Cultural (mis)Appropriations

On my latest visit to Shanghai, I made a brief foray into the Parkson Department Store. It's essentially the Chinese take on a western department store, meaning there are boutiques and labels that are familiar to the Western shopper but, upon further examination, turn out to be totally foreign brands. I got a shot of one that's a clear rip-off of L'Occitaine en Provence (a favorite of my friend R).

Even legitimate brands are making inroads and not being ripped off, though the translations (and menus in Chinese) continue to seem like novelties to me.

Shanghai Service Economy

One of the things that has been slowly improving in Shanghai is the quality of service in restaurants. One of the first times I visited Mom here, we went to Jean-Georges’ restaurant on the Bund for their prix fixe lunch. The meal, 3 courses, was only $15 USD. The drinks all started at $20. The services was darn near insolent – you had to pretend you were drowning to get anyone’s attention; waitstaff would essentially stand by and exist in their own personal universes. In contrast, the local restaurant sent envoys from Hong Kong to train their waitstaff for a month before opening, and we had the amusing experience of never being able to finish drinking a tea cup because they were refilled so quickly. They’re also learning about napkins. (Normally, restaurants in Shanghai don't provide napkins.) And Mom pointed out that while they’re waiting to provide service, they don’t actually pick their noses. Yay, progress.