Shanghai is a full-on assault of smells. The wide variety of different odors mix together on the average bike ride or walk down the street. Some are good; most are bad.

The natural scents are tolerable, but the synthetics serve as a constant reminder of eventual cancer. I’m surprised people aren’t walking around with visible tumors and having miscarriages on the street after a lifetime of living here. The chemicals smell deadly.

Here are two lists of smells on an average day:

Organic:

• Steamed Buns
• Cooking Oil
• Vomit
• Dead Animal
• Vegetable Scraps
• Dirt
• Flowers
• Fish
• Vinegar
• Rinse Water
• Sewage
• Pee
• Dog Poop
• Fried Tofu
• B.O.
• Chicken Blood

Synthetic:

• Paint
• Varnish
• Formaldehyde
• Poison
• Concrete
• Bleach
• Flea Collar Smell
• Mystery Toxin
• Gasoline
• Diesel
• Sheetrock
• Resin
• Calking Compound

You know it’s a bad sign of workplace health when there’s a big spray can of formaldehyde sitting out next to the smoking area in the stairwell, across from a panel glued to the wall with epoxy. It’s also unsettling to notice that the area around your desk smells like flea collars and there’s a fine layer of concrete dust over everything.

If you have any other Shanghai smells you want to add, mention them in the comments.