View Bermuda Railway in a larger map

It’s always hot in the summer and cold in the winter. Those jury members should come and stay for a week…

— China’s new global architecture superstar gets mixed reviews at home

Her idea was to carve out a new market by advertising Weida’s high quality dinner napkins to China’s nine hundred million farmers. Surprised by her cocksureness, I asked her if she knew how farmers wipe their mouths after each meal. She returned my question with a misgiving look. I raised my hand and wiped my mouth on my sleeve. She looked at my graceless action with contempt.

— Why Many in China Sympathize With Occupy Wall Street - Damien Ma - International - The Atlantic (via urbanerds)

Roomie wanted to “see what democracy looked like”, so we made a field trip to Occupy Boston’s tent village in Dewey Square…and then went down the street to see stunts filming for R.I.P.D.

Shenzhen universiade women’s soccer, China vs UK

one day in taipei

Geoffrey West: The surprising math of cities and corporations

A man holding a bucket was seen walking out of the office of Shenzhen Luosha Engineering Development Co, a real estate firm that will build a new project at the complex. The man poured something from the bucket into apartment windows, a witness surnamed Li told the website. Li later found the street was crawling with scorpions, the report said.

Police and residents spent the whole night capturing nearly 50 kilograms of scorpions.

All the apartments are scheduled to be demolished but home owners haven’t signed compensation deals yet, the report said.

— Scorpions on the loose in Shenzhen, shanghaidaily.com

Please take good care of children! Please offer seat to anyone in need! Quiet please! Please do not lean on the door! No smoking! Please do not litter! Welcome aboard!

But no English translation for this one: To support sustainability, the train car’s air conditioning temperature has been set according to regulations. Thank you for your support.

Or this one: Cherish the facilities, share the harmony

The B10 exhibition space in OCT Loft North transformed overnight, into the Urbanus + MVRDV + Perrault + Tschumi + Fujimoto ‘re-envisioning’ of the industrial-turned-creative park. And miraculously, it was ready for the opening today. Na and I contributed a short film about the ‘users’ of OCT and their encounters with the creative park.

Above: The ‘town square’ of the urban village, filled with b-ball players and porters in the evening

If you walk north from the Windows of the World theme park, you will cross over Shenzhen’s main avenue on the Golden Gate Bridge to enter another world entirely: the Shangbaishi urban village (上白石村).

View Shangbaishi Village 上白石村 in a larger map

The village’s density, diverse housing, affordable food, and public activities are the antidote to the overcultivated OCT that surrounds it—and it has so far resisted the gentrification that has set upon other villages, such as Caiwuwei or Dafen. 

The repetitive fabric of third-generation ‘handshake buildings’, in fairly good condition, are still punctuated by the second-generation village housing, which are low-rise and deteriorating fast: 

The alleys were fully utilized, with everything from pool tables to overflowing hair salons and restaurants. If only the OCT Loft would allow even a monthly Pool Night, the creative park might be perceived as much more welcoming to the surrounding community…

At the heart of Shangbaishi, there is a square parcel of traditional row houses that are in much better condition than most of the other urban villages we have surveyed in Shenzhen. In this elongated courtyard, a migrant woman prepared her fishing nets for returning to the sea.

As we turned the last corner to leave the village, we discovered a dumpling restaurant that had two veg options—that’s two more than any other dumpling house in the OCT. 

‘You don’t understand Chinese people!’ Mr. Wang said, laughing, and the other men nodded their heads in agreement. As a foreigner, I often heard that, and it had a way of ending discussion.

— 

Peter Hessler, Country Driving

Alongside the Xi’an city wall, the most picturesque exercise equipment yet.

The poor people don’t want to do their dancing next to Land Rovers and Audis.

— Tat Lam

At Primitive & Healthy Restaurant 缘生态