Valentine’s Day in Shanghai
I don’t think I have ever seen Valentine’s Day celebrated as extensively as it is in Shanghai. This year, the sappiest holiday of the year was more elaborate than usual, being that it fell on Saturday. The whole atmosphere was just so cloying. I could hardly stand all the mushiness around me, and was taken to new levels of shock when a friend told me that her students actually thought they should have the day off from class to spend with the objects of their romantic interest. How strange is that?
The traffic on Valentine’s Day was as high as the price of roses. I went out in the evening to meet a friend, planning a most mundane, unromantic dinner. Indeed, I had completely forgotten what day it was on the calendar. I received a rather shocking reminder when the bus got stuck for half an hour in a traffic jam, held up by the thrown-together carts of flower vendors.
At dinner, my friend and I were the only single-sex table, and the only pair without a huge floral arrangement obstructing the path between our chopsticks and the food on the table. It was quite incredible to both of us how overblown the holiday was by those around us. It seemed to highlight just how addicted this city is to romance, and how idealized notions of love are in the minds of the general population.
When I reached home rather late in the evening, I was relieved to be out of the throngs of starry-eyed lovers crowding the city’s streets. I entered the door of my home, thankful for the place of refuge from the sickly sweetness of Shanghai’s Valentine’s Day.
It was only then that I realized just how thin the walls in my flat are, how desperately in need of sound-proofing…. and that Valentine’s Day was not quite over.
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Haha! I didnt’ realize they were so taken with the notion of Valentine’s Day out there.
All my friends who are servers out here reported making killings at their restaurants…they all walked out with piles of cash. So I suppose in it’s own sick way, Valentine’s Day can be a boon for the working people too.
There is that as the upside, I guess.
It isn’t just Valentine’s Day. There seems to be this obsession amongst the younger generation here with sappy, romanticized ideals of love. It’s like they actually believe what they see in the movies and TV shows that they import from the US over here, and try to live it out and make it real life. One drama after another. It’s really quite amazing.
Reality TV takes on a whole new meaning on the streets of Shanghai. You don’t have to have cameras in every room to feel that the whole world is watching, and so you live out the drama all the time.
ugh!! I remember those kinds of walls in our apt while still in college….our upstairs neighbor and his girlfriend!! UGH! we kept a broom in our room so we could bang on the ceiling when they started their “celebrations”!!!
Yeah. I can know which couple it is when I see them — pretty much the only ones young enough to make that much racket in my neighborhood.
Most of my neighbors are rather elderly, and the sounds from the activities in my neighbors’ flat at nights is obviously not coming from an elderly pair. I wonder if they would be embarrassed, if they knew how it sounds from my side of the wall?
you should make a recording and leave in their mail box.
I know it’s not a very “chinese” thing to do… but it would be KIND of funny.
I did actually think of recording it and posting it here. But then, you know, I don’t know what sort of traffic that might generate.
I have been very tempted to say something when I see them, but I suspect I would end up more embarrassed than them. My guess is that they are pretty thick skinned about such things.
[...] • Getting away from, er… “active” neighbors. [...]