I admit it. I was taken by Shanghai. I would move there in a
minute. (Anyone wanting to make me a job offer there should write
immediately!)
For me, Shanghai
is one of the fabulous places where East meets West and it comes out just
right. As I understand it, Shanghai
existed as a Chinese village for centuries. Since the 1800's, though, it
has been a major trade center and attracted people from around the world.
So, it has long been a very cosmopolitan city.
I love big cities, and Shanghai
is big (more than 2,000 square miles and about 20 million people). It's
full of movement and sounds and smells and sights like all major cities of the
world. I was only there briefly but I was smitten. Along the banks
of the river at night, the city is magical; I think of it as New
York meets Las Vegas
-- skyscrapers in every direction decorated in lights.
For tourists, there is shopping for every pocketbook.
Along Nanjing Road,
I saw the largest mall I've ever seen, an interesting Asian Disney store, and
elegant boutiques. There were restaurants of every cuisine and the
familiar-feeling old buildings renovated into new tony streetlife at Xin Tian
Di. There are also the beautiful pagoda
pavilions, reflecting pools, and twinkling lights of Yuyuan (which offers
shopping, a 400 year old garden, and a terrific Shanghinese restaurant from the
1800’s where I tried eel, lotus root, and a number of other exciting new
things).
Another delight is the
Shanghai Museum.
It’s a ten year-young building right in
People’s Square and houses the greatest collection of Chinese art I’ve ever
seen.
(I’m a reasonably big fan of such
materials and have been to a lot of museums).
I had a limited amount of time but did get to spend some time looking at
the
bronzes and
ceramics.