Beijing & Shanghai

Note: I wrote the following late the same night we got back from China on January 5th, 2011 after spending the Christmas holidays in Beijing and Shanghai, my first visit to China - I will follow up with separate postings with photos of each city. And so, my first reaction to a fabulous 11 days in China...

Thursday, Jan. 6, 2011, 12:14 a.m.: quick note before we crash – We’ve been up for something like 30 hours and altho we feel pretty chipper now I suspect tomorrow will be a different story. The short version is that we had a terrific time and I was even more impressed with Beijing and Shanghai than I expected, and I expected plenty.

Lingling and Ouwen flew to Beijing a few days before I arrived in Beijing on Dec. 26, 2010. We then spent 5 days together in Beijing and took the overnight train to Shanghai where we spent another 5 days. The best part was meeting and spending a lot of time with Lingling’s Mom in Beijing (we stayed at her flat) and her aunt, uncle (aunt’s husband), Little Uncle (mother’s youngest brother), and cousin’s family (husband, wife, and incredibly cute little 4-year-old ham – she’s clearly headed for the stage).

Beijing is the city of antiquity with more ancient temples, gates, palaces, pavilions, and towers than you can count, not to mention the ancient hutong: medieval alleyways bustling with people doing all sorts of daily things. Coming out of the subway and setting eyes on Tiananmen Square, fronted by the gateway to the Forbidden City with the huge, iconic portrait of Mao, was absolutely breathtaking. I think I actually gasped. Cold as the Arctic, especially the day we spent in the howling wind on the top of Longevity Hill in the Summer Palace, not to mention the chill day in the Forbidden City. Some days it got down to –8 C, about 17 F.

Shanghai is 1920s and 30s, especially the Bund (the stately colonial buildings on the west side of the Huangpu River, centered by the famous Peace Hotel), the atmospheric streets of the French Concession with its characteristic shikumen (Shanghai’s answer to the hutong), and the absolutely wild and crazy Pudong New Area across the Huangpu River from the Bund with a couple of buildings among the world’s tallest and the spaceship Oriental Pearl Tower. We were wowed during the daytime, but you should see it at night with of the Bund bathed all in gold light facing off the kaleidoscopic neon colors of Pudong. This was the second time I literally gasped out loud. But then there is also the Old Town, with the Yu Gardens dating to the 1560s, surrounded by a bustling bazaar with the same pagoda rooflines, full of street vendors and little restaurants and teahouses. And we got to the site of the Shanghai World Expo, which closed in October but several pavilions were spared the wrecking ball, including the monumental China Pavilion which we were able to tour. As was Hillary Clinton, we were utterly amazed by a painting from the Song Dynasty (11th-12th centuries) that has somehow been enlarged to fill a whole room and animated, so that the ancient street life has come to life, with people playing chess, drinking, and dancing in the teahouses, a camel caravan from the Silk Road proceeding through town and passing through a gate, kids playing in the countryside, a man driving an ox cart through a street, men trying to ease a crosswise boat under a bridge against the current, etc. It also shifted from day to night and back to dawn again. Absolutely enthralling.

Lingling grew up on Huaihai Lu (Road), the heart of the French Concession southwest of the Bund, in one of the typical row houses on an alley in the interior of a block. Our last evening, her aunt and uncles treated us to a table-full of exotic eats, including the best stinky tofu I’ve had yet (I actually had seconds and thirds!), and a bowl-full of absolutely delectable spring rolls her little uncle had spent 4 hours that afternoon making in my honor. I was really touched by all the attention and how warmly I was welcomed by all her relatives.

We took several thousand pictures (as usual). As it happened, my hours of trying to learn Mandarin paid off – I was actually able to speak whole coherent sentences to anyone who would listen, and they appeared to understand me. As the days went on, I was more and more able to read the signage in Chinese characters. I’m sure my efforts were of great amusement to my victims, but they truly seemed to appreciate the effort. I had to repeat several phrases over and over, especially at dinner at someone’s house or in a restaurant: “hen hao” (very good), “wo xihuan” (I like it!), and “xiexie” (thank you!).

For tonight, zai jian and wan an! (adios and good night, literally “again see” and “evening peace”).