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Published: February 21st 2007
The Bund
Stallholder setting up on the Bund, Shanghai In fact, I've seen none of the latter. I did see a massive statue of Mao last night, but he was somewhat dwarfed by the gaudy massiveness of the shiny new Oriental Pearl Tower sitting just over the river. I also saw a red star on a building today, but there have been far more Pokemon and Little Kitty symbols than hammers, sickles or blocky sculptures of proud proletarians leading the mighty Chinese people into the brave Marxist future.
No, Shanghai is pure, unadulterated, good old-fashioned capitalism. Maccas, Coke, Sony, and Volkswagen all vie with small-time entrepreneurs for the hard-earned yuan of the city's 14 million people. Money, and the making and spending of it, is everywhere. Cranes fill the skyline, shoving new buildings up all over the place. The entire eastern half of the city, Pudong, was a derelict swamp in 1990. Now, its all TV towers, neon lights, and fancy hotels. Shoppers swarm through the thoroughfare of Nanjing Road, buying everything from flashing rollerskates to designer mobile phones. Sad to say, but I feel like quite the shabby prole
Mah jongg!
The oldies get serious with some street gambling... walking around here. Everyone else looks like a million bucks.
I pulled in last night and left the airport disappointed that 50 Red Guards had not rummaged through my backpack looking for banned books. Then I sat on the superfast 301km/h Maglev train into the city half-wishing it was a delapidated cycle-rickshaw. I found my accommodation at the rather shipshape Captain Hostel, and strolled the incredible kilometre or so of romantic Shanghai that is the Bund. This riverside boulevarde is home to a row of art-deco buildings that hark back to the city's heyday in the 1930s. Nowadays it's all banks, hotels and tourists, but the illuminated riverside is quite a sight. The crowds are all out too, doing the family thing for Chinese New Year. The firecrackers have been going off since I got here, and every now and then you see something cool like a massive throng of people throwing coins tied to ribbons into a tree, producing a sort of man-made weeping willow. I learned how to say Happy New Year in Mandarin earlier but I've forgotten it.
Today I somehow managed to book a sleeper train onward to Xi'an, 17 hours north-east of here.
Soldiers on holiday
A group of young Chinese soldiers hit Nanjing Street for some shopping. Don't ask me how I did it. My grasp of the language is pretty abysmal. I mainly point at things and say, 'this', which seems to do the trick. I did get a rather interesting pork dish for lunch today using this method. I might stick to veggie food in future, although the dumplings here in Shangers are pretty top-notch. I could very well be sick of pork and cabbage wrapped in pastry very soon, however.
Wandering the streets today, I met two English students from out west, called Liumin and Feng. Feng told me her English name, chosen by her lecturer, was Candice. She then christened me 'Long', not as some sort of sleazy joke, but because it means dragon. The two of them wanted to practise their English, so they took me to a Chinese tea tasting ceremony. This was quite an experience, all ginsengs and chrysanthemums and tiny glasses and terracotta teapots. We tried six teas, learned all of the moves and rituals, and shared some bad Chinese jokes. Then came the worst Chinese joke of all - the bill. The amount of money I paid to sit and drink cha for an hour was equal
The Box Collector
A box guy plies his trade in the French Concession area of the city. to about two days' budget. As an act of retribution, I am refusing to drink tea ever again.
Despite the prices, Shanghai is a wonderful metropolis. The people are open and friendly, the architecture is interesting, if not always tasteful, and the bustling crowds seem to warm the chilly winter air a little. The city is the epitome of Modern China, and things are looking damned good for the future. From what i've heard, though, Shanghai is nothing like the rest of the country. I think I'll reserve judgment on China as a whole until I've seen a bit more.
Until Xi'an...zaijian!
PS You'll have to wait on the photos...the internet cafe here has disconnected all of the USB ports. I was just checking the USBs at the back of the computer and the woman running the place gave mew the dirtiest look.
And you can't attach a route map because the Google Maps feature won't work here...You also have to register your ID with them before you can use the computer. Who knows, maybe some Communist Party apparatchik is reading this in a massive office in Beijing right this very minute!
PPS Obviously I
Money DOES grow on trees!
Chinese New Year celebrations include chucking coins into a tree. got the photos up...so disregard that last bit!
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Bernie
non-member comment
They all got stoned and it drifted away
Hey Tom, how interactive is this. Think I might make the blog compulsory reading for Year 12 Society and Culture. There are 3 questions in the SAC syllabus I think you should reflect on as you dwell on your Shanghai experience: 1) Is all change necessarily progress? 2) Which groups benefit from change? Which do not? 3) Are westernisation, modernisation and industrialisation inevitable? Wouldn't like to nip into Vietnam to give me a quick update would you? Enjoy mate, I look forward to the next instalment.