Bernhard Hennen advises anyone visiting Shanghai and hoping to understand it to "come with an open mind," as his stay here transformed his perspective in many ways, although the German writer isn't even new to the city.
"Staying for two months and getting out a lot and exploring the city deep in the night is very different," he said. "You have to really be here, and you need to come with an open mind."
He used air pollution in China as an example, a topic regularly covered in the international media.
"We are very used to thinking of Shanghai in terms of dirty pollution, but the air here is less polluted now from petrol, with all the electric vehicles filling the streets."
He finds the people who work in Shanghai's tiny stores to be particularly interesting. He calls them "very busy in a tai chi style."
"They are very busy because you see them work very long hours early in the morning and late into the night, but at the same time, they also look very relaxed when there is nothing to do," he added.
"You see people on the streets who appear to be very busy, and then you see people gathering to drink and chat in front of their houses. That entire manner of life – I call it busy in a taichi way. It appears fluent and casual, but you know how difficult it is to get to that level."
（Interviewed by Yao Minji, Shanghai Daily）