More Shanghai

The second day here, we went to an old town about 50 km from the city. Apparently it's about 400 years old, though of course parts were destroyed... It was nice and peaceful, aside from the souvenir stand part of it. We saw a small Buddhist Temple and a very nice Taoist (my favorite) Temple. The town meanders along a canal, and there are lots of pleasant looking old houses and bridges. The town legend is that a famous author jumped off the old bridge and committed suicide 300 years ago, so every year on his birthday the people throw turtles, frogs and goldfish into the canal to keep the evil spirits from eating the revered poet. All the souvenir stands sell turtles and such for this purpose.

Old Town

We went to a postal museum. Turns out the guy who had the Terra Cotta warriors made also started the Chinese postal system, back in 200 BC. He was a busy fellow. We took a very pleasant boat ride on the canal. You know how the Chinese say "Howya doin,?" They say, "Did you eat?" It's not a real question, just a greeting.

Back in town, we ate a large lunch (always, the Chinese insist on offering more food to guests than they could possibly eat, it's a way of showing generosity and prosperity) in a restaurant owned by the wife of the general of the revered Flying Tigers force from the US that helped drive the Japanese out of China in WWII. Lots of pictures of Shanghai in its sultry heyday in the 40's. We visited a plant and animal market (pet animals- birds, fish, dogs, cats, that kind of thing) which was not nearly as horrifying as one might expect. Pet dogs are treasured here, though most of the traditional companions of the emperors were killed you can guess when. Veterinary medicine is a very lucrative business.

This was the night we decided to treat ourselves to a great dinner- the guides always feed us big lunches in famous restaurants, so we usually eat small, calm dinners, usually at the hotel. We're watching the A&E miniseries of Pride and Prejudice on DVD, so that's been our late evening entertainment. Anyway, we love Jean Georges in New York, and he has a restaurant here, so we decided to treat ourselves. I'd e-mailed the concierge before we left and the hotel made the reservation.

When you go out for the evening, you need to have the name and address of where you're going written in Chinese on a piece of paper, since few cab drivers speak English. Our guide had written the address down, but we forgot it in the room, so I asked the concierge and they have a rack of cards for every major site in the city, so he just handed us one, as well as one to get back to the hotel, which even has a little map on it. Cabs are ridiculously cheap in Shanghai. For the 15 minute ride to the restaurant the fare was $2.00.

The restaurant is on the Bund, in a pretty old building. The meal was wonderful. We'd heard that the manager had been fired recently because Sharon Stone complained about the white wine when she was there 2 weeks ago. I'm happy for Sharon Stone that the Chinese still care about her. We had no problems, but just to make sure I got red wine. The view out the window was across the river to the area with all the cool new skyscrapers, and there were lots of lit up boats on the river and kites flying over the riverside walkway. All very cool.

Bund at Night

So here's my great idea for souvenirs that I'm not going to be able to do. Everywhere you go, if you're a tourist you're besieged by people trying to sell you fake Rolex watches. According to our guide, they don't work at all, but you can buy them about 10 for $1.25. I wanted to buy a box of 100 and give one to each of my students in the fall, but I was told that US Customs isn't fond of counterfeit items and that I'd be unlikely to get them home. Oh well. And I even could have kept them in the fake Louis Vuitton bag I got from the same vendor.

Our final day here, we started at the Shanghai Museum. We resisted going to museums throughout this trip. Is there really something in the Shanghai Museum that there's not more of at the Met in New York? The one thing that interested me was the exhibit of Bronze Age artifacts. I'm not sure I'd ever seen anything from the Bronze Age (except like dinosaur skeletons and fossils- I mean man made stuff). I guess the King Tut stuff was Bronze Age, but that's all.

So I thought we'd pop in, see a few odd fragments, then leave. Turns out they have hundreds of elaborate pieces, with intricate and beautiful designs, going back to the 21st century BC. Amazing considering the world had only been created pretty recently at that point. The skill and design sense blew me away. They had swords and bells and steamers (with slots cut in the bottom!) and many many vessels for wine. I like these people. So we spent well over an hour in that one gallery and then left.

Shanghai Museum

We then visited the Jewish area. Shanghai was one of the few places that would accept Jews trying to escape the Holocaust, and there was a pretty sizable community here. We saw the street that was the center of Jewish life in the 40's, the park where they hung out, and the synagogue, which is under extensive renovation.

Jewish Quarter

After lunch, in a restaurant where numerous heads of state have eaten (pictures of Clinton and Castro, though not together), we walked through a shopping mall, and then to a basement gallery housing one of the most complete sets in existence of propaganda posters from the early days of Mao until Deng Xiaoping outlawed them in the mid 1970's. Amazing stuff- no pictures allowed, unfortunately. Lots of pictures of US imperialists being crushed by powerful and resolute Chinese peasants. Of course even the Chinese admit the Cultural Revolution was a big mistake, but the artwork was marvelous. I was in Russia in 1977, during the Cold War, and there were propaganda billboards everywhere, but these were much more stirring.

Finally we visited a local supermarket, a favorite activity of mine when we travel. I could have spent hours there, but we're leaving tomorrow and need to pack, so back to the hotel we went.