I Love China and other finds…

Blogroll diving today I discovered I Love China written by a 8-year tenured British Expat in Shanghai. His is a diary from one of the faithful: He is as cyclothymic/manic-depressive as the rest of us, but he states that the norm for him is a genuine appreciation for the language, culture and heart of this country; hence, the blog’s name. He must be a good guy: he has Waiter Rant on his blogroll to balance out the Time Blog entry.

I found a wonderful picture on his site of a phenomenon so common here I forget how much of a novelty it might be for my western readers.

You see, In China one can own a 3,000,000 Yuan house in an “exclusive” complex that comes with all the amenities EXCEPT a clothes dryer. Every balcony in my neighborhood has skivvies to dress shirts hanging out to dry–damned tough some days when it is 97 degrees and 80 percent humidity.

Most “high-rent” locales like mine (a wallet-slamming $300 a month!) have a special porch area that is partially hidden from view so the neighbors don’t get to peek at your delicates. It is essential because locating a washer-dryer combination in a household appliances section of a mallin China is like finding chicken feet in the snack section of an American 7-11. I Love China snapped this shot in Shanghai:

For the record: The web-footed one’s carcass and the adjacent slabs of meat are, thankfully, not real common in my neighborhood.

I am guessing that the drawback here wold be that in a steady wind the unmentionables could end up smelling like pork or duck. Then again that could be an aphrodisiac in Canton, but I digress….

Posted 24 July, 2007 in The Internet, 中国, Blogroll Diving, 中文, Shanghai, China Expat, Top Blogs, Photos, Asia, China Humor, China Expats, Intercultural Issues, Confucius Slept Here, China Photos, Humor

3 comments to “I Love China and other finds…”

dave, July 24th, 2007 at 6:54 pm:

• Thank goodness the Chinese don’t have dryers. Can you imagine the energy drain?

  Here is one of my Shanghai laundry pics

  http://flickr.com/photos/daveinchina/151609202/

  DMP

admin, July 25th, 2007 at 4:01 am:

• I am having trouble with the Flickr plug in ….Images here are blocked….Arrrgh….Working on it now…

  No, I cannot imagine the brown-outs that would happen in my 27 story building nor can I imagine a wrinkle-free China….

Jeremy, July 30th, 2007 at 2:24 am:

• It’s so true, and so incredibly frustrating at times. Several months is fine. But several years or more no dryers & you start to wonder -

  Will they ever have dryers in China?

  Sometimes I even wonder if the true ‘expat’ apartments - you know the ones that start at $1000 (usually paid in US$, not RMB) - have dryers.

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