Mind Map | Karen Kao
By the time you read this blog post, my husband and I will have embarked on our round-the-world journey. Oddly enough, China is not one of our destinations. We're looking for the unknown, something well outside our comfort zone. Since maps and mapping are on my mind right now, this seems like the perfect opportunity to republish a post that appeared on my blog Shanghai Noir . My mind map of Shanghai. Photo credit: Karen Kao This is the map into my interlocking novels, The Shanghai Quartet . It’s a bulletin board my husband made for me, 6 feet wide and 4 feet tall. The backdrop is a map of modern Shanghai, enlarged many times over, onto which I’ve pasted the street names in use when this was Old Shanghai. Onto that map, I’ve tacked on Stuff: photos, postcards, lanyards and clippings. Welcome to my Shanghai. Sailors and Strumpets Let’s start in the northeastern quadrant of the city, the port of entry for most newcomers to Old Shanghai. This was (and still...