Shanghai, with a population exceeding 23 million (including over 9 million migrants), stands as Mainland China’s largest and historically most developed metropolis.
Once the most prosperous city in the Far East during the 1930s, Shanghai has seen a resurgence in global interest over the last two decades, particularly highlighted by hosting the 2010 World Expo, which drew record-breaking attendance.
Shanghai offers a captivating blend of East and West, showcasing historic shikumen houses and an impressive collection of Art Deco buildings. The city’s diverse architectural styles, influenced by Western concessions during the early 20th century, contribute to its cosmopolitan ambiance. However, this metropolis also grapples with social challenges, exemplified by the saying, “Shanghai is heaven for the rich, hell for the poor.”
Spread across 6,340.5 square kilometers of mostly flat terrain, Shanghai’s landscape features numerous skyscrapers, necessitating deep concrete piles to prevent sinking into the soft ground of the alluvial plain.
While Shanghainese is the native language, it belongs to the Wu group, distinct from Mandarin and other Chinese dialects. However, due to migration, Mandarin has become the lingua franca. English, while more prevalent than in other mainland Chinese cities, is not widespread. Carrying destinations and hotel addresses written in Chinese is advisable.
Shanghai’s growth strategies in the 1990s, notably opening up Pudong, a former rural area transformed into a bustling business district, have propelled it into a global financial and economic center. The city competes with Hong Kong, leveraging its connections to the Chinese interior and the central government.
Shanghai is relatively less polluted compared to other major Chinese cities, providing a different experience for visitors, with a lesser focus on national politics and a vibrant cosmopolitan atmosphere.
MY EXPERIENCE. Shanghai was my first trip abroad! It was November of 2007 year. It was a modeling contract concluded through the Kiev modeling agency L-Models. Director of the Shanghai modeling agency Model Inc. personally flew to Kyiv, and at the casting she had chosen three out of 40-50 guys. But only two of them agreed to fly to China: me and another guy.
At that time I was in my second year of post graduate at the G.V. Kurdymov Institute For Metal Physics. I tried to explain to my management that I wanted to take an academic leave for 3 months because I had the opportunity to go abroad. Then I had to give a reason. But for my leadership this was not the reason. They said it was not serious. And they refused to understand.
But I flew. And about half a month or a month later (when I was already in Shanghai) I was informed by email that I was fired.
I expected a lot from my trip to Shanghai. I was full of ambition. And my expectations were high! I expected that here I would start immediately take a lot of jobs and earn a lot of money! But everything was far from what I imagined.
Well, what can I say! Young and overly ambitious! But it was necessary to look at things more adequately. In general, that’s why disappointment came very quickly.
Of course, on the other hand, I was getting to know a new world, a new country, a completely different mentality, but also a modeling environment, which seemed friendly, but in fact was imbued with competition, and even unhealthy jealousy of each other. I mean for work, when someone was able to get a job during the casting, but someone was not.
Our modeling agency was newly created. Yes, we were provided with apartments. The room where I was placed had two bunk beds. It so happened that they were mixed with girls. The girls were also from Ukraine, but from another city, from Zaporizhzhia, if I remember correctly.
We all didn’t have friendly relations. The atmosphere was somehow neutral and even close to “everyone for himself.”
There were other models living in the next room. There were girls models from Brazil. But they only stayed with us for a week, and then they seemed to be moved to other apartments.
The behavior of the Brazilian models was very different. They behaved freely, talked loudly, cursed, drank, and smoked weed! For me, a man of science, and one might even say a nerd)) this was very unusual! I mean, I’ve never seen anything like this before! And I filmed everything that was happening with my photo-video camera, and often saw girls’ middle finger in front of my camera! 😀
The agency gave us pocket money, it was 400 yuan ($60) for 1 week. This money was quite enough to live normaly in 2007/2008, and not deny yourself anything in terms of food.
We really enjoyed eating at the chain of Shanghai restaurants “Babela’s Kitchen”, where they served European-style food! For 20 yuan you could get a delicious salad and spaghetti carbonara! 🙂
We were also given mobile phones to each of us. There were no smartphones that time, and we received regular SMS messages from the agency. For example, “tomorrow, at 10:00, meeting at the agency office.” And there, together with the manager, we took a taxi and went to the address somewhere for the casting. There could be models from other agencies at the casting. And there the client chose which of the models suited him best.
In general, there were very few castings from our agency. While we had 4-6 castings a week, other modeling agencies had 4-6 castings a day! Therefore, accordingly, we worked little.
Our agency also had a manager who worked on 2 fronts. She worked for the agency until 18:00, and after that she began to do side work, and offered us to work and earn money for ourselves too, in secret from the agency.
So I did 1 job from her. I remember I was dressed up in some kind of Chinese costume, and stood near the entrance)) And received 1200 yuan ($180) in cash for this. Which was the equivalent of 3 weeks’ pocket money!
That is, we (models on a percentage contract) understood a month later that we would not earn anything, so we were gladly ready to do such work in order to immediately get cash!
I also met one agent who said that she represents Chinese Fashion TV. She often invited us to hang out at the “Volar” club, and gave everyone 300 yuan for it. We were happy because there was a free model table for us, drinks, and other models, acquaintances, communication, and so on. We didn’t tell our agency about this either.
In addition to the “Volar” club, we really liked the trance music club “VIP”, as well as “M2”. Also we liked “Bar Rouge” in “The Bund” area with stunning views from the club’s terrace of the main attraction of Shanghai – “Oriental Pearl Tower”.
In general, we collected the crumbs a little at a time. And our agency was about to close after ~ 2 months, due to the fact that the director realized that she had not earned anything as expected. Everyone from our agency flew back home to Ukraine, and I told my mother agency in Kyiv that I would be staying a couple more weeks.
Girls from another modeling agency took me in their apartment, and a good Chinese man they introduced me helped me extend my visa. So my stay in Shanghai extended for a couple of weeks.
I also remember that at that time we went to the Internet club to sit down at a computer connected to the Internet and write a letter. So I continued to be in touch with my family and with my mother agency in Kyiv.
Overall, my first trip to China was not successful. I came home with 0 money)) But with a bunch of photos, new emotions, and a forever changed mentality. I definitely wouldn’t be the same nerd I used to be! 😀
And, by the way, about my Institute, I returned back and apologized for flying to another country without permission. I was scolded, forgiven, restored. And after 2.5 years I defended my Ph.D. dissertation! 😎
