its the frantic energy of the city that makes it a cool place to live. with a high entrance fee, born from expensive housing and high cost food, shanghai makes no room for those who are not willing to put in the work. it is a city for the smart and the pretty, for the lucky ones. it kicks the rest of the people out or keeps them on the peripheral. for those in, pleasures await. a nonstop list of events, restaurants, activities and explorations await those wishing to explore. mankind at its best and in some case, worst, demonstrating to one another that there story or store is the one to entice you. to take your time, attention and money.

money is energy. it is why we all want as much as possible of it. it gets you things such as food and shelter, experiences and services. you can use it to pay a man to drive you around town, to get an employee to answer your phones. It buys a seat in the theater or in a restaurant, gives you access to places and people and is a finite resource in our lives and fluctuates between us all. we trade it and spend alot of time thinking about it, planning it and trying to get it to grow. and you need alot of it to be comfortable in the big cities.

for those who cannot hack it, home they go. perhaps to becoming bigger fishes in smaller ponds. it happens in droves, and a countless leapfrog takes place, darwinism in our modern age. the prettiest girls get to stay, the clever and the stubborn men also take a corner. in the center, the old shelter in place while a parade of newcomers shop for space to call their own. newly minted monied up folks who want to sit at the table. they want a place where they feel resembles them, a background to match the importance they place in themselves. and at times, this is reflected in the fabric of this and other great cities and occasionally those that gather in it.