The many cities above line 5

Lao Zhou sits on the courtesy seat of the subway with a bag of spinach and pork between his feet. For the past six decades, his life was lived around the creek and the buildings next to it. Sepia-tinted memories of a thousand bicycle rides alongside the water, girls, and French Phoenix trees — the creek which below the subway now commutes.

Next to him sits Momo, who holds tight the pink teddybear her boyfriend gave her. Shanghai is made of dreams, buildings floating amid pink clouds, tied to the Earth by invisible subway lines.

Standing across Momo, Yvonne quarrels on the phone. The city isn’t the promise she was told it would be, held back by conservative managers and untrustworthy clients. LED-lit meeting rooms, half-shut blinders. Lonely meals and crowded commutes — last minute project-changes on the phone. Her battery is about to die.

The doors open and Zhou leaves — Xiao Song enters, who plays a game on his phone. His Shanghai is his bedroom, the classroom, the canteen or the KFC close-by, and whatever is beyond his phone yet within his peripheral vision.

Grace sit nexts to Xiao Song and watches him play his game. Some impressive scores show on his screen, but to her they’re just illusions of accomplishments. She clutches her phone, cased in a Starbucks cover, and opens her LinkedIn. No replies yet to her applications in the United States. Because to her, Shanghai is just the starting point.

Their wagon speeds through the dark subway tunnel, and as such they — and the millions of others of Shanghai, spend their lives in the many different cities that share the same space above line 5.

Transscript

十号线以上的许多城市

老周坐在地铁爱心专座上,两脚夹着一袋菠菜和一些猪肉。在过去的六十年里,他在一条小河旁边的建筑物生活了。褪色的记忆,一千次骑自行车沿着水边,女孩们,
法国梧桐。 在小河下面的地铁现在通勤了。

他的旁边坐着Momo,她紧紧地握着男友送给她的粉色泰迪熊。上海由梦想组成,建筑物漂浮在粉红色的云彩中,通过无形的地铁线路与地球相连。

站在Momo的对面,Mia在电话里吵架。她的上海并不是她被告知的承诺,被保守的经理和不值得相信的客户所阻碍。 LED 照明会议室,半封闭的叶窗。孤独的用餐和拥挤的通勤 , 电话上的最后一分钟的项目的变化。她的手机快没电了。

门开了,老周走了, 小松进来了,他在手机上玩儿游戏。他的上海是他的卧室、教室、食堂或附近的KFC,以及他手机之外视野的范围。

Grace坐在小松身边,看着他打游戏。他的屏幕上显示了一些令人印象深刻的分数,但对Grace来说,这些数字只是成就的幻想。她抓住她的手机,装在星巴克的手机壳儿里面,然后打开她的 LinkedIn。她在美国的申请还没有收到回答。从Grace的角度来看,上海只是起点。

他们的地铁车厢在黑暗的地铁隧道中快速而过,就这样,他们,还有以及上海的数百万其他人,在十号线上分享一个共同的空间,可是住在许多不同的城市。

Shí Hào xiàn yǐshàng de xǔduō chéngshì

Lǎo Zhōu zuò zài dìtiě àixīn zhuān zuò shàng, liǎng jiǎo jiāzhe yī dài bōcài hé yīxiē
zhūròu. Zài guòqù de liùshí nián lǐ, tā zài yītiáo xiǎohé pángbiān de jiànzhúwù shēnghuóle. Tuìsè de jìyì — yīqiān cì qí zìxíngchē yánzhe shuǐ biān, nǚháimen, fàguó wútóng. Zài xiǎohé xiàmiàn de dìtiě xiànzài tōngqínle.

Tā de pángbiān zuòzhe Momo, tā jǐn jǐn de wòzhe nányǒu sòng gěi tā de fěnsè tài dí xióng. Shànghǎi yóu mèngxiǎng zǔchéng, jiànzhúwù piāofú zài fěnhóngsè de yúncai zhōng, tōngguò wúxíng de dìtiě xiànlù yǔ dìqiú xiānglián.

Zhàn zài Momo de duìmiàn,Mia zài diànhuà li chǎojià. Tā de Shànghǎi bìng bùshì tā bèi gàozhī de chéngnuò, bèi bǎoshǒu de jīnglǐ hé bù zhídé xiāngxìn de kèhù suǒ zǔ’ài. LED zhàomíng huìyì shì, bàn fēngbì de yè chuāng. Gūdú de yòngcān hé yǒngjǐ de tōngqín, diànhuà shàng de zuìhòu yī fēnzhōng de xiàngmù de biànhuà. Tā de shǒujī kuài méi diànle.

Mén kāile, Lǎo Zhōu zǒule——XiǎoSōng jìnláile, tā zài shǒujī shàng wán‘er yóuxì. Tā de Shànghǎi shì tā de wòshì, jiàoshì, shítáng huò fùjìn de KFC, yǐjí tā shǒujī zhī wài shìyě de fànwéi.

Grace zuò zài XiǎoSōng shēnbiān, kànzhe tā dǎ yóuxì. Tā de píngmù shàng xiǎnshìle yīxiē lìng rén yìnxiàng shēnkè de fēnshù, dàn duì Grace lái shuō, zhèxiē shùzì zhǐshì chéngjiù de huànxiǎng. Tā zhuāzhù tā de shǒujī, zhuāng zài Xīngbākè de shǒujī ké’er lǐmiàn, ránhòu dǎkāi tā de LinkedIn. Tā zài Měiguó de shēnqǐng hái méiyǒu shōu dào huídá. Cóng Grace de jiǎodù lái kàn, Shànghǎi zhǐshì qǐdiǎn.

Tāmen de dìtiě chēxiāng zài hēi’àn de dìtiě suìdào zhōng kuàisù érguò, jiù zhèyàng, tāmen, hái yǒu yǐjí Shànghǎi de shù bǎi wàn qítā rén, zài shí hào xiàn shàng fēnxiǎng yīgè gòngtóng de kōngjiān, kěshì zhù zài xǔduō bùtóng de chéngshì.