Week Thirty-nine

Like most Americans of my 50-something generation, I grew up with very romantic notions of Shanghai. That was where Rita Haworth stepped off the boat into Robert Mitchums' arms, wasn't it, or do I have my stars wrong? Anyway, I can't imagine a more romantic entry than the one I actually made, at dusk, steaming down the Huangpo to dock just south of the Bund. It felt wonderful to walk and I didn't have far, as Chinese Business World had made me a present of 3 nights in a centrally-located, 3-star hotel that remembers the 30's. I ran a bath, found the one TV channel in English, changed clothes and headed out to see the riverfront by night. I was starving and decided to make eating easy by picking the first places I saw, a hole-in-the-wall street food counter and an expensive western-style pizza parlor. The street food was better but the pizza place had nice cold draft beer.

The next day I set out on foot, map in hand, to see the city. Shanghai, like just about every other city in China right now, is a construction zone. But if you don't mind walking, a few judicious detours will get you away from the worst of it, into the older parts of town where I, at least, found the Shanghai of my fantasies. I often had to look up, past the modern store fronts at street level. But there were the wooden houses, the balconies, the plants and birds and people taking the air. And even at street level, I knew I wasn't in any other city I'd ever seen. If business was slow, the proprietor set up a living room on the sidewalk, propped up his feet and made himself at home. If it was too hot for street clothes, people wore pajamas. And I'm not talking about clothing that looks like pajamas, I'm talking about real pajamas. I actually saw one woman walking along in street shoes, shoulder bag and the kind of short pajamas we called baby dolls when I wore them to slumber parties in Jr. High School. Shanghai seemed so free and easy to me after Beijing, such an "if it feels good, do it" sort of city. The streets are much narrower than in Beijing but much easier to cross and the traffic honestly didn't seem to me to be any worse. The weather was overcast, a lot like New York City in the summer and, in fact, the similarity didn't stop there. On some of the busier commercial streets, I felt like I could be on Lower Broadway.

Shanghai is undeniably commercial, there are so many repeating advertising signs on the lampposts you could give directions to a new arrival by telling him to "head up Pepsi till you get to 7-Up, take a left on Eveready and go all the way to Kodak". But you can get away from that, into wonderfully atmospheric small streets, side streets and alleyways, into the old European neighborhoods and the more traditional Chinese ones. I enjoyed visiting Sun Yatsen's Shanghai home, as much for the neighborhood it brought me into as the house itself. I'm sure the Yuyuan Bazaar is a wonderful place to shop but not being a shopper myself I propitiated the Town Gods at their temple and escaped into the Yuyuan Gardens, which I can highly recommend. My guide book warned me to stay away on the weekend, too crowded, but whoever wrote that entry hasn't been sightseeing on Labor Day weekend. It seemed very quiet to me, there were dozens of little nooks and crannies where you could hide out with a good book or some of the wonderful street food available in the Bazaar.

On Saturday night, I got a 10th row center ticket for the Shanghai Acrobatic Theater and thoroughly enjoyed the spectacle. I had no trouble getting back to my hotel on public transportation and felt perfectly safe as a woman wandering around alone at night. I must admit, however, that I was never out past midnight, just because I enjoy early morning in a city so much. One evening, walking down Nanjing Road, I saw a stage setting up on the sidewalk and barriers up for a parade. "Ah, I thought, they're welcoming Hong Kong back to the motherland, just like Beijing." As it turned out, they were welcoming a Coca Cola promotion to a department store (and on Pepsi Street, no less, or was it 7-Up Street?) and parading in honor of a brand name prune juice, cola and drinking water company. Then I knew I'd really been Shanghaied.

I can't end this journal entry without a mention of the train trip back. Once again, I'd read that the train station was to be avoided at all costs and it couldn't have been further from the truth. I bought my ticket at a hotel nearby but needn't have bothered as you can enter from the street straight into the soft seat waiting room, even if you're traveling hard sleeper, and buy a ticket there, with what looked like no problem. Once in my car, the newest of any I'd traveled in, there was a computerized display panel, in Chinese and English, giving one exactly the kind of information I always want - when and where the train will stop next and for how long. I was just finishing my bottle of water and starting to think about buying another when someone came by distributing free drinking water. I was just beginning to wish I'd brought dinner with me when someone came around distributing free dinners. They even gave us little packages of presents to take home. And with the faster train speeds recently introduced I was back in Beijing in time for breakfast, arriving at Beijing Station, by the way, not Beijing West. All in all, a wonderful trip. I can't wait for the next one.

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