benlehman

The modern named of the ancient capital of China, where the Terra Cotta warriors are, is pronounced "she-ahn". The tones are both high, and it's a beautiful, sung out word.

It is not, under any circumstances, pronounced "zai-anne." Ever. EVER.

I've been spending a lot of time in Shanghai. It's a fascinating city. The geography is bizarre.

On the surface, near the big roads, Shanghai is a "modern" city, expensive, glitzy, highly westernized. Here people speak English as a primary language, prices are comparable with New York, and lights shine everywhere, even a night.

But take a turn onto a smaller street. Now, you're in a Chinese city. People primarily speak Chinese, food prices drop by a factor of five, people play in the street and hawk wars at you as you walk by. People stare at you and say "laowai." (foreigner) Uigur men try to sell you hash.

Turn again, though, and go inside a city block, where the alleys are thin and streets have no names. Now you're in China. You'll be hard pressed to find someone who speaks mandarin at all. People cook over coal fires inside metal drums, spit everywhere, and pee in the gutters. "Guizi" (ghost/demon/devil) is the term of choice for foreigners, and people will stare at you like they've never seen a non-Chinese before. The architecture is old, with fluted roofs and gray stones.

These worlds are not fluid, but neither are they segregated. They are nested, each within the last. Sometimes, one will burst through into another, like when a cab takes a wrong turn, or when a poor child comes out on the big streets to beg.

There is no conclusion. It isn't pithy, just how it is.