How some Shanghainese are cutting back on their water bill

And no, it's not by flushing less often or turning the tap off while brushing teeth. It's that other tried and true solution: stealing! In a post about the city and some of its many slippery ethical slopes, Wang Jian Shuo introduces us to something he calls the "Magic Water Saver":

After I get off board the Metro and head to the Raffles City, a group of people are selling their Magic Water Saver equipment at the tunnel of the Metro. It is just a magnetic coin that stick to the Water Meter. Since the magnetic is so powerful that the pointers of the meter will stop to run, and the water continues to run out of the meter. They claim that with their equipment, you don't have to pay a penny to the water company while you can enjoy as much water as you want. One woman immediately gave him 10 RMB to get one. This is called shameless stealing, right? Beside it, many people are selling fake goods.

This shouldn't come as a surprise. People will steal just about anything here. Utilities seem to be an easy target, because the companies that own them appear to be really, really unorganized. Sometimes it's possible to rip off the utility companies without even knowing it. Shanghaiist, at a previous apartment, didn't know we were hooked into a neighbor's water line until we tried to have the faucets replaced and were unable to shut off the flow. Did we do anything about it once we found out? Nope. When in Shanghai ...