Travel Shanghai Part 1: First Impressions
April 27th 2006 10:57
Shanghai's ultra cosmopolitan cityscape, upon first glance, reminds one immediately of Freud. The CBD area, with its abundance of skyscrapers constructed in the most unique of architectural styles, reaffirms man's global enthusiasm for phallic worship and masculine adamancy with splendid visual grandeur.
There is the Jin Mao Tower standing its ground proudly at 88 storeys and 340.1ms, designed to resemble a looming stack of banknotes; the renowned Oriental Pearl which appears on every single panorama postcard of Shanghai and soon in MI3 (possibly playing the transmitter for Tom Cruise to communicate with the aliens who are allegedly the source of human suffering); the cool Bank of China Tower that resembles a firing cannon, among other things; and so many other visual delights that draw the talent and imagination of the world's greatest architects together in one brilliant symphony of economic prosperity. The nightlife that takes place beneath these looming giants hustles and bustles with elusive excitement, tempting the most conservative of travelers with its Siren's call. Hengshan Road, famous for its high-class nightclubs and bars, becomes a palpitating artery flowing with western and eastern pleasures after 9PM, their luxury putting to shame even the more extreme of capitalist excess.
The look of angst and fervor on the faces of Chinese youths while they funk out to Japanese, American and Hong Kong trance music bear no difference from those on the faces of Red Guards during the Cultural Revolution, and all man seem to be equal for a moment while alcohol flows freely above the guitar riff. Indeed, Shanghai is not just China's window to the world; it's the golden veil shrouding the flaws of the current regime with frightening visual intensity and efficiency.
It is a city of motion and dynamic energy thrown together in a million polar extremes, qualities that the average tourist may find hard to incorporate into his original view of China upon first arriving.
Fortunately, this sense of incongruousness soon dissolves into an intimate comfort. To see Paris of the East in its panoramic glory is one thing, but to stand in its streets, breathe in its scent and interact with its people is a different matter. It's hard to describe the sensation one gets, standing one autumn afternoon in the shade cast down by the giant relics of western colonization next to Huang Pu River, watching the sun slowly sink beneath the jagged skyline.
It is also hard to pinpoint the exact feeling brought on by seeing the elderly take their morning strolls in People's Square, carrying little wooden cages that may contain a canary, a finch or a parrot, as doves especially bred by the city council to remain in the square chortle and coo happily about, often unaware of their snipped wingtips.
There is a steady vibe of poignancy hidden beneath Shanghai's masculine, cosmopolitan exterior, a soft fragility found in its history, its people and those small, winding lanes and streets permeated with the aroma of home cooking. For those who are keen, a great leisure activity to do when you’re waiting for a bus, train or taxi in Shanghai is to read the faces of those who pass by. Since rural workers and immigrants from every corner of China can be found in Shanghai in large numbers, many pedestrians exude an over whelming sense of weathered sorrow combined with hope, some wear an expression of pride and detachment and yet others projecting a halo of innocence through their youthfulness and lack of experience.
Somehow, every human quality can be collected like scattered shells from this sea of faces, and each time it occurs you feel a little pang in your heart from acknowledging the passive beauty of emotion.
These underlying currents are those which drive Shanghai itself. Fragility and strength, passivity and belligerence, depth and superficiality, history (what a history it is) and post-modernity – raveled and enclosed together in an exclusively oriental harmony, almost an embodiment of Yin and Yang.
It is hard to find another city makes you feel that each inhabitant is a definite unit of something greater, and as every true tourist would say about his/her destinations of choice: there is great beauty here, and you already belong to it.
Next up: Shanghai Part 2: Sights and Sites in Detail
The tourist-compulsory Oriental Pearl Tower and its surrounding skyscrapers including the Jin Mao in the middle
Heng Shan Rd - If you can squeeze through, it's really a fun place.
The heart of Shanghai near the Bund, a whirlpool of olden day architecture and floating teahouses
Fortunately, this sense of incongruousness soon dissolves into an intimate comfort. To see Paris of the East in its panoramic glory is one thing, but to stand in its streets, breathe in its scent and interact with its people is a different matter. It's hard to describe the sensation one gets, standing one autumn afternoon in the shade cast down by the giant relics of western colonization next to Huang Pu River, watching the sun slowly sink beneath the jagged skyline.
Gazing out toward the Huang Pu River at dusk
The doves would fly down to the old man every day when his red knitted cap emerges from the tree-lined pathway of People's Square.
Often the wives of labourers from rural areas and redundant factory workers, these culinary workers can be found in all corners of Shanghai
These underlying currents are those which drive Shanghai itself. Fragility and strength, passivity and belligerence, depth and superficiality, history (what a history it is) and post-modernity – raveled and enclosed together in an exclusively oriental harmony, almost an embodiment of Yin and Yang.
People's Square, on a weekend
Next up: Shanghai Part 2: Sights and Sites in Detail
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Comment by edward
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Comment by Bunbury
Although city most lacking of culture in China would still have to go to Hong Kong (kinda China). Hands down.
Edward: Haha trust you to notice the food first!