Shanghai: Pearl of the Orient

Tang Qi on the Bund

Let me begin this post by paying Shanghai a very backhanded compliment.  Shanghai is the poor man's version of every great Asian city.  It doesn't have the important historical sites Beijing has, it isn't nearly as dynamic or exciting as Hong Kong, and it doesn't have the livability of Tokyo.  It does everything well and nothing great.

However Asia is a land of extremes, and while Shanghai might not score top marks in any of the above categories, it doesn't have their severe drawbacks either.  I love Shanghai because Shanghai loves itself.  It's proud of the fact its unique and not perfect.  Nor does waller in self pity like many Chinese cities.  I am talking to you Beijing, and your "civilize Chaoyang" posters.  Not quite Chinese, not quiet foreign, and not quite global, its at a sweat spot for budget travelers like myself.  If you can call Shanghai anything, it's gargantuan.

I am hiding my hat behind me

Shanghai's lack of tourist sites make it great for relaxing weekend getaways.  It was nice to visit an important Chinese city and not have a laundry list of historical sites to checkoff.  Lucky for you, its lack of sites will prevent me from going Rick Steves on my readers in this post.
We spent the majority of our time strolling down Shanghai's streets and enjoying the atmosphere.  The city encompasses many distinct neighborhoods, each with its own vibe, and provides a welcome contrast to the homogeneity of most Chinese cities.

Your average Shanghaier has a laid-back attitude.  Compared to Asia's more hectic cities, like Hong Kong, life moves at a slower pace.  This despite all the hype surrounding the city.  The only thing speeding you by are the motor bikes, and there are a lot of them.  Watch out!  Ducking down a side street can make the place seem a lot less oversized.  Outside the main shopping areas I thought Shanghai felt much less crowded than the streets of Beijing.  Not bad for a city of around 24 million and the largest city in China.

Balls of steel

If you are willing to forgo foreign food, Shanghai won't decimate your wallet the way some other cities are fond of doing.  Even with its relatively low cost compared to Asian money pits, such as Tokyo, the service quality in Shanghai puts other Chinese cities to shame.  It was nice to go to a restaurant or buy something at a store and not have the staff treat me like a criminal.  Also, people were much more receptive to speaking Chinese with me.  I even made it out of a Starbucks without the staff bombarding me with English.  An flat impossibility in Beijing.      

My girlfriend and I stayed in the old part of Shanghai.  The area east of the river boasts many European style buildings, built during the beginning of the last century.  The unique style of each building makes the narrow streets surprisingly easy to navigate.  Don't worry about getting lost.  With all the skyscrapers for landmarks you won't have to worry about getting disoriented.

The buildings of Shanghai's now iconic skyline lie across the river in the Pudong district.  I recommend visiting this side of the river, but be warned.  Expect a large amount of walking and not a lot to see.  There isn't anything except offices and the new Disney store.  The Pudong skyline is best admired from The Bund on the other side of the river.  

I had an entire train car to myself north of Nanjing to Beijing
on the way home....creepy but relaxing

The two distinct sides of the river give Shanghai a pleasant form of split personality disorder.  The west, old city resembles the streets of a European capital and the east, new city remind me of a Chinese caricature of New York or Chicago.  Shanghai proved itself as a great weekend destination, and you can pretty much do everything it has to offer in three days.  Not bad on a budget.        

European style clocktower

The "bottle opener" (l) and the world's second
tallest building (r)

The Boxer Rebellion

I remember learning about the Boxer Rebellion in my high school world history class. The only things I remember being told were, "1900.  Boxers thought they could catch bullets. Eight Power Alliance invades China."  I spent last month reading about this interesting historical event.

China's relationship with the Boxer Rebellion is much different, though no less complex, than its relationship with the Opium Wars.  Chinese governments have fallen in and out of love with the Boxers and their anti-foreign sentiments since the beginning of the movement in the late Qing Dynasty.  Even the Qing themselves didn't know whether to treat the Boxers as friend or foe, eventually siding with them in hopes they wouldn't turn their outrage against the Qing government.  

Today the Chinese Propaganda Machine treats the Boxer Rebellion like a cheaper, less entertaining sequel to the Opium Wars, letting it languish in historical memory.  It doesn't get near the amount of attention awarded to other "acts of foreign aggression", probably because Chinese history books look less kindly on the Qing Government of 1900 than of 1840.  Fanatical Boxers are a harder sell than inept Chinese crusaders against opium.  Also it's rather had to defend a movement which only accomplishment was killing defenseless missionaries and leading a genocide against Chinese Christians.

During the Cultural Revolution, Mao and other Chinese leaders praised the Boxers as patriots and leaders, sometimes painting them as proto-communists.  This isn't surprising considering the parallels between China during Cultural Revolution and China during the Boxer Rebellion.  Both movements attempted to rid China of negative, internal elements and expel all foreign influences.  Unlike China in the 1960's, China in 1900 still had a large contingent of foreigners, living, working, and preaching in China.  Sadly these foreigners proved an easy scapegoat for China's internal problems and many lost their lives during executions in villages and the sieges of the foreign legations in Beijing.  

As the smoke cleared and the siege lifted, the foreign armies, along with the general Chinese population, looted everything that wasn't nailed down.  Many Chinese treasures ended up in the hands of private collectors and European Museums.  Considering what happened to many historical relics during the Cultural Revolution, this has probably been a good thing for their preservation for future generations.  Despite Communist fervor for the cause of the Boxers during the Cultural Revolution, the extremism of the movement usually resulted in the opposite outcome of what the Boxers attempted to do in 1900.  The extremism of the Red Guards famously led to the decimation of traditional Chinese culture and the destruction of countless priceless artifacts.