Year: 2019

It’s 7.59am on a Sunday morning. Birds are chirping, a spring breeze is rustling the leaves of the French planes, and there is soft chattering outside the building. A peaceful scene – one which I am blissfully unaware of in my deep, Asahi-induced slumber. And then it starts. The clock ticks over to 8.00am - BRRRRBBDDRTTZBBBBBRZ, BBRRDRTZZBBBRRBBRBRBRZTBBRTBBBBBBBBB, BBBBBBRRRRRRBRBRRRBZTBBRRR. The sound of a pneumatic drill upstairs mercilessly rips me from sleep. A truly bloodcurdling noise vibrates my whole skeleton. It doesn’t matter if it’s three floors up or down. You will hear it. You have heard it. It...

Cash, card, app. There’s a lot of ways to ride the metro or the bus these days. Add to that: Apple Pay. Even though not as many people use it in mainland China as Apple might like (estimated at about 3% of iPhone users — trombone fail noise), its few fans are loyal. If you’re among them, but don’t know how to link ApplePay and the Shanghai Metro network just yet, this is for you. When it comes to general money moving, Alibaba and Tencent are far superior. But to use the metro with Alipay isn’t as easy as...