East Meets West
A: Upon first seeing the Shanghai Bund, a tourist arriving from mainland China might very well say, ”This reminds me of London and Paris!” And a Westerner who ended up in Yuyuan Bazaar might also be endlessly fascinated by the stalls selling used furniture and embroidered shoes. They might pick up a few old things along the way, dust them off and put them on to fit in better with the city’s Eastern stmosphere.
B: That’sShanghai’s allure: she shows different sides of herself to different people. It’s just like Shanghainese women; to Westerner they embody the mysterious East ,and to Chinese they represent the fashionable West. In sum, the Shanghainese are the best at marking people see what they want to see.
A: Where did they pick that up?
B: It’s just something they know. In the past one hundred years,Shanghaihas attracted people from all overChinaand all over the world. As a result , the Shanghainese have lernt to understand the wants and needs of all kinds of people. Even thoughShanghaiisn’t one of the main sources of traditional Chinese culture, Western culture is still an imported commodity. The people ofShanghaiunderstand what is needed to make products which both Westerners and Easternsers desire, based on their repective multicultural environments.
A: What kind of products are you talking about?
B: For instance, the traditional Chinese qipao.You’ve seen the movies In the Mood for Love and Lust, Caution, right? Just think how many people went crazy over the qipao worn by the actresses in those movies! During the 1930s Shanghainese tailors altered the loose, long-sleeved dresses worn by the Manchu women of the Qing Dynasty into the form fitting qipao you see today. The qipao hugs the body from head to toe. It has the allure of a traditional Chinese garment, but at the same time it shows off curves and exposes skin , which makes the dress more attractive by Western standards.
A: From what you’re saying, it sounds like the qipao is the kind of dress that would live up to the fantasies of men from anywhere in the world.
B: Exactly. Another example of the semless blend between East and West inShanghaiis the shikumen style of housing. Shikumen style houses are modled after Western houses, but at the same time they are densely packed and affordable to the middle class people ofShanghai. People who may not be rich but still want to live in Western-style houses.
A: It seems like the Shanghainese are really experts at blending cultures!
B: Of course. You can see this by looking at an example from television. A shanghai television station decided to film their own version of Dancing with the Stars. This kind of TV show may be old nes to foreigners, but it was the first time many local Chinese viewers had seen such a thing.
A: The Shanghainese take the good from all cultures and skillfully shape them into a unique ,incomparable ”Shanghai Culture.”
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