Last week we traveled to Shanghai and enjoyed 5 wonderful days in a world very different from Beijing!  In fact, Shanghai is like an entirely different planet -- it's hard to believe it's still in China!  A much more modern and international city where English is more widely spoken, Shanghai stands out as a more developed version of China.  Tall sky-scrapers lit up with neon are everywhere -- as you can see from our photos.  Also notice the fireworks that greeted us on our first night in the city.  We had an excellent view from the outdoor restaurant we were at on the roof of a 7-story building overlooking the Bund (pronounced boond) -- the historically foreign area that lines the Yangtze River.  Along the Bund, the buildings look more European than Asian, and you have an excellent view of the Shanghai skyline day and night.

On Thursday we visited one of Shanghai's best universities -- Fudan University.  One of my old friends from the University of Georgia teaches at Fudan (a Chinese professor named Zhu Mingquan that was at UGA as a visiting scholar when I was a graduate student there).  He invited us to Fudan for lunch and a tour of campus, which we enjoyed very much.  Thursday evening we walked along Nanjing Road, the pedestrian shopping street in the center of Shanghai.  You can see they love their neon on that street!  On Friday, Zhu Mingquan and his colleagues took us to the new Yangshan deepwater seaport so I could do some research on port security (the main reason for going to Shanghai).  Pat and Hannah were included in the trip and we all had a great time.  The port was amazing!  If you have never seen a large container port, then you are definitely missing something!  After a most incredible lunch at the port (they really went all out for this lunch -- it was some of the best food we have eaten since coming to China!), we visited the "new city" they are building to service the port.  It was very interesting to see a city being built that will some day house about 800,000 people -- but right now it's like a ghost town with buildings and parks and a lake being built.

On Saturday we visited the historical part of Shanghai -- the Yu Gardens area.  There you can find all kinds of shops and restaurants -- and a teahouse that is located in the middle of a pond with zig-zag bridges going to it (the bridges zig-zag because evil spirits cannot turn corners; the corners, therefore, protect the teahouse from harm).  After some not-so-tasty tea and snacks (we don't much care for pigeon eggs), we toured through the actual garden area, which was really lovely, as you can see from the photos.  Be sure and look for the feeding frenzy among the goldfish!  We decided to wait until after dark to leave the Yu Gardens as the entire area was lit up like Christmas after the sun went down.  It was really beautiful. 

After the Yu Gardens we went back to the Bund and took a ride through a tunnel under the Yangtze River to the Pudong side of Shanghai, where most of the city's skyscrapers are located.  We went to the "Oriental Pearl" tv tower and traveled up to the top for a spectacular view of Shanghai in all it's glory.

On Sunday we visited the Shanghai Museum.  We had heard it was an exellent museum, and we weren't disappointed.  They had an excellent collection of ancient Chinese sculptures, ceramics, paintings, calligraphy, currency, and furniture.  It was really interesting, as you can see from the photos.  And, as a special treat, we watched the replay of the OU-Missouri game on ESPN-Asia after returning to the hotel!  We couldn't believe they were showing that game!

Monday, our last day in Shanghai, consisted of my going to the Taicang Port on the Yangtze river for research, and Pat and Hannah returning to the Yu Gardens for lunch and a little more shopping (Hannah found these crinkly shirts she really likes, so at $1.50 each, we decided she could buy a few more).  Then it was off to the airport and the journey back to the madness of Beijing.  We enjoyed our few days of less traffic, fewer people, and no crazy bicycle riding!  The next adventure is on October 27th and 28th when we go to Xian to see the terra-cotta soldiers -- but we'll be in touch before then.  Until then, zai jian!