A Whore and A Bride

Yes, it will all be there, just as intensely and tenaciously alive as ever – all there a

thousand years hence, five thousand, ten. You have only to stroll through Shanghai

to be certain of it. London and Paris offer no such certainty.

Aldous Huxley, from his diary, 1926

Traveling to modern Shanghai for the first time is no insignificant matter. One cannot expect to find the infamous Chinese warlords and gangster types of the 1930's (replete with opium beds and steamy jazz music). That would be like assuming everyone in London has bad teeth, big big boobs and all wear low cut frocks (which is certainly not true -- it could also be liked to everyone thinking that all Australians talk like the late Steve Irwin or Paul Hogan -- here's a shout out to our mate Paul: Thanks for totally confusing all the Americans with that 'throw another shrimp on the barbie' comment. I will be forever sorting that one out. Shrimp/Prawn the same thing but we call them prawns in Australia for crying out loud!).

The Bottle Opener/Zipper/Samurai Sword (didn't work out for the architect too well did it?) and the Jin Mao Tower

In her glory days (or not) it was said: If God allows Shanghai to endure, he will owe Sodom and Gomorrah an apology." - unknown. This should give you a bit of a taste as to the immorality that was prevelant on her streets and in her night clubs. The city's opium trade was owned by Green Gang Godfather Du Yue Sheng (Big Eared Du). Clubs and brothels were full of prostitutes, both Chinese and Western, while warlords drove the streets in their limos with guns in their glove boxes. Now she is just a playground for the wealthy, a hub for international business.

Well, she is quite the lady and I feel she needs a proper introduction. Presenting Shanghai -- perhaps the most dynamic city in the world's fastest changing nation. Ever changing, she is a city of contrasts between the old Shanghai and the new. She has been called many things, Whore of the Orient, Paris of the East, and more currently is referred to as the new Wall Street of the world.

An act from Beijing Opera's "Changing Faces"

She has art, she has talent, she has money -- you name it, Shanghai's got it. Even freedom to do many things that other Chinese cities could only dream about (if they were allowed). And more foreigners than we'd seen in nine months. I remember in Sydney wondering if I was still in Australia -- well now I found my self wondering if I was still in China? What with a Starbucks on almost every corner (let it be known -- I did NOT set foot in a single Starbucks. I wasn't going to have another Guangzhou experience. I prefer Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf thank you.) and one of the tallest towers in the world, I believe a good size albeit small portion of the 20,000,000 plus residents are actually not Chinese at all. You could easily live here without learning the language or eating Chinese food (although where would be the fun in that?!). On the other hand, you could live just fine without brushing with the Western side. Shanghai has her delightful little side streets with hawkers vending everything from food to 'real fake Rolex watches'. From her tacky architecture (really, the Pearl Tower looks more like a syringe that swallowed a Christmas bauble or a tacky disco ball than an icon) to her classy business districts to her dirty side streets where they still peddle drugs and prostitutes, yes, Shanghai has it all.

The Pearl Tower

A perfect example of old and new Shanghai together

The cheaper way up to the highest viewing point from inside a building = Park Hyatt + sundried tomatoes and olives (not as cheap as it sounds but cheaper than an actual ticket to go one story higher than we were)

So lets quell a few misconceptions about Shanghai, shall we? First, they do have blue skies. Albeit occasionally but enough of them for the residents to get slightly offended when you make a comment about 'the lack of them'.

Chinese food is harder to find than Western style food (whatever that really is).

There are two Wal-marts in Nanning which has a population of 6 million. There are two Wal-marts in Shanghai which has a population of over 20 million.

And...

No matter how sophisticated Shanghai is, you will always know you're still in China by the "Chinglish" signs.

So our real reason for being in Shanghai was a friend of ours that we hadn't seen since Brisbane days, was getting married and therefor several of our old friends where planning to make the trip over for the wedding. Since Shanghai is going to be home to the 2010 World Expo, we hadn't planned to visit our friend till May or June next year. When she announced her wedding, we bumped Shanghai up to top priority of "places to conquer" and started mentally prepared ourselves to be completely broke until Christmas. We are in the same country after all. And since its unfortunate we can't just jump on a plane and fly home for Jason's cousin's wedding next weekend, I thought a little change of scenery should help out the "missing of family" syndrome. Needles to say, we didn't do as much sight-seeing as we would normally do on our own but it was a blast to catch up with friends, eat foods like parmesan cheese, olives and Indian, and enjoy the break from the sweltering heat down here in Nanning! We'd still like to make it back for Expo '10 but so do millions of other people so I'm saying that Shanghai will be claustrophobic will be a slight understatement.

There is no doubt, that from here on, the only way for Shanghai to go is up (literally -- they're building a new tallest tower) and if there was an equivalent to the American Dream for Chinese, Shanghai would be that.

Rachel -- 25th of September, 2009