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A few days ago I stumled upon some pictures of Shanghai in 1980s. They reminded me of how Shanghai and Shanghainese were like back then. I felt they were so familiar, close and my childhood seemed to be coming back. And yet they were also so very remote and even ancient, because the changes that have taken place in this city are so many in the last 20 to 30 years. It is incredible, even more than one could imagine. Take a look at the "modern" and "international" Shanghai now, and then look back, I realize that it was almost a totally different city. And it's gone forever.< br /> All About Shanghai www.allaboutsh.com
Let's look at some pictures first.
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Xu Jia Hui (徐家汇)
 

People's Square (人民广场)
 

East Nan Jing Road (南京东路)
 

These pictures were all taken in early 1980s. As you can see, that Shanghai looked old, flat and emptier, except there were as many people on East Nan Jing Road as there are now. 30 years ago, the whole China was recovering from the Culture Revolution, and the Reform and the opening-up (改革开放) had just started. As for the Shanghainese at that time, the first word that I can think of to describe them was -- poor.
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In 1980s, almost all the companies, factories, etc were state-owned. And the salary for most workers in Shanghai tended to be all quite close. 30-40 yuan would be a monthly salary for most workers in Shanghai in early 1980s. If the worker had a college degree (very rare), his salary could be a little more than 50, which was a quite high salary at that time. The ratio between RMB and US.Dollar was a little less than 2. Such a salary was about just 1/100 of an average American in 1980! However, low income was not the only problem.

This looks like money. But in fact it is a "grain coupon" (粮票), which was used to buy rice, flour, etc in China since 1950s. And there were also other coupons like meat coupon (肉票) and oil coupon (油票) . Everybody was given a certain amount of coupons on a monthly basis. Money alone could not buy food. Coupons were also required. This made coupons, especially meat coupon, even more precious than money. The reason for rationing was simple: For dozens of years, the food supply could not easily meet the demands of the huge population of China.
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Rationing was strictly carried out in most years of 1980s. For most people, a meal with meat in it would be a good meal! It was not until late 1980s, food supply became more abundant, and the coupons gradually became less important.
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Food was not the only thing that was being rationed. There were other coupons like cloth coupon. With the necessities being rationed, although people did not have much money to spend, there were not many things available for them to buy either. This led to something interesting: Although electronics like TVs, refrigirators usually cost several years of one's salary, more and more families were buying them. Saving a few years to buy something expensive was quite common in most families in Shanghai at that time. In 1970s, very few families owned TVs, refrigirators, or even washing machines. When these things now seemed more within reach, people couldn't wait to embrace the conveniences brought up by the modernization.
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At the same time, trends and styles from outside of mainland flooded in. For example, the hair style of Elvis Presley became quite popular among young people in early 1980s. And quite a few Hollywood movies started being shown in theatres. However, what were more influential came from the places nearby, such as Hong Kong, Taiwan, Japan, since the cultures were so similar. The pop songs and TV dramas from these areas were liked by a lot of people, especially younger ones.
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Of course entertainment was not the only thing that came into mainland China with the ongoing of the reform and open-up policy. In 1981, 9 foreign companies established their representive offices in Shanghai. They were the first ones since 1945. In 1984, Shanghai Foreign Enterprise Services company (FESCO, 上海外服) was founded. This company helped the foreign companies with the HR services. At that time, it was very difficult for foreign companies to find capable employees because so few people were good at English. According to some one who worked in FESCO at that time, they pretty much searched every corner of Shanghai to find people good at English.
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Those who worked for foreign companies became the first "White Collors" in Shanghai. While most others were making a monthly salary of less than 100 Yuan. Their salaries would be usually several hundred Yuan. This made them envied by a lot of people. In 1980s, although the quantity of foreign companies were increasing, overall there were still not many foreign companies. At first they all used hotels as their offices, since there were no decent office buildings at all. In 1985, Union Friendship Tower (联谊大厦), which was located on East Yan An Road close to the Bund, was built and most foreign companies moved there. Working in this building equalled being rich, stylish, different, and was many people's dream.
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"I can be a friend to you, but I will not call your comrade." This was said to some laowai bosses by some Chinese employees in 1980s. What's behind this was that laowai bosses were from "evil and corrupted capitalism" and the gap had to be made clear. It also showed that "Comrade" (同志, Tong Zhi) was widely used in 1980s. It was an all-around word. Whether old or young, male or female, rich or poor, people used "comrade" on each other frequently. And everybody was completely comfortable being called "Tong Zhi". This somehow created a kind of equalness among people at that time, although it indicated a strong political environment. In today's Shanghai, such kind of equalness are no more.
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