Welcome to Astronomer in Shanghai! Thank you for following my blog and for your interest in my life and adventures in Shanghai! As covid-19 continues to plague the US, and you are (hopefully) wearing masks when you go outside and are social distancing, I hope that my blog highlights what the world will look like after a recovery from covid-19 begins, which can only happen by following the practices listed above. Once things improve (which is not now), I hope you enjoy small gatherings with friends and family. I’m sure you’ll find these interactions meaningful and enjoyable. In Shanghai, life has returned mostly to normal.
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Life in Shanghai
I hope that this latest entry continues to find you all safe and healthy. For those of you, like my family, in the Northeast, I hope that you aren’t still buried under too much snow and that there were no further complications as a result of that snowfall. Since I know many of you are in academia, I hope that the end of your semester has gone well (or is in the process of wrapping up). Hopefully, you’ve found remote teaching to be more manageable now that you’ve had more experience with it.
I know that like many of you, I am excited to see the role out of the different covid-19 vaccines both in the US and Europe. However, I do want to point out a few different points that I believe may be being overlooked. 1). Just because there is a vaccine, this does not mean that people should stop social distancing and start gather in large groups. As such, in most of the world, it is vital that people not gather to celebrate Christmas and New Years. There was a large surge after Thanksgiving and I’m fearful of what will happen after Christmas. 2). Even though the vaccine is beginning to be rolled out, it will still take until the summer for the vaccine to be widespread, again emphasizing the point of maintaining safe and smart practices of mask wearing and social distancing. 3). We still don’t know how long the vaccine is effective for. What I mean by this is we don’t know if this will become something people get once, or is like the flu vaccine and something people get every year.
With those points in mind, I really hope that all of you, especially those of you who chose to gather in large groups (indoors) for Thanksgiving, reconsider and cancel any plans to do so for Christmas or New Years. I understand how isolating and lonely it can be to not be with all your loved ones, but in order for the US to recover as quickly as possible from covid-19, sacrifices must be made and people must act for the greater good.
In terms of covid-19, the situation remains entirely under control in China. Restrictions on who can enter the country are still in place, and China punishes countries by removing flights if too many people from one country enter with covid-19 on a single flight (hasn’t happened to the US yet). In total, there are currently 94 cases in Shanghai (all but 3 are imported). Beijing has 12. The recovery rate is at 93.0%. The recovery rate for China as a whole is at 93.3%. These numbers continue to be in stark contrast to the USA, where there are 17.6 million cases and it’s unclear how seriously people are taking this. This difference emphasizes why it’s important to put in place actual policies to halt covid-19.
On the Astronomy front, this was a relatively productive week. I wrapped up a draft of my paper on different methods of estimating the halo mass, the total cluster mass including dark matter, so hopefully that paper will be submitted in the coming months (there’s still 1-2 more science things to do). I also spent a lot of time beginning to use one of my colleague’s mock galaxy catalogues to do a simulated version of the Luminosity Function. I also spent time working on my measurements of the Intra-Cluster light and it’s evolution over the redshift range 0.2 < z < 0.9. Hopefully, I’ll be able to stay productive and make some more tangible progress in the coming weeks (my semester doesn’t end until around Chinese New Year — February). Additionally, we finally finished all our work as part of the DESI secondary spare targets selection committee! After meeting from 11pm – 1am on Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday, we were able to wrap our discussions and finalize which projects we’ve chosen to observe! Overall, it was a really interesting (and sometimes exhausting) experience! I’m glad I had the opportunity to participate.
Outside of Astronomy, I went for two runs this week! It’s a little bit colder now (weather’s in the 40s most days with lows in the 30s). So, I’ve had to break out some of my slightly warmer running layers (though by Saratoga or Ann Arbor standards, this is very pleasant weather, especially for December).
During my runs and walks throughout the city, I saw a lot of really cool things!
Also, even though movie theaters aren’t all open in the US and Europe, they are here in Shanghai. I’m very excited to go see Wonder Woman 1984 in theaters (likely next weekend)! There are even adds on it on my Xiaomi smart tv. Hope you all are able to see it on HBO Max as well!
This was a really fun week filled with lots of fun parties and celebrations with friends! On Wednesday, one of my fellow SJTU postdocs had a going away party. She’s moving back to South Korea at the end of next week, so all the postdocs gathered for a fun farewell dinner! It’s been a long time since we’d all gathered together, so it was really fun to see everyone!
Then on Saturday night, one of my friends hosted a holiday party! Unlike a lot of the social events I attend (either the Kehilat events, Moishe House events, or Heather and Shimi’s parties), I didn’t actually know that many people at this party. However, much to my pleasant surprise, I had a wonderful time and met a lot of really interesting people. I spent the night chatting with people from all different groups within Shanghai about vegan food and different recipes (everyone loved my wild rice salad and toffee squares!) whether fried rice is more culinarily interesting than Chinese American food, and the best ways to learn Chinese (which for me was quite useful — on that front, I’m still working at it and getting a lot better!). Also, unsurprisingly everyone wanted to ask me different Astronomy questions, which was fun! Sadly there weren’t any photos from the night to share, but it was a wonderful evening!
A few weeks ago, I shared some photos of a Peanuts exhibit in Shanghai. On Sunday morning, I went back and saw the entire exhibit at the Shanghai Museum of Contemporary Art. The exhibit was the first such exhibit in China, celebrating 70 years of Peanuts (mostly Snoopy). The exhibit featured different sculptures, multi-media presentations, and paintings representing the different themes and ideas that recur throughout Peanuts! I had a fantastic time exploring the exhibit and hope that these photos make you feel like you came along with me! I will point out, that you can see in the photos that I am wearing a mask. While not required outside, museums require patrons to wear masks.
There were so many highlights, like the snoopy going to the moon exhibit, the different Asian interpretations of the characters, and the giant snoopy, but my favorite was a gigantic wall scroll of Snoopy dreaming about a great adventure scene!
Overall, it was a fantastic exhibit and it was a lot of fun for me to be back in a museum again! I haven’t gone nearly as frequently as I used to since covid-19 started. So, I’ll have to go visit them more frequently in 2021. 🙂
Food in Shanghai
On Monday, I got dinner with one of my friends. We went to one of my favorite vegetarian restaurants, Godly!
We enjoyed a tofu hot pot (similar to a miso soup), fantastic eggplant, mushroom curry, and Chinese yams! I think the eggplant is amazing here!
On Wednesday, I also took photos of the vegetarian highlights from our SJTU gathering!
I enjoyed a cooling fruit bowl (for a break from spicy food), a pumpkin and cheese dish (which was weird), seasonal greens, fried silken tofu (my favorite), a fried pumpkin ball (kind of like tempura), and peanut butter and mango ice creams! They referred to these as shaved ices, but reminded me of ice cream, which actually originated in China!
Jewish Life in Shanghai
In addition to the parties I previously mentioned, there was one more party! On Thursday, I was invited to a Channukkah party hosted by my fellow KS board member Bruce and his wife Cibele! It was mostly members of the KS family Shabbat community, so even though it’s just me here in Shanghai, I feel very fortunate to be included in these events and to be welcomed into that part of the community!
As you can see we had some beautiful and creative menorahs (and lots of kids to light them)! My favorite was the menorah made out of oranges (which were then devoured)! That came about because one of the children was watching his older sister make a menorah and he wanted to make one as well (and then he found a demo of how to make it our of oranges, his favorite fruit, online). It was really cute! I had a fantastic time celebrating Channukkah with many of the lovely people I’ve gotten to know and become friends with within the KS community. This Channukkah celebration, along with last week’s party, highlight how important Kehilat Shanghai and it’s members have become to my life in Shanghai!
And not to forget, I also lit my menorah each night as well!
As you can see, I had a wonderful Channukkah and week filled with many celebrations with many different groups of friends. This has again made me realize how fortunate I am to be able to celebrate safely with others. While I know the holiday times are difficult for many of you this year, I hope that you can take comfort in knowing that next year’s celebrations will be even more special and memorable. Overall, this was a really wonderful week filled with parties and a great time at the MOCA museum. Hopefully next week will be equally as productive and fun! Also, for those of you who celebrate Christmas, I hope that you have a wonderful, safe, and socially distanced holiday.
I hope that you all enjoyed seeing photos from my parties as well as exploring the Peanuts exhibit at MOCA. If there’s anything you’re curious about with regards to my life in Shanghai, let me know!
In peace,
Jesse
Hi, Jesse.
I so enjoyed learning about the various aspects of your life in Shanghai. In addition to seeing all the people able to meet safely and celebrate together without masks, it was a treat to see all the menorahs lit together for your community celebrations, which reminds me of the community candle lighting that Temple Sinai always holds, though not this year. The city’s flowers were also a pleasure to see since we are snowed in here. Saratoga got about 30 inches! Everywhere you look is white with snow!
In terms of life here, I came up with a way to deliver holiday jams for folks using paper bags and making contactless deliveries. Luckily I made most of the deliveries before the snow hit! We are continuing with writing group, which keeps me motivated to write on my two projects—one on the Brontes and the other on an early Victorian illustrator named Jemima Blackburn.
The Peanuts exhibit was cool. It is interesting that Snoopy is a favorite character in China. It was interesting to see a gold Snoopy sculpture, too.
What makes Chinese eggplant so different than eggplants in the US? Have you seen the white eggplant variety? And I loved that you ate the oranges that made up the menorah! Maybe we will do that next year. I watched a documentary about how Jews in times of persecution made menorahs out of potatoes, which were available and inexpensive. I wonder if there is more history behind the menorah made of oranges?
I look forward to your next adventure already and to hearing about how your science is progressing. Is the current paper a collaboration with Ying?
Much love and misses,
Mom
Thanks Mom! I’m glad you enjoyed the photos from the Channukkah party! It is so strange for me to still see flowers even in December. Though I’m sure it’s very pretty seeing everything covered with snow!
I’m glad to hear that you were able to deliver jam to everyone! I’m sure it was appreciated. Good luck on your two projects!
I thought the Peanuts exhibit was really cool, too!
Chinese eggplant is similar to Japanese eggplant (long and thin). It doesn’t have seeds like Italian style eggplant so it’s less bitter. I haven’t seen white eggplants here. Generally, eggplant is stir fried, so it’s not saturated in oils or made really heavy like it’s done in a lot of Western cuisine. I’ll definitely look into the story behind an orange menorah as well!
The current paper project is working with Ying though there’s still a lot to do on that front.
Hope you have a safe and healthy week!
Hi Jesse,
It certainly sounds like you had a very full week! Wow! I’m glad to hear you’re making progress on all of your astronomy projects and that the DESI TAC concluded successfully. Hopefully you’ll get to take part in future DESI organizational things. Did you ever figure out the issue with the background? I’m glad to hear you’re still able to go running. I went running twice this week before we got ~ 2.5 feet of snow in Saratoga. It’s a winter wonderland out there. I loved the various sculptures and One Piece signs that you saw. I’m also super excited to see Wonder Woman 1984, too! That’s cool that you’re going to try to see it on the big screen. Will that be your first time in a Chinese theatre? I loved the peanuts exhibit! The blend of modern art with peanuts is really cool. It somewhat reminds me of the Takashi Murakami exhibit Shelby and I saw at the MFA a few years back. I really like the Snoopy dreaming scroll and the one with the cutouts of the wave and other things. I’m glad you happened by the exhibit a couple of weeks ago. It sounds like all of your parties were fun. I’m glad you’re still meeting new people. Were most of the people at the party Americans or from other countries? It’s also nice to see you do something with the other postdocs. There are a lot of you. As usual, all of the food looks good (though some of the pumpkin dishes do look a bit strange). The ice cream looks really good as did the fried tofu and all of the food from Godly. I’m glad you had some more fun Channukkah celebrations with friends. All the menorahs look great and I am also a fan of the orange menorah. I hope you have another productive week this week. Stay safe and healthy!
Love,
Emmet
Hi Emmet! Thanks! I hope to stay involved in DESI and it’s good to get my name out there. We’re still working on the background. I’m just getting the mock catalog up and running to do those tests. I’m glad you enjoyed the snow. I haven’t seen snow in person in almost 2 years. 🙁
I’m really excited for WW84! It will be my first time in a Chinese movie theater (masks are required). I’m glad you liked the Peanuts exhibit, too! At this holiday party, it was mostly ex-pats (though a large majority were Asian Americans). I hope that you also have another productive and safe week!
As always, a very entertaining and informative blog. I loved those photos and descriptions of the vegan dishes. I also loved that chanukia h (menorah) made of oranges. What a super idea. Those oranges look very small – almost tangerine-like.
I use whisky shot glasses that I fill 9/10 with water and then add about 1 cm layer of olive oil. Into the oil we place wicks inserted into cork floaters and these candles burn for about 2 hours.
A question about the parties: are people in Shanghai confident enough that the virus is under control that strangers can come to a party and no one is concerned that they may be carrying the virus? You seem to suggest that the only cases in China and Shanghai are “imported” (flights and ships?) but then you say that you were required to be masked when you went to the Snoopy exhibit. What is the reason why the museum taking a tougher stand?
On a layman’s astronomical note, I hear that Jupiter and Saturn are about to apparently pass (from our point of view) so close together that they will be incredibly bright in the night sky over the next few days. I am hoping that the sky will be clear enough for me to see them. The last time (I think) I saw something incredible in the sky was comet Hale -Bopp which you could see in Saratoga in daylight.
Chanukah has ended and the next festival is Tu b’shvat (the New Year for Trees). That , I think, was originally a date in the calendar when you counted the birthday of a fruit tree because you were not permitted to harvest fruit to eat it before the tree was four years old. This has been transformed into a kind of Jewish arbor day or earth day which is so lovely. We used to plant trees in Scotland (if the ground was not too frozen and the snow had melted. (we never got much snow: We never ever had a snow day. I never knew what a snow day was until I came to the states…)
Stay healthy. And good luck with your work and your proposed publications.
Hi Bernard! Thanks! The oranges are tiny (I think mandarin oranges), but it was a really cute idea!
The people in Shanghai are very confident that the virus is under control. However, they’re also very cautious and still think that it’s important to take precautions since the government is actively trying to prevent further outbreaks. It’s only for indoor spaces due to the circulation. So, the museum has to follow nation wide policies for indoor spaces.
You are correct that Jupiter and Saturn are very near in the night sky! I hope that you can see them! I’ve seen friends share photos, but there’s way too much light pollution in Shanghai. 🙁 Thanks for reminding me that Tu b’shvat is coming up. That’s neat that you would plant trees in Scotland (I didn’t know they didn’t get much snow there).
I hope that you and Lisa also stay safe and healthy!
Hi Jesse,
I am always amazed at what a full and busy life you have in Shanghai! Work, social, physical, cultural and Jewish! Seeing all the chanukiot candles really warmed my heart ♥️
I had a nice FaceTime call with your mom today too. We did not have snow in Buffalo like they did on Saratoga Springs- but I am sure we will have wintry weather at some point.
The real excitement in Buffalo are our Bills 🏈!! So much fun to have a winning team!!
I hope the new year is a good one for you and all those around you. Wishing you a 2021 filled with hope, health, friendship and discovery!
Susan
Hi Susan! Thanks! I’m so glad to hear that my blog is able to provide you some joy! I’m glad you guys got to avoid this snowfall (though I’m sure you’ll get one soon). Congratulations on the Bills! It’s nice to see them win the division! I’ll be pulling for them throughout the playoffs! I also hope that you and Steve have a good, healthy, and safe year!
Jesse, l read your blog every week with anticipation on your wonderful adventure. You experience so much in one week that it puts a smile on my face With the thoughts of all the good times your experiencing. This past year for you has been so exciting and a positive period of growth and maturity. I hope the New Year brings you your brother and many good times. Happy and Healthy 2021. Love and hugs to you. Cousins Halli and Sol
Thanks Halli! I’m so glad you’re still enjoying my blog! I completely agree about the past year. Even though 2020 has not been the best year for the world, there’s been a lot of growth and wonderful experiences for me. I hope that 2021 also brings you and Sol many good times as well!
Hey Jesse! A belated Happy Chanukkah! It’s great you had such a nice week. The Peanuts collection at the Contemporary Art Museum looks super cool – thanks for sharing the photos! I especially liked the colorful Snoopy.
Thanks Ryan! I hope that you had a nice Christmas. I’m glad you liked the peanuts art! I really enjoyed it!