Behind the smiles and neon lights: My reflections on life in Shanghai after living here for two and a quarter years – Shanghai’s society – fragmented and unequal?

Nearly everyone who is in Shanghai comes from somewhere else. People come here for a wide variety of reasons: some have come to escape from difficulties and trials at home and wish to start again. Some foreign expatriates arrive in Shanghai to advance their careers, for them working and living in this bustling megalopolis is just another rung on the career ladder and an exciting adventure, a short term sojourn. Millions of people come to Shanghai hoping that they will become rich and successful, for many it’s place for opportunities, where dreams can come true. Sadly however, most people that come to Shanghai, instead of finding riches and success, only find heartbreak, disappointment, frustration, struggle and intense loneliness; Shanghai revolves around money and business.

Photo: MK Media Productions

A Shanghainese friend once commented that Shanghai is like heaven for those who are rich but it’s hell for those who are poor. It’s difficult to disagree with that comment. Money can buy you anything that you desire, Shanghai has everything that you could possibly want to have and possessing money makes anything possible – you can even buy friends, you can even buy a wife or husband. A society that worships money and status that seeks to create this illusionary utopia inevitably excludes those who don’t have money or status. A poor person here is friendless and regarded as worthless. A rich person is surrounded by friends; he or she is considered ‘la crème de la crème’ of Shanghai society, the elite.

The elites are highly exclusive, largely consisting of people from overseas, hierarchical and self-preserving. There are various organizations in Shanghai that serve the needs of the elites primarily: these include chambers of commerce, business networking associations and social organizations. These groupings interconnected with each other enable the business elites in the city to form a powerful united group. The main purpose of these organizations is to enrich themselves through helping the people who belong to the elites become richer and more successful. These organizations are powerful and it’s in their interests, and also those of the people they serve, that Shanghai remains a money orientated, materialistic, consumerist society. These elites share similar values: it’s honorable and good to be rich and successful, it’s good to enjoy a hedonistic lifestyle and it’s a shameful disgrace to be poor; be self reliant but at the same time be part of the group and survival of the fittest. There is nothing inherently wrong with Shanghai having business elites: great talents and entrepreneurs are wealth and job creators, many people would argue that their success and prosperity will only boost Shanghai’s economy and the wealth will trickle down to benefit all of society and China as a whole. However rapidly developing market capitalism coupled with a materialistic and money driven society such as Shanghai’s creates losers as well as winners and stark inequality.

You will find many similar characteristics in other major global cities such as London and Tokyo for example but I think Shanghai’s dynamic is unique in the sense that Shanghai is the financial centre of a developing country. China’s welfare, education and health infrastructure is poorer than in developed countries, this is especially the case in the underdeveloped western and central regions of China. As a result of these factors, pursuit of money and avoiding poverty are understandable goals for many Shanghai dwellers. Society’s values are of course influenced by culture and history. Shanghai society has to be one of the most unequal societies in the world. You only have to go to Jing’an District to see vividly the reality of societal inequality. Beggars standing outside high end shopping malls that are full of shops selling designer brands.

Shanghai has some positives: as I’ve already mentioned, it’s a place of opportunities and possibilities, wonderful food can be enjoyed in the city and it’s always a fascinating place with interesting, often unusual, people; however, there is so much that is false and pure pretense here. There are some who shop or indulge themselves to feel better because they feel miserable, depressed or lonely. There are people with friends here that are actually friendless. Everything is superficial including many relationships; amongst the elites relationships are for business. It’s difficult to find true deep meaningful relationships within the expatriate community. Firstly, the expatriate community is so diverse; it’s made up of people of many different nationalities with different cultures and languages. There are two types of expatriates: the full expatriate who has been posted to Shanghai by his overseas company (normally a man) and the so called ‘half-pat’ who comes to Shanghai and works for a local company or school. These two groups don’t have much in common. A few of the full expatriates come to Shanghai with spouses and children. They are provided luxury (by Chinese standards) villas in exclusive closed gated villa compounds. The families have very high incomes. In stark contrast to this group, you have teachers who work for local schools or universities. Most people in this group are young and single and their income is far lower than some full expatriates. I’m afraid there is some snobbery directed towards teachers and even new arrivals to Shanghai within the Shanghai expatriate community. There’s a joke in Shanghai: ‘The only thing that isn’t fake in Shanghai is your mother’. Shanghai is infamous for its counterfeit goods like CDs, watches and bags etc and I’m afraid there are many relationships that are similarly counterfeit. Sometimes the smiles on people’s faces fails to mask the strained looks as people struggle in this highly competitive and ruthless city. I’m fortunate that I do have a couple of genuine friends here and count myself as blessed. In every place you will find good aspects and bad. I feel it’s important to recognize that not everything in Shanghai is perfect. Money cannot buy happiness and I hope that the 2010 Expo will serve to stimulate a more equitable social society.

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