Hey everyone!
After 6 days in China, I'm starting to get the hang of things. I've learned a few more words too - ting (stop), tianda (sweet), shang (before/above), hai (sea), bao chur (tasty), lu (road), da (big)!
On Sunday, Jeanette's cousins took us around the city. We went to People's Square, which is a beautiful park in the middle of Shanghai. Then we walked down to Waitan via Nanjing Lu. Nanjing Rd is similar to Times Square with all the lights on all the buildings and has a lot of high end shopping and food. Waitan (or the Bund in English) is the waterfront section of Shanghai in the center of the city on the Huangpu River. On one side of the river is Old Shanghai and on the other side is New Shanghai. On the old side, there are lots of old buildings in various architectural styles built by the elite classes that used to live their (French, British, etc.). On the other side, is all the new style buildings, including the second tallest building in the world Shanghai Tower. We enjoyed afternoon tea at M on the Bund, a restaurant at the top of one of the hotels.
On our way to dinner, we stopped at Zhongshan Park. Jeanette's family used to live only a few minutes walk from the park and Jeanette remembers playing there when she visited in 4th grade. The government moved everyone out of their homes, tore them down, and built massive apartment buildings in their place, which are now some of the most expensive apartments in the city. In the park, we saw a bunch of people flying kites. Some of the old timers were pros! They had harnesses with a whole spool of line and their kites were so high up, they were barely a spec in the sky!
On Monday, Ronnie came out with Jeanette and I again. First we went out to the Shanghai contemporary art scene and walked through a bunch of galleries. Many of these artists push the boundaries with their art and the political statements they make with them. If the government thinks they are too extreme, they can ban their art. Many artists have left the country after their art has been banned to continue working and creating their message.
After that, we went to the Shanghai Jewish Refugee Museum. During WWII, many countries condemned the policies of the Nazis but refused entry to hundreds of thousands of Jewish refugees, which was all but a death sentence. Jews could not leave Germany or German occupied countries without a visa and one of the only countries that offered visas was China, specifically the Chinese Consulate General, Ho Feng Chan, at the risk of his own life. About 23,000 Jews came to Shanghai and 14,000 of them lived in the "Designated Area for Stateless Refugees" in Tilanqiao, Shanghai. This area was known as little Austria and you could see Austrian bakeries and coffee shops alongside dumpling and noodle stores.
After that, we went back down to Waitan and had afternoon tea at the famous Peace Hotel. This hotel was made famous by Sir Victor Sassoon and was and still is frequented by the rich and famous who come to Shanghai.
Today I arrived in Beijing! I took the high speed train from Shanghai to Beijing. They are separated by about 670 miles, similar to the distance between Boston and Cleveland, and the trip took 5 hours! The train travels at almost 300km/hr!! I settled in to my hotel, grabbed some dumplings from the little shop down the street for dinner and headed to Chaoyang Theater for a Chinese acrobat show. It was a bit gimmicky but still wildly entertaining.
I've got to get to bed soon because my tour bus picks me up at 7am tomorrow morning!
Hope all is well!
M
