Shanghai

 Shanghai considers itself the most modern of Chinese cities.  With a population of 24 million, it certainly is among the top spots for crowds, in the world.  The city is the financial capital of China.

Shanghai was occupied by English and French in the early 20th Century, and each had their own 'district'.  Much of old central Shanghai still has this early architecture.  The Huangpu River runs through the middle of Shanghai.  On the east side of the river is the Pudong (east bank).  Our guide said that 25 years ago that area was farming land.  Today it is covered with the skyscrapers of international corporations, and banks.  The picture in my last post, looking across the river, is the Pudong.

To find old Chinese districts, you have to go to Chinatown.   Seriously.  The top and bottom photos here were taken in the Old Town.  It seems to be an area that attracts both tourists and natives alike.  Here you can shop for nearly anything you might want--real, knock-off or knock-off of knock-off.  The Chinese seems to be rather proud of their knock-off business.  Street vendors swamp the tourists everywhere you go.  From them you can buy a variety of junk.  Our guides were constantly warning us away from buying from these persistent vendors.

Like most huge cities, Shanghai has a series of 'ring roads', or beltways, encircling the city.  Out along the 4th ring road, we saw countless new high-rise buildings.  Our local guide, Candy, told us that they are apartment buildings.  The city officials are 'offering' free apartments to people living in the center city, if they will move out to the new apartments.  Cindy admitted that the commute would be bad, but that this is a great opportunity for families.  In moving, they will go from an apartment of about 200-300 sq feet, to one about 900 sq feet.  Also, if they are currently living in a building of 6 stories or less, they have no elevator.  I got the impression that people do not really have the option to turn down this generous offer.  The Chinese government owns all the land, so when the Government tells you to move, you do not have much of a choice.  Even though they own the land, builders can build huge Condos, and sell them.  So people do buy and sell the right to live on a piece of property.

A man on our tour, who has traveled quite a bit in China, on business, pointed out to us how dark many of the occupied buildings are at night.  He said that many people cannot afford to use electricity more than absolutely necessary.  I will write more about the economy in a later post, but it was very obvious in Shanghai, that China is a definitely a country of 'haves' and 'have nots'.

China

 I normally try to write as we travel, but for the two weeks we were in China, I was unable to access this blog.  It seems that the Chinese government and Google have a dispute over free access of information.  As a result, Google products are either throttled, or completely blocked.  Also blocked are Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.

Rocky, our amazing tour guide, explained that the government wants to insure that the Chinese people receive accurate, truthful information, and they do not believe they will get that from these various internet sources.  I will let that thought speak for itself.

On to the trip.  We booked a two week tour with Uniworld tours.  Good choice.  The tour was well designed, and our guide, the previously mentioned Rocky, was great.  At each city we also had a local guide.  They all have chosen an "English" name, often related to their given name.  Rocky's last name is Shi, which means stone.

We arrived in Shanghai on April 3, after a very long, but not too unpleasant, flight.  Shanghai is huge and mostly modern.  The population is 24 million.  Like most Chinese cities, it has a series of 'ring roads' surrounding the downtown.   As we were driving in from the airport, our local guide, Candy, pointed out the many high rises being built outside the 4th ring road.  These were apartments.  Families living in the downtown area are being 'offered' free apartments in these new buildings, so that the older downtown buildings can be torn down for new ones.  Since the government owns all property, I am not sure the residents have the option of refusing such a generous offer.  Candy said that even though their new commute would be bad, the new apartments would be a great deal,  since the old ones are 200-300 sq feet and the new ones 800-900 sq feet.  They would also get private bathrooms.

 Our hotel was the Waldorf Astoria on the Bund.  The Bund, the center of downtown, is a beautiful park along the river front.  Many of the buildings on the west side of the river date from the early 20th Century, when the area was controlled by the English.  On the opposite side of the river is the new financial district.  According to Candy, 20 years ago it was all farm land.  Today is it covered in the modern buildings.  The second picture was taken in front of our hotel, looking across the river.

Day two,  we tour Shanghai.