Market Values

China has a lot of things to see. It's a big place. Markets are pretty fun places to hang out. Not in a shopping sense. I hate shopping. But if you want to people watch, or even just see how things can be a little familiar but completely different, markets are a good place to go.

This is the other end of that ally/partly abandoned house I was in (actually it wasn't really abandoned - there was a tattoo shop I was looking for and you had to walk through this building; it seemed abandoned though). There was more light down the other and was easier to focus the shot.

These were some kitchy looking plates just on a side of market stall. I love how they are just outside - this is on the side of a fairly busy road.

I have always wanted to learn how to use an abacus. There are a stack in the bottom left hand corner. But what I really like about this is the old suitcase in the foreground. There was a guy repairing old leather suitcases that were more than 50 years old. I was at the market one day without my camera watching him repair them. I went back with my camera and sod's law he wasn't there, but the suitcases were.

This is a different market, but you see the same things. Like guys doing some proper sketchy looking repairs to something or other. I took the photo a while ago and can't quite remember exactly what it is they were fixing.

I first moved to China in 1989. Waaaay back in the day. I don't think I could quite forget how people would sit or squat on the side of the street just watching things go by. Sometimes they would have little stools or buckets they would sit on. You can see how worn this one is.

Here is a different guy repairing cases. I could have said he was the one I was looking for, but he wasn't. These were slightly newer looking ones. See what he's sitting on?

Ahh. Little Chinese statuettes... These were actually painted some fantastic colours. They're basically propaganda in statue form. There are quite a few of Mao, but there are also workers and peasants and all that kind of stuff. Unfortunately Shanghai doesn't have old pictures and paintings and posters of Mao, or various propaganda type things on street walls like some places in China still do. I will eventually find some to snap photos of. Interestingly, posters saying workmen are about and you need a hard hat kind of look like they are straight out of the Cultural Revolution...

I always find it slightly amusing when you see people with terracotta warriors. I remember going to see them in the ground 20 odd years ago when they were still a fairly big deal (they were originally discovered in the 70s). They always keep finding more though...

A Bicycle And Bit More (Or The Other Way Around)

I spent some time in Shanghai, China a few months ago. It's actually where I picked up my OM-1. I spent a day out in the markets, and taking in the first sunny day of my time there. These were all taken with a digital camera.


Believe it or not, this is a boulevard in Shanghai. It's in the old French Concession.


China is pretty famous for it's bicycles. This row of scooters and bikes is pretty common all over the place.

I saw this guy sitting on the step of this shop just minding his own business. Asia has an abundance of 'plastic bucket shops'. They are like mini DIY stores. There always stacks of buckets. These ones are full of something I think.

Shanghai has changed a lot over the years. I haven't had the privilege of witnessing it first hand, but it is evident in parts of the city that have yet to give way to high rises. This is down an alley of a market. It's a much more bourgeois market than those of 10 odd years ago. You can sit down and get an Italian coffee here and there. But the buildings give the whole thing a bit of character. Modernity is ever present.

I was lucky (an ongoing theme) to get this shot. I was actually sitting in a taxi and happened to have a camera in my hands. I can't explain why I like this photo. But I just think of China when I see it. Though it could be anywhere, I suppose