Foreign writers soak up every single vibe that Shanghai has to offer

"As a writer, you should not judge, you should understand." – Ernest Hemingway on Writing


Seven foreign writers have begun to grasp more about Shanghai by the sixth week of their two-month Shanghai Writing Program.

"Staying here for two months has changed my views in many ways," Bernhard Hennen, author of the German best-seller "The Elves," told Shanghai Daily.

"Being here is different."

The German author, archaeologist, and historian is one of seven writers who arrived in Shanghai in early September to participate in a program offered by the Shanghai Writers' Association.

Some, like Hennen, have visited China before, but the majority are new to the country. Nobody has ever lived here quite like this before.

"I've been walking about 15 kilometers a day, sometimes with a clear destination in mind and often without," said Sofronis Sofroniou, an award-winning writer from Cyprus. "What I saw and experienced on the road piqued my interest even more in understanding life here."

"It also gave me the inspiration to write a novel. Hopefully, I'll be back here next spring to write it."

The residency program, which began in 2008, has so far housed 100 writers from 38 nations for two months in Shanghai. This year, the initiative urges writers to be "the messenger, connecting places that have remained distant from each other," as well as "providing us with a unique perspective, one that allows us to reflect on ourselves from a remote vantage point."

Shanghai Daily spoke with the seven writers to understand more about their unique points of view.

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"I find something touching my heart in the philosophy of life here."

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Abeer Almadawy, an Egyptian novelist and journalist, is in Shanghai for the second time, getting to know the city from a completely different angle.

Her first three-week visit in 2019 was mostly for business purposes, as she met with executives from a variety of enterprises in the city.

"In 2019, I saw the city from the tops of skyscrapers. This time, I'm more on the ground, connecting with people and learning about different aspects of life here," she said.

"You can read about Shanghai on the Internet or in books, but it's nothing like going down to the streets and talking to the people here despite language barriers, living their lives, eating what they eat, touching the flowers in the park, smelling the air, and walking around. It is essential for a writer to be there in the scenario.

With a strong interest in Chinese philosophy, she enjoys getting up early in the morning – at 5:30am – to watch the city wake up, "slowly and gradually at first, and suddenly it is a new day by 6:30am."

"Then you start seeing people rushing, either on foot or on bikes. It appears that people work a lot when they also know how to have fun, particularly the young people here."

She started writing love stories about young couples in Shanghai after finding inspiration from them on the city's streets, including one that featured a foreign couple there.

"Busy in a tai chi way."

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Bernhard Hennen advises anyone visiting Shanghai and hoping to understand it to "come with an open mind," as his stay here transformed his perspective in many ways, although the German writer isn't even new to the city.

"Staying for two months and getting out a lot and exploring the city deep in the night is very different," he said. "You have to really be here, and you need to come with an open mind."

He used air pollution in China as an example, a topic regularly covered in the international media.

"We are very used to thinking of Shanghai in terms of dirty pollution, but the air here is less polluted now from petrol, with all the electric vehicles filling the streets."

He finds the people who work in Shanghai's tiny stores to be particularly interesting. He calls them "very busy in a tai chi style."

"They are very busy because you see them work very long hours early in the morning and late into the night, but at the same time, they also look very relaxed when there is nothing to do," he added.

"You see people on the streets who appear to be very busy, and then you see people gathering to drink and chat in front of their houses. That entire manner of life – I call it busy in a taichi way. It appears fluent and casual, but you know how difficult it is to get to that level."

"Strange that it doesn't feel strange."

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Clara Chow, a fan of Chinese TV dramas, put on the eponymous theme song of the 1980 hit drama "The Bund" (starring Chow Yun-fat) on her first walk down the Bund along the Huangpu River.

"You don't have to do this in order to appreciate Shanghai," she explained. "But for me, it's a plus. The skyline of the Bund is so famous, but you really need to be there to experience it fully and to see the skyline in person.

She added, "I will probably do it again before we leave."

The bilingual writer in English and Chinese also hopes to visit Hengdian World Studios, a film studio about four and a half hours' drive from Shanghai, where many of her favorite Chinese fantasy dramas were filmed.

"For me, there is always a fantasy China that exists only in pop culture, myths and legends, and China in reality," she said. "I hoped to reconcile the imaginary with the real and modern during my visit here."

Instead, it got "split into more parts, because living here for a while goes beyond the superficial understanding and presents how real Shanghai people live, their dreams, hopes, and struggles."

One aspect of Shanghai's dual identity is its surprising familiarity with Singapore in the commercial sense. Chow describes it as a "hyper, ultra, super, big version of Singapore," which made her feel at home right away.

"It is strange that it doesn't feel strange," she said.

"You have to see them to really understand."

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Kristel Thornell stumbled into an excitingly odd building one night while strolling by Suzhou Creek, wondering if it was real or her imagination.

"There is usually so much activity there, but that night, it was so weirdly peaceful and quiet in that part, and I suddenly saw this architecture; the whole experience was so dream-like," she recalled, showing Shanghai Daily the picture she took.

It turned out to be the Tian An 1000 Trees mall, dubbed the city's "Hanging Gardens of Babylon," and one of Shanghai's newest additions to the city's excitingly strange-looking structures.

"I knew I was going to like it here, but the actual density of it, from the first evening when you arrive from the airport and cross the city in a taxi, far exceeds any expectations," she said.

"It feels like a series of worlds all connected."

She has since been observing how people live here through all kinds of details, from the rain cape on their bikes to the way they hang their clothes to dry, and notably, how people use public space here.

"It is private and public at the same time," she said. "Along the river, the creek, and in small parks, people use the space to stretch, exercise, and dance. It is a healthy way to live while they also have the confidence to do that in public."

The author's second novel, "On the Blue Train," was translated and published in China.

"Shanghai is a city of contrasts, of dualities."

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Melinda Szymanik, an award-winning author of stories for young people, has been snapping pictures and taking notes for the last six weeks so that she can undertake additional research for her novel, which is partially set in Shanghai, even after she leaves the city.

"I had had a new project idea in my mind for a while, about a teenage girl who has the voices of her ancestors inside her head, and combining this with the thought of coming to Shanghai resulted in a very strong story idea," she explained.

"As part of it is set in Shanghai, it has been heavily inspired by my time here so far. Both modern experiences and investigating the history of the 1930s and 1940s."

Walking around the city, she has grown to appreciate the contrasts that can be seen everywhere, such as the view of old shikumen (stone-gate) buildings alongside modern freeways or the combination of old and new along the banks of Suzhou Creek, which comes alive in the evening with all of the colorful and unique light shows.

"Shanghai is a city of contrast, of dualities," she said. "It is all held in a kind of tension that's fascinating, but it also appears to be a very delicate balance. I love the excitement and dazzle of the new and the weight of history and style in the old."

"Shanghai is a city of the future."

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Santiago Loza, who has served as a jury member at various film festivals, including Cannes, has two ideas for Shanghai: a futuristic movie and a road film on a bicycle.

"China is at the antipodes of Argentina. It's like the opposite side, another world," he said. "So for me, it was always a sort of utopia or a dream to reach Shanghai."

He tried to create a daily routine with small things like going to the same cafe in the morning, but six weeks later, he still felt like he was "living in a dream."

"It will probably take me a while to really process the experience here, but first, I need to enjoy it, live it, walk it, and inhabit it," he said.

Loza describes the city as "a quarry of images" and finds everything in the city inspirational, even when he is lost.

"It's okay if I get lost," he said. "Because every time you get lost in Shanghai, you discover a new adventure."

The playwright and filmmaker has had many adventures in Shanghai, which he finds to be highly bike-friendly.

"So I would think of a movie about going on a bicycle trip through Shanghai. Along the way, you encounter many characters, like people who deliver packages, who are going to work, and who also commute by bike, and through the encounters with them, one can have a tour of the city."

"I find the city of Shanghai very sexy, not only in terms of beauty but also elegance."

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Prior to his visit, Sofronis Sofroniou compiled a list of Chinese works ranging from the 10th century BC "Book of Songs" to 1980s Chinese novels such as "Red Sorghum Clan" by Nobel laureate Mo Yan and asked for recommendations.

"I feel obliged to learn about the place I'm visiting, both to be prepared and keep an open mind," he said.

"This is my selection of Chinese literature."

He has been exploring the city by walking roughly 15 kilometers every day. Sometimes, he would simply choose a random direction and begin walking.

"It constantly gives me new impressions of the city. I am never disappointed," he said. "Even when I was lost, people who are incredibly warm and nice helped me. Exploring the city on foot is important because it connects the dots of everything I have seen and heard about it."

The writer sought to absorb as much as he could so that his on-the-ground experience, along with the knowledge from the book, would help him better organize a Shanghai scenario that had evolved in his head.

"I'm already planning to come back next spring to write that story in Shanghai," he said.

"It's an erotic story set in Shanghai because I find the city erotic in some ways. People have a generally high quality of life and are receptive to discovering their emotional identities. It is attractive not just in terms of beauty but also of elegance; many people here express it in a really fashionable and seductive manner."