I was in Shanghai last weekend with a visiting colleague. The day was lovely. Warm, relatively clear.

We went to a new art and cafe district (Taikang Lu) to look at a photographer’s studio, wander a little and have a cold beer. The area is great and has a wonderful atmosphere. People wander around looking in the stores of artisans and sit in- or out-doors in a large number of cafes and restaurants.

During our beer, in one of the key intersections a couple decided to pose for their wedding photographs. The two of them, photographer and two photographer’s assistants made a small spectacle, with people banked up in the three small feeding streets politely waiting and not wanting to interrupt the photography.

Since they were being inconvenienced, quite a number of passers by also took photographs.

I took one as well. The groom is in the front left with his back to the camera (so his untucked shirt cannot be seen). One of the photographer’s assistants is out-of-site behind the groom as a point of focus for the brides attempt to stare dreamily into the distance.

Greece has for much of the last 200 years been a rather ethnically and culturally homogeneous society. This is beginning to change with evidence of migration from Africa, the Middle East, Central and South Asia and from China and the Philippines. Yesterday I wandered with friends through the new migrant areas of Athens.

Tagging before Digg

We started at Keramikos metro station, which abuts an old gas storage facility. The area used to house light industrial businesses, and the evidence of the decline in these businesses (at least in this area) abundant.

The gas storage tanks and other buildings have been converted to galleries and exhibition sites. Around the new metro station the bars and restaurants are in abundance and the area has developed a reputation as an interesting and artistically edgy place to visit for food, drink, music and art.

Gentrification

Walking toward the centre of Athens we pass through some of the new migrant areas, again showing the transition from decay to revival. Old, decrepit buildings are intertwined with newly refurbished ones.

A grand old building waiting for renovation

There are a couple of short stretches where the signs on the buildings show evidence of Chinese and Indian entrepreneurial migrants. There work seems to be clustered around trade in textiles and clothing, including footwear, manufactured goods and cosmetics. And, of course, stores to support the new migrants.

Pyjamas and nightwear

I would be interested to know more about the patterns of migration. There seems to be clustering of activities. My guess is that the Chinese migrants are likely to be from the Wenzhou area in Zhejiang, which has a very strong traditional of outward entrepreneurial migration and a strong manufacturing base in textiles, clothing and footwear. I suspect that some of the Chinese in Athens are the extended family distribution arms for some of these businesses.

More Import-Export

The Africans, so prominent on Ermou Street, selling leather goods, seem to be more salesmen than distributors. They play a game of cat and mouse with the police, who I guess are seeking more to control the sale of counterfeit goods than unregulated street retail per se. I don’t know whether they get their bags from North African manufacturers, or from Chinese ones. The difference could be quite important for making guesses about economic and social mobility.

Indian Supermarket

Interestingly, Greece is now experiencing inward migration, the same way that other countries, such as Australia, Canada, South Africa and the United States experienced inward migration from Greece. One hopes that those coming to Athens meet with the same opportunities and, if the world has at all progressed, more openness still.

I got back to the UK last week and its been a busy time settling back into the office, preparing teaching and catching up with friends and colleagues, both in Nottingham and London.A number of things (some petty and in no particular order) have struck me as odd after my brief (9 month) visit to China:

• Things in the UK are very expensive and calorific, I think the average visit to a cafe gets me more calories than I used to consume in a whole day and costs me about 3 days worth of eating in China

• The traffic here, even in congested London is frighteningly fast, though relatively ordered.

• There are some new faces in the corridors and I’m looking forward to meeting new colleagues.
• Its nice to have some of my things around me, though I’ve not got much choice but to live from a suitcase for the next year given I’ll be heading back to China for second semester.

• Like Shanghai, there are lots of interesting things to discover in London, old and new. Large cities seem to be treasure troves of things to discover and different friends have different insights.
• Its a real pleasure not to have to dodge bicycles and motor scooters on the footpath, at least so much.
• Capitalism in the UK doesn’t have a raw presence on the streets the way that it does in China
• Buying from the internet again is such a treat.

And, I’ve got so much work to do its frightening.On that note ….

I spent today in Nanjing, very productively, decided on accommodation, had some useful talks about cooperation, a fantastic lunch and observed the commercial centre of Nanjing.

Technorati Tags: China, Nanjing, Photography, Shopping

The highlight was a wonderful lunch, with my first time eating rabbit cooked Chinese style. The rabbit was reasonably spicy in a thickish sauce. It was really very delicious.

I took some panoramic photo sets, two of the centre of Nanjing University and three of the shopping hub of Nanjing (including waiting around until after dark to capture the night lights). Alas, the day was hazy and so the contrast is poor. More significantly, I muddled my zoom and angles so I have missing sky in the panorama attached to this one. This mistake will teach me to try to make short cuts–using two rotations just won’t work with my widest angle lens, I need three to have enough overlap to stitch the photos and to cover the full sky.

Despite my flawed execution, I’ve posted the panorama below because the quadrangle at the centre of the Nanjing University is really quite beautiful, creating a tranquil heart to the campus and something of an oasis given the campus fairly close to the centre of the city.

Much more impressive photos are in a book I was given a gift by my lunch host. The book contain a series of photographs of the main building (which is the original Nanjing University building and the one at the start of the panorama). The photos are taken in different seasons and different weather conditions and are accompanies by sketches of the building and some history. Its one of those very charming books that is meaningful and powerful because if its elegance.

Two metro stops from the tranquility of the quadrangle above, there is an impressive labyrinth of underground shops (in centre of Nanjing shopping precinct). The atmosphere recreates some of the crowded streets of old market towns (such as the Laines in Brighton). The bustle, tiny shops and crowds (of mostly young fashion shoppers) is great, but hard to capture, with the low light and without feeling as though one is intruding. Below is an attempt.

Enough lamenting my poor photography skills (well, lets call it critical reflection), more practice (and more critical reflection is needed).