is x there”, (x being my better half)

I say in Chinese, “No, she isn’t home”

About to ask whether I can take a message, I hear “oh oh, tuut, tuut, tuut, tuut, tuut”

He apparently hung up and stupefait I listened a bit more to the sound of my phone.

A small Belgium Chocolate Workshop has opened in my neighbourhood. As it’s almost Christmas we bought a couple of Santa Clauses as a gift to spread some more western ideology.

The real news is though that they also sell the Chocolate version of Sinterklaas (Saint Nicholas), a person who actually really existed and whose birthday is celebrated the 5th/6th of December. In Holland the guy is more popular than Santa.

I guess it’s the first version of Sinterklaas in Shanghai, maybe even in China. I tried this years Sinterklaas and he tasted good.

That’s why Santa is in the picture, I have to wait a few more days before he is ready to be eaten.

This post sounds like a plug and I guess it is. The same shop has also some branches in Belgium but I just give the Shanghai address.

Pralinor Chocolate Workshop
432 Taixing Lu, Shanghai (crossstreet Xinzha Lu)
Tel: + 86 (0)21 62586659