the gray city

This is a blog about my city Chongqing.
It's not a comprehensive tourist guide to the city, but just a personal collection of my Chongqing experience.
This will be my last bits of updates for the Gray City. I’m already out of the city now, and all the grayness looks different to me at the end of the trip, especially after I had a brief stop in Hong Kong, and now back under the broad blue sky of Wellington. The grayness of Chongqing was once an accident of the nature, we are located along the river, which makes everything pretty damp, and surrounded by mountains, which keeps the air humid. Chongqing has always been foggy since the peninsula came into being. And then it was the heavy industry, bringing along the polluted air with grans of dust.  And now grayness is the dominant aesthetic of the city, its obviously part of the urban planning. New buildings are just of different shades of gray. Not sure if it was intentional plan or urban plan failure, all the newly planted trees in Chongqing are leafless in winter, not adding in any colour. It is kinda hard to believe this happens in a city in China, as vibrant colour traditionally has been the favored aesthetic. Even in Hong Kong you see colourful buildings, pink, green, yellow, etc. In Chongqing, everything off in a distance looks diluted, you almost only see an outline. Nothing with much intensity. I believe the photos says this better than my words, but you can Photoshop any city to look like this, so I’m just saying it here to assure you this is real. Probably because the city is so colourless, especially in winter, they put on bits of brightness by hanging red lanterns.

This will be my last bits of updates for the Gray City.

I’m already out of the city now, and all the grayness looks different to me at the end of the trip, especially after I had a brief stop in Hong Kong, and now back under the broad blue sky of Wellington.

The grayness of Chongqing was once an accident of the nature, we are located along the river, which makes everything pretty damp, and surrounded by mountains, which keeps the air humid. Chongqing has always been foggy since the peninsula came into being. And then it was the heavy industry, bringing along the polluted air with grans of dust. 

And now grayness is the dominant aesthetic of the city, its obviously part of the urban planning. New buildings are just of different shades of gray. Not sure if it was intentional plan or urban plan failure, all the newly planted trees in Chongqing are leafless in winter, not adding in any colour.

It is kinda hard to believe this happens in a city in China, as vibrant colour traditionally has been the favored aesthetic. Even in Hong Kong you see colourful buildings, pink, green, yellow, etc.

In Chongqing, everything off in a distance looks diluted, you almost only see an outline. Nothing with much intensity. I believe the photos says this better than my words, but you can Photoshop any city to look like this, so I’m just saying it here to assure you this is real.

Probably because the city is so colourless, especially in winter, they put on bits of brightness by hanging red lanterns.

The Tree of the City Ginkgo is the dominant trees along the road in Chongqing now. This is new to me, the trees of the city I used to know was a kind of broad leave fig. It was native to Chongqing, have big green leaves even in winter. I remember the city looking green and lovely in Spring, even though the Spring in Chongqing could be as short as only a few weeks. The only problems of our figs were probably too many leaves it gets dusty and looking dirty easily, but you know at least it’s working and making other parts of city less dusty. What about ginkgo? They don’t have any leaves in winter. Even though the leafless branches looking kinda modernism, but really, it just makes the city looking duller in the hard cold winter. But what I’m really worrying is how these giant winter plants gonna survive our 40+ degrees summer. What I heard is they die if it gets hotter than 41 degree, but Chongqing hits that number every summer. One grown ginkgo is worth 300,000 CNY (60,000 NZD).  Why we having this massive replacement of our native city tree with these expensive exotic species, as far as the rumor goes is the new mayor of Chongqing has a personal favor for ginkgo. Not sure how true this is, but people say it so much I would call it the official explanation for what’s happening. What people do with the leafless ginkgos in Nanping District was hanging some fake leaves on it. In Jiefang Bei (the CBD) people put colourful lights to decorate the dry branches.

The Tree of the City

Ginkgo is the dominant trees along the road in Chongqing now.

This is new to me, the trees of the city I used to know was a kind of broad leave fig. It was native to Chongqing, have big green leaves even in winter. I remember the city looking green and lovely in Spring, even though the Spring in Chongqing could be as short as only a few weeks.

The only problems of our figs were probably too many leaves it gets dusty and looking dirty easily, but you know at least it’s working and making other parts of city less dusty.

What about ginkgo? They don’t have any leaves in winter. Even though the leafless branches looking kinda modernism, but really, it just makes the city looking duller in the hard cold winter.

But what I’m really worrying is how these giant winter plants gonna survive our 40+ degrees summer. What I heard is they die if it gets hotter than 41 degree, but Chongqing hits that number every summer. One grown ginkgo is worth 300,000 CNY (60,000 NZD). 

Why we having this massive replacement of our native city tree with these expensive exotic species, as far as the rumor goes is the new mayor of Chongqing has a personal favor for ginkgo. Not sure how true this is, but people say it so much I would call it the official explanation for what’s happening.

What people do with the leafless ginkgos in Nanping District was hanging some fake leaves on it. In Jiefang Bei (the CBD) people put colourful lights to decorate the dry branches.

I won’t feel that safe to withdraw money in such a crowded bank to be honest.

I won’t feel that safe to withdraw money in such a crowded bank to be honest.

The Computer Market It’s ridiculous to show of Chongqing has a place sells lots computers here.  Actually this computer markets thing was one of my biggest cultural shock in New Zealand. My expected experience for buying computers or digital products is you go to a place with all the big brands, each brands has a lot of stalls spread across the market, each stall has the whole collections of all the new models of the brand, and the prices are always negotiable, and they are always running price competition, and they would make sure all the necessary apps such as a fake MS Office were installed before handing it over to you, and you always walk away the computer markets with a whole lot of “gifts”, like mini stereos, screen cleaners, or a computer lock (a metal chain with a lock). The biggest computer market across Chongqing lies at Shiqiao Pu, which is also where my high school sits. We would randomly pay the market a visit after school. Shiqiao Pu computer market was my favorite market, right after the Women’s Market and the Pets Market. I used to worry for people from smaller towns, where are they gonna buy so new, so good and so cheap computers and digital stuff if they don’t have such a massive market. After I came to New Zealand and decided to buy a computer I realised it was myself and the kiwis I should worry about. That’s why I had to buy my new lap top in China with the help of my cousin—even though I was under the risk of getting a neon pink computer and my original Windows 7 OS getting replaced by Win Xp (my cousin hates Win 7). My dear cousin loves computers a lot, but not as a geek or game. He loves the profit in it. He’s a good businessman. 

The Computer Market

It’s ridiculous to show of Chongqing has a place sells lots computers here. 

Actually this computer markets thing was one of my biggest cultural shock in New Zealand. My expected experience for buying computers or digital products is you go to a place with all the big brands, each brands has a lot of stalls spread across the market, each stall has the whole collections of all the new models of the brand, and the prices are always negotiable, and they are always running price competition, and they would make sure all the necessary apps such as a fake MS Office were installed before handing it over to you, and you always walk away the computer markets with a whole lot of “gifts”, like mini stereos, screen cleaners, or a computer lock (a metal chain with a lock).

The biggest computer market across Chongqing lies at Shiqiao Pu, which is also where my high school sits. We would randomly pay the market a visit after school. Shiqiao Pu computer market was my favorite market, right after the Women’s Market and the Pets Market.

I used to worry for people from smaller towns, where are they gonna buy so new, so good and so cheap computers and digital stuff if they don’t have such a massive market. After I came to New Zealand and decided to buy a computer I realised it was myself and the kiwis I should worry about.

That’s why I had to buy my new lap top in China with the help of my cousin—even though I was under the risk of getting a neon pink computer and my original Windows 7 OS getting replaced by Win Xp (my cousin hates Win 7). My dear cousin loves computers a lot, but not as a geek or game. He loves the profit in it. He’s a good businessman.