Hong Kong Young Writers Anthologies Poetry 2017 | Page 91

Biography: Shanghai
Dulwidh College Shanghai, TIN, Phelps Chong - 12
This is a biography told by a man in a painting booth who watched life thrive by a canal day by day
for his whole life: The Life of Shanghai:
My love is for thee,
I am in Shanghai,
As Long as…
However,
I am bankrupt,
Shanghai is the worst city that could possibly exist.
It is not true
That we are treated the same with the White Russians,
The truth is:
I am a failed painter who lives by a forever flowing canal in the hands of Shanghai,
And I refuse to believe that
Shanghai has grown up, developed and matured with diverse cultures,
I realize this may be a shock, but
The Paris of the east and the New York of the west
Is a lie
The French
The Americans
The Russians
The Spanish…
Shanghai was all built and renovated along with the foreigners.
In 30 years, I will tell the president that
I have my priorities straight because
Isolation
Is more important than
Internationalism
I tell you this:
From old to today, Shanghai was full of intrigue; it was a frontier city,
With crooks, opportunists, glamour girls, gangsters…
But this will not be true nowadays,
Shanghai will never accomplish internationalism and city development.
Experts tell me
Shanghai has no future, and will begin its industrial revolution in 2020
I do not conclude that
Shanghai is as valuable as a diamond, as international as the internet