A proper wet Shanghai day where the heavy clouds loom above your head dropping the light to almost dusk. My driver – I still don’t actually know his name and we communicate by nods and smiles whilst pointing at road signs- took me back to Anting. The German town designed by Albert Speer, not the actual Nazi architect but, infact, the son of this infamous individual. A great location of mainly flats finished off in a range of garish colours, as if a classroom of five years olds had been let loose with a brush. They are mainly intended as home to workers at the local BMW factory, but how will they afford them? Again, little evidence of life or am I missing something here? The guards were particularly keen for me not to photograph, but after much deliberation and phone calls to Jini, wife of Giel, interpreter and lifeline to communication, I was allowed access and, once again, received the golf cart and chauffeur treatment..
I then travelled on to Fengjiang (North American Town apparently) where my driver had agreed to deposit me for the rest of the day. This led to a hapless afternoon, travelling by rickshaw, through the streets of the Old Town in search of the New Town. The rickshaw driver tried to convince himself, and me, that he knew where he was going – for about 2 hours! – until I got pissed off. Jini’s mercurial translating abilities failed to help either. Apart from one street of American(ish)-style landscaping, there was little else to see. I hadn’t expected too much development here and it didn’t disappoint..
I was then due to meet Paul Stowe, Deputy Director of London Taxi Company (Shanghai), at his factory on the outskirts of the town. I’d arranged to photograph the plant where they are soon to begin producing 4000 black cabs a year (four times the number made in the UK). These are to be exported globally, so expect the trademark taxi to appear anywhere from Singapore to Delhi to New York over the next few years.
