Student of architecture building a new life
Print Edition
WITH a passion for skateboarding, sport and architecture, it is no surprise James Herrmann fell in love with Shanghai.
The 31-year-old arrived in the fast-growing metropolis five years ago after a spell traveling around Europe.
Herrmann has since established a skateboard company in the West Bund area, designs skateboards and skating areas and teaches children the art of skating.
Besides skateboarding and participating in a number of sports, the American also enjoys traveling and exploring the architectural splendors of different countries.
“I spent half a year traveling throughout Europe, 35 different cities, when I was 23,” he recalls. “At that time I was studying architecture, so I was looking at the buildings and trying to learn and grab stuff as much as I could.”
China was very much a mystery when he first arrived in Shanghai to stay with some family. But Herrmann says he intends to explore more of it with Florencia, his Argentinian girlfriend, who he met one year after coming to the city. Florencia also has an architectural background.
“My uncle has been here for 30 years and he has many expat friends who have been here for more than 20 years,” said Herrmann, who was born in Toledo, Ohio. “I really love them and I also love the architecture here.”
Q: Are you a professional skateboarder? How did you start to coach sports?
A: No. I am not a professional athlete, but I have been a coach of many different sports. I’ve played several sports in my lifetime, so it means that I had a lot of coaches to learn from.
I swam for around 15 years. Every day of the summer I taught swimming lessons in the morning, like a life guard, and then I swam for two hours after that.
I played soccer throughout high school. I also played baseball, basketball and American football.
As a young person, I would question why coaches were doing certain things to me, so I was learning how they were doing it.
Q: What brought you to Shanghai and why you chose this city to live in?
A: I was originally trying to be here for the 2010 World Expo, but I didn’t make it. I got a job, stayed in the US and ended up working in California. After that I went to get a master’s degree.
I have an architectural background. It is a big deal to see the industry and even more to see Shanghai. Lots of crazy things were created at that time. But I didn’t make it. And then I came to Shanghai. I was looking for my next job. I have an uncle who lives in Shanghai, so I just traveled to see his way of life.
Q: Do you remember the moment you first landed in Shanghai?
A: My uncle picked me up at the airport. I felt it a completely foreign area. I had many experiences of traveling and exploring new places. So I took the bus in Shanghai.
And I found it was the most interesting thing I did in the city, because you see everything. If you take the subway, you miss all that, and you don’t have the feeling of where you are.
Q: Do you have any impressive stories of Shanghai during these years?
A: Usually something involving the police. With foreigners, the police are always involved at some point, not necessarily because it’s bad.
My cousin came to visit me in the first week. He told me he was in the police station three times for three different reasons in the first two weeks.
When I think of memorable and impressive stories in the US, I couldn’t imagine ever going to the police station. However, the police station is used differently here. Here it’s like an information center for foreigners.
Another thing was that I went to the hospital and had my appendix removed here.
Usually in the West, if you have pain there, you find out from the doctor it’s because of your appendix, so they would remove it. If it explodes, it will kill you.
The Chinese way is to try and make you feel better first and then only remove it if it is the last thing you can possibly do.
It took me six months of going in and out of the hospital, and the pain always came back. I went to three different hospitals. The last time I told them I needed surgery. It was interesting because I had become educated with my problem enough to tell the doctor what to do.
Q: Do you dislike anything about the city or have any suggestions to make it better?
A: My favorite things always disappear too fast. There was a park I used to teach skateboarding. It disappeared overnight.
Now, there is one in the north, which is called Xinjiangwancheng SMP Skate Park. It is the third biggest skate park in the world, I think. But it is too big for anyone to use, so no one likes it.
West Bund is free, but they put the park in the middle. So it is no longer a skate park but a hole in the ground, and people can’t do anything now.
As far as I know, New York has 25 skate parks while Shanghai has only three, including West Bund, SMP and a new one in Pudong. Maybe there will be a fourth or fifth in the city, I don’t know. Still, five is not enough for this kind of city.
Q: Do you have any life stories to share with us?
A: I traveled a lot. I really enjoyed Norway because the way of life is simplified. There’s a lot of nature around. It’s very impressive. Everything is very clean and simple, but everyone is still happy and thoughtful.
Japan is similar to that. It’s also very clean and well organized. The cities and even the countryside are very organized. Both countries happen to be small islands. Both are water oriented.
As a teenager, I used to go hiking a lot. I was into the boy scouts. I got to the highest rank being a boy scout.
Scouting teaches you how to deal with people younger than you and how to teach them. You are the oldest one and you have to be the leader here. It’s about community and leadership driving you to learn how to get other people to do something.
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