Parts of Shanghai remind us of the American South ...

... the pre-Civil Rights Movement American South, that is. Danwei informs us of a good reason to boycott the Shanghai Racquet Club (other than the fact that we can't afford it and are awful at tennis):

This is from the New York Times obituary for Rosa Parks:

On Montgomery buses, the first four rows were reserved for whites. The rear was for blacks, who made up more than 75 percent of the bus system's riders. Blacks could sit in the middle rows until those seats were needed by whites. Then the blacks had to move to seats in the rear, stand or, if there was no room, leave the bus

This is from the website of Shanghai Racquet Club and Apartments:

1. AYI's must present a valid Bus Pass on entering the bus on each journey, no pass = no ride...

2. AYI's will be requested to take up the rear seats of the bus.

3. AYI's will travel "sub load" and are required follow the instructions of the bus driver if asked to vacate the bus to accommodate members.

Note: 'Ayi' means aunt, but is often used in the Mainland to refer to domestic workers and baby sitters.

This discrimination is probably more class-based than race-based, making the Rosa Parks analogy a little specious. And one could argue that a private company with private buses can write whatever rules they want, no matter how elitist they might be. Still, it's a stupid, archaic rule and it makes the Racquet Club look really, really bad. We hope some of the Club's more progressive members have already mentioned this to Club management. Still, it looks like the policy remains. If you would like to tell the club how you feel about this matter, several phone numbers can be found here. And plenty of email addresses can be found here.

Let's hope this problem doesn't require a Rosa Parks moment to get fixed. It would be very easy for the Racquet Club to change its backward policies.