Being a tourist is weird, you kind of want an, ahem, authentic experience but there is one small problem as to how define that, experience it and not sound like an patronising imperialist in the process which is virtually impossible (trust me, I know it). Anyhow, I had time to check out the old town of Shanghai which was authentically inauthentic. While the buildings were old and impressive...
...they housed traditional Chinese restaurants such as Håagen Dasz and...
...Starbucks (I didn't bother to photo the McDonald's, the joke was old by then). The problem with the old town was that they had tried to please the tourist trade and Shanghai's abusive relationship with capitalism (ie advertising and shops are everywhere).
I have no idea what these dinosaurs were doing there but they didn't really seem that out of place.
The highlight of the entire place was this old woman rockin' the mic old school. Even though it was screeching with feedback she kept yelling whatever it was she was yelling. It was kind of punk rock and probably the only 'authentic' (ie not controlled or staged) thing there.
I guess this is the modern dilemma for all nations. How does one cultivate and include the past in a modern capitalist society...
...because if you take one step back, capital is encroaching from all sides.
But then again, in five hundred years time, our descendants might look at our mighty glass towers the way I look at Buddhist temples now...
...that is, unless this stock market crash really takes hold and we end up living like Mad Max in ten years. We'll be too busy trying to eat each other to care about such whiney navel gazing.
Whatever happens, this is a job I do not want.
No comments:
Post a Comment