Something that we can all learn from the Chinese is the habit of exercising every day. Even in San Francisco a lot of the people you see working out early in the morning are Chinese. Here in Shanghai they can be seen everywhere, particularly early in the morning (unlike me).

That said, some of the exercises themselves are a little unorthodox.  Here are some I have seen recently:

• You often see people walking around backwards. Much to my surprise it turns out that they are not care in the community participants! Apparently the thinking is that it is like clocking a car to reduce the mileage on the odometer – if you walk backwards the same distance that you walk forward each day you will never age by a single day. OK..
• Tai chi. Lots of this going on everywhere either individually or in groups. It’s beautiful to watch – the other day I saw a few elderly ladies doing some form that included fans and swords. Just stunning.
• People walking around slapping themselves on the arms and/ or clapping.
• The other day I saw two old guys standing back to back doing hip circles. This went on for ages. I’m not sure what it was doing for them but they seemed to be enjoying it.
• Walking around doing knee raises. OK this one I get but it’s a bit strange on a crowded pavement.

Something that I can’t quite get used to here is the fact that everything is SO LOUD. Just like Spinal Tap I think that China has a dial that goes up to eleven.

Conversations aren’t like normal conversations, two people in the street will most often yell at each other. Restaurant staff bellow across diners at each other and everyone else as a matter of course.

Shopping involves another whole level of decibels. Apparently Chinese shoppers need people with microphones to help them select products. Some of them are noisily doing demonstrations others are I think just helpfully telling people what’s on offer at a completely scary volume.

That’s just the shop assistants. One of my regular supermarkets plays Spice Girls music (really!) LOUDLY on a constant loop (at least that’s what they’ve played every time I’ve been in there). That’s before you get to the shoppers – who are of course roaring their requests to shop assistants and generally chatting at the tops of their voices.

I think I might invest in a large pair of noise cancelling headphones.

It’s not exactly a surprise that the Chinese like their fireworks. What came as a bit of a surprise is quite how often you hear them. Every shop opening is accompanied by a veritable blizzard of fireworks/ firecrackers. I’ve watched them as they lay out huge snaking coils of firecrackers on the street in front of the shop to be honoured. Apparently this helps scare away bad spirits and welcome in good spirits (I have no idea how the spirits tell the difference).

So what you say? Well the thing about Shanghai is that shops open and close CONSTANTLY. So every day there are many shop openings that are heralded with the loudest and most sustained noise possible. And it appears that the openings are celebrated as early in the mornings as possible. Gah! Actually the shop openings also involve a large number of flowers but I really don’t care how many of them they deploy to encourage the right vibe/spirits/ chi.

To fit in in Shanghai it is important that you observe the correct lift etiquette:

• When the doors open, you get it. Don’t worry if the lift is completely packed full and the next one is just a minute away, you just get in.
•  Give people a little shove if they don’t move over enough.
• Then, select your floor and then stab the close door button repeatedly until they close. This bit is really important. I’m sure it’s a source of bad chi or something to actually allow lift doors to close by themselves.