Flickr: Harry Wood
Because what's a commute without staring out a stranger?
The guy rocking that Beijing bikini
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It's so damn hot! Metro was a bad choice! You're packed onto a sweltering train in the height of summer, stuck in amongst a throng of sweaty bodies. The man immediately next to you has opted to tackle the heat with midriff exposed. He's busted out the Beijing bikini. His bare belly is pressed up against your arm, it's all a bit too intimate for your liking. You're clearly uncomfortable, but hey, maybe you're the weird one for letting your shirt hang down like a fool...
The Ayi
Instagram: kylie_in_china
Look at those eyes - wise, knowing, judging. Who knows what she's thinking? Who knows the things she's seen? Who knows how old she is? Like, genuinely. You have a ballpark figure, but it could really go 15 years either way. Suddenly, she breaks eye contact. She senses something - there's a seat free. She makes her move, but there's competition. Ayi rushing down a train carriage to claim a seat - or effortlessly jumping the queue, come to think of it – is one of nature's greatest sights; it's a dance as old as time and you're in awe. Just don't get in her way.
The Child
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A family with a small child get on the train and your head drops. Almost on cue, the kid's spinning round the pole in the middle of the carriage and trying to make a paper plane out of a flyer they've found on a seat. Cute or irritating? The annoyance can be heightened somewhat if you're a foreigner and the parents think it's fine for their little one to use you for English speaking practice. And you’re hungover. You pretend to be distracted by something on your phone, but you can feel them looking at you. Before you know it the kid has come up to you and you have to acknowledge them. 'Hello' you say. 'What is your name?' 'Hello!' the child says before immediately switching into Chinese...
The laowai
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You can tell how long an expat has lived in Shanghai by how excited they look when they see another foreigner on the train. If they try to make eye contact or try to acknowledge them in any way, you've got a newbie on your hands. If they act as if they don't exist, then that's the sign of a seasoned Shanghai-er. There are of course exceptions, like way out on Line 6, so far out east that it feels like the terminal station is somewhere in Japan. If you're a laowai and another foreigner gets on in this neck of the woods, you exchange a glance as if to say 'I don't know what I'm doing out here either.' An announcement comes over the speakers: 'We are now at South Waigaoqiao Free Trade Zone.' You look at each other again. Their face says it all.
The love of your life
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You lock eyes from across the platform - they offer you a smile, you shoot one back. The train arrives and you both get on. You catch eyes again, this time for a little longer. You naturally overreact and start planning your life together: two kids, a dog, a house in the suburbs. You pluck up the courage, you begin to walk down the carriage, QR code on screen, ready to introduce yourself to your future spouse. Hold on, where have they gone? They must have got off at the last stop. You're downbeat but reassure yourself that you'll probably see them again. Shanghai isn't that busy, right? Love hurts...
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