One has to wait for at least 10 minutes before one can find a table in a restaurant, and then wait another 30 minutes before being served a 25-yuan noodle soup from an unfriendly waitress.

After lunch, I must remember to pay the housing loan installment before the monthly deadline. To save on the 1 percent inter-bank commission charge, I need to take cash from one bank, and then walk two blocks to deposit it in the other loan provider bank. Of course, waiting for 15 to 30 minutes in a queue is mandatory.

On the way, I will pass a Starbucks outlet, where a really good cup of coffee is priced at 28 yuan, the same as in New York. The long wait to grab that coffee, not the price, prevents me from trying.

After work is when sales promotions tempt me to go on a shopping binge. What better way to de-stress than to shop? As usual, cabs are few and far between late in the evening after the spree. To top it all, it is raining as well.

The next morning, I rummage through the closet to find one crisp set of clothes to wear. There is none. I feel my life collapse around me, but I don't have time to think why as I again need to rush to grab that metro link to work.

Living in Shanghai is like whirling inside a squeezer. No space, and no spare time. We rush in and out everyday. To save time, we take direct flights, Maglev trains, go on speed dates and so on.

Yet, the more time we have at our disposal, the more anxious we feel. Can't life be faster and more efficient, we ask.

Life is often unfair. For instance, everyday there are news reports of how someone easily enters the Expo without waiting in line, simply because he "borrowed" an elderly man to enter through the green passage meant for senior citizens.

The police apologize for beating up a woman after they realize that her husband is a senior government official, reports scream. Somebody got into a good job right after graduation using guanxi - the list of depressing news is endless.

My teacher told me once: Never question while on the road to life; now, I think I know the reason.

This is not just cynicism Chinese style; it is the most practical approach to surviving in Shanghai.

The author is chief correspondent of China Daily Shanghai Office.

She can be reached at xuxiaomin@ chinadaily.com.cn.

(China Daily 08/05/2010 page8)