People’s Republic of Chai Na

拆 －CHAI. The ugliest word in the Chinese language. (Cantonese: Chaak) It means Knock Down. Demolish. Tear Apart. Chinese people joke about living in 拆拿， Chai Na, Knock Down and Take.

When I went to Shanghai last week for the first time in at least 15 years, I feared the worst. I thought there would be no hovelage, no Dickensian warrens in which to get lost. Last time I was there for a day or so, the person I was with insisted on dragging me to Hard Rock Cafe, and all I remember was Big City China tackiness.

I was therefore pleasantly surprised to find a lot of good hovelage in walking distance from the hotel, and wasted no time diving into it.

But wait: …

It was chai, chai, chai as far as the eye could see. Which wasn’t very far, in the foggy soup. (We think HK is polluted! Ha bloody ha.) So it was another walk tinged with sadness in one of China’s formerly great cities.

And the sun set on corrupt property tycoons, Expo-mongers, police chiefs and communist party members.

(One of whom, incidentally, massaged my feet the next day! Badly. A membership is no guarantee of competence, that’s for sure. Rather the opposite. )