The Rat Race in Shanghai

I've been here for a month. Shanghai is so big and so small all at once. One one hand, it's such a huge city that the chances of running into people you know are slim to none. On the other hand, if you're an out-of-towner like me and a patron to a select handful of venues, you're bound to run into the same people over and over again. And what makes Shanghai even smaller is that these people will know your friends and your friends' friends, and eventually your family, so that you become inextricably tied.

There's a giant rat race going on in Shanghai. My feeling is that not many people are willing to admit it because they're active participants. It's not necessarily even a race to the finish, because people hardly ever finish the race. It's about how many days a week you go partying. How expensive your watch is. What part of town your apartment is in. How many girls you slept with. The funny thing about this race is that there's no clear goal to the finish. And regardless of what category you're leading in, or how many categories you're leading in, there's always someone you know, or a friend of yours knows, who is ahead by a mile. 

Most people burn out...

In order to survive in this city, you need to treat it as a final destination rather than a stop. Then again, if it is a stop, make sure you get out before it's too late; before the booze, the girls, the other temptations which I won't venture to utter, the nights, the days, the everything grab hold of you and never let you go.

Some give up before it's too late and go back to where they came from. Others die, and their remains turn to the contagious dust we breathe walking down the streets every day.