Interview: Grace Before Meals post-rocking Shanghai
Around Shanghai: No more airplane temperature checks, but we're getting a Wall St. Bull and Linkin Park!
Fatal bus crash on Shanghai's Yangpu bridge
Xinjiang riot leaves 3 dead, over 20 injured
We in China all rely on guanxi to get by every now and then. So imagine Shanghaiist's panic last week when the SMS version of Guanxi left us hanging. What the hell are we talking about? Since around May 2003, if you wanted to know the location or phone number of a restaurant, bar, art gallery -- almost anything -- in Shanghai, all you needed to do was send a text message containing all or part of the place's name to 885074. Seconds later, the info would arrive on your mobile phone. If you wanted the information in Chinese, all you had to do was reply with a "C," and like magic you had what you needed. It was a great idea. No more having to lug around one of those English-language city magazines.
We're not exactly sure when Guanxi went black. We first noticed it last week. Imagine our dismay when we typed in "Hooters" and received no reply. We were forced to actually interact with other human beings to find out where the girls in tight orange shorts worked. The horror. So, we were delighted when, early this morning, a random SMS appeared on our phone, informing us: "Guanxi's new no. 85880. Fwd this msg to 20 Friends & YOU GOT GUANXI FREE for a month now in BJ&SH faster&more reliable than ever. We're Back!" And now we are bracing for a shit storm of text messages from friends and acquaintances trying to get their free month.
We've never been completely sure about how much each Guanxi message costs us. This story from two years ago says "as little as two jiao." We've never noticed the service taxing our phone balance too severely. We're also not sure who is behind the new Guanxi. Is it the same people as before? And, since we're posting Guanxi's new number on our site, does that mean Shanghaiist gets free Guanxi for a year?
Just wondering. See you at Hooters!
UPDATE: Guanxi contacted us and said the link we provided is "old old old." Here is the current one.
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I dunno if I'm the only one with this problem, but when I send an SMS to the new Guanxi, it searches for numbers in Beijing, NOT Shanghai. It's a pain in the ass.
Anyway, if anybody else has a problem getting relevant results from Guanxi, just include 'shanghai' as part of your search, and you'll get Shanghai results.
It's done by the Mailman Ltd gang, who are also responsible for PostKard. BTW, check out the new City Weekend service, where you can get the editor's picks/new openings/etc via Guanxi... hotness.
I use Guanxi infrequently, but I rely on it to get me to new and exciting places like Carrefour in a suburb near you. I was pressed with getting around last week, so I needed to use Guanxi to get past yo gui, zo gui, that gui and so forth with the taxi driver. no doubt he had better things to do than predict my next direction (like to complain about petrol prices or ask whether I was an American).
Anyhow, rant aside, I sent messages to Guanxi and received the new notification message. Ok, no worries. Send off the address to using the new number. No reply. No replies whatsoever. So far all my requests have gone off into the text-message ether....
No replies, no guanxi goodness. F#ckrs! I miss it.
Methinks i've been scammed. The one good thing about this escapade is that my Mandarin improves mildly upon each cab trip.
ps. if anyone thinks it might be important, I have a 1316 xxxx xxx phone number, if that counts for anything?
Guanxi is running in both Shanghai and Beijing. Daniel the reason you are getting Beijing matches is that Guanxi is reading your number as a Beijing number. the lists China mobile provide aren't as accurate as they should be. Just put 'sh" with a space before the venue you want to seach and you'll be searching Shanghai. If you go to Beijing just put Bj and a space before the Beijing venue.
As for messages sent with no replies. Not sure about that I've been using new Guanxi, sending messages and getting replies. Why don't you email them get them the check it out find out whats happening for you. guanxi@mailmanchina.com
New guanxi is awsome as it's a lot more like google searching now. I was looking for a gym in luwan district. Sent 'Gym Luwan' got the 8 Gyms in the area.. Sweet...
Thanks Martin, that's pretty much what I figured. I didn't know about the 'sh' shortcut, that's helpful... Saves me 6 letters on SMS. :)
there seems to be a new service in SH that's better than Guanxi, and it's free. It accepts fully natural language queries in English, Chinese and Pinyin, and can check on other things than just restaurants and bars. It has ATMs, Weather for 100+ cities, KTV, Massage parlors, apartment complexes, etc. you guys should try it. SMS to 118855 on China Mobile.