snaps | shanghai rain ::
Monday, August 3rd, 2009:: taken this weekend in Shanghai; rainy days. // AjS
Archive for the ‘urban’ Category
snaps | wires, wires, wires ::
Thursday, July 30th, 2009:: taken in Shanghai on Dagu Rd.; wires being sifted and sorted by a garbage recycler. // AjS
snaps | jiong-y complaints ::
Tuesday, July 28th, 2009:: taken in the lobby of my apartment complex in Shanghai. A box for “needed repairs” (left) and complaints / recommendations (right). Look quite jiong-y if you ask me. // AjS
snaps | china’s twin towers ::
Tuesday, July 28th, 2009:: taken in Pudong, Shanghai with my iPhone while I was waiting at a red light. The Shanghai Financial Center and the Jin Mao Tower – my two favorite buildings in Asia. // AjS
snaps | half way there ::
Tuesday, July 28th, 2009:: taken at the Shimen Yi Rd. subway station in Shanghai. // AjS
things well done | safe sex in taiwan ::
Wednesday, July 8th, 2009:: a safe sex / anti-STD poster in Taiwan (or perhaps Hong Kong, but I am almost certain it’s Taiwan. Hong Kong is probably too conservative to have something this “vulgar” in public.). The bottom caption reads, “Be careful, this is what could happen if you don’t wear a condom.” I have always found the Chinese words for condom to be quite funny: on the mainland, 安全套 and 避孕套 are used, meaning respectively “safety cover” and “avoid pregnany cover” – the latter being a bit misleading. The word 保险套, meaning “insurance cover” is used in the below poster. Bravo, well done. Via Space Ghetto. // AjS
snaps | pipes ::
Thursday, July 2nd, 2009:: taken in Shanghai at the intersection of Huaihai Rd. and Changshu Rd.; a 50-meter hole in the ground, part of the construction site for the city’s Line 7 subway project. Not sure if they are pipes or support beams, perhaps both. // AjS
the city needs you ::
Monday, June 29th, 2009:: see the first photo below for a recent throw-up by Shanghai’s most prolific and probably most talented graffiti writer Mr. Lan. Does anyone recognize the other pieces / tags? If so, please let me know in the comments section. These photos were taken by fifty 5-reader Roach C. in Shanghai near the Anshan Xicun subway station. Thanks for sending them my way Roach C. // AjS
snaps | faile @ shanghai ::
Saturday, June 27th, 2009:: taken in Shanghai at the intersection of Tongren Rd. and Yanan Rd., a Faile sticker spotted on a traffic light. For those who aren’t familiar with Faile, they are a contemporary urban art collective of sorts, founded in Brooklyn, New York. You don’t see their stickers in China much, if at all. To read more about their last stop in Shanghai, link here and here. // XD
snaps | hai bao ::
Saturday, June 27th, 2009
neocha.com | hker graffiti in wenzhou ::
Thursday, June 25th, 2009:: Neocha.com-user HKER is up to his old tricks again, only this time he’s not pulling them in Shanghai. I caught up with him yesterday and he was kind enough to share a few photos of work he’s done over the past couple of years in Wenzhou, Zhejiang – see below. He also told me he’ll be writing more frequently in the coning months – watch this space for photos. Related, last year I featured HKER in a short documentary I did about the graffiti scene in Shanghai, link here to check it out. // AjS
[full disclosure: fifty 5 is a partner at Neocha.com]
snaps | just across the street ::
Sunday, June 21st, 2009:: taken in the small town of Chuzhou in Anhui province, China. I found these to be ingenious advertising efforts. The first photo says, “There is a noodle shop across the way.” The second photo says, “The old Ao De fried chicken shop is across the street.” Sure enough, in both cases, these shops were directly across the alley – less that 10 meters away. I was curious about the necessity and effectiveness of such advertisements, so I took the time to observe pedestrian reactions to them.
Not that these figures represent statistically sound research, but, in 30 minutes (the time it took me to finish my bubble tea), 47 people walked by these two signs (they were right next to each other). Only a few people didn’t notice them, but every person that noticed them looked across the street to confirm what they had just read. 22 of those people people crossed the street and went to one of the two restaurants. Fascinating. // AjS
graffiti | distressed bunnies & flying sofas ::
Sunday, June 21st, 2009:: I snapped these photos on a recent trip to Beijing. To my regret though, the top two are only half as fun as they should be. They were taken earlier in the morning because I didn’t have a proper camera with me when I first spotted them the previous evening. Unfortunately, both pieces were harmonized overnight. At any rate, they’re still worth sharing. The top piece was a distressed bunny stuck behind the bricks asking in despair, “唯, 有人吗?” meaning, “Hello, is anyone there?” I ask the question: what looks better, a playful piece of street art or this random blob of pinkness? Sigh. The second photo was a flying sofa – I’m not sure where the sofa went, but it left its wings behind. Can anyone help identify the tags in the other pictures? // AjS
snaps | i miss u so much ::
Sunday, June 21st, 2009:: taken in Shanghai, just outside the main entrance to my apartment building. Is someone trying to send me a message? // AjS
snaps | shanghai mannikins ::
Friday, June 12th, 2009:: taken in Shanghai on Jiaozhou Rd. near the Xinzha Rd. intersection. // AjS
