The former owner of the house was a female director of Shanghai Film Studio
Her name was Shi Shujun
But she passed away
Her husband was here
To tell me the background of the house
All the houses in the neighborhood have its own story
We moved in last April or May
The total area was a little over 136 m2
The house was built in 1938
It was owned by the man who had the biggest fabric business
In Shanghai
The cloth was named Shilin Lanbu
We used to live near Hunan Road and Wukang Road
We couldn’t do too much transformation to the rented house
The area becomes a little more than 200 m2 after the renovation
We spent around 1.6 million
She came to China for the first time 8 years ago to be a volunteer teacher in Zunyi, Guizhou
We met on a street in Shanghai
We got married in 2014
I spoke no Chinese when I just came here
Every time when we had a fight, he cursed in Chinese
And I thought it was so unfair because I didn’t understand what he had said
I didn’t curse
Later I learn Chinese gradually
I become a member of a Chinese family
So I have to live in accordance with Chinese traditions
To adapt to such a way of living
There’re super big trees in the yard
One is over 100 years old and two are probably 70 or 80 years old
Our house basically is basically covered in trees
Like a cottage in downtown Shanghai
We knocked down all the things we could, such as broken walls
And we gave a makeover to the lighting
One thing special about the house is that it’s almost 6m high from the highest ceiling to the floor
And it has split-level rooms
We solve the problem with the stairs
On the attic
There’s a yoga space
For my wife
All of the beams are the original ones
There was a fireplace already
And we added a new fireplace, a totally-enclosed one
Kate was mainly responsible for the interior decoration
She has a good taste
We don’t mind if it’s old or new
Eastern or western
She doesn’t care if it’s from China or India
She relies on her instinct
It’s hard to change her mind
But I’m fine with that
Her habit of drinking tea is formed under my influence
She likes swigging
She uses large cups
While I prefer sipping
Some furniture are moved with me
I had this carpet 20 years ago
And it’s moved around with me
That Buddha statue has been with me for more than a decade
Our collection are accumulated gradually
The comics by Zhang Guangyu
The original story of the animation Havoc in Heaven
He created all the characters
We love food markets the most
We often go to the food market and cook at home
We eat at home as much as possible
We have mainly Chinese cuisine
At the beginning I catered to his taste more
For example I would use a lot of soy sauce and oil
Now I gradually adjust the recipes
I’ve been in China for 6 years
I think there’s one thing different than in Europe
Men from Shanghai are really good at housework
She seldom returns to her hometown since she came to China
She wants to be a Chinese
She doesn’t look at China from the perspective of a foreigner
As the society becomes more and more modernized
There’re less and less differences