Shanghai

We flew to the largest city in China, Shanghai.  I had no expectations.  My dream for China was the Great Wall, Forbidden City and Terra Cotta Warriors.  I knew nothing about Shanghai.  Soon I loved it.  Shanghai means “up from the sea” as it is located on the delta of the great Yangtze River.  I thought I could not like a Chinese city more than Beijing.  I thought Brian was the best possible guide.  Shanghai and Jack proved me wrong.

Shanghai was a small fishing village 500 years ago and had 15,000 people in the 20^th century.  Now Shanghai has 25 million people, largest city in the world.  Again the high rises are endless.  But Shanghai has a beauty and vitality that charm you quickly. The Yangtze and Huangpu Rivers have made Shanghai the most important port in China.  The Huangpu divides the city into Puxi and Pudong, old and new.  Along the riverfront park, the Bund, people stroll, dine and take in the view of barges and pleasure boats on the busy Huangpu River and extraordinary architecture lining the banks.  We returned after dinner and thrilled to a boat cruise on the river.  The old buildings on the Puxi side are beautifully lit (reminiscent of Budapest).  The new skyscrapers of the Pudong side have amazing light shows that keep changing.

Jack said that Shanghai has knock off Rolexes, electronics and buildings.  The Chrysler Building.  The Empire State Building.  London’s Big Ben.   Some of these are in the European sections of the city dating from the Opium Wars and the British and French attempts to colonize China to control its trade in the 1800's.  Interesting side-note on that period:  the Chinese thought the British were barbarians as they stormed in and tried to take over.

 Shanghai also has the third tallest TV tower in the world.

A new skyscraper, the Shanghai Tower, that would be the world’s tallest if they put a 100 foot tower on top like Dubai.  The bottle opener building is the Shanghai World Financial Center.

Bicycles were the way to get around 20 years ago, but the explosion in size has required more options.  There are 20 subway lines.  Big highways crisscross the city using many tunnels under the rivers and eight beautiful huge bridges.  First floor apartment go cheap because no one wants to live with the noise of the frequent subway trains.  But a 1000 square foot apartment in a new high rise can cost $1,000,000.

The fastest train in the world for the last 10 years connects the main airport to the downtown area.  The cost of one and one half billion dollars has prevented it from being expanded to any great distances.  The Maglev (magnetic levitation) travels 430 Kilometers per hour or 268 mph.  Other long distance high speed trains have speeds of 180 mph.

We visited a silk factory where we saw the life stages of the silkworm and how they double in size every five days until they make a cocoon after only 25 days.  We saw how the mile of silk filament is unwound from the single cocoons and twisted into thread.

Double cocoons with two pupae have two filaments all twisted together.  Those are softened in hot water also, and the mat of filaments is pulled out and stretched over a frame.  One double cocoon mat can be stretched to cover a queen size bed.

Layers upon layers are joined to make quilt bats that are allergy free, light, strong and long-lasting.  Silk thread is used for suturing by doctors.  The pupae are used to make medicine.   We also saw a rug factory.  Simply gorgeous.

Cameras are everywhere on the streets, so few cars are stolen.  Police do not carry guns, but military do. They don't have a murder rate.  Guns are illegal.  As the Chinese told us, if you get in a fight with someone, you may get punched.  But no one dies because no one has guns.  I remember that my students from a lot of different countries were somewhat afraid to come to the US because we are such a violent, gun-crazy country. 

Lunch one day was Mongolian Barbeque where we filled a bowl with whatever meat, vegetables and seasonings/sauces we wanted.  Then the grill chefs tossed and chopped it on a huge flat griddle. Absolutely delicious.

We shopped at the old town bazaar.  The buildings were fanciful and enchanting.

Our evening entertainment was the ERA Intersection of Time.  It is a Chinese version of a Cirque du Soleil type show.  Spectacular.  

I think our whole group of 31 was surprised by some things, impressed by Chinese history, wowed by the sights, and delighted with our Chinese guides.  Isabella liked Shanghai and its amazing light show on the buildings at night.  Iona said, "the day we went to see the terra cotta soldiers.  I was really impressed with the size of the crowd there, even though we didn’t have a great view or experience there, the whole day was an unforgettable experience.  I was impressed by the number of Chinese who were visiting their historic spots."  The sheer size of the cities and the numbers of people was a bit overwhelming.  Who would think that 80,000 people, mostly Chinese, would be visiting a museum in one day?  Carol, having visited other communist countries, was a bit surprised that "China is really capitalist, and while the government calls itself communist, it really does not take care of its people.  Communism is dead."  She also said the best was us two sisters going together.  I agree with that.  I will broaden that to include everyone.  Our group was interesting, energetic, and lots of fun.  Our guides loved our teasing and seemed to enjoy us too.

I came home with a great new respect for China and its people.  I have been guilty of a Euro-centric view of history, so learning how advanced the ancient Chinese civilizations were impressed me greatly.  The people we met were friendly, funny, and eager to share their amazing country with us.  I had said I wanted take advantage of this opportunity because I will never get to Asia again.  I am ready to return for a longer trip.