I’ve just left Shanghai and I can hardly believe it.  Six months of living there frankly feels like forever, and I’m not sure how I’ll adjust to being back in the states.  But as I move forward, at least I’ll have many vivid stories to tell about my time in China.

The second half of my Shanghai Daily internship followed a different route than the first.  My editors assigned me more long-term stories involving many scheduled interviews.  For one story, I wrote about a local college student music group that translates popular Chinese songs into English.  A reporter and I interviewed one of the co-founders of the group, MelodyC2E, and when the article got published, for a few hours, it trended number one on the newspaper’s website!  My tiny brush with internet fame, haha.

For another assignment, the same reporter and I researched a Mongolian student exchange group coming to Shanghai; then, on the final day of their program, we went to their educational center to interview students and the directors.  That story had to be written and published same-day so after the interviews, I rushed home to review the Chinese interviews and type up the article before its deadline.

But the biggest story for me was one that I pitched on my own.  I was walking around my neighborhood one day when I stumbled across a small movie theater tucked inside an underground mall.  Curious, I went inside, started asking questions, and soon discovered that the place was an “on-demand cinema,” or, in other words, a venue where customers can rent out furnished private screening rooms, choose from thousands of films and watch a movie in their own private movie theater.  Intrigued, (the US doesn’t have anything like this, as far as I know) I did some research and discovered that not only does Shanghai host dozens of these private cinemas; the central government has recently passed several new regulations.  I pitched a story covering these new-fangled venues, and my editors approved.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As light a topic as on-demand cinemas might seem, nothing about writing this story was easy.  At the outset, I spent several days researching the topic, aka reading a lot of dry Chinese film law.  When I was finally ready to contact the actual cinemas, of the 25 or so I called, at least 19 flat-out rejected my request to visit their venue and interview staff/customers.  Although I realize that rejection comes often with any career, especially journalism, hearing “no” over and over again (in Chinese, to boot) was still demoralizing.

But, as the wise philosopher Michelle Williams said in The Greatest Showman, “You don’t need everyone to love you.  Just a few good people.”  And luckily, I found my few good people.  I snagged an interview with the manager of an on-demand cinema chain and he opened the door for me to visit one of their branches; I also visited two other, unafilliated theaters and interviewed customers and employees at all three.  Each visit took several hours, but I enjoyed talking to different people, from those as new to the on-demand cinema as I was to one member who visits ten times every month!

With all my notes and new background knowledge, I wrote my story.  Synthesizing all my interviews and notes proved challenging, and even after submission, I spent several days communicating back and forth with my editor over fact-checks and changes.  But when I got the heads up my story would be published in the Saturday edition, I started jumping up and down with giddy pleasure.  For all the stress and rejection, seeing my story published felt immensely satisfying.  What an awesome way to end my internship!

Looking back on my internship as a whole, I had a fantastic, eye-opening experience into the demands of researching, pitching, interviewing, and writing as a journalist.  While recognizing The Shanghai Daily’s status as a state-owned newspaper and thus, the subsequent restrictions and censorship of content, I still feel that as a metro/local news intern, my day-to-day experience wasn’t that different from that of someone working for a Western newspaper.  Of course, I’m curious now to learn more about how a Western media outlet functions, but I think if and when I do venture down that path, having background experience at the Shanghai Daily will give me unique insight into the various methods of reporting the news.

And speaking of returning to the West, how will I sum up my time in Shanghai?  I suspect I would need a separate blog entry to give my full thoughts proper justice, but for now, I’ll conclude by thanking my peers, colleagues, neighbors, and the city itself for an unforgettable time of adventure, knowledge, challenge, food, and growth.