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On Saturday, they loaded our entire group onto a bus and took us on a field trip to several different places in Shanghai. First, we stopped by the Urban Exhibition Planning Center, which is right on the edge of People's Square. They showed us the layout of the city and the future plans for subway and infrastructure development. The most impressive part was the giant scale model of the downtown area of Shanghai.
Next, we stopped off at the Bund and took the sightseeing tunnel under the Huangpu River to Pudong. Once out on the other side of the river, we were standing right in the middle of the tallest skyscrapers in Shanghai. Up close, the Pearl Tower looks like some kind of giant transformer out of a science fiction movie, ready to sprout arms and legs and come to life. We walked to the docks and took a cruise boat up and down both sides of the Huangpu. Along the west side of the river, we got a good look at the Bund area and the old colonial buildings. Unfortunately, it was even more hazy and foggy than when I was down here last week, so the views were
not as picturesque as expected. I will definitely have to get back down there on a clearer day.
After eating lunch at a traditional Chinese family style restaurant, we walked around the Yu Bazaar, which is located in the Old City of Shanghai. The Yu Bazaar contains many multistory shopping complexes built around outdoor courtyards and pedestrian alleys. All of the buildings are typically Chinese, with traditional colorings, pointed corners, and sharply slanted roofs. After wandering around the bazaar for a while, a few of us ventured out into the streets of the Old City. Since Shanghai is probably the most westernized and wealthy city in China, it is hard to get a glimpse into normal Chinese life until entering the Old City. Most of the streets are lined with tiny shops, each selling various types of food, clothing, or other essential goods to local passersby. A lot of the people live in or above their shops in dismal lofts, and clothes are strung up between alley ways. The streets, although paved, are covered in a layer of dust, and we saw several fire hydrants gushing water out into the road. Construction workers use pickaxes and shovels instead of
automated equipment to carry out their work, and the scaffolding along renovated buildings is constructed from bamboo instead of metal. On one of the main streets, we stopped by the Fish and Bird Market, where merchants display and sell various pocket-sized creatures. We saw all kinds of small animals being sold, from chinchillas, cats, and parrots to crabs and turtles. There was also a collection of a few hundred crickets in miniature cages, which can make quite a racket when they all chirrup at the same time. The Old City can be one of the most interesting parts of Shanghai, and I look forward to exploring it further during my stay.
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View of Pudong
