{"id":7284,"date":"2016-07-13T02:49:02","date_gmt":"2016-07-13T06:49:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.chinesepen.org\/english\/?p=7284"},"modified":"2016-07-14T02:56:53","modified_gmt":"2016-07-14T06:56:53","slug":"charmaine-chan-shanghais-street-of-eternal-happiness","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.chinesepen.org\/english\/charmaine-chan-shanghais-street-of-eternal-happiness","title":{"rendered":"Charmaine Chan: Shanghai\u2019s Street of Eternal Happiness"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-7285\" src=\"http:\/\/www.chinesepen.org\/english\/files\/2016\/07\/Street-of-Eternal-Happiness1.jpg\" alt=\"Street of Eternal Happiness1\" width=\"480\" height=\"314\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.chinesepen.org\/english\/files\/2016\/07\/Street-of-Eternal-Happiness1.jpg 780w, https:\/\/www.chinesepen.org\/english\/files\/2016\/07\/Street-of-Eternal-Happiness1-300x196.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.chinesepen.org\/english\/files\/2016\/07\/Street-of-Eternal-Happiness1-768x502.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 480px) 100vw, 480px\" \/>Rob Schmitz\u2019s take on a teeming Chinese city in which everyone is chasing the capitalist dream.<\/strong><!--more--><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft wp-image-7287 size-full\" src=\"http:\/\/www.chinesepen.org\/english\/files\/2016\/07\/Street-of-Eternal-Happiness-1.jpg\" alt=\"Street of Eternal Happiness\" width=\"236\" height=\"356\" \/>US radio correspondent Rob Schmitz has seized the opportunity to write a real-life soap opera by relating the personal stories of a captivating cast of characters almost literally on his doorstep in Shanghai. This is an empathetic appraisal of his neighbours\u2019 ambitions, however inflated or modest, in China\u2019s thrusting economic powerhouse. Schmitz has lived in the titular two-mile street (whose untrans\u00adlated name is the less dreamy Changle Lu) in the former French Concession for several years and writes fondly of the get-rich-quick plan of Auntie Fu and the struggles of the sandwich-shop entrepreneur who sells accordions on the side. Schmitz\u2019s account is a micro\u00adcosm of a teeming city in a country in a hurry, his fellow residents buying into the officially sanctioned Chinese capitalist dream (or its nightmare equivalent). Old folks, shoppers, strolling couples, beggars, schoolchildren: all human life is here. Schmitz sketches a charming picture, but, of course, the street isn\u2019t paradise and not all of its residents are happy, eternally or other\u00adwise. This is China in a snow globe.<\/p>\n<p>Source:<span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"> <a style=\"color: #0000ff;\" href=\"http:\/\/www.scmp.com\/magazines\/post-magazine\/books\/article\/1986700\/book-review-shanghais-street-eternal-happiness\" target=\"_blank\">http:\/\/www.scmp.com\/magazines\/post-magazine\/books\/article\/1986700\/book-review-shanghais-street-eternal-happiness<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Rob Schmitz\u2019s take on a teeming Chinese  &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.chinesepen.org\/english\/charmaine-chan-shanghais-street-of-eternal-happiness\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_bbp_topic_count":0,"_bbp_reply_count":0,"_bbp_total_topic_count":0,"_bbp_total_reply_count":0,"_bbp_voice_count":0,"_bbp_anonymous_reply_count":0,"_bbp_topic_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_reply_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_forum_subforum_count":0,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[107],"tags":[1721,1722,433],"views":5731,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.chinesepen.org\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7284"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.chinesepen.org\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.chinesepen.org\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chinesepen.org\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chinesepen.org\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7284"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.chinesepen.org\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7284\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7288,"href":"https:\/\/www.chinesepen.org\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7284\/revisions\/7288"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.chinesepen.org\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7284"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chinesepen.org\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7284"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chinesepen.org\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7284"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}