Shanghai: The Paris of the East

‘…Shanghai, which in 1935, Fortune called “the megalopolis of continental Asia, inheritor of ancient Baghdad, of pre-war Constantinople, of nineteenth-century London, of twentieth-century Manhattan,” has long been a palimpsest of its many pasts. Its willingness to embrace and assimilate change has defined it. It has also rendered the city itself a marvelous work of art.’ (Condé Nast Traveler) Upon entering China, we were warned that Google, gmail, youtube and a few others would not work... censorship. They have, in fact, worked. Except when our shipboard internet was down. As you will learn later, March 8 was The Big Day. Long-awaited and sure to be huge, as only a Chinese celebration can be. But, beforehand, we had part of a day to spend in Shanghai. This past Sunday, in Manila it was 90 degrees and steamy. Thursday in Shanghai, 50 degrees and damp. I knew there was a reason I’d hauled my packable puffy jacket half way around the world.

Our arrival in the morning, coming up the Huangpu River to our cruise terminal, right in the city... view from my veranda.

Getting close to our berth... from my stateroom.

Here’s where we ended up, photographed from the Bund:

First, a gallimaufry of facts:

~ The Chinese refer to it by the nickname ‘Hu’ (sp?), pronounced ‘Hoo.’

~ Shanghai, at the mouth of the Yangtze River, is not only the largest city in China, it is the most populous city in the world [wiki]. Population: 24+ million.

~ There are around 250 Chinese dialects. ~ 5,000 years ago, this was a fishing village... and just 30 years ago, this eastern shore of the river (below) was farmland. Today, the modern side of the city, the Pudong District, looks like this... unfortunately, it was smoggy. The one with the globes and the needle on top is the Oriental Pearl Tower. One nearby looks like a can opener. The tall twisted one at the right used to be the tallest building in the world until ‘that bloody Dubai’ (our guide) took the title.

~ Under Deng Xiaoping’s economic reforms in the 1990s, Shanghai went from an industrial center to a financial center. The wealth is overwhelming — 1,000 stunning skyscrapers, many built since the 1980s. It is a center of administration, shipping, trading, finance, and is the world’s busiest container port. When we departed last night, we went by a long, long line of container piers.

~ There are 4 million cars — and a license plate costs more than the car! Around $13,000. Electric cars sport green plates.

~The city is immaculate. Though people smoke, there’s not a cigarette butt or a gum wrapper anywhere. Smoking irony: at a truck stop along the highway the next day, men were standing in a circle outdoors, smoking... they removed their anti-germ face masks in order to insert cigarettes. See later comment about litter.

~ Three months of summer at temps of 100+.

~ High sills between rooms that need to be stepped over and zigzagging walkways are designed with one purpose: to keep out evil spirits. On our excursion, we visited the Shanghai Museum, begun in 1952 and installed in this new building in 1996. Its square base represents the earth... its round top, the sky. The reflection is of City Hall...

A view from the side, which appears to be under alteration.

Its brochure states that the museum’s 130,000 national treasures ‘epitomize the wisdom and virtuosity of Chinese ancestors.’ Many gorgeous items, among them:

I especially loved the exhibit of national dress of the various regions of China. So many, so varied. And this hat, with some animal remains on top... I’m guessing Mongolia, but of course I couldn’t read the caption.

An entire gallery was devoted to Currency. Who knew that early ‘coins’ looked like this — each was at least 5 inches long and looked deadly!

The deadly currency evolved into more traditional coins. I have a few of these (much more modern, of course) at home... no idea where they came from.

Chairs... exquisite in their simplicity.

Screen... exquisite in its complexity.

Also viewed in the furniture exhibit:

I never knew Chinese characters could be written in ‘cursive.’

Spotted outside the museum... what’s in her bag?

And this lady, trying to sell fans and panda hats as we went back to our bus... I don’t think anyone bought, though the price went from 5 dollars down to 1 dollar.