哈哈哈

So I'm currently reading this new book about Mao. It's by Jung Chang entitled Mao: The Unknown Story. It's banned in China, but I had it smuggled in. Of course it's very biased but it's pretty good and has a lot of stuff I didn't know before.

Anyway, I'm just finishing up reading about the long march but I peeked forward to Stalin's death. They hung a huge portrait of Stalin in Tiananmen Square when he died with a lot of big red banners. The people who came to mourn had to abide by a series of laws. One of which was 'don't laugh'.

This probably wouldn't be needed anywhere else in the world. I do realize this was during a repressive time under a terrible dictator, but I feel like that didn't matter.

On my bus there's a marquee that scrolls across telling people to board the bus in an orderly fashion (never happens), sit quietly (yet again, never), respect fellow passengers (nope), and abide by the 'seven no's'.

It took me about four months to look up what the 'seven no's' are, but apparently there rules that Shanghai has thought up and are as follows:
1. No spitting
2. No jaywalking
3. No swearing
4. No littering
5. No smoking in public
6. No walking on the grass
7. No destruction of public property

So...
for 1. I was spit on writing this blog.
2. I don't think there are any crosswalks in Shanghai, the only way to get across the street is jaywalk.
3. I'd like to see anyone attempt to step foot outside and not swear.
4. If there weren't 24 hour street cleaners this city would be half a mile above sea level on a pile of trash. (I'm not kidding, there are 24 hour street cleaners and it still looks like shit.)
5. hahahahahahahaha
6. This one is probably the easiest to abide by because there is no grass in Shanghai
7. I think 5000 buildings are knocked down each day here. I had trees outside my apartment complex. I woke up one morning and they'd cut off all the branches and moved them all five feet in. So now I have a bunch of stubs lining my street. I still don't know what the move was for.

but at least we can laugh. I guess...