Shanghai Wrap-up

Shanghai is not really a good tourist city. It only has a few attactions for the tourist, and then all that is left is shopping. Add to that the “annoyance factor” of the constant “want to buy Rolex” and “we are art students”, and Shanghai hardly seems worth visiting.

In a nutshell:

1. Half a day for “old Shanghai” and Yu Garden.
2. At least 1/2 day for Shanghai Museum.
3. Go to Pudong and have a drink at the Cloud9 Bar in the Jinmao Tower, in the evening.
4. Stroll through part of the old French Concession.
5. One hour boat cruise on the Huangpu, in the evening.
6. Fill in the extra time with some shopping.

Other than that, I would recommend spending time in Suzhou and Hangzhou, both of which are a two or three hour bus ride from Shanghai, and far more interesting.

I thought Beijing was too much like a modern “international” city, lacking a feeling of local culture, but Shanghai makes Beijing seem very “Chinese”.

Shanghai seems to be more of a place you go to do business. If you are doing business in Pudong, then stay at the Grand Hyatt in the Jinmao Tower. However, if you are a tourist, don’t stay in Pudong! It is too far away from the places you will want to visit as a tourist.

I found almost no need to try to speak Chinese or use my phrasebook in Shanghai. Almost everyone you will interact with speaks English, or can summon a person who speaks English. If your goal is the learn Chinese, don’t stay in Shanghai!

I had seen lots of “traditional” Chinese art. I wanted to see some modern Chinese art. In the People’s Square, some art was on public display, for free. I particularly liked this sculpture:

I also visited the Shanghai MoMA (Museum of Modern Art). Again, there was one sculpture I thought was especially nice:

This is a metal version of the tortured-looking rocks that abound in every traditional Chinese garden. (These rocks come from Taihu – or Lake Tai – near Hangzhou, which seems to have an endless supply.) I like this sculpture because it is a modern twist on traditional Chinese art.

Shanghai also has a “planning museum”, which shows the master plan for Shanghai’s development:

The unfortunate part, as I mentioned previously, is that much of the planning seems to centre on making a more car-based city. That seems like an unfortunate decision. However, that said, the metro system is very good, and very useful. The metro is also being expanded considerably.

In my last couple of days in Shanghai, I decided to buy a piece of jade as a souvenir. I started looking in the evening before my departure day. I was low on cash, and could not cash in a traveller’s cheque until the next day. This was good, because I could not be tempted into buying anything immediately (I had the excuse: “I have to come back tomorrow, after visiting the bank.”), and thus was able to visit a few different shops.

I tried a few jewellery shops with jade counters, and also two of the department stores: No. 1 Department Store, and New World Store. I don’t know a lot about jade, but there is a wide variation in price, which reflects the quality and the size. While I learned something about quality, there seemed to be some inconsistencies. For example, uniformity of color and pattern is a sign of quality, but some very expensive jades had strong stripes of dark green in an othersize light green rock.

After shopping at a few places, I found that they all seemed to have about the same price for equivalent size and quality. Initially, the prices were very different, but most shops immediately discount from 15% to 50%, and they end up about equal (or so it appeared to me).

The next morning, I decided to revisit some of the places. There was different staff from the previous evening, so I didn’t get any, “So you’ve come back to buy that jade.” I was free to browse at my leisure. In the end, I found a small disk/ring that I liked the color and pattern of, and it was within my budget (around $100US). It was at No. 1 Department Store. Even better, the salesperson discounted by 20%, whereas, the evening before, the discount was only 15%.

Finally, I have Canadian flag sewn onto my backpack. A lot of Chinese recognize it, and comment on the beauty of the maple leaf. However, Shanghai has maple leafs, but they don’t seem to turn color – they just turn brown and fall off of the trees.