Think about it.  The sitting mayor of Baltimore is on trial for petty theft.

Meanwhile, while American city mayors are bogging their cities down by committing criminal activities, Shanghai is emerging as world economic center.  Well, I suppose Shanghai did have its Chen Liangyu.

Here’s hoping Dixon meets the same fate.

Doubt this will change demand much for taxis in the city.

SHTig’s takeaways — Shanghai is a real pressure cooker, everyone is angry here. And thus, I don’t accept any argument from Chinese friends that the way to handle tough situations is through gentle and retreating words. Chinese people in this city can get harsh in a hurry.

Apparently the free coffee is not boosting McDonald’s breakfast menu sales, but that’s probably OK by maidanglao.  Getting the word out is worthwhile.  They’ve been supporting the free coffee campaign with TV ads that note the new coffee product line.

I live in downtown Shanghai, and it’s a common to see pedestrians tenderly gripping a cup of Starbucks, green queen logo facing outwards.  You never see someone nursing a McD coffee like this.  Will be interesting to see if McD’s can break thru the shallow snob barrier.

Just the typical shit. I was looking at blenders and the sales kid stood there blocking them, totally oblivious that I was straining to see and purchase the model he was blocking (I had to walk away and come back later to buy it). Was looking at scales w xy and people kept stepping in front of us outta no where to try the scales (not even considering purchasing, just playing around), crowding us out from selecting one to purchase until they left. Women hitting xy w their bags to nudge her out of the way. Girl shoving my cart out of her way even while I was moving with it.  Running into an acquaintance who cut in front of us in check out line (no one was behind us, so that was ok), but then jumped back to another line because her friend had already reached the register, and then acquaintance offers for us to cut up to the front of that long line with our stuffed cart.  Of course we didn’t go, and it was embarassing that this acquaintance thought she was being kind to us by being so inconsiderate to others. A stray cart came flying down an escalator ramp and nearly hit me. No one said sorry or yelled “hey watch out”. A taxi driver stopped for me and others jumped in. I said in driver window “hey”, he just totally ignored and drove away. Coming into our apt complex plenty of people milling around at entrance, no one helped us w door that requires keying in a passcode from outside or elevator button, just gawked or ignored as our bags were breaking (there were 10 people doing essentially nothing on either side of the security door). That’s just in the last 2 hours. 

We had managed to ignore the old man peering in through the window, beckoning alternately to sell flowers to us,  have a glass of our plum wine, or just for a cash handout.  But as we headed for the exit at 11pm, the stirring activity outside caught my peripheral vision.  I put my girlfriend on notice ~ if they accost us, I’m not backing down.

About 10 steps out onto a road, a boy who looked about 2 and a half (but turned out to be 5) came up begging for money.  Shooed him away a few times wasn’t working.  Then  I froze and looked around.  Where the heck is his adult handler?   There is no adult.  That’s it!

Next thing we both knew, the little boy was hoisted up in my arms.  We’ll either find out where the adult is or we’ll walk him to the police station.  Either my Mandarin or my muscles are about to get a workout.

Turned out to be both.  After we turned the corner, a lady of 50 years old or so emerged, grinning big and shadowing from a far distance.  That’s her I knew, but I kept my direction toward the police station.  She got closer, and so I started shouting at her why she was using this little boy to beg for money, and why the heck he’s not in bed! The boy was sobbing all the while and, as if in a trance, uttering “xie xie, xie xie” over and over and over.  As we walked on, the lady got closer, asking to have the kid back.   My girlfriend, a non-Shanghai Chinese, was a hero and tough, repeating to the little boy that we were going to the police station and ordering me not to try and talk reason to the beggar woman.

We walked 20 minutes down Shanghai’s Beijing Road, a major thoroughfare.  Lots of rubbernecking at the site of me, a white foreigner and my girlfriend taking turns carrying this little boy, with the beggar lady trailing.  No one even came close to intervening or trying to mediate the situation, which is all too typical for China (I’ll note here that picking up the boy and carting him off is not a good or respectful thing to do to him as a person, and I know that.  Open use of children night after night for panhandling just get to me after a while.)

About 25 minutes after we began this journey, we reached the police (turned out my gf had to call them.)  Two patrol cars and 4 officers, who took turns discussing the situation.

Amazingly, as we explained what was going on to the police, none of them tried to take the sobbing child from my arms.  The beggar woman consistently positioned herself to keep eye contact with the kid, mouthing words to him, which of course I couldn’t see as I was looking forward and he backwards over my shoulder.  The police asked me several times if my complaint was that I suspected the child was not the woman’s.  Although he called her “ayi” (auntie) and not mom, that wasn’t where I was coming from.  I told the police that it’s nearly midnight and this kid is being used for panhandling.

The Shanghai police told me that Chinese laws are different than foreign laws.  I had no choice but to shrug and accept that.  I had played the cards well throughout the saga, telling the boy within earshot of the police that he was brave and could grow up to be a good hero like these cops.  The police assuaged the situation by putting the woman and child into the patrol car “to check their IDs”.  So ended a perfect night…

Two nights ago, on the same road and 2+ weeks later, I saw that boy begging a group of men for cash, and the woman holding roses for sale.  She got one look at me and immediately called out to the boy (who were about 150 meters apart), and together they ran down the street away from me.  Booking at full speed and not looking back.  Last night, I was on the road again with my girlfriend, and another older lady beggar approached.  My gf said to her, “don’t you know who we are?  We’re the ones who got the cops involved.  The beggar stepped back in shock, speechless, and staggered off.  I conclude that whatever the cops did that night disrupted the beggars business for the night, and made for quite a story.

The next night, businesss again as usual.  Except now they keep their distance from me.

The last few days, though, I’ve noticed them getting aggressive.  On February 5th, I was identified by them well before I got to the bank’s door, and one guy walked along with me giving the standard greeting but with much more urgency in his voice.  Dismissing him, but before inside the bank, another guy gave me the same pitch, and actually walked one step with me inside the bank.   Once safely inside the bank, I looked out and saw yet another guy pacing around like a caged tiger and clutching a huge stack of crisp RMB notes. 

Are they trying to dump their RMB?  Do they know something? Is RMB depreciation on the way?

After I completed my bank business – which did not involve “changing money” – I stepped outside and asked one of the guys why they were trying so hard to actively change money.  Did they expect the RMB to depreciate? The response – an adamant, “no, it’s going to appreciate.”  To that I said well, “I’ve heard a rumor that it’s going to depreciate”, which was met with an emphatic “Impossible! bu keneng!” and a dismissive wave of the hand. 

In truth, I hadn’t heard any such rumor, except commentary and my own view that now is probably a good time for PBoC to devalue if they want to go that course.  It’ll help boost exports, as the explanation goes, and really what is the US going to do about it given its problems and how much it needs China’s help generally? Anyway, here’s the rumor – a recent report by the Ministry of Finance saying that the rate should go to RMB 6.93 = USD 1, a modest loss compared to the current rate of about RMB 6.83 = USD 1.

Motorola has been struggling in China for years.  The Harvard business school even has a case for its MBA students about the company’s missteps in the China market (mercifully changing the name of Motorola, but that doesn’t do any good for the company’s workers who are out of jobs as of today).

Notwithstanding this, for now, the scene on the street in downtown Shanghai does not reveal obvious signs of economic strain.

Less than a year ago, one of the economic concerns to me in Shanghai was rapid appreciation of the RMB and inflation.  Now it seems unlikely that the RMB will gain anything – if it doesn’t actually give up some gains its made since 2005 – and deflation may be on its way?  The Coffee Bean chain in Shanghai is peddling its mugs with a promotion of getting a free “cuppa” with the purchase, and the bilingual encouragement of “Don’t let the economy get you down! 不要让经济风暴打垮你”, and bars like the Mexican Adobo offering a daily Economic Recession Happy Hour, with beers for 5 yuan and hard liquor for 7.

It’s always interesting to see well-known personalities reacting to things the rest of us notice here in China. (I remember seeing a short video of South Park creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone on a similar trip a few years back but can’t find any clips online.)