The Name for an Unusual Building in Shenzhen

Yesterday's post included a photo of a building in Shenzhen with an unusual design.

I didn't worry about identifying the building when I took the photo two weeks ago. I expected it would be easy to figure out later online. But the best I could do last night in a short amount of time was find the building on Baidu Map's street view where it is covered by scaffolding. No name appeared for the building, and an image search of the photo proved fruitless.

While at the nearby Dongmen Pedestrian Street area today, I unexpectedly caught a glimpse of the building down an alley. Feeling inspired, I decided to identify it the old fashioned way and made my way to a passageway where I could cross Shennan East Road underground while perusing the items sold by various hawkers. Upon arriving at the building, I considered what appeared to be a bovine-inspired sculpture next to the building's main entrance.

I walked into the main lobby, and a security guard soon approached. Perhaps he was from the nearby Shenzhen Security Service Company.

The seemingly nervous security guard answered a few questions before he stopped to salute an older man walking by. The man had a puzzled expression when he looked at me. Probably to nobody's surprise, we both refrained from any saluting.

After leaving the building, I pondered a nearby Land Rover advertisement with a snow covered scene.

Although Shenzhen has experienced unusually cold weather recently, snowy roads are rarely a worry. It snowed in Guangzhou, not far away to the north, yesterday for the first time in 50 years (added note: parts of Shenzhen reportedly saw snow as well).

Anyway, the building under question holds the Ruihe R & D Center and is creatively named the Ruihe Building (瑞和大厦). According to Reuters:

SHENZHEN RUIHE CONSTRUCTION DECORATION CO., LTD. is principally engaged in the design and construction of building decoration projects. The Company provides decoration and construction services for shopping malls, hotels, hospitals, curtain, subways, finance, office buildings and theaters, among others. The Company operates its businesses in domestic markets.

And now one loose end is tied up.

Two Contemporary Shenzhen Styles

Two photos from the city which borders Hong Kong — Shenzhen:

On Shennan East Road

Portion of an advertisement inside Lilian Sun Plaza, Dongmen

Future Seen Higher at Future Dancehall in Hong Kong

As a result of a good friend's wedding, I spent the New Year holiday in Hong Kong. I won't be here long, so I expect to only do a few HK-themed posts before returning to other topics. In that spirit and on the lighter side, here's some advertising I saw today in Hong Kong:

For a clearer view, here's an online version of the advertisement which caught my eye:

There's just so much going on I don't know where to begin. So I won't. Like the scene of lightsabers during New Year's in Hong Kong, I will leave it to readers to ponder what may have inspired it or find any meaning. If you're interested in digging deeper, the associated event page on Facebook (the source for the 2nd image) is probably a decent place to start. It helped me answer a few of my questions. It also led to new ones. That's often how these things go.

'Tis the Season for Star Wars in China

Signs of Christmas are easy to find in China this time of the year, and in the past I have shared holiday scenes from Putian, Quanzhou, Wuhan, Zhangzhou, and Hong Kong. But none of them included TIE fighters or Imperial Stormtroopers. The idea of mixing Christmas with Star Wars will make some people cringe with memories of the fascinatingly terrible 1978 Star Wars Holiday Special. But at the IAPM shopping center in Shanghai the two have been combined in a more harmonious manner to promote the upcoming release of Disney's Star Wars: The Force Awakens. Some people will still cringe due to the further commercialization of Christmas, but in China most people attach little or no religious meaning to the holiday and the government has more concerns about the potential "religionization" of Christmas.

Below are scenes at the shopping center from this past weekend, including Friday when several of the Star Wars displays were still roped off. Christmas trees with light sabers, starfighters, female models wearing Star Wars themed clothing, armed Star Wars figures, and an unarmed Santa Claus (unless you count his bell) all make appearances. Many of the photos capture the variety of people who interacted with the displays or the modern design of the shopping center itself. IAPM couldn't be more different from the simple outdoor market which existed at the same location less than 10 years ago and sold fakes imitating some of the luxury brands now available at posh stores there. The shopping center, its visitors, and Disney's new hopes in China are all signs of how much the country has changed since the first Star Wars movie opened 38 years ago in a land far, far away. . . .

Another College Student's Part-time Job on a Street in Changsha

On Huangxing Middle Road in Changsha last week, I saw a college student handing out leaflets. As I passed by she paused before handing one to me. After I looked at the leaflet in her hand we both laughed. It advertised an English language school.

She reminded me of a college student I met in Changsha three years ago. Both students handed out leaflets as a part-time job but the pay has changed, increasing from 40 yuan to 50 yuan (U.S. $7.84) for four hours of work — a sign of how paper leaflets remain a common way of advertising and how labor costs have risen in China.

From Shaoguan to Changsha: A Brief Look at a Long Day

After reaching a boarding platform at the Shaoguan Railway Station last Wednesday morning, I headed in the wrong direction. To ensure the high-speed train didn't leave minus a confused passenger, staff asked me to board the nearest train car. The long train appeared to be two trains connected together, and there was no way to pass from the one I had boarded to the one with my reserved seat. Fortunately, finding a new seat wasn't a problem. During the 1 hour 44 minutes needed to reach my destination 480 km (298 miles) away, I was the only person sitting in the train car I had entered.

After arriving at the Changsha South Railway Station, instead of taking a taxi with a bust of Mao Zedong as I had done two years ago, I took the subway which had opened more recently.

In my hotel room I discovered one of the lightbulbs needed replaced. I notified hotel staff and not long afterwards left my room. In the elevator lobby I saw a hotel employee walk towards my room with a light bulb. Minutes later my room had more light. The elevator lobby, where I had watched the employee remove the light bulb from the ceiling, now had less.

I hit the streets of Changsha with a number of goals in my mind, most related to seeing what had and had not changed since my previous time there. Since my stomach desired lunch, my first destination was a new favorite for Liuyang-style steamed dishes on Jixiang Lane (吉祥巷). My old favorite and an old new favorite on the same lane are both long gone.

As expected, a variety of options, many spicy, were available in the steamer.

As not expected, the fish I chose was far from spectacular. I may branch out to other lanes next time.

I then made my way to the Kaifu Wanda Plaza. Behind it a pair of men encouraged me to try their specialty of pig and chicken feet.

Being full, I passed on their offer. And I soon passed some non-foot meat for sale nearby.

While walking down Yongxing Street (永兴街), a man sitting outside a mahjong room requested I take his photo. I obliged, and he convinced a woman to join him.

Later, near an area with a number of mobile phone stores and markets, I met two boys sharing a chair . . .

. . . a boy with a Chinese sanjiegun . . .

and a sanjiegun-less mutt.

Upon reaching the mobile phone markets, I checked out their current selection.

I then walked to a large shopping district around Huangxing Road and saw a Minions mascot . . .

. . . a child with a dog . . .

. . . and a couple of other mascots, these for Dianping.

The mascots were part of a promotion at a mall which, similar to many other promotions I have seen in China, concluded with dancers.

The dancers conclude this set of photos as well.

I was in Changsha for less than 24 hours but still managed to cover much ground. The above photos capture just a small portion of what I saw. In the future, I will share more, including updates to some earlier Changsha-related posts. And perhaps someday I will return to the elevator lobby to see whether it has regained its earlier brightness.