Quick now, follow Kerri. That’s right, just down that dark alleyway. She has great deal for us. Genuine mint condition merchandise. Straight from Milan, no really. All the top models of Europe are wearing it. Trust her.

Boy was my husband going to cop it for this! I have been led down a dark alley to a decrepit looking building, into a creaking elevator and out onto what appears to be a deserted floor.  I am then herded most unceremoniously into a small room, the door locked behind me! I am gripping my young son with one hand and my backpack with the other, trying to shield both of us behind my carefree husband.  This gave a whole new meaning to being hijacked on holiday, although I didn’t think my travel insurance was going to cover this.

I relaxed marginally when, looking around, I saw that there was some other poor sucker also trapped in this windowless room. Floor to ceiling and every crevice in between, the room was stocked with handbags, pens, watches, sunglasses etc. Knock-off heaven (or perhaps haven would be more apt). This other more comfortable looking buyer was being shown knock off after knock off, negotiating with calculator in hand, but, looking quite unimpressed soon asked to leave. My husband tried to placate me by persuading me to look at all manner of handbags. This was going to cost him dearly, but not here. 

It felt like some kind of scene from Sopranos or Underbelly. And truly this was the underbelly that is the shining light of Shanghai’s fashionistas. Yuyuan Bazaar’s darker and somewhat seedier side of China’s emerging brand conscious middle class. 

Whilst in Beijing, the pirated and fake market is out and proud at the Silk Market, in Shanghai it is being forced underground. The former Xiangyang Market on Huaihai Zhonglu, has made way for progress – a retail and commercial development; in many respects a Chinese government response to the pressure from the World Trade Organisation etc to address the piracy market.

You never know when someone may start to solicit softly at your shoulder “Mont Blanc, Gucci, Rolex....” and surreptitiously show you a folded card with products displayed, trying to persuade you to follow them up through maze after maze.  Mind you, our English speaking guide had told us not to follow them.  But even the most respectable looking stores can have you fooled.  One moment you are looking at handbags in the shopfront and the next you are invited behind a false door to a secret back room with knock offs galore.  Really quite incredible and ingenious. 

Shanghai is really a shopping paradise – often hailed as “Oriental Paris”, with all manner of shopping experiences from markets and antiques to expansive brand oriented shopping malls (Super Brand Mall in Pudong) and even Shanghai’s answer to the Champs Elysees – Huai Hui Zhonglu, which lies parallel to the famed Nanjing Road and The Bund, and extends from the French Concession. A broad mix of commercial offices, several department stores, small arcades, high end brands such as Max Mara, Rolex, Longines etc combine to create a world class shopping strip. 

Shanghai’s growth has been exponential, and there is perhaps no better place to appreciate the rapid pace of this development than at the Shanghai Urban Planning Museum, with its scale model of the City of Shanghai as it is currently developed and the anticipated and planned additions to 2020, including the Expo 2010 site.   This is really a “must see” in any visit to Shanghai. 

The Pudong New Area is home to extensive and rapid modern development of the “new” Shanghai, and there is perhaps no more incongruous, albeit an easy way to transit between The Bund and its lower scale buildings and the towering heights of the Pudong New Area than by The Bund Sightseeing Tunnel – a light, laser and sound show as you transit under the river. As you emerge from the tunnel your eyes are drawn skyward at the towering heights of Pudong, including the Oriental Pearl Tower, (the world’s 3rd largest tower structure) and the great edifices of commercialisation, the World Shanghai Finance Centre, the world’s tallest tower to its roof (5th overall) and the Jin Mao Tower. 

As laid back and traditional as most of China is, Shanghai is in almost all respects FAST, changing at a rapid pace; a monument to capitalism and development, from the world’s fastest train (the Maglev), that propels you from the expanding Pudong International Airport to the City’s shopping, its events (World Expo 2010) and its commitment to growth. 

So while political pressures and the rapid growth of Shanghai are pushing the piracy trade into the back alleys, follow a local or two and you can still be introduced to Lewis Vuitton, John-Paul Gaultier or a Kartier.

~ Kerrianne Bonwick