Cape to Milan

My last post probably gave the impression that Shanghai is a glitzy, modern place. But, on the whole, that’s just not true. These pictures are more typical of Shanghai:

The fruit vendors contend even with the Albanians in terms of fruit selection.

Just a couple blocks away from the relentless modernity of Nanjing Road, historic buildings function as basic housing.

A typical street in Shanghai.

Even where the city isn’t attractive, it’s never dirty. Streets are kept meticulously clean of trash. At one point, I was walking along the street and the shell of a nut caught my attention for some reason. As I looked at it, a trash picker came into view and snatched the shell before my eyes. Can you spot even one piece of trash on the ground in any of these pictures?

Shanghai’s millions of migrant workers live in tenements like these, which can be accessed only by networks of alleyways.

These gleaming skyscrapers are just blocks from such tenements. It’s easy to get the feeling that the days are numbered for many of these tenement districts.

To me, these areas were the most interesting and unique places to wander around in the city. China isn’t like Latin America, where each house is a mini-fortress, protecting against the brutal culture of violent crime that has developed there. Houses are less closed off here, and interesting scenes seem to be around every corner.

I spent a couple hours wandering around Shanghai’s (free) history museum. The collection of artifacts from Chinese history is simply incredible.

What impressed me the most about the museum was the age of everything.

For instance, this carving is 2,000 years old! Everything–whether pottery, currency, furniture, you name it–was far older than I would have expected. That speaks to China’s extremely rich and long history, I suppose.

China may be a culture with a long and storied history, but you wouldn’t guess it from the architecture throughout Shanghai. There isn’t much in the way of traditional Chinese buildings. And, as I said in the last post, most of the old architecture in the central parts of town is European-built and -styled: not the sort of thing that speaks highly of Chinese history.

Much of the historic architecture in Shanghai has gone the way of the wrecking ball over the generations.

There are some notable exceptions, however. This was a lookout post on part of the old city’s network of fortifications. Now, it’s the only part of the walls that remains.

The traditional architecture contrasts with the glass skyscrapers all around (and with ever more under construction). I was firmly off the gringo trail at this point (read: no information whatsoever was in English), so I can’t offer too much in the way of detail.

Inside the building it feels like a different world from the hustle and bustle outside. Especially since the 5 yuan entry fee holds the flow of visitors to a bare minimum.

The most impressive collection of historic architecture in Sanghai, by far, is Yuyuan Garden, which has buildings dating back hundreds of years.

I didn’t see the gardens themselves, which are accessed via this horrendously crowded footbridge. I went during the end of the Chinese New Year holiday, and Chinese tourists mobbed everything.

The historic city adjoining the gardens has been converted into a massive shopping center. Walking around was immensely difficult.

I’m sure my head was poking up awkwardly in the background of at least a thousand pictures.

The area lit up at night.

A market street near Yuyuan, which bustles into the night.

The area also has a thriving street food scene–among the best I’ve ever seen. Comparable to Leon, except in China a lot more stuff falls into the “extremely weird” category. (For the record, the squids-on-a-stick silhouetted in this picture definitely DON’T fall into that category, and were absolutely delicious.)

I was breaking every rule in the book for preventing sickness in China when I ate here. Although I did pass on the oysters–I’d prefer for my souvenirs be tangible objects, rather than stomach bugs.