Parting thoughts on Shanghai

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I'm not sure how to sum up my thoughts on Shanghai in a way that hasn't already been said by others. I just finished a history of Shanghai written by a woman named Stella Dong and in many ways, Shanghai has not really changed much since the days of it rule by foreign governments. It is still a commercial city at heart with people trying to make a living anyway they can. Until the communists took over (and maybe even after), Shanghai was a decadent city, filled with prostitutes, gambling, and any manner of vices for the foreigners just arriving off the boat and the Chinese arriving from the countryside to get sucked into.

Today, it's the western tourists that are mobbed at every turn with sales pitches and mildly fleeced with the two or three-tiered pricing system. In the end, I've had the true Shanghai experience...I've seen some the sights and learned a bit about the city, but it is a place that you would have to live in for a while to really get to know it.

I do know if it is a place I'd like to live, but if I did, I think I'd want to live in Pudong, the new area that is gleaming and clean (for the most part) and is largely under construction. I went there today and walked around a bit. It really could be just about any big city in the world and would be a pretty easy place to live for a foreigner. There is a large mall with seven floors of shops and restaurants for just about any taste. It isn't completely full yet, but from the looks of things it soon will be.

Anyway, here are a few more photos of Shanghai, it's food, and some things from the Shanghai museum and you can see all of my photos at http://community.webshots.com/user/docjsh

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