Shanghai is located on the Yangtze River and with a population of 20 million is the largest city in China. It is also the world’s busiest port and simply sitting on the ship’s deck watching the river traffic is a treat. In the 1920’s and 30’s it was a city where everything was possible for a price. In fact the word Shanghai translates as “up the river.” You don’t want to get “Shanghai’d” so to speak.
As the communists began to moderate (after Mao) and let in Westerners, the city changed rapidly and in the last 10 to 15 years the skyline has gone from the old British looking buildings to some of the worlds tallest and architecturally the most interesting. Today it is easily the largest commercial city in the Far East. Marie and I commented when watching all the river transports coming down the river that the cargo was probably headed to the U.S.
It’s so massive-- “where to go”? It was hard to decide what to attack first. But by the second day we were easily walking the back streets and taking taxis when we got hopelessly lost. We ate the food, met the people, bought some genuine Made in China “good deals” and in general had a lot of fun. We would go back and spend much more time.
An interesting side note. When we were in Houston for Melissa and Brandon’s wedding, last May, we visited a miniature version of the Forbidden City with Charlie and Marlee. Although the Forbidden city is in Beijing (not Shanghai) they also had a model of an ancient water town called Souzhou which was 80 miles from Shanghai. It was called the Venice of Asia. We decided to go there, even though it was a 9 hour day. I’ve included pictures and a description of Souzhou as part of this posting.
Souzhou
The Humble Administrators Garden
The Children
The Children
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