InsideGFW

I interviewed Mino at Starbucks, one of his favourite meeting spots. He is 22 years old, and freelances in various Shanghai jobs, such as night club photographer, model agent and a formal garment store owner. He is also a current finance major at Fudan University, where he hardly shows up for class. (more…)

I met Feng on Wu Jiang Rd, formerly the famous street food street before the EXPO. You could access all kinds of food even in the middle of the night, BBQ, noodles, rice, sea food, beer…every thing, cheap, quick, good, casual. But earlier this year it was completely demolished, the old street food street is gone. It became a big trash heap full of rubble and surrounded by walls covered with EXPO printings of beautiful, successful business women/man, happy child/seiner citizens, and weirdo foreigners with a photoshopped helmet for no reason. One block away, Wu Jiang Rd becomes a place full of expensive, up-scale, foreign-looking restaurants, cafes, dessert shops, candy shops, Nike, big malls, etc. It has security guards wondering around 24/7, and Feng was sleeping on a well designed wooden chair in the middle of the pedestrian area. (more…)