Speaking of coincidences, my Computer Science 1 teaching assistant from college is in Shanghai, and being discussed on Smart Shanghai.

You might call Shanghai the "city of coincidence"!

There's a Citibank going in at the rear of 龙之梦 Mall at Zhongshan Park, next to the Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf. Citibank was one of the ten foreign banks to apply for full operational status after WTO commitments came due this December. Foreign banks now operate under the same rules as domestic banks, the most obvious result being that those banks can now offer accounts in the local currency to individuals.

We may be buying a house in the next year or two. It's something to keep in mind.

Back when Asa and Chris lived by the Shanghai train station (ah, those were the days), they introduced me to a neighborhood that has sat in a back corner of my mind for months. It's the winding maze of alleys and ad-hoc housing built up around 地梨港路 Diligang Road, sometimes called the 地梨港路住宅小区 (I'm sure it has a historical name, but I haven't found it... yet. Maybe a left-over bit of 蕃瓜弄?).

Inspired by my current read of Hanchao Lu's Beyond the Neon Lights: Everyday Shanghai in the Early Twentieth Shanghai, I decided to take a trip through one of Shanghai's few remaining shantytowns, and certainly the most central one. And you thought that 里弄 alley housing was Shanghai's only characteristic housing!

Doing some research online, I found out that the neighborhood is seen as dirty and a nuisance by the Zhabei district government:

闸北区市容环境卫生质量事件整改通知书

42	11:45	地梨港路交通路口	道路	墙面乱涂写	3
43	11:45	地梨港路交通路口	倒粪站	小便池外垃圾散落	2
44	11:46	地梨港路（交通路~中华新路）	道路	路段上垃圾大量散落	3
45	11:48	地梨港路地梨村61弄143号	公厕	照明设施损坏，倒粪口污染，恶臭	3

In fact, according to the police report it's a hideout for thieves!

地梨港路地区平房密布、窄弄弯弯，初到这里，若没人领路，就像步入迷宫。近年来，大批流动人口涌进地梨港路住宅小区。要在这一复杂的地理环境中抓获狡诈的犯罪嫌疑人黄军华并非易事。

The Diligang Road area is densely populated with small residential housing, and veined with small twisty lanes. The first time you go there, if you don't have somebody to guide you then you will get the impression that you've walked into a labyrinth. In the past few years, no small number of domestic migrants [the so-called "floating population", an easy target for finger-pointers in Shanghai --MS] have moved into this area. To capture the thief Huang Junhua in this tricky area was no easy task.

So... if you want to see/photograph one of Shanghai's most accessible and quaint shantytowns (and I don't feel gentrification-guilt saying that, because alley housing and Western villas get all the attention from Shanghai's expat photographers), or if you're looking for cheap housing, or 民工 construction clothes, head over to the Shanghai Railway Station's north square, hang a left past the long-distance bus station, and look for the slums on your right. Demolition has already begun.

It's election day! I'm late, you say? No, I mean, it's time to vote for your representative to the National People's Congress (Wikipedia). There's banners up in our neighborhood, and I got this e-mail today at work:

 发件人: All_User_Email
 发送时间: 2006年12月12日 10:41
 收件人: Inbound
 主题: 积极投入人大选举12/12/06（今天）
  
 积极投入选举 12/12/06（今天）
 亲爱的同仁，
 公民的选举权和被选举权是公民的一项基本政治权利，它是公民参与管理国家和社会
 事务的必要前提和有效途径。请大家积极参与选举，行使自己神圣的权利。
 拥有上海户籍和上海居住证的员工可以在公司直接参加选举（见饭厅名单公告）
 选民写票的具体要求：
 对候选人赞成的，在候选人姓名上方的小方格内画上一个“O”；
 对候选人反对的，在候选人姓名上方的小方格内画上一个“X”；
 弃权的，在候选人姓名上方的小方格内不要画任何符号。
另选其他人的，在选票的空格内写上所选人员的姓名，并在其姓名上方的小方格内画上一个“O”。
 填写符号要准确，字迹要清楚。
 选区全体选民的过半数参加投票，选举有效。如果第一次投票失败，则要安排第二次选举。
 所以请大家，尽量积极参与选举，行使自己神圣的权利。
 投票日期：2006 年 12 月 12 日（今天）
 投票时间：上午 10：00 至下午 15：00。
 投票地点：OS 4 楼 餐厅
  ADB 2 楼 餐厅
  LQ 服务中心

 若有任何疑问请联络。。。(。。。, 分机。。。）。谢谢！

Most company-wide e-mails are bilingual Chinese-English, but this one was for Chinese employees only. I translate it here:

To: All_User_Email
 Sent:  December 12, 2006, 10:41
 From:  Inbound
 Subject:  Enthusiastically participate in the People's Congress 
   vote on 12/12/06 (today)
  
 Enthusiastically participate in the People's Congress vote on 
   12/12/06 (today)

 Dear colleagues, 
 The right to elect and to be elected is a basic political right of 
 a country's citizens, a requisite and effective way for citizens 
 to participate in the governance of their society and country.  
 We'd like to ask you to please excercise this sacred right by 
 enthusiastically participating in the election.  Employees who 
 are registered Shanghai residents or have residency permits 
 can take part at the company itself (see the list of names posted 
 in the dining hall).  Concrete voting procedure:

 - Write an "O" in the little box next to the names of the 
   candidates you support.
 - Write an "X" in the little box next to the names of the 
   candidates you oppose.
 - If you wish to abstain, do not write anything in the box 
   next to the candidate's name.
 - If you wish to write-in a candidate, write the candidate's 
   name in the space and write an "O" in the box next to it.
 - All marks must be written clearly and correctly. 

 Over half of qualified voters in a district must participate for 
 the vote to be valid.  If the vote fails to be valid, a re-vote 
 will be carried out.  So please, please excercise your sacred 
 right by enthusiastically participating in the election.
 
 Voting date:  December 12, 2006 (today)
 Voting time:  10am-3pm 
 Voting location:  OS 4 dining hall
   ADB 2 dining hall
   LQ service center

 If you have any questions, please contact ... (..., extension ...).  
 Thank you!

So now you're wondering how the campaign has been shaping up. Plenty of mud-slinging? Harmonious as president Hu would like it? Maybe I've been looking in all the wrong places, but I have seen no evidence of campaigning at all. I didn't even realize that the election was coming until I saw the banner go up on the fence below our apartment yesterday. Anybody else?

This evening Jodi, her mom and I went to the Toys"Я"Us at the Super Brand Mall to avoid the crowds at the Grand Opening this weekend. Reaction? It has Uno and Mr Potato-head, but not Candyland or Frisbees. Overall, it's got a lot of toys but it's still a little too small.