[UA] International UA: China

[R. Menzi]

Returning to the lost topic of the OU in foreign
places, I think that the feel keeps quite well in
Shanghai and HK, and somewhat well in Beijing.

Shanghai has the kind of bastard urban design and
cultural background that makes me, as a New Yorker,
feel very much "in my element."  Both Shanghai and HK
have been built up even more recently than NYC, and
host a really fucking strange skyline of complex
geometrical shapes transported directly into
architectural designs of glass, metal and stone.

As for schools:

Boozers are everywhere in China, among both the ex-pat
and local communities.  The social stigma of alcoholic
is very different, and unless you get shitfaced
everyday and lose your job, you're not considered to
have a problem, no matter what your reason for
drinking is.

There is a long, soon-to-be-dead tradition for the
masked magi here.  You should hear them going on about
face.

Urbanomancers are plentiful, with a host of
functionaries and approval processes that make great
jobs for their kind, hoping to ride the bandwagon of
urban development - now reaching a fevered pace of
destroying the old and erecting a new face to handle
the rapidly-growing migration from China's coutrysides
to its cities.  SH and HK have a buzz in the air -
they're very much living cities.  Growing up in NYC, I
find I get a sense for these things; it's a feeling
that spreads, so that even when you're sitting alone
in a room, the humm seeps in through the cracks and
stains itself on you, imparting the sensation of
activity in your life, of potential, regardless of the
reality of your situation.  HK is louder than SH. In
Beijing you need to chase it down beat a tuning fork
against its head before the humm comes out to play.

There has been a recent jump in Infomancers, just
appearing in the last 2-4 years, few set schools,
mostly online interaction, since even a garage band
would need government approval here - they're already
online, so why bother meeting.

Entropomancers are rare: people will look, but
traditionally, nobody sticks their necks out.  They
showed up during the Japanese occupation, and then the
civil war and gained some popularity, but seemed to
have declined.  (Someone got a major charge by putting
all of China's historical treasures into one fat, slow
cargo plane and flying them to Taiwan through a hot
warzone.)  Those that are around run about in HK and
out in the far western territories.

The destruction-based magic got a very, very strong
pulse during the Cultural Revolution, among both the
agressors and targets: institutions for re-education
destroyed identities and lives, generating charges
galore.  Tearing down a culture has got to count for
some major charges.

With the planned economy, one can only guess at the
degree to which some local Plutomancers got involved,
with rivals in the opening and reform ofthe economy. 
Still, very in tune with the consentual value of
post-standard currencies: RMB is not a publicly traded
currency, and they exchange at a rate that the feel
like giving.


-------

There's more directly UA stuff, but I never planned to
be here this long, and didn't feel like lugging my
books out when I first came out here a year ago...
wow, it's been that long.  As such, my terminology is
slipping and I don't have the latest releases, so
you're going to have to bare with me.

-------

I'd think that the OU scene changes pretty fast here,
without too much permanent locality, but plenty of
variety.  10 years ago, there were no bars in mainland
China.  Yes, you read that right.  No bars.  No places
you could go to hang out and do OU stuff or have any
sort of public sphere at all.  HK had some, yea, but
that's not mainland.  People had "Units" (the most
basic social and economic group) for open association,
with secret society stuff playing around under the
radar, maybe.

The Cultural Revolution really turned any traditional
schools to shit, taking them apart and displacing
them, as well as destroying a great number of the
history buffs' resources.



Regards,
- Menzi


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