Sitting Round Outside in the Winter

Shanghai today was cold.  Not frigid, but seemingly no warmer than Beijing.  Flying down from the capital I presumed we’d get a bit of a lift.  I think it felt even colder all day because of the humidity.  A wet cold sticks to you, blankets you in a way that a crisp cold, does not.  The same is true for muggy heat.

I am reminded of being in Shanghai in 1993.  That winter I lived in the city and used to marvel at all the people sitting round outside in the winter.  Old people were lined up on chairs, sitting outside of buildings, bundled up in coats and hats chatting away pleasantly, playing chess, slapping down mahjong tiles.   It made no sense as they could only be freezing.  Indeed they were.  But it was less cold sitting outside in the modest sun light, then it would have been inside, where there wasn't any heating.  Apocryphally it was the Chairman’s own decision that dictated to citizens living south of the Yangzi River: “no heating will be provided.” 

Thwarted by Congress Obama will utilize executive powers to insist that broader background checks be applied to people purchasing firearms.  The NRA and some large swath of the nation are outraged by this affront to their perceived Constitutional freedoms.   Consider the enormity of difference involved were an executive, albeit a southerner to dictate to the U.S. population: all those who living south of the Mason Dixon line will not be provided with heating.  Verily, it is impossible to imagine, barring some extreme period of warfare and national sacrifice.  I wonder if the Party has considered this or that mass mobilization effort recently only to hold off, for fear that the current citizenry would openly defy it, calling their bluff.  It is becoming just as difficult to imagine such a mandate being successful in contemporary China as it would be in contemporary America.

I haven’t checked the weather but I’m operating under the assumption that Shenzhen will be a bit warmer.  I’ll be landing there in an hour.  In the mean time I’m “living the difference.”  I’m aboard Shenzhen Airlines; the only other domestic carrier that is part of Star Alliance.  The inflight “entertainment” is different!  It is insipid, of course, but I am unsure of precisely what it is they will show next.  Instead of a cartoon panda telling me to not smoke during the flights, and to take off sharp objects if we all need to evacuate the plane, I have a suite of six year olds in adult uniforms telling me precisely the same things.  Why they even found a young child of African decent to dress in a Michael Jackson-like outfit.  Isn’t that sweet.  Certainly now I will not tamper with the smoke alarm.

The food is coming.  The food might be different as well.  I remember they often follow-up the meal, cruising the aisle with a jar of hot sauce to add dollops to anyone who requests it.  That’s different.  Perhaps I’ll consider the Shenzhen Airlines inflight magazine, while I’m at it.