Shanghai is the financial capital of China with a wealthy population and very modern features. The subway and architecture of new buildings rival any other city anywhere. At the same time, it’s impossible to take China out of Shanghai and the old ways die hard.
Tucked into every street and every nook and cranny are small shops and stores, many only a single garage-door wide if that. I met a shop owner today who is opening a women’s accessories shop on Monday, just six days from today. She told me she has had two other shops, all small and all hers. The rent for the space is 3,000 RMB per month, about $450 or so.
I’m going to ask her if my Economics class can follow her business a little to see how she does. It will be good for them to compare theory to reality. Of course that’s just a dodge to collect information myself. The entrepreneurial spirit is just ingrained for the Chinese I know and see here; it was the same in Xiamen. Tons of small businesses popping up everywhere, with no consideration for economy of scale.
New Accessories Shop Under Construction
For some reason, small metal working shops are all over the place, here in Shanghai, in Xiamen and in the other places I’ve visited. The products are of two types predominantly: window frames and stainless steel grates or doors like prison windows and doors. The shops all look the same, about the size of a one-car garage, and most of the work, including welding, is done on the sidewalk or curbside in front of the shops.
Metal Shop
And there are other very small shops selling all sorts of new and used stuff. The Chinese throw nothing away. So there are used-everything shops all over ranging from air-conditioners to electrical appliances, to mobile phones and cooking equipment.
Used stove parts store.
And little food and vegetable shops are everywhere. Every afternoon, near my apartment a dozen push cart vendors appear to catch the folks coming home from work. They sell food, including made-while-you-wait noodle dished, barbequed skewers of marinated pork, vegetables, some fried stuff; DVDs, flowers, an assortment of purses and bags…………..and for some reason, a lot of socks.
Basket of Fresh Choy, A very good veggie, hard to find small, tender ones like this in the US markets.
Speaking of fresh food, It’s springtime here and not unusual to see older women weeding. I saw two weeding the planters in front of a bank and this one in the photo was weeding in front of a shopping mall. They’re not really weeding, they’re actually picking various green things that are apparently edible. They look like weeds to me, but these gals are particular and go only for the good stuff. I did see people actually weeding, a whole big section of grass bordering a park. All by hand, with little metal diggers……………about ten guys all working away. No Scott’s Turfbuilder plus anything used here.
Gatherer.............what's cooking for dinner?
Fixes bikes maybe................or saving the bike fixer's spot.
Common scene in my neighborhood.........generic transport and recycler
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