Author: Agathe Sedran

Categories
Marketing

Happy Valley – Shanghai amusement park for small budget!

When talking about amusement parks in Shanghai, Disneyland is often the first to be mentioned. However, it is not the only one in this park category in Shanghai! Happy Valley is a theme park specializing in roller-coasters.

 

Happy Valley 2 Happy Valley 3 Happy Valley

How to get there:

Located in the South-West of Shanghai, you will need an hour to get there from downtown Shanghai. Stop at metro Station X on line Y and then take a taxi for 5 minutes to connect to the park.

 

What attractions?

This is one of the biggest advantages of this park compared to Disneyland: it has fifteen very roller-coasters attractions while Disney has only three or four to offer. The most surprising attraction is a roller-coaster that seems dated from the early 20th century, made of old wood. The sensation is very strong because at the sight of this antiquity, we are the more afraid. But in the end, the machine works well and the sensations are great!

 

What is the atmosphere of the park?

Like DisneyLand, Happy Valley is a “theme park”. The attractions are therefore decorated. They are separated in several districts with a distinct decoration for each  disctrict (the aquatic world, future, western, pirates, etc). The sets are rather well done.

 

What about the waiting time?

Good news: the waiting time for each attraction was very short (between 2 and 15 minutes depending on the ride)!

 

For what price?

This is the second advantage compared to Disneyland. The price is very low, only 230 rmb compared to the 800rmb requested for Disneyland.

 

When should I go?

Like all the amusement parks, it is better to go there during sunny days, most attractions being outside. Do not arrive before 11 am, the park will be open but many attractions open only in the late morning.

 

Should I bring some snacks?

There are a lot of Chinese and occidental restaurants and it is quite cheap

 

I invite you to watch this video of the Diving Coaster to have an idea of how cool are the attractions !

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xWythrBlDdQ

 

Make sure to read my previous articles 😉

 

The Umbrellas Market – The Chinese Traditional Tinder :
https://dmb-shanghai.com/lifestyle/the-umbrellas-market-the-chinese-traditional-tinder/

Categories
Lifestyle Shanghai Tourisme

 The Umbrellas Market – The Chinese Traditional Tinder

If you take a walk on a Sunday afternoon around People Square in Shanghai, it is highly likely that you will come across this surprising market. The umbrellas market.

 

What is it?

 

 

As its name evokes, this place is covered with umbrellas. However, they are not the ones who attract all the attention, but the small pieces of paper that are attached on them!

 

The tradition is that every Sunday, parents of young Chinese adults (between 20 and 30 years old on average) gather at People Square. They exhibit a kind of Curriculum Vitae of their children, written on a paper that will be fasten to the umbrellas.

How it works?

While one of the parents stays close to his/her umbrella to answer questions of possible potential new interested parents. The other walks to see if he/she does not find the perfect candidate for a girl or his son among all the other profiles presented. If she/he finds one, the four parents meet and arrange a meeting with their children.

   

Here are two examples of resumes you can find on those umbrellas. The most often displayed information on the resume is the birth announcement, the size, the job position and even the salary! It is not uncommon to also see some criteria issued for future candidates. For example, some people are only looing for women between 1m60 and 1m6. Others specify that they are looking for someone from the same a social environment “or higher”. It’s quite surprising!

 

The most surprising in this market is that there are no pictures on these resumes. “If the mother is pretty, the girl is pretty too fore sure!”. explained me a Chinese man in the market when I ask the question.

 

In a society where digitization takes more and more space, it is surprising to see that this kind of tradition still exist even with the mass arrival dating apps. Most resume are still written by hand! Maybe the QR code will soon be on the umbrellas too …

 

How to get there?

It’s very simple, take the metro to People Square Station (Lines 2, 8 or 1) and take exit 17. At the edge of the park, you will quickly find the crow.

 

When to go?

The Umbrellas Market takes place every Sunday from around 11 am to 5pm.

Make sure to read my previous articles 😉

https://dmb-shanghai.com/marketing/advent-of-chinese-actors-in-american-cinema-the-new-mulan-movie/

https://dmb-shanghai.com/marketing/small-but-worthy-instagram-accounts/

 

I also encourage you to watch this video about the Umbrella Market :

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ElcTIHNlyvE

 

Categories
Marketing

Advent of Chinese actors in American cinema – The new Mulan movie

Almost a year to the day before the release of the live film “Mulan”. Let’s focus on the next big success of Disney with chinese actors!

 

About the movie

This live-action adaptation of the cartoon will be produced in China and New Zealand. The film remains in the majority look-a-like to the cartoon published in the 1990s. It was inspired by the poem « The Ballad of Mulan». The movie will narrate the legendary adventures of a girl secretly taking the place of his father in the army . It takes place during the war against the Huns faking to be a man.

Some original elements from the cartoon will unfortunately miss. For example, the little Muschu dragon or the famous songs like« Reflexion ». This has created polemics on social medias among fans, very attached to the  original music. The reason of this change is clear. The copyrights do not belong to Disney but to one of their former producers, Jeffrey Katzenberg, who is now working for the competing studio, Dreamworks.

Other Chinese success

After the success of Crazy Rich Asian with the Chinese audience but also with the Western audience,  Mulan may sign the beginning of a new trend for Asian actors. Indeed, although being an American production with Jason T. Reed (Ninja Turtles), Chris Bender (A History of Violence) and Jake Weiner (Criminal) on the production size, the film cast is 100% asian !

In addition to the lead role played by Liu Yifei (Once Upon a Time), we also find a large number of asian actors such as Donnie Yen (Rogue One: A Star Wars Story), Jason Scott Lee (Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon: Sword of Destiny), Yoson An (he Meg), Utkarsh Ambudkhar (The Hit Girls), Ron Yuan (Marco Polo). Tzi Ma (Arrival), Rosalind Chao (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine) and Cheng Pei-Pei (Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon: Sword of Destiny). Nelson Lee, Chum Ehelepola, Gong Li (Memoirs of a Geisha) and Jet Li (Leathal Weapon 4).

That was also the case for Crazy Rich Asian which was the first film from a Hollywood studio with an almost entirely Asian cast since 1993.

 

Whitewashing

And in fact according to a California University study, 44 of the 100 films that made the best recipes in 2016 in the United States had no Asian characters.

But we can see that the “whitewashing” (Hollywood’s tendency to give all the roles to white people) does not pass as well today. There were a lot of polemics in recent years.

For example there were some protests against  the choice of Scarlett Johansson to embody the heroine of “Ghost in the Shell” (2017).  Same thing for Tilda Swinton playing the role of the Old in “Doctor Strange” (2016). Because they are white actrors playing the role of asian characters.

But a wind of change is happening in American studios and Hollywood seems more and more open to a greater diversity.

“It’s time for us to be represented in film and television. Look around us. We are a very diverse culture.Asians, African Americans, we belong to the DNA of this community  here in the United States.”
Michelle Yeoh, asian/American actrice

 

 

You can find here the teaser :

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vCrFUN0_hYw

 

 

Make sure to read my previous articles 😉 :

Happy Valley – Shanghai amusement park for small budget!

https://dmb-shanghai.com/?p=5734&preview=true

Categories
Marketing

Instagram – 9 Shanghai small but worthy accounts you must follow

9 Shanghai small but worthy Instagram accounts you must follow

 

As westerner students/expats, Instagram is for us one of our best source of inspiration and it’s more and more becoming our kind of “travel guide” when we want to discover new things to do in our adoption city –  Shanghai. Here is a list of the 9 Shanghai small but worthy Instagram accounts you must follow if you want to look at Shanghai with a new eye.

 

 

  1. The light player @i_013

All is about light in this account! @i_013 plays perfectly with the city’s lights and makes us discover shanghai on its brightest side!  Portraits, urban landscapes, drone’s pictures… His work is very diverse and worthy!

instagram 15 instagram 16

https://www.instagram.com/i_013/

 

  1. the most authentic @local.shanghai

@Local.shanghai offer us “a photo journal of the local part of shanghai before it disappears”… You can discover pictures of small streets of shanghai, of markets, of traditional shops, and of old people walking around… This account is for people who want to see the real Shanghai. The Shanghai city you can observe when you take a walk on a sunny Sunday.

instagram 13 instagram 12

https://www.instagram.com/local.shanghai/

 

  1. the KOL photographer @shanghai_xiaoshen

But what is KOL?  This is the abbreviation for Key Opinion Leader, what we (westerners) call influencers. If you go to the Bund for a little walk, you can spot some of those KOLs approximately every 30 meters. They are everywhere! And they are usually accompanied by a little (professional look alike) team composed of one stylist, one hair dresser, one make up artist, one assistant and of course one photographer to catch the best pictures that KOLs will then share on all their Chinese social medias. @shanghai_xiaoshen is one of those photographer. You will find on his account a lot of very good KOLs portraits and this is a good way to discover new KOLs. That is perfect of you are looking for brand ambassadors for your company or you marketing class project.

instagram 11 instagram 10

https://www.instagram.com/shanghai_xiaoshen/

 

  1. the best drone pictures @Shallwe0317

If you do love drone photography, then you’d better follow @shallwe0317! He takes the best air pictures of Shanghai, letting us discover the city in a very new angle.

instagram 9 instagram 9

https://www.instagram.com/shallwe0317/

 

  1. the professional fashion beauty photographer @maximvdnphoto

Former student of the French Business School Essca, Maxim discovered shanghai during his study and decided to stay in China after that to follow his dream of becoming professional photographer… And he is succeeding!  On his Instagram account you can find a lot of his work for fashion magazines, some film portraits, and some collaborations with Chinese brands… He works mainly (but not only) with Asian model and the result is amazing!

instagram 8 instagram 7

https://www.instagram.com/maximvdnphoto/

 

  1. the lifestyle blogger @maxieissuper

As Instagram is really not the most popular platform for Chinese people, they are quite few Chinese bloggers sharing content on Instagram. But @maxieissuper is one of those! As a lifestyle blogger, she daily shares content about beauty products, fashion brands, good restaurants, events and nice places to hangout in shanghai.

instagram 5 instagram 6

https://www.instagram.com/maxieissuper/

 

  1. the coffee addict @shanghaicooffeedaily

If you are a coffee addict, run fast to follow @shanghaicooffeedaily. This great account shares every single day new places to have a good coffee. This is the account you need to follow if you are looking for some coffee inspiration!

café café 2

https://www.instagram.com/shanghaicoffeedaily/

 

  1. the traveller inspiration @terrafoodtravel

Ana from @terrafoodtravel has been expatriated from Portugal to Shanghai for 2 years. Even if she loves Shanghai, on her free time, she loves traveling and discovering amazing places all around China. She shares frequently her stunning adventure through beautiful Instagram photos. As an insta-traveler she tries to spread authenticity with “true living moment” pictures instead of sharing pictures of a perfect but unnecessary floating breakfast basket as you can often see on Instagram traveller accounts.

@terrafoodtravel 2 @terrafoodtravel

https://www.instagram.com/terrafoodtravel/

 

 

 

Don’t hesitate to read my other article :

 The Umbrellas Market – The Chinese Traditional Tinder 

https://dmb-shanghai.com/lifestyle/the-umbrellas-market-the-chinese-traditional-tinder/