And to my final stop in Shanghai...
I caught the bullet train and spent the first 15 minutes of the trip mentally going "WHHHEEEEEE" as we sped out of Nanjing and across Jiangsu province. I was enjoying it far too much for a train trip... Above the seats is a speed indicator and I think it hit 341kph at one point. For comparison I don't think British trains go faster than 250kph and while Beijing plans to cobweb thousands of kilometres of China in high speed railtracks within a few years, the UK might have laid a track from London to Birmingham by 2026...
Staying with China transport plans, I heard that they intend to add a significant number of new aiports despite the fact that many they already have are losing money and operating at barely 20% of their capacity. And with the introduction of the high speed network, they will surely force many others into making a loss. Once the new Beijing/ Shanghai line opens the trip of hundreds of kilometres will be accomplished in just 4 hours making catching a 2 hour flight rather redundant, when one considers the time lost commuting to airports 50 minutes out of town and another 20 minutes waiting for baggage. Not to mention the tedious security checks.
Plus the view from a train is rather more varied that that out of a plane window!
Anyway after the enjoyable train ride I arrived in Shanghai and made my way to my hostel, dumped my bags, and headed out into the night. And what a night! I always think Chinese cities look better in the dark and Shanghai is no exception. You might not be able to see any stars but the sky was still lit up by thousands of pricks of light from the sleek skyscrapers. I walked down through the old French concession past late night shoppers, flash youngsters in Dad's lamborghini roaring past an old man on a tricycle, stalls selling BBQ (which I sampled) and an endless avenue of bright lights. I loved it.
I explored the area in the light of day and the French Concession lived up to my expectations. It consists of tree-lined streets with the odd network of alleyways that I explored. One such network I visited was 田子坊, Tianzifang, and was, well, chic. Not a word I use often in China! There were independant cafes and restaurants with cuisines ranging from Vietnamese to French. I also discovered some photo galleries and had a happy time drooling over some rather spectacular pictures of Tibet, Mongolia and various other places in China. One of my favourites showed a child sat in a basket on a yak back glaring furiously at the camera. I don't think that yak back was where he wanted to be. Naughty steps must be difficult if you live in a yurt so I suppose maybe they have a naughty yak...
Another photographer specialised in horses. I like horses. I bought a picture of some mongolian horses running through a snowy, birch forest. Bizarrely, there was an article on the collection by the Daily Mail, of all newspapers! Complete with readers' comments at the back and you can imagine the comedic brilliance of the average Daily Mail reader...
Here is the link (my photo is in there):
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1350756/Wild-horses-Mongolia-stunning-pictures.html
I had a little hunt for a nice qipao, as Shanghai is where they originated. However I was looking in the expensive shops so they were all over 2000元... but they were lovely to look at and I might go check out a tailor in Qingdao to see if I can get one handmade.
The French Concession also seems to have an abundance of "Former Residences" so I pottered along to the old haunt of Sun Yat-sen's wife, Song Qingling, who seems to have been rather formidable. From the exhibits of her letters and books, she came across as the Chinese revolution's interfering aunt. There was one letter dressing Chiang Kai-shek down for a policy decision, "history will hold you to account", as well as others urging the next set of leaders to adhere to Sun's Three Principles of Chinese Nationalism, Chinese Democracy and Chinese Livelihood. As she switched support from the KMT to the Communists, and thus spent her later years as a representative, she is widely respected in China. There were many photos of her meeting delegations from abroad, including one showing a christmas tree from 1965, and of her with Mao and other top officials. She seems to have played a similar role to our Queen- used for show but not necessarily involved in running things. She, like our Queen, also did large amounts of charity work, specialising in children and women's rights. She died in 1981, aged 88. For such an ardent supporter of the original revolution, I wonder what she made of the Cultural Revolution. I can only think that someone of her strong convictions in building a better China must have felt betrayed.
The house is left exactly as it was, apparently, and it was exactly like a western house of that time. Hardly anything Chinese at all. She had two very nice cars though.
When I was browsing, some students borrowed me for an interview "why did you come to China?! Do you like Shanghai?!" and the obligatory group photo...
I also visited Zhou Enlai's residence. It was used as a base for the CCP, complete with KMT spypost opposite. Zhou Enlai, eventually the Prime Minister, was supposed to succeed Mao but unfortunately died just a few months before the Chairman. His death sparked riots in Tiananmen Square as supporters believed that the government was not showing enough respect by having a too short period of public mourning.
I also walked past Chiang Kai-shek's old pad but did not go in as it was late. They did pick a nice place to stay.
On my last day in Shanghai I went to their musuem which is supposed to be the best in China. I did not enjoy it as much as those in Guangzhou because it mostly featured ancient bronzes although there were some beautiful works of calligraphy and Qing furniture. I am more interested in recent Chinese history but this museum shied away from anything remotely controversial. One rather good exhibit, though, was of coins and notes from various eras including a fabulous Qing note showing a dragon emerging from stormy clouds over paddy fields, with the Emperor's face superimposed on the side. Another showed minority clothes.
Then I hopped over to Pudong district, which is the new, snazzy, financial district across the river from the Bund. After a while spent gazing at some rather fantastic examples of modern architecture I ventured into one of the malls and had a cup of tea while pretending to be as rich as everyone else around me... There were some fascinating pictures showing Pudong over the last 20 years. I was stunned by how much the place had changed. It had gone from fields and huts to a smorgasbord of futuristic skyscrapers. Really quite a difference. I particularly liked the photo of Pudong in 1994 when it was still mostly flat, except for the Oriental Pearl Tower which looked liked an alien had plonked his spaceship down in what looked like an available parking space. Then by 2000 more skyscrapers had sprouted giving it a far more recognisable appearance. It was these photos that made me really understand all those people I've met who visited China 20 years ago and waggle their heads and open their eyes really wide to convey their shock at just how much it's changed.
While walking across a pedestrian bridge I was waylaid for a photo by some interns whose reason was "we are on a training day". I have no idea why a training day involves a picture with a foreigner.
On the Sunday I found an Irish pub and spent my evening devouring a roast beef lunch with a glass of imported wine followed by apple pie and good old Qingdao beer. It cost an horrific amount of money, even by Western standards, but I suspect it is the last roast I'll get for 5 months!
I loved Shanghai. It was just such an exciting place to be, as well as genuinely stylish. There were restaurants of every type of cuisine as well as a variety of cafes, bars and pubs. There were great shops as well as art and photo galleries. Sometimes China can be... grey but Shanghai was one big light. And I'm a bit of a moth!
And now I have returned to Qingdao. On the way back from Qingdao Airport, it was snowing and my taxi driver lost control and we did a 180 spin in the road.
"Hahahaha!" he said.
"!" was my reply...
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