Or rather, selling Shanghai to the Shanghainese. I picked this one up from LRB forums; JiaDing district in Shanghai is known as rural, “end of the line” district… generally speaking its the kind of place you don’t want to live or really even want to visit. With Shanghai’s breakneck development pace, even the fringes are getting a facelift; the issue isn’t lack of development… now the problem is making the Chinese care.
To shed the previous rural undeveloped image; JiaDing district put this quasi-romantic commercial together. In it, you’ve got your typical Asian introverted romance; slow sensuous music; girl ineffectually hitting boyfriend with backpack, etc; you know the drill. It brings a bit of modernity to JiaDing, a sensibility that’s surprising for a place most people thought was… well, empty really.
If we know one thing about JiaDing we know that we can dream of better times with our backpack wielding girlfriends. We also know that there’s a train that will take us there. And… well I guess that’s about it. But maybe that’s enough.
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{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
It sounds like an old trick to crown any overlooked area a title of “new town” and just expect it reappears as a brand new one, as if people would just forget the whole history behind it.
But, an excellent case of this kind is “Pudong New District”. Remeber how local Shanghai people view the eastern part of Huangpu rivier as country side? Yes, now Pudong New District beats off almost any particular area to compare with domestically.
good point
This is stupid……….the video shows nothing of Jiading. I’ve been living in Jiading for 4 years now and its actually a very nice area. Its very developed as a Shanghai suburb with a historical feel to it. Obviously the author of the above comments hasn’t spent much time in Jiading…….
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RT @littleredbook: Selling China to the Chinese. http://bit.ly/6MRd3r
January 12, 2010