Made in China

I knew there was something I had forgotten to pack - my pink illuminated horns. Come to mention it, I could also really do with my clip-on flashing shoe wheels. I really shouldn’t have left England in such a hurry.

Or so the pedlars on Shanghai’s Bund seemed to think. Relentlessly touting their wares: miniature kites, dancing beans and squishy fish, never taking ’no’ for an answer. The only successful method to avoid hassle was to out freak them. Our fellow travellers were very successful at this, dancing alongside the pirated CD cart, playing African music balls and trying to sell donkey sex. I had a go at the intellectual approach, asking their opinion on sustainable consumption and production and whether, perchance, they had read the I Will if You Will report. They merely shoved their flashing gismos further into my face and then scuttled off.

China makes Japan seem sober. Consumerism is rampant. Everything is for sale and people go out of their way to drag you from the street into their shop. Most of the rip-off goods and tat are, of course, locally produced. On the way up the Huangpu River into Shanghai International Ferry Port we passed scores of factories and hundreds of ships all making and moving resources and goods to and from China. The air on deck was so thick with smog that you couldn’t see the top of the skyscrapers and pictures became ghostly. Nearing China the water turned from a healthy blue to a murky brown to match the air above. I have never seen or tasted (literally) industry on this scale. This is the home of the three pound hair straightener and novelty balloon. Seeing where it all comes from brings a whole new meaning to the label ’Made in China’.