The Hu

angpu Crawler


E-zine #1



Autumn 2003



































In this issue:


Out and about – this issue we cover Pudong, Suzhou, Xi’an and Nanjing,

quite a trip

Opinion – yes lots


Feature – Art – Bohemian Chic meets Capitalo Communism,

Feature – Urbanization- Qing Dynasty slums get the chop


Feature – Internet – its full of porn, even in China shock

Book Reviews

All the LATEST News


Maybe some cartoons

Fashun

Advertising


& Other stuff, but no hippy communes, maybe next time



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The Huangpu Crawler
E-zine #1

Autumn 2003
U R
‘ere



“Once we realize that imperfect understanding is the human condition there is no shame
in being wrong, only in failing to correct our mistakes.” George Soros (billionaire)

Contents

Editorial 2-4
News 5-17
Out and aBout 18-22
Media and Advertising News 23-24
Art Feature 25-30
Urbanization Feature 31-34
Book Review 35
Internet Feature 36-40
Random pictures of money and tarts 41










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Welcome to Shanghai
Deleted: ¶
"You will save the cover price of this E-zine within the first five minutes of your trip to China!" A
¶
Hacker, book reviewer for the Daily Troddledite
¶
¶

¶
¶
¶
¶
¶
Tip #1 Never trust an airport taxi driver,
¶
¶
especially if he grabs your arm and tries to ¶
drag you away from the official taxi queue.

Editorial
the urbanization of 1 bln peasants
China is a big country, it has the world's largest population, and more disposable Styrofoam
lunch boxes are consumed on a daily basis, per capita, than you would like to think about.
The lunch boxes are though sometimes recycled – washed and then re-used – if that makes
you feel any better.
The strongest underlying trend that any one interested in China should know is that the
country undergoing an industrial revolution. The entire population is in flux, nothing stays
the same for more than a few minutes, new buildings appear with frightening rapidity, and
new ideas and technologies are adopted almost overnight on a regular basis.
This also means there is a vast migrant worker population, hordes of new rich, and even
more new poor- unemployed forced out of dieing state industries.
As with the other industrial revolutions of the past rural inhabitants are becoming urbanized
at an alarming rate.
According to recent research findings by a firm known as Asian Demographics, China's
urban households are growing – soaking up the negative growth in the declining numbers of
rural residents. As China's rural population becomes more urbanized it is repeating the
experiences of the west during the industrial revolution.
The great thing about the newly urban population is that they are a strong growth segment
for the economy- subscribing to new telecom services, purchasing a wide range of electronic
appliances, consumer goods and other conveniences.

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In 2002 it is estimated that 38.3% of the population of China are living in what is defined as
urban areas. This represents an estimated 478.1 mln persons. In comparison there are an
estimated 771.7 mln persons living in non-urban areas (i.e. rural). Taking into account
estimated average household size for each of the two populations indications are that in
2002 there are 154.6 million urban households and 203.2 million rural households.
However, there are significant changes taking place in the composition and size of urban and
rural populations and households with interesting results. Forecasts of the rate of
urbanization indicate that all future population growth is effectively urban - the rural
population is projected to decline in absolute size. In addition those moving to urban areas
from rural areas are typically younger (better educated) persons who are more likely to be in
the household formation stage. So even though average households size is declining in rural
areas (quite rapidly) it is a function of reduction in the size of existing households rather than
the result of formation of new two adult (or two adult one child) households.
The net result of this is that by 2022 it is expected that there will 56.9% of the population
will be living in urban areas and given the relatively smaller average size of households (in
terms of number of persons) this will mean a total of 244.177 mln urban households. This
compares with an expected 181.1 mln rural households. As a point of interest it is 2014
when the number of urban households is expected to exceed the number of rural
households. What all this rapid change means is that China is a very modern country in
outlook – but still very traditional in many of its values, and conservative in its tastes and
morals. But don't let that put you off.
The top ten facts you should know about China:

1. China is predominately an agricultural economy, despite the fact that you may be under
the impression everything is made in China.
2. Though Mandarin (Putonghua) is in theory the main language in China, most regions
have their own dialects, as different from Mandarin as say German is to Italian.
3. The main currency is the Renminbi. Do not say Yuan, nobody will know what you are
talking about.
4. China plans to launch mining operations on the Moon.
5. China has the worlds largest number of mobile phone users.
6. China does not plan to invade the United States.
7. Chairman Mao is no longer a popular topic of conversation, but if you do bring him up
remember he is still quite a popular figure.
8. Chinese food in China tastes very different to Chinese food you would buy in other
places.
9. If the entire population of China jumped up and down at the same time it would likely
cause a catastrophic earthquake.
10. George Bush is known as "Little Bush," though his father was never referred to as "Big
Bush."
EDS note: If you’d like to write us a letter we may even publish it in our next edition. But
before you become inspired to put pen to paper here’s a few guidelines – All letters should
begin Dear Sir, and the respectful tone should continue, telling us how much you enjoy reading
Shanghai Eye, what a great mag it is, how you would actually pay money for it if that was an
option, and generally carry on in that vein. Thanks. Letters from unemployed English Teachers
will be treated as such. E-mail shanghaieye@hotmail.com







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SHANGHAI EYE
NEWS
Internet Fraud hits
Man sets fire to himself
southern China
on Tiananmen Square
AUGUST 23, 2003: Petty acts of
SEPTEMBER 17, 2003: In the public
web-based fraud annoy Shenzhen
mind, self-immolation on China's most
Daily
supervised area can only mean one
thing.
IT WAS widely reported in the
Chinese press that a farmer from
Anhui Province had travelled all the
way to Beijing to set fire to himself.
Today, the hacks explain why, and
while many observers might have
made a mental note of the similiarity
between this act of self-immolation

and the activities on Tiananmen
THE EVER-BIZARRE Shenzhen
Square by members of the banned
Daily, an English-language
cult known as Falungong, the
publication that appears to be
Chinese media have been anxious to
written about, for, and by an
dispel such theories. Zhu
unpleasant and obsessive Chinese
Zhengliang, the troubled peasant in
cult known to all expats as "English-
question, had been forced to move
language students", has been
house, a bureaucrat from his home
reporting on a cautionary tale
county told Chinese reporters. His
involving internet fraud. An
previous dwelling - a spanking new
American named Karen Kalagayan
construction built by his own hands,
apparently visited a Shenzhen-based
apparently - was demolished in the
website, arranged a money transfer
name of "town planning", and his
to buy a digital camera, and then,
"psychological resolve wasn't
surprise surprise, did not get the
enough" to cope with the new move,
goods. This story, unfortunately,
the government official was quoted
looks like it is going to run and
as saying. Others had no problem
run.... Shenzhen Daily is, after all,
with the level of compensation
intimately involved in the
offered, but Zhu Zhengliang's
proceedings, helping Kalagayan
demands were excessive. All this
notify the local police.
indicates, in Shanghai Eye's humble
“Although we’re extremely busy
opinion, that the superstitious
these days, we’ll put Kalagayan’s
lunatics involved in Falungong are a
report on file for investigation and
mere smokescreen, that "restrictions
prosecution as soon as possible,”
on religious worship" - as it has been
said the only foreign affairs officer at
framed in the Western press - are
the police station. You'll have to do
nothing compared to the immense
better than that with the super-
and shattering dislocation imposed
soaraway Shenzhen Daily on your
on millions of ordinary Chinese
case..
people as a result of economic
HOT OFF THE PRESSES
reform, which is of course deemed

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necessary by developed capitalist
of women in the countryside, despite
countries. In the west, problems in
all the "equal in the eyes of the law"
China are often described as a
pieties. Traditionally, a woman will
simple matter of a corrupt and brutal
move in with the man upon
government forcing development on
marriage, and this idea still prevails.
the oppressed masses, and no
For a farmer, it means that the child
consideration is ever given to the
on which you will come to depend
fact that similar, and equally brutal
will actually be elsewhere. Hence,
practices were meted out in their
you prefer to have a boy, who will
own countries in the name of
also be better able to help out with
economic modernization.
the crops, according to convention.
Fewer and fewer girls
The problem is especially severe in
poorer regions, Pan Guiyu noted in
in China's countryside
her speech. "In the countryside, lots
AUGUST 25, 2003: The government
of people take their newly born girls
admits that the ratio between
to the orphanages," she said.
newborn boys and girls is becoming
The story is, of course, exactly the
even more imbalanced
sort of thing that the Chinese press
should be covering. As always,
however, it had to wait for the
official news agency, Xinhua, to take
the lead. As always, the emphasis is
on the incorrect implementation of
state policy, rather than on the state
policy itself (see On the Three
Gorges). The reporting also took
time to divert a little blame onto
foreigners by noting that 99% of
Chinese babies put up for adoption
abroad are female.
There are no direct mentions of the
real source of the problem, known in

the West as the One Child Policy,
Breaking the trend
which remains one of the most
MOST OF the Chinese press are
closely guarded and strongly
today carrying news from the Ninth
circumscribed topics in the PRC
National Women's Congress,
media.
currently being held in Beijing. At
the meeting, Pan Guiyu, the vice-
head of the state family planning
bureau, admitted that the imbalance
between boys and girls was
becoming increasingly serious,
reaching an astonishing rate of
116.86 to 100.
The situation is even worse in the
island province of Hainan, where the
rate has reached 135.64 males for

every 100 females. The head of the

Hainan Women's Association was

quoted as saying that it is very

difficult to guarantee the land rights


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National humiliation
a demonstration against Japan,
remains on Chinese
demanding reparations for war
minds
crimes committed during the
occupation, has been rejected.
SEPTEMBER 17, 2003: SHE marks
Most of the articles in the Chinese
the anniversary of the Japanese
press about tomorrow's anniversary
invasion of China in 1932
emphasize the notion of national
humiliation, an idea that has arguably
played a much greater role in the
history of modern China than
collective ownership of the means of
production, or the eventual triumph
of the proletariat, and one which
remains a bedrock in the Chinese
psyche. Ask anyone in China what
the three digits, 9-18, mean to them,
SOME
and their response is instant.
HAVE said that as Marxism-Leninism
The concept of national humiliation -
collapses under its own contradictions
beginning with the concessions
- and despite the efforts of official
extracted by foreign powers after the
propagandists to patch it together
first Opium War, and culminating in
with theories such as "The Primary
the invasion by Japan - certainly
Stage of Socialism" or "Socialism with
explains the country's preoccupation
Chinese Characteristics" or, lately,
with prestige. This manifests itself in
the execrable "Three Represents" -
massive projects like the Three
the Chinese government has wilfully
Gorges, or in the imminent launch of
promoted nationalism as an
the Shenzhou 5 manned space
alternative mass doctrine. Shanghai
mission, timed to coincide with the
Eye is sceptical about the ability of
country's National Day on October 1.
any government to manipulate public

opinion so blatantly, whether in China
or in Germany, where the
Half-pats and old hacks
government has also been accused of
grace Shanghai Eye’s
stirring up anti-US feeling (see The
daily of choice
Spectator).
However, it is surely the case that
SEPTEMBER 18, 2003: New half-pat
the government has done very little
concept baffles marketing gurus
to discourage particular forms of
THE OTHER day a young Scottish
xenophobia, especially during the
lady told Shanghai Eye that some
minor riots outside various American
long-term foreign residents are not
properties that took place after the
actually expats, but in fact half-pats.
US had destroyed the Chinese
The phrase kind of appeals in a
embassy in Belgrade.
Graham Greene or Conradian sort of
The strongest feeling, though,
way, not quite included, the outsider,
remains against Japan. The
living closer to the ‘real’ society in a
government is, as usual, treading a
country of choice. Perhaps.
fine line. A brief ceremony will be
Having come to China on a wing and
held in Shenyang tomorrow to mark
a prayer, not an expat relocation
the anniversary of the invasion of
package, some manage to grub their
northeastern China by Japanese
way up via a succession of variously
forces, but an official petition to stage
dodgy and straight jobs, all of which

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bizarrely well or poorly paid
as news. Shanghai Eye's coruscating
depending. From pondscum, to half-
account of the Tianjin crack dens is a
pat, still, not quite an expat. Oh well,
case in point. At Christmas, we also
better than the dole.
saw a Washington Post reporter
If you’d like to glimpse the half life
diligently discussing the harsh
that is being a half-pat, the Shenzhen
realities of prostitutes on Hainan
Daily runs a remarkable series of
Island, while telling us precisely
features, what are referred to by
where we could find them and how
Shanghai Eye as ‘pointless foreigner
much they cost.
stories.’
Today, USA Today scribe David J.
Just browsing the latest edition of the
Lynch checks out the lingerie stores
Shenzhen Daily fulfills Shanghai Eye’s
and karaoke clubs of Shanghai, all in
twin obsessions, with Pointless
the name of journalism.
foreigner story #3444 and News
Instead of implying that the writer
breakers in town - old hacks, no
has been getting up to mischief, we
doubt preparing some hot articles
might more fairly criticize the
they will bash out when back home,
tendency of lazy, unimaginative or
in the “gee whiz, China, yeah baby,
perhaps hung-over hacks to
they got skyscrapers and everything”
concentrate on some commonplace
mode.
aspect of human behaviour and then
But Shenzhen Daily’s greatest
say, "Bloody hell, they do that in
accomplishment is its link to the
China too!" There has been a number
Shenzhen Party website, which
of reports expressing obvious shock
reveals probably a little too much
at the idea of Chinese people sending
about the half-pat lifestyle (And are
SMS, drinking coffee, visiting
the real Shenzhen Party – ie, the
brothels, despoiling the environment,
Commies - planning a law suit to get
living in poverty, or having tattoos,
their rightful domain name back..??).
perhaps because for years, under the

madness of Maoism, they weren't
USA Today ponders
allowed to do anything at all.
And of course, no article of this kind
Shanghai lingerie
is complete without the reference to

Chairman Mao. Mao, of course, is a
gift for journalists, being both mad
and dead, and supplying every
possible article one can write about
"New China" - its thriving economy,
the new plutocracy, a young
generation of rockers and wasters
and fashionistas emerging into a
world of high-rises and ecstacy bars
and Starbucks - with the tired old

"he'll be spinning in his grave" motif.
SEPTEMBER 16, 2003: Shanghai Eye

concedes that one can squeeze a story
BREAKING NEWS
even out of one's worst habits.
Foreign hacks join
A TYPICAL hack trick - of which,
Shanghai Eye is wearily familiar - is
Shenzhen Daily's
to pretend that the activities of one's
crusade against crime
everyday life - however sordid,
morally dubious, perverse or even
SEPTEMBER 24, 2003: Member of
illegal - are somehow worth recording
delegation of foreign hacks takes up

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the cudgels in the search of mysterious
like to believe, and the movement
online scammer
towards unrestricted international
ONLY A few weeks ago, when
commerce does not run smoothly.
Shanghai Eye began its heroic
Expect plenty of behind the scenes
mission to snipe and carp from the
negotiations, possibly involving
sidelines, we chose to pick on
China's commitments to its entry into
Shenzhen Daily and its attempt to
the World Trade Organization and the
find the cunning master criminal
loss of jobs in China that membership
responsible for fleecing an American
will inevitably entail.
woman out of a few quid. With the

fleshy portion of Shenzhen Daily's
behind in our teeth, we then drew
Three Gorges carry on
attention to the old foreign hacks
AUGUST 21, 2003: The Chinese
gracing the pages of our favourite
government will not let the Three
daily newspaper.
Gorges fail, under any circumstances,
Imagine our surprise when the two
and even at the cost of economic ruin.
stories came full circle, and one of
READING excellent article on
the old hacks in question decided to
www.threegorgesprobe.org, I am
take up the matter upon his return to
again made aware of the central fact:
the United States. Hooray for
the Chinese government will not let
investigative journalism!
this project fail, under any
LATEST !!
circumstances, and even at the cost
of economic ruin. The article covers
US blames China for job
the fate of certain relocated residents
losses
in the county of Yunyang. After
complaining about the poor
AUGUST 26, 2003: There is a
treatment they received and trying to
growing clamour in the States for
petition the higher authorities, the
Chinese devaluation - according to The
residents are said to have been
New York Times
arrested by local officials, who used
BEIJING IS under growing pressure
the fight against SARS or the creepy
to devalue its currency, the yuan,
Falungong cult as a pretext.
according to yesterday's New York
I am well aware that the trip we took
Times, with analysts citing the
to the Three Gorges last month was
growing trade deficit between the two
rigorously stage-managed by the
countries, and the loss of
officials concerned, and that we were
manufacturing jobs throughout the
only allowed to see the areas where
United States. Some say that the
we - for various reasons - would have
yuan is overvalued against the dollar
been virtually guaranteed to hear
by as much as 40%.
favourable opinions from the local
However, although it might save
people. Hence, we were shown a
American jobs in the short term,
community of farm workers who had
some fear that devaluation would
graduated from mud huts and abject
damage the economy in China, one of
penury to two-storey sheds and
the world's few "engines of growth",
slightly better than abject penury.
and trigger off a deflationary spiral,
Responding to details about
The New York Times reports. (more
persecuted migrants, suppressed
details here)
dissent, and general maltreatment,
As is usually the case in trade
the central government usually
disputes, principle gives way to
blames the local governments for
national self-interest. The free
failing to implement correct policies.
market is never quite as free as some
In some sense, that is a typical

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response of any government - it isn't
against terrorism but also to help
the policy that has failed, but the
secure US presence in central Asia,
people who were supposed to
the location - of course - of some of
implement it - and can also still be
the world's most promising new
heard by unreconstituted Marxists the
hydrocarbon reserves. The US
world over. The theory is preserved,
apparently has the use of a remote
almost as a Platonic ideal, untouched
airbase in southern Uzbekistan, and
by the various failures that would
in return, provides hundreds of
normally be associated with it.
millions in economic aid.
And so, the theory wasn't Stalin or
The author, Robert Templer from the
Khrushschev, Ceausescu or
International Crisis Group, notes that
Jarusewlski, the Red Brigades or the
while the correlation between
Red Guards, the Katyn massacres or
terrorism and poverty is sketchy,
the invasion of Prague, but
there is a demonstrable link between
something much purer.
terrorism and the violation of human
This approach is understandable, but
rights. Karimov is a shrewd operator,
flawed, and ends up leaving Marx -
and has also secured his country's
as well as any semblance of idealism
membership in the Shanghai
- in the ivory towers of academia,
Cooperation Agreement, another
where it cannot do any damage. It
shady alliance designed to clamp
also leads, in the end, to the
down on separatist movements
conclusion that implementing one's
throughout the porous borders
ideals is impossible, that things will
between western China and the
always get in the way, and that plans
former Soviet Union.
will inevitably be distorted.
The image of the United States as
Blowback
global giant, treading on hundreds of
poor oppressed nations in order to
AUGUST 22, 2003: The US throws
further its own interests, ought to be
more stinking stuff at the fan and then
replaced by Mickey Mouse in the
tries to duck....
famous Disney cartoon, The
Sorcerer's Apprentice, in which each
new spell that is cast requires even
more spells to try to reverse the
damage.
China-Japan
relationship worsens
AUGUST 26, 2003: Despite growing
economic ties, China's wounds are still
raw when it comes to Japan.
EARLIER THIS month, five barrels
of mustard gas left over from the
MORE
Japanese invasion of China were
BLOWBACK can surely be expected
found in the northeastern city of
in the central Asian republic of
Qiqihar. Xinhua reported that 43
Uzbekistan, if The New Republic is to
people were taken to hospital and
be believed. An increasingly corrupt
one man later died.
and vicious dictatorship led by Islam

Karimov is being supported
Only a few weeks ago, a poll
financially by the United States,
conducted by an unlicensed Chinese
apparently in the interests of the war
website drew attention to the
massive resentment being stirred up

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