Fourth of July in Shanghai

I believe I left off when I was about about to board the 48 hour train ride to Shanghai. I bought the top-most bunk because it was cheapest but it seemed to be the best for other reasons as well. First off, the compartments hold six people and are about 8-10 ft wide and 10 ft tall. The bunks were designed for someone slightly shorter than me, and I'm not even that tall, so my feet were hanging off the end about six inches. Had I been on the bottom I would be tripping people, in the middle kicking them in the face, so my choice was great because I could relax with my feet hanging off.

In addition, the guy right below me spoke almost fluent English! I swear he was the only person to speak English until I got to Shanghai. He worked for a Chinese importer of American and Indian cotton. He didn't know where most major cities in the US were located but he knew about the "beautiful town of Memphis, Tennessee" where his counterparts worked.

The approach to Shanghai was magnificant. basically I crossed the entire country of China so I saw all manner of terrain. From deserts with wild camels meandering about to lush rice paddy-filled areas in the rain. Arriving in Shanghai, the first thing I saw was Ian's smiling face. Talk about a sight for sore eyes! The English speaker had gotten off the train way before Shanghai.

Everything about this city came as a shock. One moment I was cruising through rice patties and the next I was among high rises. No such thing as the suburbs. Ian had final exams the first two days I was here so we didn't get a chance to get out and about much. But yesterday we went to Pudong. In 1996 pudong was a swamp on the far bank of the river from "old" Shanghai. All of Shanghai is about 30-40 years old with the exception of some buildings, remnants of the French, American, German, etc. concessions. We went into a hotel which started on the 54-floor and had a glass of single-malt scotch. Man, I had forgotten what I was missing.

Anyway the hotel had a 360 degree view of Shanghai. The high rises extend from horizon to horizon. Ian informed me that there are more than 12,000 buildings with a height in excess of 20 stories. If he had told me that a few weeks ago I would be unable to believe it. But I even with a hazy day I could see nothing but very tall buildings. There are 18 million people living here officially, but more accurate estimates put it closer to 25 million.

The sight of masses of humanity moving back and forth each day is insane. Yesterday, we left the hotel about rush-hour because Ian had a prior engagement, and almost stereotypical sights of white-collar workers walking across the streets with an oncoming crowd of blue-collar workers heading in the opposite direction. It was an amazing sight to see.

The metro lines are quite efficient but rush hour was not the best time to see them. It was almost like medieval warfare attempting to secure a place against the flood of bodies. A handhold was out of the question but unnecessary as the horde of would hold your body upright. Now that Ian is done we're going to hit some tourist sights such as the Shanghai museum, the Propaganda museum, etc.

Since I have exhausted my supply of books I've been dipping into Ian's collection of mostly banned books. Very interesting historical looks at China with regard to the Xinjian province and the rise of Mao. I won't bore you with the details but the level at which the state engages in what I will term the active-suppression of minorities is quite high.

Sometimes in the evening we watch some of Ian's bootlegged DVDs. A few days ago we watched a Korean film, in Korean, with American English subtitles. Just toward the end the movie stopped really making sense. For example, during a heart-wrenching scene the hero turns toward his cold father and sobbed, "I want you to wear this dress to my birthday tomorrow." It took us sometime to figure out that the sub-titles had restarted from the beginning. It made for a much more interesting movie--contract negotiation turned into a family drug intervention, etc. But it made for a quite confusing end of the film. Such is the nature of bootlegs I presume.

Anyway I'll be kept busy for the next couple days and then my hellacious trek back to the states. But that is for next time. Remember dear readers, off the record, on the qt and very, hush-hush.