For a brief amount of time on a recent day, I thought the two shopping centers in Zhuhai with signs stating "All you can get here" and "All is here" had been upstaged by a mall in Foshan — a city bordering Guangzhou and not far away from Zhuhai. But then I looked at another sign and realized I was not now at the All Shopping Mall. Instead, both of the Ls in "All" were actually the number one.
I am tempted to argue the A11 Shopping Mall should have a used a font in their logo which makes a clear distinction between the two characters. But I would like to hear their logic for this design. Perhaps the similarity is intentional, though that isn't necessarily a good justification.
In any case, their online presence does clearly make use of two number ones in their name. So yet again, sometimes all is not as it appears.
The Zhuhai Port Plaza underground shopping mall has a sign with a claim.
Given the context, the phrase "all you can get here" encompasses the items shown below. Indeed, all of them, such as food, shopping, beauty salons, and transportation, are available. In fact, more can be found there. And two years ago I even saw some Baltimore Ravens boxer shorts on sale for 25 RMB (about U.S. $3.90 then).
Suffice it to say, a lot of stuff can be found at the Port Plaza, which sits just in front of the Gongbei Port immigration checkpoint at the border with Macau.
But the more upscale shopping area at the Midtown complex, about three kilometers away and also in the Gongbei subdistrict of Zhuhai, makes a much stronger claim.
In this case, the "all" doesn't appear to be limited to the items below. That only leaves all of all.
Many people in China remembered deceased family members during the recent Qingming Festival. Highlighting another side of how some spent the day, which for many was part of a three day holiday, a series of photos taken at the Shangxiajiu Pedestrian Street in Guangzhou appears below. One of the popular destinations for tourists visiting Guangzhou, the area was much more crowded than usual for a weekday though there were few signs of the holiday itself. The photos include both people who didn't have to work during that afternoon and people who did.
One of the wider portions of the street
Carrying a coconut to drink
Standing in line for Mango Big Mac drinks and stuffed chicken wings
Standing in line for fish balls
Preparing the fish balls
Keeping things clean
Selling fruit
Driving the bus on a portion of the pedestrian street which isn't as pedestrian-friendly as others
Providing security (and stopping people from riding bikes)
It's worth noting that organisers for March 8's "A Day Without A Woman", aimed at calling attention to the economic inequalities faced by women, has called on women to avoid shopping for the day.
Some Chinese netizens are unimpressed with the commercialism of the day.
"Queen's Day, Girls Day, Princess Day, whatever you call it, I think it's disgusting," said one user on Weibo. "You took a perfectly good celebration and made it into this."
Prompted by the question, ‘Can you be our Burger Queen?’, most female interviewees, despite their various differences, doubted or questioned their worthiness of such a regal title.
Having sparked huge curiosity about who would be crowned Burger Queen, female customers opening their burger boxes today face the ultimate unveil – a mirror topped with a crown and the message ‘Every one of you is our Burger Queen.’
Regardless of how one feels about Burger King, the video is worth watching for the variety of perspectives captured.
For Women's Day this year I am yet again in Guangdong province, but this time in its capital Guangzhou. And yet again, I have seen sales for the holiday, including several days ago at a grocery market specializing in imported goods.
This was the only Women's Day sale I noticed that featured beef brisket. But it was similar to a number of other sales in lasting for multiple days before or after the holiday. Another common feature of other sales I noticed in Guangzhou were discounts based on the holiday's date March 8 (3-8). For example, sometimes prices were discounted to 38% of the original price or reduced by 38 yuan (about US $5.50).
Presumably the largest number of sales occurred today. This afternoon I visited the popular Shangxiajiu Pedestrian Street, which captures one side of Guangzhou's vast range of shopping experiences. No modern luxury malls line the street, but there are plenty of stores and shoppers.
Unsurprisingly, the Woman & Baby Company had a Women's Day sale.
A leather goods retailer also had a holiday promotion.
Retailers for several Chinese sportswear brands were in the holiday spirit as well, including 361 Degrees.
And Li-Ning . . .
And Anta . . .
And even New Banluce . . .
Some people may notice New Banluce's name and logo are remarkably similar to another sportswear brand. I didn't see a sale specific to the Women's Day holiday at New Barlun though.
This touches on some of the challenges faced by a far more globally recognized sportswear brand, New Balance, in China. I will save that for another day. I don't think there is a New Balance store on this pedestrian street, but there are stores elsewhere in Guangzhou.
Back to the Women's Day sales, Sino Gem didn't miss out.
The most remarkable promotion I saw today was at one of the stores of another jewelry retailer — Zhou Liu Fu Jewelry.
Instead of using the term "Women's Day", like some other retailers they went with another name, in this case "Goddess Day" (I'll take the liberty to fix the English spelling).
Just to be sure, I confirmed with one of the employees that the sale was for Women's Day.
But I haven't gotten to the part that left the biggest impression. I had the fortune to stop by during a special moment. I don't have right words to express it, so this happened along with majestic music:
And things didn't stop there, soon the well-dressed group took a short walk down the pedestrian street.
Upon returning to the store, they graciously allowed a few people to take photos with them.
I wonder if the baby on her back was excited by it all.
Anyway, I can't top that promotion today.
The commercialization of Women's Day hasn't reached the levels of Christmas in China, but it does seem to be growing. Some see the sales as a sign of women's growing economic power. Some would like to see women in China heard more in other ways.
This weekend I didn't see another woman selling flowers from a push cart in Hongkou, Shanghai. But on a small bridge on Ha'erbin Road, I did see a woman selling assorted items from a tricycle cart.
She was mostly preoccupied with her mobile phone at the time. The child with her looked on and also watched some of the people and vehicles passing by.
Among other things I did today in Hongkou, Shanghai, I saw migrant workers outside a construction site demonstrate about missing pay, remembered the partially demolished neighborhood I had walked through there over a year ago, listened to a security guard for an art museum criticize Donald Trump, ate traditional plum flower cake with a black sesame filling, drank milk tea which had no taste of tea, and wondered about the history of the Hongkou Fire Station.
Watching a woman sell flowers from a cart alongside Sichuan North Road was something else I did. All I have mentioned would be suitable for a post, and I hope to share more about each of them someday in the future. But as I looked through today's photos, sharing some of the woman and her flowers felt most fitting for this Friday. The scenes make even more of an impression now than when I took the photos, perhaps because I have more time to reflect upon them. Or maybe because they now feel more isolated from the busy environment which surrounded them.
So here are two photos of a person I saw only briefly. Before I left the area, I saw her rolling her cart of flowers away. I didn't know why she had decided it was time to move on, and I didn't know where she was going.
Steve George, a journalist for CNN International, recently commented on a photo of a statue at a mall in Northeast China.
How Japan is viewed in China. statue of Japanese PM Abe Shinzo, w/ Hitler moustache, bowing apologetically, now on display in Liaoning mall pic.twitter.com/Y9Z6qXbMdE
However, the photo also reminded me of a contrasting set of statues I saw several weeks ago between a Starbucks and a Burger King at the ICITY shopping center in Dalian, another city in Liaoning province.
The statues of five world leaders, past and present, were all clearly labeled.
"President of the U.S.: Barack Obama"
"President of France: Nicolas Sarkozy"
"Prime Minister of Russia: Vladimir Putin"
"President of the U.S.: Bill Clinton"
"Prime Minister of Japan: Junichiro Koizumi"
Obama and Putin were the only current leaders of the set, and Putin is now the President of Russia. It was the statue of the previous Prime Minister of Japan which most caught my eye. Unlike the statue in Shenyang, the design showed no sign of humiliation or apology. Or even a Hitler mustache. Instead, the statue of Koizumi was on equal footing with the others and greeted shoppers as they exited one of the two facing elevators.
The statue in Shenyang reflects the anti-Japanese sentiment common in China. But as Chinese traveling to Japan during a Victory Over Japan holiday last year indicated, the full story of Chinese attitudes towards the country and its people is complicated. The statue of the Japanese prime minister in Dalian appears to be representative of a more positive side.
Several years ago I posted about the Kaifu Wanda Plaza in Changsha, Hunan. Since then I have seen a number of Wanda Plazas in other cites across China. Most recently, I visited the Mudanjiang Wanda Plaza in Mudanjiang, Heilongjiang. The 144th Wanda Plaza in China opened a few months ago and includes a shopping mall, apartments, and office space. I won't be doing a comprehensive overview, but I will share some of my impressions during a brief visit to the shopping mall.
When I looked at the mall map, the most curious thing was an "Apple" store. I doubted Mudanjiang had an Apple Store and was not the least bit surprised when I discovered it referred to an Apple authorized reseller.
Well, the store claims it is an authorized reseller. At the moment I don't see any mention of it in Apple's online search tool for authorized resellers in China.
Elsewhere in the mall, I saw an Adidas Kids store.
The online Adidas reseller tool isn't working for me, so I can't comment more on that topic. I didn't see an Adidas-imitating Adisco shoes store in the mall though.
I have seen Zoo Coffee, a Korean animal-themed coffeehouse chain, at other Wanda Plazas. None here, but Zebra coffee is available.
There are many options for food, including three familiar Western chains: Dairy Queen, Pizza Hut, and Burger King.
Pizza Hut and Burger King have prime locations at one of the main entrances. The Burger King is notable in part because Mudanjiang does not have a single McDonald's. This may be the first time I was in a Chinese city with a Burger King but not a McDonald's.
The third floor of the mall is full of other restaurants. Several offer buffets, including one with something of an Alps theme.
There is also, as usual for a mall, a Sichuan option.
Several restaurants, such as Pig Boeuf, sport a trendy style which has seemingly grown popular in parts of China.
Pig Boeuf had a nice family standing out front.
Apparently these humanoid pigs are meant to encourage people to eat pork. If they have the opposite effect, a nearby vegetarian restaurant might be a good option.
I wouldn't call Mudanjiang a vegetarian-friendly place, so seeing this restaurant at the Wanda Plaza was a bit of a surprise. When I looked inside I saw that unlike other restaurants it had zero customers. Instead, employees including two chefs were sitting at a table looking extremely bored. Too bad.
Finally, to close out this odd set of observations from the Mudanjiang Wanda Plaza on a happier note, I will share my favorite: a man and presumably his daughter taking a ride through the mall on an electric dinosaur kiddie car.
