Mall Walrus

I’ve mentioned before that animal care standards in China are not quite the same as in the U.S.

And I’ve mentioned their shopping malls that put ours to shame.

These two facts collided on the third day that my daughter and I returned to the brand-new MixC mall in Qingdao. She wanted to go ice skating. The mall had only been open for a couple of weeks, and on this Sunday it was celebrating the new ice rink. So, while she and dozens of others skated, a corner of the Olympic-sized rink was walled off from the skaters. Shoppers piled up along the rink wall to watch the show. First some penguins were trotted out on the ice to run around. Then a trained walrus from one of the city’s multiple aquariums was brought out. Among the walrus’ many tricks, he was trained to dance to the then-top hit “Gangnam Style.”

My daughter and hundreds of local shoppers were charmed. I was so shocked I didn’t even think to complain that it should have been the Lobster Quadrille.