The Pudong area, east of the HuangPu River, is Shanghai's financial center. This picture includes two famous landmarks. To the left is the Oriental Pearl TV Tower, the tallest TV tower in Asia. Built in 1994, it is composed of spheres of various sizes, reminiscent of "pearls big and small dropping on a jade plate". The tall building to the right is the Jin Mao Tower. It is currently the tallest building in China, but will soon be supplanted by another building to be constructed in Shanghai. Its top level is an observation deck, and the floors directly beneath that comprise the world's highest hotel.

On the other side of the river stands the Bund (an Anglo-Indian word for "muddy waterfront embankment"), Shanghai's financial center during the 100 years it was a Treaty Port controlled by Western powers. The tall building with the clock tower is the Customs House, built in 1927. The former customs house was built in the same spot in 1843. When it was torn down, the clock, Big Ch'ing, was preserved for use in the present building. The domed building next to the Customs House is the Pudong Development Bank. Built in the early 20's as the Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corp., it was the largest bank in the Far East, and was the first building in Shanghai to have both heating and cooling systems.

YuYuan Garden and Bazaar is located in the oldest part of Shanghai. You can still see some of the narrow alleys, where people could reputedly hand things across the street to each other from upstairs windows. The garden itself was first built in the 16th century by Pan Yunduan, Ming Dynasty Minister of Finance for Sichuan Province, as a place his parents could "enjoy themselves in their late years". It fell into disrepair at the end of the Ming Dynasty but was restored in the 18th century during the Qing Dynasty. The garden is restfully laid out with rockeries, trees, lotus ponds, bridges, statues and pavilions. In the bazaar, you can get all sorts of traditional Chinese crafts and foods. One jiaozi restaurant, selling handmade Chinese dumplings, always has a line of people waiting outside.

The Huxinting Teahouse sits just outside the YuYuan Garden gate. Built around the same time as the garden, it is Shanghai's oldest teahouse. The teahouse is approached by using the Nine Turning Bridge, a piece of which you can see at the left edge of the picture. Its builders believed the zig-zags in the bridge would keep demons away, since they weren't supposed to be able to turn corners when crossing water. Tradition has it that this teahouse was the original model for the famous blue willow porcelain pattern.

People aren't the only ones who can get tasty treats at the Huxinting Teahouse. These lucky goldfish are being fed by people on the Nine Turning Bridge. No Chinese garden is complete without lotus ponds and goldfish ponds.

NanJing Road Pedestrian Mall is the place to shop in Shanghai. It began life as a simple country path, and became an official road in 1851 when 14 businesses opened there. Today it is a 3 1/2 mile long paved walkway, and home to hundreds of stores. Some of the stores date back to the 1920's, while others have been added very recently. Goods range from traditional calligraphy and silk to modern electronics. You can eat Cantonese food, French food, and even McDonalds. Here Deanna and two friends link arms and take a stroll. Lee was in the back, carrying all the books we had just bought :-)

XinTianDi is an area of old buildings that have been restored and now house upscale restaurants and shops. These buildings are called "stone gate buildings", and are in what was the French Concession in Old Shanghai. They were built to accomodate the countless people who flooded into the foreign concessions for safety during the Taiping Rebellion (1851-1864).

Lee noticed this church in the midst of Shanghai's modern skyscrapers. It might be called Saint Shanji Church, but we're not sure. We were told it is a Catholic church, and it was almost certainly built sometime between 1840 and 1949. This is not an uncommon sight in Shanghai. There are many churches, as well as other buildings from the past nestled among the recent construction. China's cities are a wonderful mix of old and new.

You are not likely to find a drinking fountain in China, but you will find a kai shui fang - boiled water room - where you can fill your water bottle with hot, safe, tasty water.

After an interesting day in Shanghai, Lee waits in the airport for our flight back to Luoyang. Shanghai has two airports. International flights go through Pudong International Airport on the coast, while Chinese domestic flights go through HongQiao Airport, in the western suburbs. If we had flown on to Luoyang the same day we arrived in Shanghai, we would have taken a bus across the city to the other airport to make our connection.

Copyright 2005, Dr. Lee Williams

Last Modified: 2 September 2005

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