26 April 2024

Shanghai

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I spy in Shanghai

The clock was ticking the moment Charles Cumming set foot in China's most vibrant city. He had just seven days to complete his mission. The race against time had started...

Shanghai, China - The skyline of Shanghai

1 The skyline of Shanghai 2 Traditional theater 3 Nightime neon

LEGEND HAS IT that Martin Cruz Smith wrote Gorky Park, his bestseller about Soviet Russia, without setting foot in Moscow.

I find this comforting as I land at Pudong International Airport. Why? Because I have seven days in Shanghai in which to research my third novel.

The book will be called Run, a thriller about a young MI6 officer, Joe Lennox, who is caught up in a US-backed plot to bring chaos to China on the eve of the Beijing Olympics.

Joe will be a young man who knows his way around Shanghai and all the best places to hang out. I need to work out every

detail of his life. Where will he live? Where will he work? What will he eat and drink?

It's a safe bet that Joe, on a Foreign Office salary, won't be staying, as I am, at the Portman Ritz-Carlton. But I have a weakness for luxury hotels: there's a spa the size of Hackney.

On my first evening, I meet Toby Collins, a British entrepreneur who has lived in China for four years and seems to know every nook and cranny of its most vibrant city.

We meet at Face, a bar favoured by ex-pats, located in a colonialera English country house set back from the bustling Fuxing Road. “It's rare for Chinese to socialise with foreigners, except in business.

“Europeans and Americans tend to frequent the same bars and restaurants.

For atmosphere it's unbeatable

“Shanghai is a bubble,” says Toby. “Nobody leaves town unless it's to drive to the airport. Joe would rarely leave Puxi.” Puxi is the area of Shanghai to the west of the Huangpo River, which cuts the city in two from north to south. v Pudong is the busi-ness district to the east, where most of Shanghai's construction boom has taken place over the past 15 years. The best way to experience Pudong is to eat at one of the restaurants on Shanghai's bestknown thoroughfare, the Bund.

On the terrace at M on the Bund, we eat crab soufflés and salt-encrusted lamb with one of the best views in Asia.

“The people who come here from the West come here to make money,” says Toby. “They work hard and they play hard.” Over the next few days, I find out what he means.

Zapata's, for example, a popular Mexicanthemed bar across the city on Hengshan Road, would have Chairman Mao turning in his grave.

When I walk in, two American girls, one wearing only jeans and a black bra, are dancing on the bar next to a drunken businessman.

A member of staff leaps up to join them and pours tequila, direct from the bottle, into the upturned mouths of the customers below.

Would Joe prefer the more upmarket surroundings of Park 97, a nightclub in the middle of Fuxing Park? On the way in I meet a banker from New York who, when he discovers that I am writing a novel, buys me round after round of drinks in a vain attempt to make an appearance in it.

Many hours later I stumble outside to be accosted by beggars with children who follow me as I search for a cab.

A woman appears out of the shadows, whispering:

“Massage? Hotel?”

Joe will have to watch his back. Spies are vulnerable to blackmail and the opportunities to be drawn into a life of reckless self-indulgence seem boundless in Shanghai.

For atmosphere it's unbeatable

Two days later, an old schoolfriend takes me for brunch in the lobby of the Westin Hotel, where the ex-pat élite gorge themselves on a fabulous buffet of sushi, dumplings and caviar with champagne.

It's the place to be seen on a Sunday. Afterwards I stroll through the picturesque French Concession, mapping out the neighbourhood in which Joe will live.

That evening, I enjoy a sensational dinner of panfried scallops with white chocolate and then confit of duck with foie gras at T8, located in the new Xintiandi shopping district.

Over the remaining days, the book starts to come together. Joe's apartment will be in a rambling Art Deco building near the library, his office in a tower south of Huaihai Road.

To thank Toby for his help, I take him to Bar Rouge, at 18-onthe- Bund, a stylish lounge where beautiful Chinese girls sip cocktails and size up the wallets of Western businessmen.

This is a city of contradictions, where rich and poor, East and West, the cultured and the hedonistic live side-by-side… the perfect place to set a novel.

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