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A stroll through Shanghai local television
We've had a TV in the house for nearly two months now, but we don't use it very much. It mostly functions as a dim black mirror, plopped in the middle of the living room. This seemed like a bit of a waste to me. I've been curious what Shanghai local TV stations are like ever since I've moved here. The only chances I get to watch actual TV channels are at hotels. The last time I was in a hotel in Shanghai was when I was quarantined on arrival, and I was too busy then to even turn the TV on (I always found it mystifying that people seemed to think quarantine automatically leads to more free time). A friend of mine was talking about 阿庆讲故事 a few weeks ago, a low-budget Shanghainese human interest program about weirdos in the city, which made me even more curious. The only stations our TV can pick up on its own are BusMobile and MMTV, the stations that play on the little screens that the bus and metro have. (It had never occurred to me previously that these were separate broadcasts, or that one could watch them at home.) After trying a bunch of failed methods to increase our channel count for free, we gave up and bought an antenna off of Taobao for 50 yuan (less than eight US dollars). It arrived a few days, but I only unboxed it last night. I plugged in the coaxial cable and stuck the antenna next to the window (my girlfriend complained about having yet another cable running along the ground), and scanned for new channels. Now we get all the CCTV channels (China's national family of TV Channels), as well as most of the Shanghai Media Group channels. I was filled with glee, flipping from STV (the local news channel) to City Channel (都市频道, an entertainment variety channel that is the successor to the channel 阿庆讲故事 used to be on), the "Tomato Channel" (which does more national news and big budget TV shows), and SETV (an educational channel). We don't get Toonmax, so unfortunately I can't watch cartoons.
Record No. 30
Gong Gong Gong was in Shanghai again, playing at the new Yuyintang beneath Liu Haisu park. I came for the opening act Luxinpei and stayed for the first few Gong Gong Gong songs, but something’s gone haywire in my brain, and I can’t enjoy music anymore, so I turned around and walked out. I was amazed at how easy it was to escape. Despite such a formidable looking crowd standing between me and the exit, everyone stepped out of my way automatically, like a hot knife through butter, or Moses parting the Red Sea.
Xiaoxi, my girlfriend, clothed in her yellow and black Bruce Lee pants, was manning the merch table. I sat down next to her.
A man walking by picked up one of Gong Gong Gong’s tapes and asked “what’s this?”
“It’s a cassette tape.”
“They still make tapes?” he said derisively, and slammed it back down on the table with enough force it’s a miracle the case didn’t crack.
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