"Very quietly I take my leave, as quietly as I came here; Gently I flick my sleeves, not even a wisp of cloud will I bring away." These lines from the modern Chinese poet Xu Zhimo's classic poem Saying Goodbye to Cambridge Again seem to express the sentiments of all people who go to live in a strange land. They also reflect the opening words of a new short film entitled Just in Shanghai: "Why did you come here, and why do you stay here?"





The life of the 36-year-old Canadian photographer Andrew Rochfort is featured in Just in Shanghai. Photos: Courtesy of Dai Yanmiao





According to the Shanghai Exit & Entry Administration Bureau, over 173,000 foreigners currently live in Shanghai, representing about a quarter of all expats in China. "They have been an undeniable force for the city of Shanghai so that's what motivated us to follow the life of this community and explore their connection with Shanghai," Dai Yanmiao, the film's producer, told the Global Times.



Early last year, Dai and director Huang Chunshen began looking for suitable candidates for their film, which records the life of expats in Shanghai.



Dai told the Global Times that they wanted to find expats who chose to live in Shanghai on their own initiative, rather than those who were sent by their employer, as well as those with "relatively rich life experience."



Dai and Huang "drank three to five coffees per day for a couple of months" while talking to dozens of foreigners undertaking occupations that ranged from a chef to a Parkour athlete.



At last, Andrew Rochfort, a photographer from Canada; Robert Turner, Darhyl G. Harris and Yan Boodhoo, two Americans and a Mauritian in a jazz band; Tetsuya Ikeda, a business owner from Japan; and Tiffany Mailys Piga, a modern dancer from France, were chosen.



Shot as a heavily stylized documentary with scripted voice-overs and some reenacted scenes, the final 22-minute short presents a snapshot of the lives of these laowai in Shanghai.





Stills from Just in Shanghai





When Ikeda first arrived in Shanghai two years ago, he had a nine-to-five office job at a Japanese company. But the pressure and sense of restraint made him feel that Shanghai was no different from Tokyo. Gradually, he began to change his life here.



A talented artist, Ikeda had been drawing since he was a boy. He decided to use his hobby as stepping stone to launch his own business in Shanghai, to open a Japanese snack store which he designed himself.



Ikeda now owns five stores in the city. "Although they are small, I could obviously feel his satisfaction and he told me that now he also has the time to sit down and draw the city he has lived in for a long time," Huang said.



"Tetsuya completed a major turning point in his life in Shanghai, a strange land for this Japanese man, which is the reason I chose him for the film," he added.



Thirty-six-year-old Canadian Andrew Rochfort first visited Shanghai in 2005. "It's really not that long ago when you think about it, but the city has changed so much in that time," he told the Global Times.



"Many friends asked me why I came to Shanghai and how I could stay here for so long. What attracted me so much? To be honest, I have no exact answer for that. Everything just happened naturally," he said.





Stills from Just in Shanghai





However, as a photographer, Rochfort's works can probably offer some clues. "I love to take city photos the most. While nature photography has its allure, photographing a city gives you so many opportunities to capture colors, shapes, lights and the people that inhabit them," Rochfort said.



He told us that it was in Shanghai that he really got into photography, and made the decision to become a professional. Before that, he worked in the film industry for a number of years in Vancouver.



Rochfort said that he really doesn't know whether he will settle down here permanently or when he will leave.



"Whatever happens in the future, Shanghai will always be a big part of my life, and it will be a place I will always come back to," he added.



Pianist Robert Turner has been in Shanghai for two years where he plays in a jazz band with Darhyl G. Harris and Yan Boodhoo at the 288 Melting Pot on Taikang Road.





Stills from Just in Shanghai





While Huang was shooting them, Turner told Huang that their dream is to stage a public show at a major venue in Shanghai. "They jokingly said to me that, to some extent, I helped them to realize their dream because I took them to the stage of the Shanghai Oriental Arts Center to film them perform," Huang said.



Huang told us that when he interviewed his subjects, he tried not to initially ask them questions like, "Why did you come to Shanghai?" or "When will you leave?"



"I didn't want to intentionally find out the different points of their lives here or the 'cultural differences' but I tried to use a plainer language to present their lives, because they are just in Shanghai, just like local people or any other Chinese people here," Huang said.



Just in Shanghai can currently be viewed online on Tencent's video website v.qq.com. Dai told us that he hopes it will be screened at next year's Shanghai International Film Festival.