March 7, Shanghai

Today we are exploring Shanghai. Shanghai is a city of 25 million people. Despite the fact that it is in Communist China it is a bustling modern city for the most part. Our guide said they like the government as it is making things better for the people. He called it a communist country with a capitalist society. It feels like any large, prosperous city in the world. The streets are busy, there is lots of construction, good public transit systems and people seem to be reasonably well off. Of course we are only seeing a small part of the city today and want to see the older traditional areas, which are being well preserved.

To get to Shanghai the ship travels for 6 hours up the Yangtze and then turns into the Huangpu River. Where we are docked it is still tidal, there is a steady stream of barges, some so loaded and low in the water that water is washing onto the deck. We are docked on the older side and looking across to a modern city full of high rises of all shapes – the most interesting to me is one in the shape of a bottle opener. We are told that there was nothing on that side of the river until 1992 when they started building over there. The building is still going on. The land is basically a delta so is wet and sandy, therefore very deep footings are required to support the buildings, some as large as 120 stories high. We are told China’s economy is growing so rapidly that they are currently using 2/3 of all the cranes, 1/2 the cement and 1/3 of the steel in the world. Some dispute about the numbers but a significant portion of construction material. Our guide said the GDP has grown by something like 6400% over the last 20years.

When we leave port we pass miles and miles of industrial areas, tons of ships, dry docks, hundreds of high rise apartment buildings, hundreds of office buildings. There is no question this is an active vibrant city.

We started by going to the museum, located in People’s Square. It is a new building  with a fabulous collection. We are there for 1.5 hours and so can only see a small portion. Gary and I chose to se the jade, bronze, Chinese painting and ceramics collections. We only have time to see a small part of each. The museum is very modern and well laid out. In the painting display the display cabinets are all dark and as someone approaches a light goes on to light the painting inside. Most of the displays start about 8000 years ago. 

We then visit China Town (yes, even in the middle of china there is a China Town in Shanghai!) the main feature of the old city is Mr Yu’s garden. Mr.Yu was a high ranking government official about 500 years ago. His home and garden are apparently modeled after the Forbidden City. It is a much more elaborate and expansive residence and garden then we saw yesterday. To get to the walled in garden we have to walk across a zig zag bridge. The zig zag construction is to keep out the evil spirits, apparently they can only travel in a straight line, so this prevents them from entering the house. 

Once inside we have to step over high thresholds as we move from room to room or enter buildings. We have encountered this throughout most of the countries. We are told this is to keep out ghosts who cannot climb or jump over these obstacles. The garden is constantly being restored, but there are many original features. For example, we are shown a hill made of rocks, it is probably 5 or 6 meters high. It was recently reinforced as they discovered that it was being held together by 400 years old rice! The original builder had used cooked sticky rice to “cement” the rocks together. Think about that next time you have sticky rice. Maybe the next diet – you only have to eat every 400 years as it will last a long time.

The garden is 2 hectares and seems much bigger as we wend out way through the buildings, paths, around ponds, over bridges admiring the sculptures, landscaping, bonsais and greenery. The only colour comes from the bonsai, some of which are in bloom. 

Our guide is younger than many we have met. He started learning English when he was 10. His name is Scotty. He explained that they are given a Chinese name by their parents, his is Panrui, which means wisdom. When they are older they pick an English name. He chose Scotty after some famous soccer player. He has named his daughter Bamboo Jade which means strength and beauty. He talked about the one child policy and said that many people wanted a son, but he had wanted a daughter, because he knew that daughters are better at caring for their parents in old age. He is a bit of a philosopher – a daughter is a daughter for life, a son is a son until he takes a wife.

We didn’t get any information on average wage etc so not sure how that compares but he did say most people live in suburbs and commute. While there were all the new high rises we also passed some desperate looking slum areas. Hanging from balconies on a lot of the “lower class” buildings was washing. It appears as though nobody has a dryer.

As we get on and off the bus we are accosted by entrepreneurs selling all kinds of stuff. Our guide says there are antique stores all over but the antiques in them are only one week old. The people surrounding us are very persistent, selling a set of 2 wheels that you can strap to the back of your shoes for a different kind of roller skate. When we point out that we are all too old he has other things to sell, but also suggests they could be presents. One group is selling Mont Blanc pen and pencils sets, they start at $10 US and by the time we are at the bus you can buy two sets for a dollar. Gary had been saying he would like to get a genuine fake Rolex. When he said Rolex to one of the kids, then kid reached into his bag and came up with a good looking Rolex watch. He asked 500 yuen, by the time we got to the bus it was 150 yuen. Gary bought it and it worked, well until we got on the ship, now he is looking for a watch repair person. The  on-board comedian suggest he take to the jewelry shop and they could fix as they have a big hammer. He is not getting sympathy from anyone. We asked the guide about copy right laws and he said there is no word in Chinese for that. He and other guides we have had in China say the Chinese are very good at making things look like something else and we are warned to be very careful shopping. Who has time to shop!