Shanghai!!
City of Oriental mystery.
City with a history of Opium dens, Chinese gangsters, exiled white Russians, sing-song girls and colonials climbing out of rickstraws pulled by pig-tailed Chinamen. That was the old Shanghai, the Shanghai of fifty years ago. The new Shanghai is a roaring dragon - a city with a space age skyline, neon lights and fast consumer lifestyle. Shanghai sets itself apart from the rest of China. The city has its own identity - a buzz and energy that is simply intoxicating. It has one eye on the past but is careening, with one foot on the accelerator towards the future.
Although the original Chinese town (Yu Yuan) is still around, the city is about the same age as Sydney, Melbourne, Singapore or Hong Kong. But it seems to have gone through twenty times the experiences those cities have. From colonial trading outpost to the opium wars, to white Russians fleeing their own revolution to the genesis of China's own in the backstreets of the French concession. And it is now going through another metamorphosis as a curious capitalist/communist hybrid of soaring glittering skyscrapers and communist statues. And beneath it all China goes about its daily business as it has done for 5000 years.
And that business is making money. The old colonial taipans such as the Sassoons and the Mathesons may have gone - the ground taken away from them by the revoloution - but this is still the financial centre of China. Its second window on the West after Hong Kong. Shanghai had alot of catching up to do and it made it up with enthusiastic abandon. At night the entire city twinkles with neon lights, gigantic Chinese characters blink and glow, and the shopping mecca of Nanjing Lu is lit up like Las Vegas.
Shanghai may be the first great city of the 21st century.
City of Oriental mystery.
City with a history of Opium dens, Chinese gangsters, exiled white Russians, sing-song girls and colonials climbing out of rickstraws pulled by pig-tailed Chinamen. That was the old Shanghai, the Shanghai of fifty years ago. The new Shanghai is a roaring dragon - a city with a space age skyline, neon lights and fast consumer lifestyle. Shanghai sets itself apart from the rest of China. The city has its own identity - a buzz and energy that is simply intoxicating. It has one eye on the past but is careening, with one foot on the accelerator towards the future.
Although the original Chinese town (Yu Yuan) is still around, the city is about the same age as Sydney, Melbourne, Singapore or Hong Kong. But it seems to have gone through twenty times the experiences those cities have. From colonial trading outpost to the opium wars, to white Russians fleeing their own revolution to the genesis of China's own in the backstreets of the French concession. And it is now going through another metamorphosis as a curious capitalist/communist hybrid of soaring glittering skyscrapers and communist statues. And beneath it all China goes about its daily business as it has done for 5000 years.
And that business is making money. The old colonial taipans such as the Sassoons and the Mathesons may have gone - the ground taken away from them by the revoloution - but this is still the financial centre of China. Its second window on the West after Hong Kong. Shanghai had alot of catching up to do and it made it up with enthusiastic abandon. At night the entire city twinkles with neon lights, gigantic Chinese characters blink and glow, and the shopping mecca of Nanjing Lu is lit up like Las Vegas.
Shanghai may be the first great city of the 21st century.
Shanghai is a
legendary port on the edge of the most populous country in the world.
The choppy murky Huangpu river cuts through the city and is joined from the west by Suzhou Creek. In the old days the colonial traders built warehouses and offices along the western bank of the Huangpu and it was name Bund (taken from the Hindu word Band which means embankment). Nowadays it is a park and promenade overlooked by the magnificent Edwardian buildings of colonial times. It offers views across the Huangpu to Pu Dong, the eastern side. Here, on what was marshland a few years back, is a new city of glass and chrome topped by the tower and spike of the Pearl TV Tower. This reaches 1500ft into the air and has been dubbed a "Shanghai icon"
Behind "The Bund" is central Shanghai with Suzhou Creek in the north and the old "Chinese city" to the south. In between these are a grid of streets that are a wonderful mass of armies of people and bicycles. The streets running north to south are called "Dhonglu" and those running west to east are called "Lu's". The most famous of these is the best shopping street in China - Nanjing Lu. No visitor to Shanghai can miss out on Nanjing Lu. Even if it is just to see it lit up like a Chinese Piccadilly Circus when night falls. To the south is the original part of Shanghai centred around Yu Yuan gardens. If you have come to China to indulge your watercolour fantasies of winged pagodas, ornamental lakes and rock gardens - then you must come here.
And all around you is Shanghai going about its business. Over 100 billion dollars a year in investments happened in 2005. The city has new attractions, bars, restaurants and gallieries opening all the time. But there are still some age old images of China to observe - seacreatures struggle in buckets outside restaurants, bamboo scaffolding, crowds of rushing Shanghaiese and bicycles stopping in one great mass at traffic junctions.
The choppy murky Huangpu river cuts through the city and is joined from the west by Suzhou Creek. In the old days the colonial traders built warehouses and offices along the western bank of the Huangpu and it was name Bund (taken from the Hindu word Band which means embankment). Nowadays it is a park and promenade overlooked by the magnificent Edwardian buildings of colonial times. It offers views across the Huangpu to Pu Dong, the eastern side. Here, on what was marshland a few years back, is a new city of glass and chrome topped by the tower and spike of the Pearl TV Tower. This reaches 1500ft into the air and has been dubbed a "Shanghai icon"
Behind "The Bund" is central Shanghai with Suzhou Creek in the north and the old "Chinese city" to the south. In between these are a grid of streets that are a wonderful mass of armies of people and bicycles. The streets running north to south are called "Dhonglu" and those running west to east are called "Lu's". The most famous of these is the best shopping street in China - Nanjing Lu. No visitor to Shanghai can miss out on Nanjing Lu. Even if it is just to see it lit up like a Chinese Piccadilly Circus when night falls. To the south is the original part of Shanghai centred around Yu Yuan gardens. If you have come to China to indulge your watercolour fantasies of winged pagodas, ornamental lakes and rock gardens - then you must come here.
And all around you is Shanghai going about its business. Over 100 billion dollars a year in investments happened in 2005. The city has new attractions, bars, restaurants and gallieries opening all the time. But there are still some age old images of China to observe - seacreatures struggle in buckets outside restaurants, bamboo scaffolding, crowds of rushing Shanghaiese and bicycles stopping in one great mass at traffic junctions.
Did I tell you I
got hit by a car while I was in Shanghai?
No? It was only a little bump on my posterior as I stepped off the cluttered pavement. It didn't hurt, but gives something of an indication of how cramped and busy the streets of this city are.
Traffic junctions are equally as hazardous. If there is a traffic cop and the lights are green you may be OK for crossing the road. If there is no cop then you must force yourself onto the crossings with the crowds and pray no car or bicycle will hit you. For this is the city of the bicycle - 90% of commuters still use them and it is quite a sight to see hundreds of them backed up on the major highways waiting for the lights to change.
There are two lines of metro connecting up the city costing yuan 2-5 for a ride. A high speed rail link now connects the city with Pu Dong airport which is a spectacular multi-million dollar creation 30km from the centre of Shanghai. A taxi ride from the centre to Pu Dong should cost only 200 yuan. I unfortunately got in an unlicensed cab and they charged me 450 yuan. Pu Dong airport, despite its high tech appearance and cutting edge technology, really needs a good prepaid taxi desk.
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