The entry to a new land

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Your patience has been rewarded, o faithful readers! We are now in the former Nanny State of Russia (Siberia) but I am quite happily accessing blogs and Facebook. More than I can say for the Republic of China who block all social media sites probably as part of their drive to curb 'excessive entertainment'! A new legislation which has reined in the growth of reality TV programmes from 126 to 38 according to China Daily.

But for a first time visitor to China the land presents itself as an absolute megalith of power and progress with a real danger of ploughing over its centuries old culture and traditions.

That said, for those in search of the yin and yang of China Shanghai is not a bad place to start.

Always on a journey one starts with that familiar feeling of the unfamiliar. The disconcerting change in climate, language and customs that rocks your moorings for a few days. We were lucky to have a Chinese friend of Graeme's show us around Shanghai and acclimatise us gently.

Old 'girlfriends' or should I say former 'friends' can be a worry but Adora with her adorable greeting of 'You look better than in your photo!' quite quickly endeared herself to me as she had to Graeme many years ago.

A chic lady of great intelligence and intellect, far more fashionable than I, but of course those of you who know me will say that is not really difficult, who works long and hard as a project manager for a Danish company. When I say long, I mean long. This was a recurring theme amongst professionals we met in towns and trains throughout our ten days in China. Too much work, too little time to do other things.

Most seem to leave home at about six and return home at about seven in the evening and with the facility of constant emails they are on call for 24 hours a day. I don't think the concept of 'sickies' has quite reached the Chinese workforce.

Beholden to their employers, showing utter devotion to duty, they are sacrificing home life and finding it impossible to forge meaningful relationships in their personal lives.

'Stop working, Adora,' as she was checking emails at the end of a day's holiday. We talked about the quality of life with her and with a lawyer we met on the fast train to Beijing. 'I am thinking of moving to a smaller city,' he said. 'I meet no-one and do nothing but work. I think that life in a Southern city might be more enjoyable. I dream of romance, finding myself a foreign woman and managing a bar.' As Adora had expressed the same wish, we were sorry that we did not get his business card and play matchmaker!

The Chinese have been forging ahead with their train system. While we argue about a train line continuing into the heart of Newcastle and debate the merits of a high speed train from Sydney they would have built one. Our first introduction on the Maglev from the airport to the city took us 8mins at a speed of 301km

Progress, progress, everywhere progress. In vain I searched for the Shanghai of The Painted Veil, the film version of the Somerset Maugham story we had recently seen. The closest we came was in the wooden floorboards of the Astor House Hotel, built in 1848 it was the first foreign-owned hotel in Shanghai, with huge rooms, parquetry floors in the Peacock ballroom and in the oldest section. Splendid breakfast buffets now inhabit the Peacock Room which from 1990-1998 hosted Shanghai's stock exchange. This hotel has seen Charlie Chaplin, Edgar Snow and Bertrand Russell among others as its guests. At the turn of the 20^th century it became the first hotel in the world with hot running water, an accolade they are trying hard to keep up with today, said Graeme, less than impressed with the water temperature!



Wandering the streets of the city with Adora, we visited an old temple, bought food, took food and bought more food. The street hawkers were chosen carefully as were the restaurants, Adora turned her nose up at anywhere that looked less than scrupulously hygienic. We sampled a tea ceremony in Yu yyuan gardens, ate a Szechuan hot pot and sampled Shanghai dumplings. We ate fresh eels, biscuits from stalls and Chinese sweets bought by the half kilo. Dogs seem to be the new luxury item indicating wealth of and far from landing in someone's bowl we spotted pet dogs on scooters, dressed in jeans and sweaters, and dyed in various colours.



The Rockbund Art Museum provided us with some disturbing images of Confucius. An 3 metre high robotic effigy threw itself down with great violence within a steel cage. Its other inhabitants were supposed to be a troupe of monkeys symbolising the 'primordial stage of human civilisation.' This questionable juxtaposition was not in evidence at our viewing and we were left viewing camera footage of their confused reactions to the sudden thrusts of the effigy. Easier to understand was the enormous silica-gel realistic bust of an unclothed Confucius gently breathing, his chest and underarm hairs moving in rhythm as he stares blankly into space. Eerie. That's it really, the juxtaposition of the old and the new in puzzling contrast. The incredible rise of new buildings and the destruction of the shakumen. The reconsidering of the place for Confucianism in the Great Leap Forward.

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