People's Square

Asia » China » Shanghai
May 12th 2007

Published: May 12th 2007

I'm on holiday and i'm trying to see and learn as much as i can can about China and at the moment Shanghai. Thought i might as well go to the Shanghai Museum, Urban Planning Centre and the Art Gallery while i was in the Peoples Square.
The Peoples Square is a small park surounded by all the shopping malls and retail outlets to make a girl blush with excitment. Everything is about fashion in the area. I feel so accient as i have never heard of any of the international brands or companies that have outlets here. The square is a place to get away from the crowds of people, but not somewhere to go to get peace. To cross the road to the park or metro station you have only one crossing.
There are lots of beggars who spend all day at the crossing asking for money. They always make a bee line for me as i'm a 'rich tourist', even though i'm standing next to people who have spent a fortune on the latest goods. They must have more money than me surely. Anyway the always force a plastic cup in front of you and when you say no, they persist in touching your arm. I hate it when they do that as they are filthy and you have no where else to go. Everyone looks at you and you know if you gave them something they would go away. I refuse to when they start be pushy.
The park is full of 'English students' who all want to be your friend. They want you to stop and talk to them. I always tell them i'm happy to talk, but i'm not stopping or buying them any drinks or food. Learnt my lesson by now.
The park is decent enough, but its like every park i saw in Beijing. Never spend long there. The urban Planning centre is in the middle of the park and it shows you how shanghai looked in the past and all its plans for the future. The displays were intresting enough and it had some good videos. They had a massive scale model of the entire city which you could spend ages looking at. For 40RMB it was worth it.

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