Shanghai - Days 1 and 2

It's only been two days, but it's very clear that I am back in China. Getting off the plane to see an endless sea of smog covering the sky. Walking in the streets and seeing nearly everyone stare at you, surprised to see a foreigner. The constant assaults of, "Hello! Where you from? You want watch? DVD?" (probably over 20 times already). The endless lines and vast crowds of people everywhere you go.

Nevertheless, it's been exciting to be back. My friend Dominic (who was in Beijing with me last summer) and I are making a week-long stop in Shanghai before heading up to Harbin for the rest of the summer.

So far, it's been pretty incredible to see the contrast between different areas of Shanghai. Yesterday morning, we checked out the Bund, a historic row of buildings along the Huangpu River built by European traders starting as early as the end of the 19th century. In the 1940's, the Bund was one of the major financial centers in all of East Asia. As my pictures hopefully show (there's a link at the end of the post), I felt like I was walking around Europe or even back home in New York. Here's a picture of the Bund:

Yet as you walk along the Bund, if you look across the river, you see this:

Pudong. Shanghai's incredibly modern central business district. Check out this link to see how this space station of a city emerged from basically nothing in only 20 years: http://gizmodo.com/5558350/shanghai-skyline-before-and-after (thanks Dad for the link). More pictures of our journey to the top of the Oriental Pearl Tower (that tall, thin tower with the giant spheres) and our tour around the rest of Pudong in the link below.

One major reason we chose to come to Shanghai was to check out the 2010 Shanghai World Expo. With $48 billion spent in preparation, participation by more than 190 countries, total visitors expected to range from 70-100 million, and a site covering 5.28 square kilometers, I was shocked that many people at home had no idea what the Expo was.

Despite my initially high expectations, I heard from my aunt and uncle, who went a couple weeks ago, that it was a bit of a letdown. And unfortunately, it matched their description of it more than my optimistic hopes. The most impressive aspect of the Expo was the architecture and designs of all of the pavilions. Many of them, especially the enormous China pavilion, were absolutely stunning. Yet once you entered the pavilions, there really wasn't all too much to see. Many of the exhibits featured a movie on a giant projection screen, but nearly all of the films lacked anything of substance. Most of them were filled with empty phrases echoing the them of the Expo, "Better City, Better Life" and contained few details on how that particular country was actually working to achieve that goal. I thought the exhibits too often tried to shock and awe the audience instead of trying to present something interesting and informative about the country. For anyone else who has been, I'm curious what you thought. Good? Bad? It was entertaining enough and there was far too much to see in one visit, so Dom and I are planning on heading back once more before we leave.

Interestingly, according to Wikipedia, the Expo "signifies Shanghai's new status in the 21st Century as the 'next great world city'". At school, I run a discussion group on Chinese current events. In the final meeting of the year, a post-doc led the discussion and made the argument that despite Shanghai's efforts, he still thinks Shanghai is merely a "Chinese" city, and not a global city. I've only been here for two days, but I'm beginning to agree with him. It's still a rarity to see a foreigner. The Shanghai Museum contains nothing but Chinese art. There are jazz clubs, some foreign restaurants, and international companies here, but while walking around, I know that I am very much in China. Any thoughts, for anyone who has been here?

That's it for now. I'll be writing again soon. Hope my horrendous writing wasn't too painful.

- Louis

Pictures from Shanghai Days 1 and 2:

http://picasaweb.google.com/LouisGilbert15