Shanghai 2
Greetings from the “Paris of the East”. Now our second day in Shanghai and we are
even more enamored of it than before.
What a great city! Majestic is
the only way to describe its infrastructure and its people.
We took taxis out to Old Town (see previous blog
for photos) and ate in a traditional Chinese restaurant, Din Tai Hung, where we
feasted on chopped up chicken appetizer (watch out for the bones), ox-tail
soup, dim sum dumplings and a surprisingly fine “Great Wall” merlot. We shopped in another one of those
go-on-forever, multi-level shopping strips with about 200 stalls and Vicki did
her magic bargaining act once again for some unique gifts for family and
friends….and a few complete strangers, or, at least, the weight of the bags so
indicated, in as much as we don’t have THAT many friends. People ask me why I am always holding Vicki’s
hand and I tell them because if I let go…she shops! Hell, last year we got our credit cards
stolen and I didn’t even report it….the guy was spending less than Vicki. Just kidding!
Last evening we attended a performance of the
Chinese Acrobats which was absolutely astounding. The style, grace, athleticism, strength and
balance of these amazing athletes was a delight to see and we were enthralled
for over two hours.
This morning we took a short tour to only two
locations; the Jin Mao Building, one of the tallest and most renowned skyscrapers
in Shanghai. Although our view was
mostly obscured by low rain clouds, riding up the high speed elevator that
covered five floors every two seconds, was a highlight. One of the shots was looking down the interior
core of the building from 88-stories high, inside observation floor. The
tallest building of the future was right next door and it will be finished in
about 18 months. It will have 128
stories and be nearly 700 meters (over 2,800 feet) tall. Even though the Shanghai Towers was less than
100 yards away and already taller than the Jin Mao, we could not see a sign of
it through the thick clouds and mist.
Spooky!
Next we went to the Long Yang Lu train station to
take a ride on the Meglev Bullet Train.
The wheel-less Magnetic Levitation Train, built with the help of German
engineering, floats on an electromagnetic cushion and can reach speeds
exceeding 200 mph. The Meglev runs for
20.5 miles from Long Yang Lu to Pudong International Airport. By car, with the normal traffic, it takes
about one hour. By subway, it takes
about 30 minutes. By Meglev….7
minutes. We reached speeds of 431 km/h
and it was a thrill ride to say the least.
I have attached a movie I took of the trip below and I hope you take the
2 min. 50 sec. to watch it. In the
middle of the run, we pass an identical train going in the opposite
direction. The train, like our, is five
cars long (you can see how long in one of the other photos). We were each traveling about 200 mph (so a
relative speed of 400 mph) when we passed each other no more than twenty feet
apart. Look quick. It takes less than a second. Breathtaking!
Ask me if you want to know more about this train.
The Yangtze River is the longest river in Asia and
the third longest in the world (Amazon and Nile, in case you were
wondering). It flows for 3,988 miles
from the glaciers on the Tibetan Plateau in Qinghai eastward across southwest,
central and eastern China before emptying into the East China Sea at
Shanghai. It is one of the biggest
rivers by discharge volume in the world and I believe only the Amazon, which
dumps one trillion gallons a day, into the Atlantic, has bigger volume. The prosperous Yangtze River Delta generates
as much as 20 % of China’s gross domestic product (GDP) and is an important
physical and cultural dividing line between north and south. Chinese living north of the river speak
varying dialects of Mandarin. South of
the river they speak native Sinitic languages that are unintelligible to
Mandarin speakers….much like someone from New York trying to understand us
Texans…and vice versa.
The Three Gorges Dam on the Yangtze River is the
largest hydro-electric power station in the world and is the site where the
oldest human activity in China has been found, dating back 27,000 years. By comparison, most of the development of
Shanghai and virtually all of the gleaming and glowing skyscrapers found on the
east bank (see photos in previous post), date back a paltry 10 years. Before that, nothing but farmland. Amazing.
In a culture with China’s longevity, communism and
Mao Tse Tung are relative newcomers to the cultural, economic and political scene. As we know, the Marxist philosophy of “To
each according to their need, from each according to their ability to pay”, or
words to that effect, is not a highly successful system of government. The demise of the Union of Soviet Socialist
Republics (USSR) is proof of that failure.
However, China seems to have prospered under communist rule. How is that?
Well, first of all, you have to realize that only about 80 million
Chinese belong to the communist party or participate in its political
system. With a population approaching
two billion, that is a very small percentage.
The vast majority of Chinese merely exist in the system and their
plight, while providing an ability to survive, would not be considered
desirable or even acceptable by most Westerners. However, the reason communism has survived
the test of time in China is they have married socialism with capitalism;
embracing an economic system that, while not completely free enterprise, is, at
least, liberal enterprise where growth and prosperity for a few is tolerated. Can it be successful in the long term with
such a lopsided “have/have not” imbalance, I cannot answer. Historically, they do not, but at least I can
say in the meantime, China, and specifically Shanghai, is a wonderful place to
visit. Our minds and hearts have truly been
Shanghai’ed.
Next up…a much appreciated sea day as we transit
back across the East China Sea to Hiroshima, Japan. Until then,
God Bless you all.
'
Top of the radio and TV tower from the 88th story of the Jin Mao building through the heavy cloud cover
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