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Pudong at Night
Here is Pudong New Town at night. This is where all of the new skyscrappers are going up. Although there were a lot of lights, I wasn't sure if they were holding back a bit. This was the day of the earthquake and I was unsure if there might be some power consumption going on.I arrived in Shanghai from Nanjing on the day of the earthquake; about 30 minutes before it hit. Shanghai is far away on the east coast. The epicenter is in the Schezuan province, which is pretty far away. I didn't feel anything and was as suprised as anyone to read about it on the internet within minutes of it happening. Although the mood on the television was as somber as it could be, Shanghai did not seem to skip a beat. This is a town on the move. Although I couldn't be sure, it seemed like the main buildings along the river were not lit up as much as they could be. I didn't know if this was due to power drains on the system from the earthquake or not.
Shanghai is the biggest city in China at 20 million people. It rivals Tokyo as the biggest city I have ever been to, and in 2005 it became the world's largest port. At no time was this more apparant than when I went to the observation deck of the Pearl Orient tower to gaze over the city. It is massive! It is nothing but skyscrapers as far as the eye
can see. Admitedly though, with all the pollution, I couldn't see that far. I didn't really notice the pollution until I made it to the top of the tower. The air quality in Shanghai is noticibly better than in Beijing.
The city is the most cosmopolitain place in mainland China. The difference is noticable immediatly when you notice that people aren't spitting everywhere as much as they do in other cities. In China, they love to hock a lugie anywhere; anytime. Not discreetly either. I'm talking a LOUD windup and release. Anywhere outside seems to be acceptable, as well as on the floor of internet cafes, some bars, and lower cost trains. This place would be paradise to anyone who chews tobacco. No need to carry around a spit cup, just let er fly! Shanghai seems to be weening itself off such behavior. Hopefully the rest of China will follow.
This is the place where you are most likely to find expats from all over the world, and they have brought their clothes, customs, and food along with them. All of this is ripe for counterfeiting and plagerizing. I knew that China had a pretty poor reputation with
Shanghai Shopping
Nanjing road is the main shopping district. You can find all of your favorite knock-off brands as well as be invited to tea every 2 minutes. patent and copywright infringement, but I had no idea it was so blatent. I thought maybe it would be in back alleys and such, but it's not. Right on their main shopping streets are stores with imitation logos for clothing and I had to beat people away who were trying to sell me watches. I got a guy down to 30 Yuan ($4) for a Rolex. I didn't even want it, just wanted to see how low he would go. I think I could probably get it down to 20 next time. Around China I have noticed cars that kind of look like a BMW X3, but it's not. It's some Chinese automaker called BYD. Their logo isn't a Circle with 4 alternating bavarian blue and white sections. It is an oval with two halves. The top is white and the bottom is bavarian blue with BYD on the bottom. The most outragous thing I've seen is a phone that looks exactly like an iPhone. It even has an apple logo on the back. I could tell right away it was a fake because the volume buttons were on the top instead of the side, but at first glance it
Just Counterfeit It
This is La-Ning, one of the major sporting apparal brands in China. Does their logo remind you of another major sporting brand? Their slogan pays homage to Addidas, where "impossible is nothing." does fool you. Even the home screen looks like an iPhone. It's such a blatant violation it's almost funny. There's such a different attitude over here to counterfeit items. It's almost as if you look stupid for paying so much money for the real thing when you can get a fake for so much less. I don't see the government's attitude changing anytime soon either. Until it does, let me know if you need a Rolex, Breitling, or Tag Huer. I know what my family is getting for Christmas😉
The city itself has a very interesting history. It sits roughly halfway between Beijing and Hong Kong on the east coast. The city is disected by the Huangpu River, which is a tributary of the Yangtze River; the longest river in China (and 4th longest in the world). This location makes it a perfect port, ideal for international trade. For a long time China kept itself isolated from the rest of the world. Trade between China and Western Europe was unbalanced. Europe desired the silk and tea of China very much, but China did not purchase much from Europe. This changed when Britain introduced Opium to China, which it grew
Crikey
The Chinese seem to have a fondness for Lacoste. On Nanjing road, I found about 4 different stores selling apparal with crocodiles on them, ala Lacoste. Some at least had a bit of artistic originality to their crocs, but others looked exactly the same as the famous logo. This was my favorite. Read the bottom words. Classic! in great supply in India. The dynasty of the day outlawed Opium once it became apparant how addicting and devastating it could be. Britain ignored this and continued to import the drug, fueling the black market for it. This kicked off the 1st Opium War. China was no match for the British warships. They captured Shanghai and opened it up to international trade in 1842. This was done with the "Treaty of Nanjing" in what was called the first of the "unequal treaties" that China was forced to sign.
The Americans, not to be outdone, got in on the act 2 years later with their own treaty, "The Sino-American Treaty of Wangsia." Somewhere along the line, the French did the same and in the end 14 different countries achieved "favored nation" status. This basically meant that these foreigners could own land in Shanghai, but not in mainland China. They were subject to their own nation's consular courts and not Chinese laws. Japanese and Russians were to follow, and eventually the Japanese took over the city in 1941.
During this colonial period, Shanghai grew to become the most important financial center in the far east. "The Bund" is a
Not Starbucks
Even coffee is not immune from being ripped off. street which runs along the river and is still lined with classic colonial architecture which was the home to HSBC and other important financial institutions. This was the Wall Street of the Far East. The HSBC building is home to the Pudong Development Bank now, but you can still go in and marvel at the art deco architecture. The entire lobby is marble and above the foyer is an impressive mossaic tiled dome depicting the 8 major financial centers of the world, at that time.
After the communist revolution, most major firms moved their opperations to Hong Kong. Recently though, Shanghai has started to redeem its former glory. Shanghai is host to the mainland's biggest and fastest growing stock exchange. Beijing would very much like to see Shanghai replace Hong Kong as the prefered place to do business in China. Shanghai started to undertake economic reforms in 1991. The Pudong area, just across the river from The Bund, is where this rejuvination is most prevelant. This is the area where all the amazing new skyscrappers are taking root. I saw a photo in 1994 where the area was completely bulldozed. Now it boasts a unique skyline, recognizable throughout the
Top of the Orient Pearl
This is looking out over Shanghai from the Orient Pearl tower. Directly across the river is the Bund. I didn't realize the pollution was that bad until I made it to the top of the tower. world. I went to the top of the "Orient Pearl Tower" to get a bird's eye view over the city. The building kind of looks like an old-style dumbell weight. It really serves as a focal point for the new development area.
My first impression was that the people are all really nice in Shanghai. When I first started walking down the main shopping street, Nanjing Road, it was not uncommon for younger people to strike up a conversation with me. They were very interested in where I was from, how long I had been in Shanghai, what kind of work I did, etc. However, I had been in China long enough to be suspicious. Sure enough, almost everyone who spoke to me wanted to invite me to the "Tea Festival" that was happening. I had already read about this scam in my Lonely Planet. If I accompanied them, they would take me to someplace, have tea with me, and when the bill came it would be for some extortionate amount, which I of course would have had to pay. Whoever brought me in would I'm sure get a cut of the money. I was already wise to this,
Tallest Building...
The building nearing completion is supposed to be the tallest building in the world when completed, although I think it may already be surpassed by Dubai. At any rate, it will have a circle opening at the top called a "moon gate" and will look pretty darn cool I think. but I was just shocked at how many people were scamming. I literally could not take more than 5 steps without hearing "Hello". If I accidentally made eye contact, I was guaranteed to get a conversationan and then an invitation to tea. It was kinda funny at first, but it got old really fast. Also, everyone wants to sell you a watch in Shanghai. You just can't get away from it.
I met a guy, Richard, in one of the museums who was from New York City. He seemed pretty cool and didn't want to invite me to tea, so we toured around the city the rest of the day. He was over visiting a friend who had to work and had access to the guy's car and driver, so no need to navigate the subway! We toured around the French Concession part, which is quite nice. There are lots of posh European stores, cafes, tree-lined streets, and cars that don't constantly honk their horns. It's the civilized part of Shanghai. We found a jazz bar called the Cotton Club and got to chill to a live jazz band. The bar was filled with expats and nobody tried to
A model city
Inside the Shanghai exhibition hall is a scale model of what the city will look like. It is ginormous! sell me a watch; very relaxing.
For my final night in Shanghai, I took in one of the Shanghai Accrobatics Shows. It was amazing! The show was full of both male and female acts which were more gymnastic than acrobatic. One girl, who looked like she was about 8 years old, managed to hold herself up by one hand and slowly contort her body into any number of positions, and hold it there. I don't know how she managed to do it. If this is what their regular gymnasts do than we should be in for an excellent performance at the Olympics this year. Another girl managed to balance a glass chandraleir type thing on each hand and foot, on her head, and one in her mouth. She then contorted herself aound in all manner of ways, all while balancing these chandraleir things upright. It was incredible. Suddenly, touching my toes doesn't seem so impressive anymore.
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