125 Years of Italian Magnificence

After traveling through Rome in 2009, Paris in 2010 and Beijing in 2011, Bvlgari's 125 Years of Italian Magnificence settles in Shanghai and gives everyone the opportunity to discover over 600 pieces of jewelry made since the end of the 19th century.

Yesterday night was the date Bvlgari chose to throw the exhibition's kick-off, gathering for the occasion media, celebrities, socialites, art and jewel enthusiasts. The event took place in Pudong's Aurora Museum where the space was divided in two. One for the exhibition covering 3 floors and the other one for the after party.

The exhibition itself is displayed in a modern yet cosy atmosphere and gathers over 600 pieces including Elisabeth Taylor's private collection. The exhibition also features jewels wore by Claudia Cardinale, Grace de Monaco, etc.

Bvlgari picked a Chinese city for the second year in a row to welcome its exhibition. I regard this is as a clear sign of China's growing interest in luxury. Brands such as Bvlgari do not hesitate to invest a lot to raise their brand awareness by organizing cultural events which is indeed an excellent way to convey the brands spirit and educate its values. Therefore, many VIPs have been flew over to Shanghai to attend the event such as Nicola Bvlgari, Kirsten Dunst, the actress Maggie Cheung, the popstar FanFanWeiQi, etc.

In a few words: a great event, a lot of beautiful things, a lot of champagne, the biggest backdrop I have ever seen (something like 8 meters high...) and surprising bottles of San Pellegrino

Bvlgari - 125 years of Italian Magnificence
February 17, 2012 to April 17, 2012
Aurora Museum, Shanghai
Closed on Mondays

The Asian Squat

Many travelers are often surprised by this phenomenon when first coming to Asia.

This is not a legend nor an urban/rural myth. Asians do squat in a different manner than Westerners and they do so pretty much everywhere while queuing, waiting for the bus, while eating, reading their newspaper, etc.  

I witness this every day but one question remains: Why do Asian fellows squat this way?

This video is thoroughly explaining everything one's gotta know about the Asian Squat.

Now here comes the awkward question: are you a squat adept yourself?

I'm on Weibo!

That's right, I'm on Weibo! #geek

For those whom have been living in a cave for the last few years, Weibo is the  #1 Chinese microblogging platform. It's basically Twitter in Chinese with the possibility of uploading directly visible pictures and videos. 

Weibo belongs to SINA Corporation which launched it in 2009. Over 250 million registered users as of October 2011...yeah that's a lot of people. But you got to know everybody loves and uses it since it appeals to the new needs of the "young & modern" post-mao generation: being a thinking individual, showing off their life, what they like, what they don't, what they think is so cuuute (most of the time it's cat pictures waving or little pet dogs dressed up as real persons)...so pretty much what I am doing right here on Shanghai Trend :) And because it was not enough (it never is, right?), I decided to subscribe a while ago and if you are a user you will be able to find me under the following pseudonym: @Piew

My threads are super oriented as I use Weibo to promote my photography activities to the Chinese crowd... thing that I can't do through Facebook since it has been censored in China since 2009-ish...

Anyway feel free to add me and make contact!

Shanghai Trend is now in English

Wow...it has been a while I didn't post anything serious on ShanghaiTrend!

The reason isn't that nothing exciting happened to me over the past few months, it's just that I have been caught up into real life's stuffs such as a new exciting job, many photography projects, numerous social events, travels, a new apartment, etc. 

That reminds me that I haven't wished my readers a happy new Chinese/Western new year. That's right, buy one get one free, this year is the Dragon year which sounds über promising for 2012.

A new year never comes without resolutions: mine will be to start writing Shanghai Trend in English. 

Indeed being in an international environment on a daily basis, targeting only French speakers with my blog doesn't really make sens anymore. So I apology in advance if you see more spelling mistakes and typos than usual :)

Anyway, feel free to share comments, suggestions and questions. I'd be happy to answer.