We only stayed in Shanghai for two days and one night, because most of our Chinese friends had told us that there wasn’t a lot to see there, so we cut down our stay from the original 3 days we had planned.

We arrived on the train Monday afternoon, and took the subway to our hostel, which was located in an older section of Shanghai. We always get curious stares when we get on the different metro systems with our backpacks, which is funny to me, because when we first came to China I was intrigued by the size and variety of stuff that people would pile into the subway cars with. I guess our backpacks are novel to see, but after only four months I was no longer surprised by anything I saw, so I thought local people would be fully inured to it.

Amber does her best to imitate a Chinese girl getting her picture taken

Anyhow, we got our stuff into our room, got directions, and hopped back on the subway to go see the Bund. On one side of the river, there is a long row of old European style buildings, from when the French and English were using Shanghai has a base to trade all sorts of things between the east and the west, but mostly opium and silk. On the other side of the river, there are a number of architectural eye-catchers, modern buildings that dominate the skyline as if to say “that was then, and this is now.” The Chinese government has invested a lot of money in Shanghai, and is still working with the goal of turning it into the financial capital of Asia. It was, by far, the most interesting combination of the East and West that we’ve seen in China.

The next day we went to Old Town, and did our own sort of walking tour. It was fun to go to a couple of ‘antique’ markets and haggle about this or that thing we wanted to bring back for family or friends, and there were some good opportunities for pictures of old Chinese style buildings against of backdrop of modern skyscrapers, but all in all, we found it to be as our friends had said. A lot of the future of China, but not much of the past.

I imagine it could be like this anywhere, and not having traveled extensively before this, I don’t know for sure, but in China, most of the people we’ve met who are interested in and knowledgeable about China’s history are either upper middle class, or solidly in the upper class.  I’m sure there are a number of reasons for and many socio-historical essays to be written about this, but I think the simplified explanation is that the Cultural Revolution really wiped the slate clean, and only in the last 10-15 years have people started to become interested again. The only ones who can really afford to learn about the past are the ones who aren’t constantly focused on what it’s going to take to get to tomorrow. China has a rich cultural history, and it’s encouraging to see that it is being valued again. Hopefully as China continues to develop, more and more people will have the opportunity to to pursue their interest in it.

Oh, and yes, there are pictures in the gallery.