The quietest newsroom in the world

I started an internship at the Shanghai Daily this week - one of the reasons I haven't posted in a while - and I've spent the time since desperately trying to find some form of work that I can do other than rocking back and forth in a chair...

But I suppose for a first week it's not been too uneventful, it doesn't help that they have no real idea what to do with interns though. When I arrived on Tuesday I was shown a desk, a computer, how the server worked, and then left to it. To what, at that point, neither I nor the Shanghai Daily knew, I think they were just happy to get me to sit down and not bother them for a minute.

That didn't last long and I managed to work my way round the metro (city news) desk reporters in about 15 minutes, pleasantly whoring myself out for any work that was going at all. There wasn't anything.

I suppose it would be useful to describe the newsroom at the Shanghai Daily: it looks like a newsroom, but it doesn't sound like a newsroom. The general hustling, shouting, swearing and stressing is nowhere and is replaced by an eerie subdued murmur. I can actually hear the news on TV from the other side of the room.

I think this comes from the fact the Shanghai Daily's metro desk tends to do a lot of rehashing stories from the Chinese media and not so much reporting of its own, meaning reporters don't need to leave the office much, and just make a couple of calls to verify a story.

Despite that, I have huge amount of respect for them, writing news in a foreign language (especially if, like many of the reporters, you've never been to an English speaking country) is a pretty hard task.

That said, On Thursday I finally got something to do and teamed up with a young reporter who just graduated from university this year. We went and covered a seminar where an Australian public health academic was talking about tobacco control in Australia, and I think was supposed to become a discussion between him and the Chinese academics there about cooperation between the two countries. Well, the language barrier hit home a bit and it descended into a discussion between the Chinese academics for a good couple of hours, but it was interesting. They called for the media to take a more active role in reporting findings about tobacco control so as to pressure the government into taking a more active approach to tightening regulations or even introducing laws in the area.

So I got to write a couple of hundred words at least, which was better than nothing. Friday was a pretty uneventful day though, so we'll see what happens next week.

Links
Media aid needed in smoke-out campaign
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The Olympic petit morte (part two)

Well, whereas my earlier rant on the topic railed against the lack of sporting facilities that surround the prestigious university, this one is not an apology, but a clarification that there are facilities around – albeit they're kept very secret.

The Jiangwan Sports Centre 江湾体育中心 is hidden about 25 minutes walk from the main Handan Road campus, behind the goliath new Wanda shopping complex. I say it's hidden, as well as secret, as no-one I've asked about pools or gyms seemed to know of its existence, for the tip I have to thank Charlie as acting as a proxy between me and someone who does know of it, but whom I do not know.

This is a bit strange, as it's been around for some time. According to its website, it was originally the Shanghai Stadium 上海市体育场, which I'm pretty sure is somewhere else now. It was built in 1935, and in 1948 played host to the "Old China 7th National Games". It's now been rebuilt, and opened again in May 2008, which may account for noone knowing about it, but still.

If I had a camera (mine is still in a state of disrepair) I would have posted some pictures of it, but it's a brand spanking new-looking outdoor complex with a main stadium, indoor hall, 5-a-side football pitches, basketball, tennis, and - most importantly - an Olympic sized swimming pool.

With such amazing facilities, surely this is where all the post-Olympic sporting frenzy is going on. Not quite. It was empty. Dead. Deserted. Security guards on the gate, a few people hoovering the football pitches, and one old man smoking a cigarette in a traditional garden section, but other than that, noone.

Whether or not this is because of the week holiday that China is on at the moment, I do not know, the road outside seemed as busy and bustling as ever, but inside was a ghost town (a very clean ghost town I'll add).

This didn't bother me one bit though, so I headed into the swimming pool where there were a grand total of 5 swimmers. For anyone interested, here's some information for getting there/prices etc.


Address: Corner of Guohe and Zhengli Roads, Yangpu District. 国和路／政立路，杨浦区 (You can't miss it if you're on this corner).

Opening Times: 7am - 9pm

Tickets: Single entry 35 Yuan, One month 600 Yuan, 3 Month 1800 yuan, One Year 3000 Yuan.

Length: 50m.

Lanes: Not sure, none when I went, but it was empty, might change on time of day.

As with all swimming pools in shanghai, you need a City of Shanghai Health Card (You can get them for 5 kuai in any swimming pool)

Jiangwan Sports Centre (Chinese, apparently there is an English option but it doesn't work)
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The Olympic petite mort

I haven't visited Beijing since my return to China, but there's been something that's been bugging me since getting settled at Fudan which seems to be at odds with an expectation of Olympic Spirit.

Now I timed my return to China pretty much in sync with the end of the Olympics, so everything I gleaned about China's sporting spectacle was through the British press and blogs. Nevertheless, as someone who likes to keep fit and has used Chinese university sporting facilities in the past I was pretty optimistic about what Fudan has to offer in the way of gyms and pools.


And I wasn't disappointed when I did a scout around campus: basketball courts, badminton courts, tennis courts, a huge state of the art sports stadium, and a 50 metre swimming pool. However, when attempting to use these facilities I was kicked in the face in a way that can only happen in China.

To begin with, the swimming pool is an outdoor pool, and on trying to get into the building I'm met with a sign that says it closes from the 28th of August. Not entirely believing this I ventured into the sports shop underneath it and asked one of the girls working there. I'm promptly told that it shuts during term time, and opens again during the holidays. The reason for this being that the weather is getting cold and so, being an outdoor pool, not really the best for winter swimming. This had alarm bells going though, it's still pretty damn warm in Shanghai and, despite the recent rain coming off Typhoon Sinlaku, most days are pretty good outdoor swimming days.

Failing that, I tried to play some tennis on some great looking courts next to the pool. The door was shut, but there was a woman sitting in her booth, so I went up to ask if we could play. 不开 (not open) she replied, in a very shrill voice. Ok, what time does it open. 不开！ she screamed again. Through her really strong Shanghai accent I thought I understood that class was going on and, remembering that sports facilities usually don't open until class is out, left to find another, non university-run tennis court.

It just seems strange to me that one the top three universities in the country, which does have decent facilities, doesn't want to open them up more and let people play some sports. After all, the Olympics only finished a couple of weeks ago, and the Paralympics are still going on – if there was ever a time for the Chinese to be going sports crazy, this is it. I've experienced enough of China to know not to expect certain things, but I did expect to be swimming in a crammed pool, or waiting a long time to get onto jam packed tennis or badminton courts, not to be the only person peering listlessly into a deserted lobby, wondering what was going on.
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Fun time at Fudan

So it's been a pretty hectic couple of weeks, but I've decided to spend some time before I start my daily routine of wondering what exactly is going on to write a little bit about the insanity that is Fudan University. but before I get started, I'd like to apologise for the lack of pictures on this blog, my camera has been busted for a long time and I still haven't got round to fixing it. Check out Dara's blog for some pictures (Proxy needed in China).

Having lived in China before, and having gone to university here, I thought I was pretty prepared for the bureaucracy and general confusion that goes hand in hand with it all. I was wrong.


There are numerous factors that lead to Fudan being probably the worst university for foreign students to register, get a room, and work out what's going on, but the number one reason is most definitely that noone has the faintest inkling of an idea about what is going on.

There are (I have found so far, there might be more) three different foreign student offices, each of them staffed by people who seem to think that all your answers will be resolved in one of the other ones.

Then there are the police, who are trying to claim that it is now compulsory to get a physical in China before you can apply for residency and that this has never, NEVER, been any different. Of course, he just grunted when he was told that I had used the exact same form I had with me for residency two years ago...

And it's all topped off with the fact that I didn't seem to be on any Fudan electronic equipment. I just didn't exist. Luckily I had made a copy of my application acceptance letter, and that has helped me survive so far.

But once all that stuff was out of the way (even though it's not, I still don't have a resident's permit) Fudan is a decent place, with a really good School of Journalism – where I'll be spending most of my time over the next 6 months.
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