Most every trip we take we return thinking about how huge the world is and how little we know of it and I become more and more convinced you can't comprehend it till you experience it. I read a lot and used to think i had a handle on such things. Quite naive. We just touched on a little bit of China but absorbed and saw so much of both the old and the new. We were especially pleased with having read the book Three Swans before we left which gave us an important overview of living in China over the past 100 years. We had some excellent guides who provided further insights but it was just seeing what has happened there over the last 20 years that is mind bending.
On the silly side, think about how many watermelons need to be shipped into Shanghai to serve 34 million people( the total residents and transients in the city). Think about where the financial capital comes from to feed the incredible rate of construction. Think about the planning required to build infrastructure and dramatically improve housing stock for 10's of millions of people. Over the last 50 years the living space for a resident of Shangai has grown from 1 square meter per person to 16. With that kind of growth, it becomes understandable that their priorities are different than ours.
We've written the least about Shangai but there is more there than we can hope to relate on a blog. I urge to check out is Lisa See's Shangai Girls which helped give us an historical context for viewing the city. Her sequel is also great for an overview on growing up Chinese in America and for reflection on our persanol views on the Cold War. I grew up with the Chinese flag representing threat and evil and danger. I am not saying that there were not real dangers and threats, but to be able to sit on a rooftop bar overlooking incredible sights under that same flag and feel safe and friendly does give pause. I asked one of our guides (30ish) and she confirmed that she grew up thinking of Americans as the enemy.
We pretty much did not hear English on the streets until we arrived in Shangai. We did hear Japanese ,Korean, French, Italian, Russian, Spanish and a number of what we presume were Balkan languages. Also some Hebrew.
Even then it wasn't till we French Concession that we actually saw Americans. We know there is a large American expat community - but it's a drop in the bucket in a country this large. Consumption is conspicuous with shopping and having the least fashions and gadgets an important part of te middle and upper class experience.
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