Impressions

Contrasts

China is a country of astonishing contrasts - contrasts of the old and the new; old people and the young; bustling throngs and quiet, serene gardens; rickshaws and maglev trains; a centuries old walled city and a towering modern skyscraper apartment building.

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In the public square introduced on the previous page one could peer through the marvelous traditional architecture and spot the world's tallest building towering in the background. And then there's that Gumby in the foreground. Such contrast.
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Earlier you saw the rickshaw that took us through the old narrow streets to the walled city mere blocks away. And now there is the maglev train that whisks you from downtown Shanghai to the airport in less time.
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How fast? 430 km/hr. From as fast as a man can trot pulling a rickshaw to over 300 miles per hour. Contrast.

More Contrast

On our last day in Shanghai, quite by accident as it was a filler to keep us occupied while we awaited a later than anticipated flight back to Beijing, we visited a museum, essentially a museum of man depicting various cultures in China. It was very well done. One tends to have a perception that a communist country is wont to obliterating the past, erasing it from memory. That's not so apparent in China. The Chinese have done a remarkable job of preserving their heritage.

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A costume from an indigenous culture in a remote section of the country
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Beautiful ceremonial canoes
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Tradition! A traditional mask from Tibet, preserved for future generations to know and understand.
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Scrolls. The museum had an impressive collections of old scrolls. Here is a depiction of roosters. There were other scrolls in beautiful caligraphy, some relating poetry, some telling an historical story. (All in Chinese, so we did not understand.) A beautiful heritage.

Would We Return?

Absolutely! China is a vast country of great diversity and we saw very little. But what we saw was a great introduction. Admittedly, no doubt we were shown the best face of the country.

We felt that the Chinese people we saw were genuinely friendly. We were curious about them; they were equally curious about us. When the opportunities came up, we both enjoyed interfacing with each other. We stared, they stared; we smiled, they smiled. It was a pleasant experience.

We felt safe, certainly as safe if not safer than most large cities in the U.S. At first, the sight of the ever present soldiers was a bit disconcerting, but they were there simply doing their job: keep the peace.

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