Floods trap ayis in faraway provinces; Shanghai residents forced to clean their own stuff!

You know how people are always saying Shanghaii isn't representative of China? Here's an interesting juxtaposition of newspaper headlines:

China Daily: 131 Killed in South China Floods, 99,000 houses collapsed, 1.2 million evacuated from Jiangsu, Anhui, Henan, Hubei, Sichuan, Chongqing and Shaanxi. (Where on earth are all those people going? That's a pretty sizable chunk of China right there.)

Shanghai Daily: City Waits as Floods Leave Ayis Stranded Immobility in Anhui and Jiangsu are the main source of the problem, because many ayi companies train and recruit from those provinces. Insiders estimate that the ayi shortage will be repaired by the end of the month.

For non-Shanghaiists out there, ayi-- literally aunty-- also means "maid." Shanghai economics make ayi-employment mainstream, though as with many a domestic service in many a city, it is by no means without its abuses.

Picture from tutorials.com, which offers step-by-step housework guides for readers who find themselves ayi-less and in mess, this month.