A couple years ago I bought a retro-looking, Shanghai manufactured clock for my brother for his birthday at a small clock shop near Fuzhou Road that I haven't been able to find since then. This year I bought a similar Shanghai manufactured, panda-themed metal alarm clock at an old clock and watch shop on the antique street south-west of Yu Gardens.

If I was a journalist with too much time on my hands, I would try to do for the Shanghai clock factories what Richard Gluckman did for Shanghai's harmonicas.