![[Updated] Xinjiang riot leaves scores dead](http://shanghaiist.com/assets_c/2009/07/xinjiang-thumb-110x110-370521.jpg)
[Updated] Xinjiang riot leaves scores dead
The Xinjiang Riots: What's happened so far
"Oracle Bone" essayist fails gaokao, but gets into Sichuan University
Around Shanghai: No more airplane temperature checks, but we're getting a Wall St. Bull and Linkin Park!
Friday: NOT ME opening!
Probably still pretty safe, especially when compared to other major cities in the world. But a foreigner still might not want to walk alone down a street famous for brothels at 3:30 am with a wad of cash is his pocket.
An email from a Shanghaiist reader:
An American friend of mine was out drinking and playing pool in a bar until about 3:30am last night. When he left, alone, there were no cabs around so he walked up Fumin Lu a bit. Out of nowhere, some guy started talking to/at him, but my friend doesn't speak Chinese well and turned around to avoid the guy. Behind him were 3 other men, and soon a 5th surrounded him. They restrained him, sort of knocking him to the ground, and took his wallet, phone, and an envelope of cash from his suit jacket. The envelope had over 10,000 RMB he had withdrawn for an apartment deposit. They took the 100s out of his wallet then threw it, and his phone back to him. He's sure the guys didn't know him or follow him, they just jumped him on the street. He's lucky to only have a couple bumps and bruises, and foolish for carrying that much cash out on the town. He filed a police report this morning. I guess Shanghai is not as safe as it sometimes feels.
Be careful out there.
Image from aeontees.com.
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Gee, Shanghai is turning into a regular city due to economic development. Big surprise, and of course whenever you have "haves" you have alot more "have nots" who want some of what the "haves" have.
And and white face foreign "gods" are fair game too.
It's hard to make out how significant this kind of news really is. China doesn't make its crime statistics a matter of public record so putting individual instances like this in context is hard to do. Bad things happen all the time, it's the trends that count. From a personal perspective, I've always felt China is a very safe country, and it seems a great majority feel the say way too. How many times have we heard "I spent 3 months treking around Asia and never once felt unsafe until I stepped out of the Los Angeles airport."
Still, I do seem to hear more and more stories like this of late. Maybe it's just a case of better reporting, but probably not. In any event, shame on nanheyangrou for flippancy and a condoning attitude with regard to a serious subject.
In the spirit of information sharing, I leave you with one more alarmist annecdote from two months ago:
A Dutch professor (friend of a friend) recently visited Shanghai for a lecture at Jiaotong U. Dinner plans were made for Friday night but he never showed up. 48 worried hours later he finally appeared in a groggy state. Turns out two "Singaporean" nationals had spiked his beer at Blue Frog on Maoming Lu. While under the influence of drugs unknown, they led him back to his hotel and stole his laptop and cash. The story was reported to the police. I don't think anybody expected anything to come of it, but apparently, thanks to the hotel's video cameras, the culprits were ultimately caught. I don't think it ever made news, and we never actually found out who the bandits really were.
I would still think Shanghai is very safe, of course this is coming from my personal experience. The guy got robbed, while that is unfortunate, he escaped with some bruises and lost cash. Within the past few days about 3-4 unfortunate souls in my country got robbed *AND* killed by snatch thieves/robbers in totally separate incidents.
I have a stopover in Shanghai for a night on my way to Malaysia for work, and I have about 24 hours in the city. What are the best things to do in Shanghai in 24 hours? I would like to do some shopping and see some typical chinese things, eat chinese food, etc. as I have never been in China before. I am a girl alone, will it be safe for me to explore the city on my own?
I was just wondering how often this happens in Shanghai. I was hoping to visit a dear friend of mine in this city, however, if the city is not safe, perhaps I should wait.
Thank you for your replies.