>> chen: you become more and more chinese now. [ woman singing ] ♪ ♪ >> anthony: what are our expectations? which of the things we desire are within reach?

if not now, when? and will there be some left for me? ♪ ♪ i took a walk through this beautiful world ♪ ♪ felt the cool rain on my shoulder ♪ ♪ found something good in this beautiful world ♪ ♪ i felt the rain getting colder ♪ ♪ sha, la, la, la, la, la, ♪ sha, la, la, la, la, la, ♪ sha, la, la, la, la, la, ♪ sha, la, la, la, la

♪ >> archival voices: china's younger generation is driving a growth in consumption. this is where the real power is -- china! ♪ >> anthony: if you live in manhattan, like i do, and you think you live in the center of the world, this place, shanghai, will confront you with a very different reality. turn down a side street -- it's an ancient culture. the centuries-old mix of culinary traditions, smells, flavors. a block away, this. an ultra-modern, ever-clanging cash register, levels of wealth, of luxury, the sheer volume of things and services unimagined by the greediest, most bourgeois of capitalist imperialists.

the city is split by the huangpu river, a tributary of the yangtze, into the older section, which features the bund, and the newer, built-up section of pudong. the one thing i know for sure about china is that we'll never know china. it's too big, too old, too diverse, too deep. there's simply not enough time. that's, for me, the joy of china -- facing a learning curve that impossibly steep. the certain knowledge that even if i dedicated my life to learning about china, i'd die mostly ignorant. that's exciting. it's too much. and it's changing so fast. china has a population of around 1.3 billion people. and the number of them who are joining an explosive middle-class, demanding their share of all that good stuff -- infrastructure, the clothes, the cars, the gas to fuel them --

it's, well -- it's the engine that might well drive the whole world. ♪ >> zhou: you like chinese food? >> anthony: very much. yes. >> zhou: okay. what do you want? >> anthony: please, uh, order. of course. yes, some good -- some dumplings. [ zhou speaking mandarin ] >> anthony: professor zhou lin is an economist and the current dean of the college of economics and management at shanghai jiao tong university. like so many people you meet here, he's chinese, but was educated in american universities. and has taught at yale, duke, and arizona state. so, you'll forgive me, um, economics are not my area of expertise. i wallow in ignorance but, um, china looks different every time i come. it's changing so, so, so quickly. how did that happen? >> zhou: china enjoy, you know, this long period of peace --

no serious enemy, no, no major wars. >> anthony: right. >> zhou: so the manufacturing industry really took off. internally, it's reform and an open-door policy. every country willing to trade with china. >> anthony: there's certainly no doubt that, at this point, we -- our destinies are inextricably bound up. we are hopelessly in, our economies are hopelessly inter -- intermingled. if one fails, the effect would be disastrous. um -- >> zhou: global impact. >> anthony: we are -- to say the least. >> zhou: it's uh, certainly, uh -- [ waitress speaking mandarin ] >> anthony: oh, beautiful. this is what i was waiting for. xiaolongbao. literally, "small steaming basket buns." but i translate them in my head to "pillows of happiness that will scald your tongue and throat if you don't know what you're doing." look, there are a lot of reasons to come to china, and to shanghai in particular, but these babies, done right?

these things alone are worth the trip. ground pork and shrimp, folded exactly and always 20 times inside freshly made, individually-rolled-out dough. as they're steamed, the delicious, delicious fat renders into a soup of the gods, which then, if you're not careful, causes unforgettable maxillofacial damage as it changes your life forever. oh, so good. in the china of the future, places like this -- fuchun xiaolong -- will be even more packed. by chinese, by expats, by visitors looking for the deeply satisfying rush of screamingly hot goodness. the chewy, deeply savory, fragrant, perfectly shaped and folded ballistically designed delivery vehicles for pure pleasure. and the allure of shanghai-style pork chop. za zhu pai, served with la

jiangyou, the local take on worcestershire sauce. it's irresistible. >> zhou: uh, so i really believe that, uh, the world is converging and china will again, will be privatizing more and more. >> anthony: right. >> zhou: but, the difficulty nowadays, it's just, the technology is so advanced, we don't really need that many people to do things that many people used to do. in the west, the population, seven billion people. the world probably doesn't need that many people working anymore. >> anthony: right. >> zhou: so the question is that, "what should human beings do?" you know? how can you let them not do anything and then still living a good life? >> anthony: right. >> zhou: i don't know. it's going to be big issue that

face the whole world. >> anthony: what is the future? i don't know. but to a very great extent, it is surely being determined here. is there a plan? probably not. only appetites. and increasingly, the means to fulfill those appetites, those dreams and aspirations. who will drive the car that takes us to wherever we are going? they will be young, whoever they are, and not unlike yao minji, a 30-year-old shanghai native educated in the usa at wellesley, currently a features reporter for "the shanghai daily." she may be the picture of modern china, but this is minji's favorite restaurant, chun. china and shanghai in particular might be transforming fast, but this place stays resolutely the same. mrs. qu runs the place, serving classic, home-style shanghainese.

there's no menu, no waiting list, and you only get a seat if she likes you. >> minji: oh, i ordered -- i ordered too much. sorry. >> anthony: no, that's fantastic. >> minji: i was trying to get all my favorite dishes. >> anthony: no, i'm very happy. we're joined by minji's friends, liu jing, an artist, and matthew lei, a restaurateur. this looks fantastic. how do you eat these? whole? >> minji: i eat them whole because i really like this. ooh. >> anthony: that works. mmm! >> minji: good, yeah. >> anthony: oh, they're good. >> minji: i think they cook it, you know, a few seconds. that's the secret. >> anthony: youbao xia are tiny little shrimp, deep fried first, and then quickly tossed in the wok with garlic, ginger, salt, and soy. what is classic shanghainese food? what's distinctive about it? well, this, for instance. it's often black or dark and heavily inflected with oil, soy, and sugar. shanghai is, and has been for

some time, a city of immigrants. and the food reflects that genealogy. a combination of people from neighboring zhejiang province known for their liberal use of sugar, soy, and vinegar. and from jiangsu province, known for fresh ingredients and attention to preserving the aliveness of its dishes. it's the best of both worlds. great sauces, great ingredients. there's hongshao rou, braised pork belly in a deep red glaze of dark and light soy sauce, cinnamon, sugar and anise. hongshao chang yu, a small fish poached first in rice wine, salted light soy, then fried in ginger, garlic, oil, more soy and sugar until the liquids reduce into a gorgeous sticky sauce. xiang ya, duck that's been marinated, blanched, then reheated, smothered in a sauce made from the reduced drippings left in the wok with dark soy, salt, and sugar.

and this to round things out -- yan du xian, a clay pot soup of bean curd-based stalk with salted pork belly, tofu ribbons, and bamboo shoots. mmm! oh, good flavor. this is a socialist country, supposedly. >> minji: mm-hmm. yep. >> anthony: it's a communist country, supposedly. it is, in fact, from all evidence that i've ever seen, the most dynamic capitalistic country on earth. what do you think about that? >> minji: i think a lot of my western friends come here thinking china is a posh version of north korea, or -- or the party controls everything. but, they come here, they're surprised it's actually not that much. they do seem to be promoting the free market even more with the free trade zone. >> anthony: right. >> minji: just established in shanghai, so it's amazing. >> anthony: from what i see everywhere i go, the world is becoming more chinese -- chinese influence, chinese food.

uh, if you build a casino in vegas, or a hotel in singapore, you have to consider what will the chinese think. is that exciting? uh -- >> minji: it's exciting that we finally have an influence that we wouldn't. like china is sort of in the spotlight in a central stage now that we wouldn't have dreamed of like, say, only a decade ago. >> anthony: for me, i think, uh, you know, the communist menace that we used to always talk about in america, i think the most terrifying scenario is that china becomes a completely free-market, non-socialist, non-communist society, because you'd bury us. [ laughter ] ? kayak searches hundreds of travel sites and lets you filter by take-off time, layovers and more, so you can be confident you're getting the right flight at the best price. ♪ kayak. search one and done.

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home instead senior care. my mom washes the dishes... ...before she puts them in the dishwasher. so what does the dishwasher do? cascade platinum does the work for you, prewashing and removing stuck-on foods, the first time. wow, that's clean! cascade platinum. ♪ >> anthony: i love few things more than quoting that impeccable communist, deng xiaoping. "to be rich is glorious." all -isms are -wasms. dig deep, and it's always about the money. meet tim tse, resident of communist china. a man of impeccable taste. one of more than 150,000 shanghainese millionaires. accustomed to the good life. >> tim: we take the seawater out, replace with champagne. we don't have it all at once. but hopefully you like it. >> anthony: he likes nice things

and he makes donald trump's garish ticky-tacky empire look like the back of pauly d's van. >> anthony: mmm! where are these from? they're great. >> tim: uh, france. >> anthony: they're -- france! fantastic. wow, they're in good shape. >> tim: yes, yes. well, we keep them happy. every single one is flying from jet with little seatbelt so they're nice and happy and safe. >> anthony: apparently! tim is an investor. into real estate, telecoms, and the newly expanding service industries of the new china. he's also the president of roosevelt china investments, a very old company with a long history doing business here, created by the roosevelt family, maybe you've heard of them. this is his clubhouse. really, the house of roosevelt on the bund, right in the middle of it all. wine is big here now. the french chateaus, more and more they look to china as the indicators of price, as the market maker. tim alone has stocked around 4,000 labels here. china in general bought

2 billion bottles of red wine last year alone. think about that for a minute. they are now the leading market for red wine in the world. it's pretty amazing here. >> tim: well, i designed this place in five minutes. i look at this place for like six months -- >> anthony: uh-huh. >> tim: daytime, nighttime, and -- and finally one morning i say, i'm going to make a wine cellar out of this. >> anthony: looks so good. >> tim: thank you. >> anthony: hi, guys. well, this is nice. >> tim: hi. >> anthony: tim has invited me to dinner alongside a few people that have taken full advantage of the booming economy in china. there's eva wang, an architect and designer. daniel zhung, a real estate developer. and koko xu, a party planner. so you eat like this all the time? nice wine cellar? >> tim: uh, twice a night. today we're surrounded by southern french wine and

northern italian wine. >> anthony: mm-hmm. >> tim: and if you like, you can eat in different district of wine country every night. >> anthony: isn't this supposed to be communist china? i mean, it seems like a very -- >> tim: can i ask one question? are there any one of our communist party comrades party members? >> anthony: no, no, i'm kidding. i'm a bit of a red diaper baby, but, no, what i mean to say is, it just seems that the realm of the possible here is very big. >> daniel: absolutely. it's a big stage. >> anthony: mm-hmm. >> daniel: i mean, in new york city, or in other places in the world, you can see that it might be a massive project. but that's probably the only one in the whole city. but in shanghai, there's ten massive projects going on. and then there's ten more coming up in the next couple years.

>> tim: you know, it's a big world, big city, but small village at the end. and i think food is the best weapons on earth to make peace. it's the food, it's the drink. we have better peace on earth and you're probably the united nations ambassador. >> anthony: in time. >> tim: and these little shrimps are from south pole and only new zealand has the right to farm them. try it, with your wasabi you like. >> koko: a lot of chinese restaurant in new york? >> anthony: i grew up in the '50s and '60s and even then, chinese restaurant, chinese food, was really an essential part of being a new yorker. i mean, if you didn't know how to use chopsticks as a new yorker, you were a terrible new yorker. >> tim: i want to ask one thing. you know how to speak like a brooklyn person? >> anthony: it's a tough accent. queens is easier, you know, it's a -- more of a -- i can't --

i mean, i lived right next to it my whole life. >> tim: can, can't you say one -- >> anthony: but i mean, the -- the accent? >> tim: no, we don't want to hear, one -- >> anthony: a brooklyn expression? >> tim: tonight i just want to hear -- >> anthony: not for nothin'. >> tim: huh? >> anthony: not for nothin'. >> tim: that -- that's brooklyn? >> anthony: not for nothin', but -- >> tim: not for nothin'. >> anthony: not for nothin', but, uh, you know, i could really use a little more wine. >> tim: yeah! >> anthony: not for nothin'. no, no, no. >> tim: get some red wine here. not for nothing. >> anthony: not for nothin'. >> tim: not for nothing. >> anthony: not for -- all right. shanghai chef jackie xu prepares a meal of a style that will become without a doubt, more and more typical and in demand here among those who can afford it. and more and more people every day can afford it. >> tim: what is it? so we have tomato and potato and that's it. what else do we have? >> jackie: roasted tomahawk. >> anthony: australian wagyu beef, a massive, perfectly cooked tomahawk chop.

coming in the door at up to a $150 a pound, that includes bones and fat, this is about $1,000 worth of steak, bitches. even if tim wanted to serve good old usa beef, still the finest on earth, in my opinion, he can't. china has banned imports of u.s. beef over concerns about mad cow disease. while they carve, a quick trip behind the bookshelf. >> tim: and now i want to show you a special place. so you name your label, the village of wines, i think most of the chance we have it. and, uh, so this side is all our interesting wines, that they can keep aging themselves. >> anthony: this is the -- the house collection. >> tim: that's correct. >> anthony: right. >> tim: and now i want to show you the membership area. our newest member, anthony bourdain. and it's all of our roosevelt collections of wines. please open it.

ah. >> anthony: whoa. cool. it's good being me. thank you. >> tim: it's good to have it used. >> anthony: thank you so much, thank you. cool! close that up, man. wait a minute. >> tim: close it up! i never count the wrinkles. and i don't add up the years. but what i do count on... is staying happy and healthy. so, i add protein, vitamins and minerals to my diet with boost®. new boost® high protein nutritional drink now has 33% more high-quality protein, along with 26 essential vitamins and minerals your body needs. all with guaranteed great taste. the upside- i'm just getting started. boost® high protein be up for life look for savings on boost® in your sunday paper.

>> anthony: here's the thing. even with the modern china rising out of the ground all around you, even with all the things -- the same things you see for sale everywhere where people have money these days -- even with all that, there's still this china. shouning road, just south of people's square. it's still happening. the good old stuff. the china you first fell in love with. walk down the street and look in any direction and there's something to eat. i may not know what it is immediately, but chances are it's good. we talk about foodies, and what the hell does that mean? by current definition, best i can understand it, that makes just about every chinese person i ever laid eyes on a foodie, which is, to say, a perfectly

reasonable person who enjoys and pays attention to where the good stuff is. look at this, one street, and look, stuffed oysters grilled over charcoal. snake treats, why yes! and yes, it does taste kind of like chicken. there used to be lots of streets like this full of dai pai dong, where you could look, shop around, then eat all out in the open. a happy, riotous, delicious torrent of food. but the government, as governments do, are tightening the screws. old is bad, new is good. not everybody thinks this is a good idea though. bill wang was born in shanghai and studied here at tongji university. he began teaching english before

he was out of college. he suggested we meet at er guang wonton. and, there may be wonton stalls all over shanghai, but bill says this one, this one is the one. so you're an english teacher? >> bill: yes, yes. >> anthony: uh, most of the people i meet, uh, of chinese background who speak english have -- their teachers were british, sometimes australian, or new zealand and they have those expressions and that accent. maybe more and more these days, i guess, younger generations, there's more and more of that sort of tv accent. is that good or bad? >> bill: uh, i think it's good. you know, uh, tv series, especially american tv series, are so popular in, in china. >> anthony: what are the most popular american shows in -- in china? >> bill: uh, right now, uh, "house of cards". >> anthony: "house of cards"! >> bill: yeah, so popular. >> anthony: "house of cards"! >> bill: yes. >> anthony: of -- that's really interesting. why -- what do you think the appeal is here? >> bill: you know, in the show, in america, they can talk about

presidents. >> anthony: right. >> bill: in china, there's no way you can talk about those sensitive topics. >> anthony: ah! >> bill: so many people love that show. it's really, really good. >> anthony: wow, that's really -- [ bill speaking mandarin ] >> anthony: a surprise to me. wow, these things are huge. >> bill: yes, wonton. it's okay, just put it -- >> anthony: that, there you go. mmm! good. >> bill: is it good? >> anthony: mm-hmm. minced pork, bok choy, some ginger, moistened with rice wine, soy. it all gets mixed up nicely and folded into the dough. boiled till just right, then sauced with a powerful mix of soy sauce, vinegar, chili sauce, sesame oil, and peanut butter. so you've got a kind of a sweet, savory, acidy, salty, spicy, umami thing going on with every bite. you want this, believe me, you want this bad. in fact, you need it.

what do your students want to do when they enter the professional field? what's the dream? >> bill: i think this generation, they are -- a lot of them are lost. they don't know what to do. if you ask, like, a university student what is their dream -- >> anthony: right. >> bill: "my dream is to buy an apartment in shanghai, buy a car," you know, that kinds of things. >> anthony: are there enough jobs for everybody? >> bill: it's -- it's becoming more and more competitive. >> anthony: right. >> bill: everybody wants the best job, but there's only very few of them out there. but i think there's, like, a huge gap between company and new graduates. >> anthony: right. >> bill: the company wants experienced workers. >> anthony: right. >> bill: but the new graduates also want a good job. >> anthony: now. >> bill: but they are, yeah, now. they are not ready for it. >> anthony: right. >> bill: so they don't want to do some, you know, hard work. start from scratch. >> anthony: right. >> bill: yeah, so that's the problem, i guess. >> anthony: it looks to me, china in general, shanghai in particular, is changing very, very fast. >> bill: very, very fast. >> anthony: every time i come, it's different. and, in your recent memory, i

mean, in the last ten years, what's the most noticeable change to you? >> bill: food like this is becoming more and more difficult to find. but, this is handmade and, uh, i think it's real food. it's not very expensive and it tastes great, but a lot of food, uh, you know, processed food right now. and also, of course, it's internet. it has pros and cons, of course. the good part is that you can get information easily. >> anthony: right. >> bill: but the bad part is that people don't talk to each other. even like, two people go to a restaurant, you know, like a couple. they take pictures, and use their cell phone. they don't talk to each other. >> anthony: they're communicating with everybody else in the world but who's at the table. >> bill: i mean, they don't enjoy their life, or what's the point, right? so -- >> anthony: it didn't happen until you tweet it, as we say. >> bill: oh my god! our dad was in the hospital. because of smoking. but we still had to have a cigarette. had to. but then, we were like. what are we doing? the nicodermcq patch

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♪ >> anthony: what's clear very quickly here is the way china claims things are, the way things are supposed to be, as far as permissible social media and access to information, and the way they actually are -- two different things. meet thomas yao. hacker turned entrepreneur. he recently received significant

start-up money to build what he calls an open-source project-sharing platform to connect chinese college students with the world. now when you say hacking, what is -- uh, what is -- what do you do when you hack? what's the -- what's the intent? >> thomas: actually it's -- it's -- it starts from mit. if you go to the computer science and artificial intelligence building in mit, it will -- it will show you the definition of hack. it's actually a very positive word, but it became a very negative word. >> anthony: right. >> thomas: so, the word hacker is to describe the people who are really, uh, they really like programming. and as i said, they love to share information, just like cooking. you love to share recipes to other friends who, like, who love cooking as well. >> anthony: legally, there might be something wrong with it. but morally, do you think there's anything wrong with, like, you're essentially breaking into a -- an information base. >> thomas: yes. >> anthony: i'm not doing any

damage. i'm gonna go in, i'm gonna look around, i'm gonna see how things work. and i'll leave without disturbing anything. would most hackers say that that's okay? >> thomas: yes. yes. >> anthony: it's in the service of knowledge, that's -- >> thomas: that's okay for most the hackers in our communities. i was lucky, i got into a very big, big hacker community here in shanghai and met a lot of great mentors. >> anthony: started in business at 21? >> thomas: exactly. >> anthony: quite an accomplishment. >> thomas: i didn't go to the college. >> anthony: you didn't go to college? >> thomas: i didn't go to the college. >> anthony: why not? >> thomas: most professors are way behind the, uh, the -- the development speed of the communities. >> anthony: why? your -- >> thomas: because -- >> anthony: your country is so advanced in so many other ways, why in this area? >> thomas: it's a network problem here in china. uh, we have the gfw. it's a great firewall and it blocked a lot of, uh, important information websites inside china and a lot of people they cannot get the cutting-edge technologies. >> anthony: right. >> thomas: which we don't teach in college at all. >> anthony: mm-hmm. >> thomas: and, uh, so the human

resource problem and the manpower problem is more and more serious, getting more and more serious here in china. >> anthony: because everyone is going to the silicon valley. >> thomas: uh, they offer better. >> anthony: right. >> thomas: obviously. oh, here they did -- >> anthony: oh, these are the famous ribs? >> thomas: yes. >> anthony: maybe the number one thing that the seriously food-crazed traveler coming back from shanghai will tell you to eat, other than the soup dumplings of course, zi ran pai gu, or simply, cumin ribs. ♪ it takes two cooks working at once to make this dish. one deep-fries the ribs in hot oil until just right, another toasts the ginger, cumin and other spices in a wok, and then, in go the ribs. and if you're a devotee of what's called "wok hei," you sit

as close to the kitchen as possible to capture that elusive, fast-dissipating breadth, flavor of the wok itself. toss them around, coating those bones with all that good stuff, then serve. and because we like it to burn, thomas orders some la sa shi ding, a spicy chicken dish. "hei" means energy, life force, or breath, and that's what you're looking for -- the vestigial flavor, the essence of a very old, carefully seasoned cooking vessel. ♪ >> anthony: oddly enough, thomas tells me there's no mandarin or at least shanghainese word for

wok. it's simply called a cooking pot, to which i say, i really do know nothing about this country. oh, fantastic. wow. >> thomas: it's actually so-so. >> anthony: yeah? >> thomas: it's actually so-so. >> anthony: no? you're not loving that? >> thomas: not so, not too good, but it's not bad. >> anthony: to me, and i've eaten a lot of food, look, this is spicy, fresh, bright, vibrant. i'm telling you. >> thomas: after this i will take you guys to somewhere -- take you somewhere better. >> anthony: so are you a foodie, you -- >> thomas: yeah, i eat a lot. >> anthony: were you born here? you're from shanghai? >> thomas: yeah, i was born and raised in shanghai. >> anthony: at least in modern times, it's hard to imagine that any place has changed as profoundly and is changing as quickly as it is changing here. >> thomas: we, we, we really feel proud. we do feel proud. our qualities of life is improving really, really fast. >> anthony: in a poll, 85% of

chinese who are asked the question, "do you feel that your life will be better next year?" 85% said, "yes, it will be better next year." this is an extraordinary -- >> thomas: number. >> anthony: -- number. i don't know a lot of other countries that would say that. >> thomas: uh, yeah. >> anthony: well, that looks great, those are famous. >> thomas: they are chicken. >> anthony: chicken. >> thomas: chicken, uh -- >> anthony: mmm. so good. >> thomas: not bad. >> anthony: you know i'm finding this food really, really delicious and you're -- you're saying it's just -- it's okay. >> thomas: it's so-so. it's really so-so. >> anthony: it's so-so. [ thomas laughs ] >> anthony: oy yoy, wow! >> tech: at safelite autoglass

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♪ >> anthony: shanghai is one of the biggest cities in the world right now -- a global financial center, a transportation hub, and the world's busiest port. you can smell the money. but maybe the real story is the newly emerging participants in global capitalism -- the middle class, the working class, who also want flat-screen tvs and cars and vacations and the promise of better for their kids. take this couple -- typical

working-class chinese from the worker's paradise. mei ning, a bus driver, and dong yunyang, his bride-to-be. today is their wedding day, and custom must be observed. when it comes to weddings the chinese have always gone big, and these days, bigger still. lots of food, lots of booze, lots of people getting crazy, which is why thomas and i have become wedding crashers. the constellation bar for a pre-wedding drink. the classic chinese cocktail, the moscow mule. okay, maybe not chinese. these are good. >> thomas: yeah. this is the reason i love this place. >> anthony: are you married? >> thomas: no, no. >> anthony: no, not yet? >> thomas: i'm not -- i'm not a big fan of marriage. >> anthony: you've been to weddings, yes? >> thomas: yes. >> anthony: have you ever crashed a wedding before? >> thomas: no.

>> anthony: it's gonna be a little weird. i mean, we don't know anybody there. how do you do? >> mei ning: thank you. thank you. >> anthony: well, i hope the food's good at this thing. we'll probably have a lot of drinks. >> thomas: it could be, uh, really crazy. >> anthony: oh really? >> thomas: yeah, yeah. >> anthony: uh-oh. >> thomas: they drink a lot. >> anthony: really? so, ready to crash a wedding? >> thomas: yeah, let's do it. >> anthony: all right. >> thomas: cheers! ♪ we're going to go across the road here. >> anthony: yeah. a chinese wedding is not cheap. you need a banquet room. in this case, the family's rented out this place, the historic park hotel shanghai.

chinese weddings, generally speaking, mean the presence of a number of formalities. first, meet the bride and groom upon entering. red envelope, also known as the hong bao. like in "goodfellas," it's a little something for the bride and groom. help them get started in their new life. thank you. okay! >> photographer: thank you. okay. >> anthony: thank you. >> thomas: awesome. >> anthony: okay, table setting. often with some must-haves present -- booze, whiskey, smokes for the guests. >> thomas: so this is kind of, like, a traditional, uh, chinese wedding. they will rent a hotel in -- >> anthony: oh, i know. i do this every week. i go from hotel to hotel -- >> thomas: oh! >> anthony: and i crash weddings.

>> thomas: okay! >> anthony: roast duck? that i will have, of course. and some ban yu du, or beef tripe, in garlic sauce. kona crab, shelled and then sautéed in garlic and ginger before being stuffed back into the shell. steamed turbot with scallions. >> thomas: for some weddings in china, they will have this kind of meal for a whole two days, whole weekend. >> anthony: see, i'm telling you we should do this every week. i'll come back, i'm gonna move. i'm gonna move to shanghai. and you and me, twice a week, we'll just go -- go to weddings. [ thomas laughs ] [ emcee speaking mandarin ]

>> thomas: you may kiss the bride. [ thomas laughs ] ♪ >> anthony: and there is, of course, drinking, much drinking. >> thomas: she wants you -- she wants to cheer with you. >> anthony: ah! >> anthony: ganbei! it begins. when i first came to china, um, it was for business, and one -- one after the other, everyone at

the table came up and said, "ah, mr. bourdain, i would like to do a drink with you." and they'd -- all of it. i didn't know how to politely say no. i just can't. i can't. i just kept doing it and doing it. i got super -- up. i ended up going, like, to karaoke. i ended up singing a billy idol song, 'cause i think i sang "white wedding." ♪ ganbei. she -- she's making it a personal mission to get me seriously drunk. >> thomas: oh. >> anthony: i'm just wondering how you got out of that. when i sat down, and i looked around the table and i tried to figure out, "okay, who at this table is gonna try really hard to get me drunk?" i wouldn't have guessed it was gonna be her. >> thomas: they drink this white wine all day long. i can drink a lot, but i just don't like taste of it. >> anthony: look, we have to get

this straight -- that is not wine. that's like grain alcohol. that's what we call liquor. >> thomas: oh yes, something like that. >> anthony: that -- right. okay, so we're clear on that. now, this is a small wedding by most standards, about 100 guests. but just booking the room took two years. a toast, followed by many more toasts. to the bride, to the groom, to happiness, to prosperity. ♪ go! enjoy yourselves! i'm pretty ok with children. just ok? relax, i'm not gonna forget anything bedtime's at eleven. eight. yikes, you're strict... allergy to shellfish. peanuts. oh i should write this down. hey, what's your wifi password? it's the names of our kids. well that's not helpful.

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♪ >> anthony: there is a place, there is always a place, where something delicious in a bowl is waiting just for you. down a street, down an alley, there's a place like this one, where locals will tell you the good stuff lives. they call this stuff long leg noodles, because they say the woman who runs it is tall. noodles for me are a solitary pleasure between me and my bowl. fen li and husband zhi fang wang understand this, i think. now, this is a deceptively good business.

what used to be a typical, low-cost, working-class stall of the dai pai dong street variety has in fact blown up, along with the rest of the economy. rich kids and tv guys like me want to eat here, and they do. how do you make a bowl of perfect happiness? cook noodles in boiling water, liberally flavored with chilies and lard. immerse your cooked noodles in a soy-inflected bath of deeply sinister, deeply pleasurable pork stock. little bit of baby bok choy, heat for a few seconds, simmering, simmering, then garnish with a bit of slowly cooked, heavily reduced, almost candied pork. then suck those noodles loudly and enjoy. ♪

where are we going? who will drive us there? what will it be like when we get there? i think it will look like this. ♪ ♪

♪ >> anthony: welcome to my place of dreams. my spirit house, a city of ghosts. ♪ ♪ ♪