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Savoring tea, sheng and toddlers in the park
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Canadian novelist Jane Urquhart once said that the greatest gift for any writer is “unconstructed time.” In other words, time to write with no constraints, no program or timetable, no school run or deadlines, no distractions or demands. This is what writers’ residencies all over the world offer writers — a time and a place to write.
And so I find myself in Shanghai.
Apart from attending events with the Shanghai Writers’ Association, which afford us the opportunity to meet with Chinese writers, it is indeed a great gift to wake up with a whole day stretching ahead during which all I have to do is writing.
It is also what I must do, since I have deadlines and work that must be completed, but there is one problem: Shanghai. The great city is right out there, beyond my window — so what on earth am I doing indoors at a desk?
This is one of the paradoxes of this residency, which we all feel to some degree — we need to work, but we also want to experience Shanghai and see everything it has to offer. Sometimes it is a difficult balance.
However, although I am of course a tourist on an occasional basis, I find it even more satisfying to fully absorb and appreciate the experience of living and working here in Changning District, which is another, and perhaps more enlightening, way of getting to know Shanghai.
I buy my morning bread from a hot oven down the street, get a bun for afternoon tea at Bread Talk, do my grocery shopping at Carrefour on Changning Road (and yes — many of our group have become lost in this huge mall, but I believe we will all be found by the time we are due to go home), and I walk in Zhongshan Park nearly every day.
This beautiful park is one of the great pleasures of living here — watching the various activities such as tai chi, waltzing, singing and walking backwards. I intend to take up many of them when I get home!
Above all, I love to see babies and toddlers out with their grandparents. Nearby Suzhou Creek allows for a pleasant and very quiet walk and, to complete my day-to-day life, I have found a café around the corner that sells the most delicious hot chocolate!
It is the people who make any place what it is, and one of the things I most admire about the Shanghainese is that, in spite of living in one of the world’s busiest and most populated cities, they remain relatively calm, easygoing and friendly.
This has made me wonder why, living as I do in Ireland, with a grand total population of about four million — I never seem to walk anywhere if I can half-run. This short spell of two months in Shanghai has taught me to slow down; to match the pace of those around me.
There is an old Arab proverb that says that if a place calls you, then you should go. Shanghai has tapped me on the shoulder many times, though I cannot say why exactly, apart from my reading a lot of fiction based in this part of the world and, of course, it has such an extraordinary history and a vibrant presence on the world map. There were more particular reasons why I wanted to come.
As a great tea drinker, and having written about tea for various publications, I wanted to set foot in this town that grew out of the tea trade. I have enjoyed many teas while here, and spoken to several experts.
I am also interested in the sheng (óÏ a traditional reed wind instrument consisting of usually 17 bamboo pipes) and I was fortunate to meet musicians who play it with the Shanghai Chinese Orchestra, and learn about this extraordinary instrument, which looks as beautiful as it sounds.
If there is one thing that alarms me about Shanghai, however, it is the extensive use of plastics. Very few people bring their own bags or bottles to the shops to re-use them, and every item is wrapped in layers and layers of plastic.
With such a large population, the people of Shanghai need to remember where all this plastic is going: into our oceans, where it does untold damage to our fish and our waters.
Leaving a place is never easy, and leaving new friends is always the hardest part. During my time here, I have met so many extraordinary people — writers, academics and students, and of course our friends at the Shanghai Writers’ Association. Ireland is a long way away, but I will keep these people, and my memories of our times together, very close to me.
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