I know my updates have been quite infrequent over the last six months or so, but I have valid excuses!

The most time-consuming venture for me in the last month has been the development of Shanghai Beer Week‘s website. Mike, the brewer at Boxing Cat Brewery, asked me to design a website for this month’s first annual Shanghai Beer Week. Several bars, restaurants and organizations will be taking part in this inaugural event.

I spent a lot of time constructing, coding and designing the website (which was based on the Responsive Word Press theme) and ensuring a social media presence on Facebook.

So far so good. While I haven’t been updating on this site, I do still have my fingers around the Web.

Check out SHBW’s Facebook page here

Recently I was looking for some map files of Shanghai for a cartography project when I came across some now-public early 1980′s CIA maps of Asia. The most interesting map I found was a very large 1:30,000 street map of the city. Every nook and cranny from 30 years ago was still there.

This is a perfect complement to the maps and images of Shanghai we see today. By the early 1980s, China’s opening up to the world was in full swing. Infrastructure and manufacturing were just kicking into gear. Most of the policies after opening up were just starting to come to fruition.

Looking at the map you’ll notice that it labels nearly every factory, hotel (there weren’t many then) and institution of learning. The districts that encompass the former French Concession (Luwan, Changning and Xuhui) look pretty similar to day, save for a few factories and academies.

Former French Concession in 1982

The exponential growth of Shanghai’s famed Pudong skyline has consistently interested people around the world. A few years ago, photos of Pudong in 1990 compared to 2010 made the rounds of the Internet.

Top: 1990, Bottom: 2010

Breathtaking, isn’t it? However, looking at the map gives some insight at what exactly was happening on that empty side of the river. The horizon may only show farmlands and emptiness but there was definitely a lot activity still in the Huangpu River area.

Bund/People's Square and Lujiazui area in 1982

Another noticeable change on the map is near Renmin (or People’s) Square. If you look closely, you can see People’s Square still maintains its shape from when it was a pre-communist era horse racing track. It appears that when China was its most communist, the area surrounding the square was a parade area to likely show off military hardware and strength. However, that area has since evolved into Shanghai Museum and the Urban Planning Exhibition.

If you want to wander around the entire map on your own, you can view or download the full-res map here.

 
In 2011 I had the opportunity to write two articles for the fall issue of Hops Magazine, an English-language quarterly serving mainly the residents of Shanghai and Beijing. Hops describes itself as “the only magazine in China dedicated exclusively to beer culture. We strive to provide in depth and accurate coverage of the evolving beer market, including venues and events, the professional marketplace and the science of brewing.”

Cooking with Beer: Beer-battered Shrimp Tacos

For those interested in learning how to cook with beer, you’re in luck! For this article I wrote how to make beer-battered fish tacos using Tsingtao. For a link directly to the article, go here.

Now that summer is over and that bottle of Tsingtao is no longer a replacement for water, it’s time to find some other uses for that beer. Why not use it in some of your favorite recipes?

There are hundreds of recipes for breads, stews, soups and meats, which use beer of all types, ranging from hearty stouts to bitter ales. It’s not difficult to see how beer can be an integral part of any recipe with its range of possibilities.

The Blarney Stone: Authentically Irish

Irish Pubs are pub staples the world over. On a trip to Mongolia I took in 2010, the capital city of Ulaanbator boasted two Irish pubs, each claiming to be the original Mongolian Irish pub. Shanghai is no different with its maddening number of pubs and bars. However, the Blarney Stone appeared to be one of the more authentic of them and I had the opportunity to interview one of the owners for an article about the French Concession mainstay. For the full article, go here.

If you’re looking for a true Irish pub experience in Shanghai, the Blarney Stone is the place to go. The low ceilings, rustic knick-knacks, dark stained wood and ever-necessary Guinness make it the ideal Irish pub to spend after a day of hard work, and not only for its authentic environment. The patrons who pour into the pub in the evenings are regulars, knowing exactly what they want to drink and where they want to sit.

This rich atmosphere didn’t happen overnight. It’s taken years of dedication by its owner-managers, one of whom is Dave Kelly, a Dublin native, who came to Shanghai a decade ago to work.

As everybody knows, China is full of knock-offs. Intellectual Property is a mere suggestion to the way business is done here. Nothing is sacred. The culture of shanzhai (山寨) produces knock-offs resulting in the horrifying (fake beef), the poisonous (clenbuterol pork) or the weird (Huaxi Village, which knocks off famous cities, even Chinees ones).

One of the more extreme examples recently was the discovery of knock-off toilet paper in Beijing:

The phony toilet paper, sold under the name of the major toilet paper brand Xue Zhu, contained visible chaff and its wrapping was flimsy. The quality of the fake toilet paper led many to question if it is actually hygienic at all.

This summer, the expat community was aflutter with the news that In-N-Out Burger might be coming to Shanghai after seeing an advertisement on the streets of the city:

from reddit

Calls to the company offices in California yielded information that the burger franchise (which hasn’t even expanded east of Colorado) is definitely not coming to China. It probably had something to do with their unwillingness to use fake beef. It was later discovered that the ad was evidence In-N-Out had merely fallen victim to the gorwing knock-off culture prevalent in China.

Caliburger, as the knock-off is called, was started by Americans who want to bring the taste of the West to the east. They plan expand to through China to Korea and Russia as well. They’ve “copyrighted” Double-Double, Animal Style and the motto, “Quality You Can Taste” in several countries outside the United States and their website implies they plan to copy the famous red and white tiled color scheme of the original.

The menu looks nearly identical to that of the real In-N-Out with prices a bit higher than that of the actual In-N-Out.  One major difference  is the availability of alcohol. California wine and bourbon-laced milkshakes, which would be an anathema to scripture-laden paper cups of the original, are slated to be sold.

In a breathless interview with Shanghai Talk Magazine the CaliBurger team said they “innovate” the In-N-Out burger by copying it:

Our goal is to actually have an innovative – I don’t wanna say better – product that will be inspired by In-N-Out, but there’s some originality and innovation on how they’re made and offered.

However, the real In-N-Out did make a stopover to Shanghai this week to conduct “soft market research” by bringing beef, cooks and other essentials for a one-off tasting:

Sasha’s leased out its garden to a predominant PR company strictly for invited guests, local and western media and the such like for the purposes of In n Out to “soft market research” the In N Out brand.

Photos of the event can be found at SeriousEats.

Knock-offs will likely continue to happen, even despite serious objections of foreign companies and claims by the Chinese government of severe crackdowns.

This particular shanazhai product will likely draw enough homesick West Coast Americans and curious passer-bys to keep it afloat and continue the vicious cycle. However, this writer hopes someone will soon find “inspiration” from Chipotle.

It’s been a little while since I’ve written anything on this blog. However, I feel compelled to write something geography related after finishing Ken Jennings’ new book “Maphead: Charting the Wide, Weird World of Geography Wonks.” Yes, it’s that Ken Jennings, the one from “Jeopardy!”

“Maphead” is a fun, breezy book about the people who take the love of maps, or cartophilia, as Jennings calls it, to incredible levels.

It covers the world of map collecting, geocaching, road sign obsessive “roadgeeks,” National Geography Bee and nerdy world of fake map-makers.

The book has enough to please most non-cartophiles despite a few dry chapters and Jennings’ attempts to show off how smart he is to the reader every once in a while.