20 million people. 20% of the construction cranes in the world. Shanghai is a crowded ever-changing city. In the neighborhood where the ship was docked, there were high-rises in the final stages of construction and 2- to 4-story buildings being demolished to make way for something new. The city has even more construction than usual because they are preparing for an Shanghai Exhibition in 2010.
Looking Across the Huangpu River to the Pudong New District
For the first excursion, I went one way and Janice and John went another. I was interested in riding the Maglev, or Magnetic Levitation, train that runs suspended above its track by a magnetic field and is capable of sustained speeds over 265 miles per hour. The excursion bus took us from the pier through town, under the Huangpu river into the Pudong New District, to the Long Yang Lu train station. Pudong was farmland until 1990 but is now home to several of the tallest buildings in the world. The train runs another 20 non-stop miles to Pudong International Airport. It can make the trip in 8 minutes. Unfortunately for us, they had an unspecified project under way and limited the train to 301 k/h (about 187 m/h). Still, it was a fast, smooth ride, both out and back.
Next I went to the top of the second-tallest building in China, the Jinmao Tower. Part of it is a Hyatt Hotel—the lobby is on the 50th floor and the atrium is open to the observation floor, the 88th floor. Since the Chinese consider 8 to be the luckiest digit—remember the Olympics started on 8/8/08—building an 88 story building was significant. Now there is a 102 story building next door and plans to build an even taller building. From the top, it was apparent how smoggy Shanghai is. Although the rain and clouds had cleared—we were told it had been raining for the past three weeks—the smog limited viability to a few miles.
John and Janice went on a excursion that included the Jade Buddha Temple. Built in 1882, it houses two jade Buddha statues brought from Burma. The centerpiece is a 6-foot-high white jade seated Buddha encrusted with jewels. No pictures are allowed of the statue. But there were lots of other statues of Buddha.
Golden Buddhas at the Jade Buddha Temple
Their second stop was the Shanghai Arts and Crafts Research Institute where they are trying to research and preserve the traditional arts and rafts by maintaining and training artisans. The silk embroidery was exceedingly fine and looked the same on both sides.
After lunch, we all caught the free shuttle into town, sponsored by the silk factory at the other end. Fortunately the factory was near People’s Park, and it being Sunday, the park was full of Shanghai one-child families enjoying the dry but chilly weather. There were vendors selling kites and soap-bubble kits. Many children were running around enjoying their new bubble makers. So we wandered around taking photos, and being photographed. It was a delightful afternoon and I’m sure it will remain one of the highlights of our cruise.
Bubbles in People
In the evening, we all went to a Chinese Acrobatic show. It was excellent. There are only three performing groups in Shanghai and they perform mostly for tourists because the Shanghai people are tired of it. Sounds like eating lamb in New Zealand.
The second day in Shanghai we went on an excursion that took us to the Shanghai Museum, which is in People’s Park. We had enough time to see some of the history of pottery, although apparently many of the best pieces are in Taiwan having been taken there when the Nationlists fled the communists. We also saw some ancient calligraphy and painting. In addition to enjoying them I was fascinated with how they controlled the lighting to help preserve them—the routine lighting was appropriately dim, just enough to let you see what was in each case, but if you moved in close to the glass and lingered for a moment, the light level would smoothly increase so that you could get a good look. When you walked away, the light level would smoothly drop back.
After the museum we went to Shanghai’s Chinatown—only it’s called Old Town—to see the Yuyuan Garden. The garden was built between 1559 and 1577 by a very wealthy family. It is a beautiful garden with all the elements of a Chinese Garden: rocks, water, structures, and flora.
Us at Yuyuan Garden