Shanghai

Lin and Sarah in the Old Town of Shanghai

Wednesday, November 17

It seems the only time I have to write lately is on a train. We’re now heading from Shanghai to Hong Kong and it is the first time we are traveling overnight without a bed. There were none left on the once-a-day train so we’re in “hard seats” in which we will have to doze the best we can until we arrive at 6 tomorrow morning. The seats are arranged around tables, three on each side facing each other. Sarah is next to the window, I am in the middle, and next to me is a young man who is watching a movie on his computer; occasionally I glance at the screen and in one scene someone is handed a platter containing a human head. Across from us are three men and it’s hard to avoid staring straight at each other. Luckily, the one across from me is easy on the eyes. The one across from Sarah talks a lot in a manner that to us seems disgruntled. There don’t appear to be any other foreigners on the train.

Skyscrapers in Shanghai

It was cloudy and rainy during our three days in Shanghai, but it didn’t stop us from wandering all over this city of futuristic skyscrapers and staggering development. The Bund and lots of areas are under reconstruction for next year’s world expo, which we heard the Chinese are spending more money on than the Olympics! Everywhere you look there are skyscrapers topped with all sorts of balls, curves, and flying saucer-like shapes; the city is is flashy, gleaming, and on the go.

Shanghai is China’s richest city and the fulfillment of the government’s embrace of “market socialism.” The main shopping streets, Nanjing and Huaihai Roads, are full of gleaming malls featuring all the world’s luxury brands, while Mercedes and other top-end cars dot the traffic.

From the River Cruise

We took a river cruise toward the mouth of the Yangtze to get a sense of the magnitude of China’s largest port and to watch the goods “made in China” heading your way.

On Saturday, at Peoples Park, we were puzzled by hundreds of people milling about holding signs, most containing phone numbers. We thought it was some kind of flea market where you had to contact the person to see the goods if you were interested. But we learned that this was the weekly “matchmaking” spot, and the reason so many of the people were older is because they are the parents, aunts, and other elders trying to find mates for the young marriagables in their families. We spent the following day with Sundou, a friend of Lin’s friend Karen from Chicago who had taught English in Shanghai for a year. Sundou, who was Karen’s Chinese teacher, said many young people work long hours now, are living away from their families, and have little opportunity to meet potential partners; many are too traditional to use newspaper ads or the Internet. With Sundou we explored the old section of Shanghai and enjoyed some famous local food.

Lin and Sundou

We spent that evening with Iain and Claire, other friends of Karen, from South Africa, who are also teaching English and writing in Shanghai. We met them at a delightful, small Japanese bar run by Tibetans.

At the Japanese Bar

The food in China is fantastic! Our hostel was located in the heart of the city, surrounded by restaurants, and each night we picked one and enjoyed some of the tastiest food at unbelievably low prices; in addtion to the ubiquitous dumplings we had various kinds of seafood, vegetables, and one extremely fun evening cooking our food in a “hot pot” at the table. After selecting our ingredients, we dropped them into the boiling water and tried to guess when they were ready, with the help of nearby customers and staff.

It’s 7 pm now and the train has become quite festive. They apparently sell more tickets than there are seats, so lots of people are standing in the aisle or between cars. A few minutes ago we stopped at a station and a few of the windows were opened so vendors could sell chicken legs oozing with reddish sauce – the sellers gathered around the windows shouting, and soon it caught on and almost everyone in the cars was jostling to hand over their 5 yuan and then it was comical as everyone slurped on the chicken.

Meanwhile, a few passengers came up and down the aisle furtively selling various things they had brought with them – hiding their wares when necessary to avoid detection by the train staff. One man was selling water cheaper than the price on the train, others food or trinkets.

Strangely, we just heard the American anthem being played on the train’s sound system, and part of Barack Obama’s Shanghai speech is being replayed.

Earlier, I had noticed a man with a limp making his way through the car, and now he is singing in our car with an ethereally beautiful voice then asking for money. We gave him a donation and took his picture. Apparently 10 yuan (about $1.50) is more than he was asking for and he tried to give us change back but we indicated it was all for him and he sang some more.

Singer on the Train