Last days in China

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Our final days in China were in Shanghai and in the Shanghai area--in a nearby watertown called Tongli. Our visits to the Shanghai Museum and the Shanghai Urban Planning Museum were certainly highlights. The Shanghai Museum is elegant, well-planned, and artistically arranged. I paid for the audio tour and was so glad that I had; it provided highlights and background that were not available on the exhibit labels. The Urban Planning Museum sounds kind of like a ho hum, but it, too, was fascinating. There are exhibits and photographs of the old Shanghai and the new; they have also included their vision for the future, their hopes and dreams. Most of one floor has a huge scale model of Shanghai.
One day we met with Mr. Wang Fuguo, the father of a young man who works at Asia Society. He invited us to his apartment and served treats. He talked about the changes he's seen in Shanghai over the years and what it was like to be a city youth sent to the country during the Cultural Revolution. He even got out some of his mementos from the Maoist period. He and his wife are both successful managers now, but life has not always been so easy for them. He was gracious, and it was terrific for us to be in his home.
Saturday we travelled to Tongli, a watertown near Shanghai. Like Suzhou, there are canals in the town itself. We had a lovely lunch in a family owned restaurant and then a ride in a Chinese style gondola. The day was pleasant and not so blistering hot. Tongli is famous in the Lonely Planet Guide for its sex museum, but I decided to go to some of the shops instead of going to the museum. The group who went said it was disappointing...
That afternoon, we met with a graduate student from Fudan University who is involved in a program to offer summer camp type experiences for children who have lost their parents to AIDS. The AIDS epidemic has hit some of the rural areas especially hard because of inadequated sterilization of equipment in hospitals. Fudan University students took on the project to help the children in the villages and to give the children a chance to come to Shanghai and to be on the grounds of the university.
We had some free time to wander in Shanghai, and I especially enjoyed areas around Old Shanghai. Lili Cole and I went to the French Concession and had lunch a delightful cafe--sandwiches, ahhhh... We went to an area arts and crafts museum, which turned out to be a huge shop with artisans working. The best treat of the day was the discovery of the Nankeen Blue Workshop and Museum. Artisans who feared that the techniques for dyeing fabric using resist and indigo began a workshop and teaching facility to save the craft. When we rounded the corner, after going through alleys and courtyards, we came upon a courtyard with clotheslines strung between the trees. Every available space on the lines was taken with gorgeous hand-dyed indigo and white fabrics. WOW!
Dr. John and I went to the Shanghai Contemporary Art Museum, which was an interesting venture, but mostly it was fun just watching people in the park.
I had an early morning ride to Pudong Airport; the rest of the group left later in the day, so I took a cab. My cabbie missed the exit and stopped and backed up; in the chaos of the Chinese expressways, I figured I was a goner. "Sorry,"he says. I made it home safely.
M

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