I Love China

My Rolleiflex 2.8 E2 with Zeiss Planar 2.8/80 lens, made in 1959.

My biggest passion isn’t actually fashion, it’s photography. I have a large collection of cameras including 3 vintage Rolleiflex Twin Lens Reflex cameras from the 1950s, and one of them is pictured above.

They all work perfectly and use 120 roll film, which believe it or not, you can still buy fairly easily in Shanghai. I use these mainly for street photography, not because of the texture of the emulsion or anything remotely pretentious like that, but simply because people are much less threatened by such an old antique and rarely look away when I point it at them. In fact, most people seem to be hypnotised by these cameras and look straight into the lens, which is perfect for street portraits where some kind of eye contact is desirable. It’s almost impossible to achieve this with a normal digital camera, especially in China where people seem very suspicious if you walk around with a camera and a long lens. I guess with these antiques, they probably think if I had more sinister motives, I wouldn’t bother using a 49 year old antique.

In the picture, I’m holding a Rolleicord Vb from around 1962.  The Rolleicord was a cheaper range that was produced for enthusiasts rather than professionals, who couldn’t afford the cost of the Rolleiflex range.  Rolleicords are made to the same high standards but the lenses were lower quality and the features were more limited than on the pro range.

These cameras get a lot of attention whenever I go out with them. People look in wonder, some ask me questions about it and while it takes up a lot of valuable picture taking time, I usually spend time to show them how it works and let them play around with it before continuing on my merry way.

As this is a blog about China, I’ve decided it’s completely relevant to show some of my street photos here on my blog, so here are a few to start the ball rolling.

Rolleiflex 3.5F, Kodak Tri-X 400 black and white film. Beijing, 29th October 2006. (Note the Tellytubbies on her trousers.)

Migrant workers waiting to return home at Shanghai Railway Station in late summer, 2006. Again, they seem very relaxed and not at all upset by my intrusion.

Elderly man sits outside his home on a chair that’s chained up (I assume) to prevent theft. Notice also the bricks under the chair legs to achieve that perfect angle for maximum comfort!

Poor Tommy.  He climbed to the top of the armchair from where he stood on some cushions and tried to claw at the curtains, as cats often do. But he got his claw stuck, which I found highly amusing, and although animal rights groups may protest, instead of helping to release him, I rushed to the bedroom to get my camera to grab a few shots before he eventually freed himself.

As you all know, I passed the 40 year milestone recently.  Some people react by buying expensive (phallic) sports cars, some start chasing younger girls.  So far, the only thing that has changed with me is that I have started to go to the gym in an attempt to keep the perfect physique that I’ve enjoyed for the previous 40 years of my life.

So it seems fitting that this week’s fashion segment addresses a very important issue, which is how to dress for the gym and how to dress for the office.

Nike Fit orange tee, 248 RMB, Nike black and orange shorts, 298 RMB, light grey made to measure suit, 2800 RMB, white Ted Baker shirt, 75 pounds, belt and buckle by Elliot Rhodes, 75 pounds.

I generally wear a suit every day to the office, including the jacket, all year round.  For me, a suit, by definition, is made up of at least two parts, designed to be worn together.  I don’t wear shorts or tee shirts to the office, except for Friday’s when I do dress down for the weekend.

In mainland China, people are WAY more casual about office attire, especially the girls who seem to have a completely free reign when it comes to suitable attire, and it’s sometimes hard to determine if they are dressed for a day at the beach or a day at the office (not that I am complaining by the way!)  Mini shorts, running shoes, track suits, Hello Kitty tee shirts are all perfectly acceptable office wear in China for the girls.  And the guys too are far more casual than I’m used to, although they don’t tend to go quite so far as the girls, thank goodness.

Interestingly though, the reverse is true for many Chinese when they go on holiday.  I’ve seen men in business suits and leather shoes climbing Huang Shan in Anhui province, and women making the treacherous ascent in black evening dresses and high heeled shoes, while by contrast, my friends back in England would most likely wear sporty clothes to do those kinds of activities - go figure!

Tommy tries to work out which one is the real WoAi …..

In Hong Kong it’s a bit different (probably the British influence, what, what) and most guys and girls will wear business suits to work, regardless of the season.  So it’s easy to spot the Hong Kong guys in Shanghai, because like me, they’ll be in suits even during the sweaty summer months.

By the way, please don’t be confused by Tommy’s appearance in today’s post, it’s not quite “Caturday” yet, but we’re almost there.  Have a good weekend everyone.

To wrap up intellectual property theft week here at WoAiZhongGuo, I’m moving to the automotive industry (that’s cars to you guys).  Have a look at this, and if you’ve not seen it before, it’ll blow your mind!

I strongly suggest you read some of the comments at the end because apart from the first commenter, who is clearly an ignorant American fool (”replicating all our icons”), I was frankly very surprised and impressed at some of the reactions to what is clearly an outrageous breach of trademark.

Only a few days ago I wrote about how some clever Chinese programmers had launched an almost perfect clone of Facebook in Chinese, so I thought it would be good to continue the theme of intellectual property theft, this time focusing on the technology sector. So if I may, I’d like to introduce you all to the latest in hi tech gadgetry, ladies and gentlemen, I give you - the Chinese made, state of the art, 4G ready HiPhone (if you’re not sure how to pronounce it, the “H” is silent!). I bet those sneaky bastards at Apple will be copying this baby in no time, or maybe they already have!

There’s a YouTube video clip here for those of you who’d like to see it in action.

UPDATE : Thanks to Seraph for providing the website which is very well done I must say. The phone itself looks like a piece of junk but after seeing the website, I almost want one! The Apple-esque imagery is hilarious, or is it a tomato. Come to think of it, it could be a lychee which would be ironic!

Xiao Nei (校内) is a popular Chinese online networking website.  Users can find old college buddies, chat online and see what their friends are up to.  You can write on people’s walls, send them messages, join various networks and there are even fun applications you can install.

Sadly, Xiaonei.com is only available in Chinese but don’t worry if Chinese isn’t your forte.  One bright Harvard University student, Mark Zuckerberg, has copied this idea into English and called it Facebook.

It was initially only available to Harvard University students, but it is now available to everyone.  You probably haven’t heard of Facebook yet, but WoAi predicts that it will become very popular one day!

It’s not like I check these things regularly, it’s been about six months since I had a peek, and only because ISpyShanghai has a link to it on his site, but according to the China Blog List on Saturday morning, this blog was 5th in the top ten Random Blogs, 8th in the top ten Newest Blogs, and 2nd (yes, SECOND) in the most important category of all, the top ten Hottest Blogs (sadly, not top ten hottest bloggers!).

I’m not sure what that says about the quality of China blogs, but as I’ve always thought only a small handful of people read this, it’s still a nice surprise to be up there.  And most shocking of all, it seems that even people at the China Daily are following this blog!  I’ll be honest, I was quite surprised when I was reading about myself on the China Daily website and even though they kept referring to stuff I’d wrote, it was only when they mentioned my cat Tommy that it really sunk in that it was me they were referring to.  (Thanks to MJK for letting me know about the China Daily, otherwise I would never have known.)

On the 11th July 2005, about a month after I moved to Shanghai, I found this tiny little kitty walking along the street looking dirty, tired, hungry and uncared for.  He looked up at me, our eyes locked and I knew we were meant to be together forever.  Some people have suggested perhaps we knew each other in a past life.

Almost 3 years on, he’s all grown up, and I love him more than ever.  He’s also one of my best photographic studio models and his rates are extremely reasonable!

A lot of people underestimate the importance of accessories.  Belts, cuff links, jewelry, ties, scarves, gloves all add that little finishing touch to your overall look that is so often overlooked.  So today I’m going to kick off a Fashion Friday accessories series that begins with belts.

Formal black calves leather belt (60 pounds) and buckle (15 pounds) from Elliot Rhodes, 79 Long Acre, Covent Garden, London.

Firstly, the belt you wear with your tailored trousers or suit is NOT the belt you wear with your jeans.  For a start, they are a different width.  The belt pictured is 35mm which will fit most suits.

Distressed black leather belt (60 pounds) with buckle (20 pounds), Elliot Rhodes, London.

This is a 40mm width belt, so it’s a bit too big for your suit but is perfect for that pair of worn jeans you love to wear at the weekends.  You can’t see from the photo but the buckle is actually made up of Chinese characters that reads “zhong guo liu xing” which means “popular China”.

中国流行 belt buckle by Elliot Rhodes, London.

Just as many Chinese wear tee shirts and clothes with meaningless English phrases on them, meaningless Asian script is extremely popular in many western countries on things like tee shirts, tattoos and yes, even belts!

Elliot Rhodes are belt specialists.  They know their belts.  What I like about them is their system of belts and buckles.  You choose your belt first then you choose a buckle to go with it, or several buckles if you have the cash.  They of course have different lengths available, but if your size is not in stock, they will cut the belt to fit you perfectly with just the right amount of “tail”.  This is an important detail that sadly is too often overlooked by Chinese men.  I’ve seen so many guys in Shanghai with belts that are way too long for them to the extent that the tail goes right round to the back of their waists - come on guys that looks ridiculous, sort it out!

Buckles can be changed in seconds, giving a totally fresh new look to that old belt.

Being able to change buckles is like having two or three belts in one.  The above buckle works well with jeans during the day, but when I go out at night clubbing, I want something a little more eye catching, so I also got this gun metal buckle, which my cat Tommy is modelling:

And I know you’d all be very disappointed if you didn’t see any photos of WoAi himself, so here’s the man himself sporting this very same belt with a classic jeans and tee shirt ensemble:

For those interested in such things, all photographs (except the last one, obviously) were taken on my dining room table with a white card background covering the table and a single Guang Bao professional flash head with a 1 metre by 0.7 metre diffuser box.

Thanks for reading and you all have a really nice, extra special weekend, wherever you may be.

Marbella, southern Spain, early June 2008 - sunny, blue skies, 22 degrees celcius.

Shanghai, late June 2008 - Pissing down with rain for the last 3 to 4 weeks, forgotten already what the sun looks like, shoes and suit soaked through, another pair of shoes ruined.

It’s rained so much that parts of the city are flooding and more rain is expected from Friday, just in time for the weekend.  Perfect.  The only piece of good news, the silver lining if you like, is that tomorrow is Fashion Friday!