A city with constant construction (and demolition)

I finished reading Shanghai Baby 上海宝贝 by Wei Hui today. I randomly picked up a copy, translated into English, at a used bookstore in San Francisco, and it happened to be a controversial bestseller. It's so beautifully written, but it's entirely pretentious and self-conscious. Wei Hui, the author, writes about herself writing the book. It's obvious that every random thing that happens in the book comes from her own life, and she admits it too. But she manages to makes it endearing by being blatantly honest about her self-consciousness, with sentences like "I'm writing a book with metaphysical thoughts and raw sex" and "after I wrote this paragraph, Tian Tian came over"... It's exciting to think that the lives in this book takes place in Shanghai, in the same city I'm living in right now. Cities have such interesting personalities. I've really enjoyed getting to know them: Houston, San Francisco, Shanghai, Fuzhou. Only Boston is the most boring place ever. Shanghai is so alive. Just look outside my window. 成都北路 is a huge highway lighted up with traffic as late as 3 AM, and next to it is an old-fashioned area with clay-tiled roofs, alleys, markets with vegetables and meat hanging out. Because it's near such a busy area, you just know that it won't be long until they're successfully bought out by developers who will build skyscrapers here. Then I'm in this 33-story high building down the block, looking down on this small river, where junk boats will pass by everyday, loaded down with sand and stone. There's the constant sound of construction: drilling, digging, all night long. It's pretty annoying. On the sidewalk downstairs where I pass everyday, these temporary shelters for construction workers sprang up overnight and blocked the whole path. They're these pathetic, thin tin sheets with bunk beds inside. The workers are all migrant workers from rural places, without legal residence cards for Shanghai, camping here right by their worksite. It's a pretty grim lifestyle. Not necessarily the material conditions--I think I could slowly adjust to living with so few luxuries, but the exhausting work and the boring nature of it would be truly unbearable for me. The other day, I suddenly decided to dress up girly, with flowy shirt, dangling earrings, and girly hat to cover up my completely unfeminine haircut. So when I walked by, some of the workers made a pass at me, with a thick, obvious rural accent. That's something I'm not used to getting anymore!

Speaking of annoying men, I'm practically getting stalked by this guy David, whom I met the first week in Shanghai, when I was bored and in need of friends. I couldn't be too picky, I thought, and I got a possible gay vibe off of him, which was why I was really friendly and eager to find out if he really was gay or not. Turned out he's not. I only hung out with him a couple of times. But as soon as I met hot dykes and more interesting people, I really had no interest in hanging out with him anymore. It's exhausting to interact with straight men. Completely unattractive--so there's nothing visually enjoyable, and always talking on and on, as if he owns the air time and always deserves your complete attention. By the 2nd time I went out with him, I had already started making half-joking/half-snarky comments at the way he boasts about himself. But for 2 weeks now, he keeps calling me, sending me text msges, emailing me non-stop. I've never responded, but he keeps on ringing my phone. It's super annoying, especially cause it reminds me of how my mother stalks me and calls me 5 times in a row, without me ever picking up. Don't they get the message? How clear do I have to say "leave me alone"?