Part 1 of 6: Shanghai 上海
It's been over 6 years since I last visited my home town, Shanghai, a city of light. Over 16 million residents. The city's daily population is much more. 24-hour activities, non-stop from Majang table to prostitution (illegal in China). Congested streets and highways (the city government charges ~$4000 for each license plate, but still too many applications. Now a lottery system is in place to grant to a few thousand car owners every month). Fast urban sprawling (10x in each direction in the past 10 years). 3 skyscrapers are built every day (which also causes the city sinking). The highest, at 421 meters, is now a Hyatt.
Income disparity is alarming. A small glass of beer can be as little as 30 cents, or as high as $10, both have countless buyers. Restaurants looking like palaces (sometimes completed with spas) are full every night. Migrant workers making less than $1 an hour bike to work in order to save a bus ticket. Everyone is talking about money making. It's amazing that no major social unrest has erupt.
This is an ordinary small park (襄阳公园 free now), but it's among my favorite spots in Shanghai. Retired and laid-off locals hang out here to dance, do Tai Chi, and some practice calligraphy on the pavement using just a brush and a bucket of water. Its next door is the (ill)famed market for counterfeit products.Xintiandi (新天地) is a redevelopment of a couple of blocks in the city center next to the first meeting site (中共一大会址) of Chinese Communist Party. Here is where you can buy a glass of beer for $10. My grandma's house used to be in similar style (石库门) a few blocks away, now gone. In fact the whole street where her house used to stand was completely rebuilt. It looks like a side street of the 5th avenue in New York, maybe more flashy.
Shanghai has one of the best museums in the world: Shanghai Museum, and arguably the best art gallery in the country: Shanghai Art Museum. Apart from museums and art galleries, a few local artists have rented a block of out-dated warehouses at 50 Moganshan Rd (莫干山路). A bit of redecoration converted them to galleries and gathering halls. They claim to make it a Chinese "Rive Gauche".
There are many well preserved little towns worth a few day trips from Shanghai (around 100Km away), reflecting the old-time country scenery (江南水乡). I only had time to visit one of them: Xi-Tang (西塘). (practicality) Many of these towns are not far from each other. It's possible to visit a few of these in a same trip. They are all over 1000 years old, with historical and culture significances. However, the surviving architecture is of dynasty Ming 明 or Qing 清. Stone bridges and waterways, narrow alleys (width of just 1m sometimes). Even the throngs of tourists couldn't damp the limpid air and slow pace.西塘 is famous for its long corridors with covered roofs (烟雨长廊) along the river, built separately by each family due to the long rainy days. This is also the hometown of Shanghai's former vice mayor Ni 倪天增.
There're a few central travel hubs in Shanghai 上海旅游集散中心 that organize short trips. Government controlled. There's a air-conditioned direct tour bus at 9:30am from the Shanghai Stadium (上海体育场12号门5号扶梯下), and coming back from 西塘 at 4pm everyday. Cost of transportation: ￥60 Yuan ($8). Another ￥60 for a combination ticket of 11 points, which to my opinion is not necessary. No one checked our tickets, except at the door steps of these 11 points. You can just walked into the old town and stroll around, visit a couple of private homes (￥5), have a country meal (农家菜) and head back. Out of these 11 places (private homes are not part of the combination tickets), only one really worths the visit: West Garden (西园). This is a house with a tiny Suzhou-style garden 苏州园林. Built across a public alley, two elevated walkways connect the two parts. Dec of 1920, members of 南社 literary club and 5 local poets gathered here, had a merry time. The next year poet Liu 柳亚子 lived here. It now houses a small gallery dedicated to 南社. You can find some handwriting of these poets. The gallery of root sculpture is not bad either.
I spent most of my vacation making a few trips in Si-Chuan province (四川9/11-23) using its capital Chengdu 成都 as a base (2.5 hours flight west of Shanghai).
You'll find many practical advices here. I bought our plane tickets from them, delivered in a day without extra charge. However, most online postings are in Chinese.
