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| Shanghai, Shanghai Municipality |
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Pudong Skyline:
I think the biggest misconception about China
from foreigners is that it is a "third-world" city.
Obviously, one look at Pudong, China's newest commercial
district, should erase all previous beliefs. The truly
amazing thing is that less that twenty years ago the
city pictured was farmland. Talk about progress! |
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The Bund:
On the other side of the Huangpu River from
Pudong is the historically significant Bund, where
foreign corporations set up their massive Chinese trading
centers in the early 20th century. The beautiful building
on the left was part of the original Hongkong and Shanghai
Banking corporation, now better known as HSBC. |
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Huxinting Tea
House:
The Huxinting Tea House (translated as Heart
of Lake Pavillon) has been serving important guests
(as well as slobs like me) for over a century. Located
on Lotus Pond and reachable by the Nine Zig Zag bridge,
this peaceful tea house is surprisingly located near
the heart of cosmopolitan downtown Shanghai. |
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Yu Yuan Bazaar:
(Left) The gorgeous Yu
Yuan area is in the old section of Shanghai which
is being destroyed at a furious pace. Currently this
bazaar is located within a maze of little streets
and alleys, but eventually it will be surrounded
by high-rises.
Huxinting Tea House:
(Right) The Huxinting Tea
House is as beautiful in the night as in the day.
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Yu Yuan Gardens:
(Left) The beautiful Yu Yuan
gardens, located squarely in the heart of Old Shanghai,
are over four centuries old and are in picture-perfect
condition. I first explored these gardens during my
semester abroad in 1999 and I immediately headed back
to these gardens when I had time.
Yu Yuan Statue:
(Right) Ferocious statues
can be found throughout the garden grounds.
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Yu Yuan Doors:
(Left) Every door in the
garden is uniquely shaped, my favorite being the vase-shaped
design pictured here.
Yu Yuan Temple:
(Right) Everything in Shanghai
seems to be in a constant state of flux. Besides a
few new skyscrapers on the skyline, even new temples
were built since I visited in 1999. |
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Old Shanghai:
(Left) Old Shanghai was filled
with old houses, shops, and markets that have served
the people for hundreds of years. Sadly, they are being
torn down at a fantastic pace and should be gone in
a matter of years.
Chen Yi Statue:
(Right) Chen
Yi, the first mayor of Shanghai after the Communist
Revolution, was also a famous militart commander. His
statue sits along the Bund in Shanghai. |
| Guilin & Yangdi,
Guangxi Province |
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Umbrellas:
Shrouded in mist and dwarfed by majestic mountains,
children meander along thousand-year old paths as
they make their way to the village for school. |
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Farm Machinery:
This odd looking contraption is one of the
most important developments in Chinese agriculture
in centuries. Half lawn mower and half pickup truck,
these machines have replaced oxen in the fields and
have drastically improved the life of the average
farmer. |
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Back Alleys:
Unlike most alleys in the US that are dangerous
and avoidable, alleyways in China house an integral
part of the Chinese culture. Each alley showcases
an unexpected glimpse of Chinese life, be it a simple
mahjong game, hidden noodle shop, or a man loading
his truck. |
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Show & Tell:
Yangdi, which is a small village outside of
Guilin, receives maybe 35-45 foreign visitors a year,
so when 23 come to the village in one day it is quite
an attraction. The children were let out of classes
to see us and many ran out to the courtyard to greet
us. |
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Farmhouse:
As our group made our way around Yangdi, a
farmer invited us inside his home. Through a translator
he told us that he built his house himself in 1990,
replacing his old home on the same property. The
house is made with brick and has dirt floors and
surprisingly even has electricity. |
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Farmland:
Through our interpreter, one of my classmates
told a farmer how lucky he was to live in such a
beautiful area. "What good is beautiful scenery if
you can't feed your family?", the farmer responded. |
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Stone Paths:
After seeing the children walking to school
on these paths, I decided to climb down and walk
on them myself. It was Quite a moment, as I was walking
on a stone wall that has been walked upon for thousands
of years. |
| Beijing, Beijing
Municipality |
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The Great Wall:
While in China I had the opportunity to visit
the Great Wall at Badaling, near Beijing. The whole
experience was... well... great! Later that evening
we took the great bus ride home to the great hotel,
where we had a great dinner... (sigh, bad joke, I
know.) |
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Forbidden City:
If you asked someone to describe what they
believed was Chinese architecture, they would undoubtedly
describe the Forbidden City. This huge complex contains
some of the most beautiful examples of classic Chinese
architecture, ranging from the lion statues to the
giant cauldrons that held water to help fight fires. |
| Guangzhou, Guangdong
Province |
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Market Butcher:
Since most rural Chinese lack refrigerators,
the night's dinner is picked out from the cages at
the local market. Some citizens in large cities (such
as Guangzhou, pictured here) still shop at these markets,
as the traditional idea of freshness still holds. |
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Tasty Morsels:
One of the questions I get asked most is if
I ate any cat or dog. I mention this because in the
picture is a cage of cats ready for slaughter for dinner.
I'm not sure if I ate any while I was there, but I
had plenty of dishes that contained "assorted meat." Yum! |
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The Rabbit Stand:
At this section of the Qingping you can choose
your rabbit for dinner that evening. As you can see,
a rabbit was just chosen and is hanging next to the
scale, sans skin. |
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Dessert:
In case you still have an appetite, you
can finish off your meal with a nice heaping plate of
fresh scorpions. I ate scorpions in Beijing, where they
were char-broiled and on sticks. Such a treat! |
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| Do you have any
questions or comments about this page? Please let me
know!
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| Click here to read
a long email I wrote from China while I was a student (A
new window will open)
Time Visited: January 1999, March 1999, April 2003,
January 2004
Main Cities Visited: Guangzhou, Beijing, Shanghai,
Guilin, Yangdi
Modes of Transportation: Bus, overnight train, taxi,
canopied bicycle, airplane, boat
How I Ended Up There: I visited China as part of
a traveling seminar that was an integral part of my Hong
Kong study abroad trip.
Memorable Foods: "Assorted Meat", scorpions, snakes,
anything on sticks, delicious Szechwan, Cantonese and northern
Chinese food, Beijing beer, "Turpentine", Dim Sum, fresh
sweet potatoes
What I Liked: Ancient landmarks, getting off the
beaten path and exploring the village of Yangdi, walking
on the Great Wall, talks with political leaders, long strolls
through Old Shanghai, and $35 North Face jackets
What I Disliked: unreal pollution (in Beijing & Guangzhou
there was a thick layer of soot on everything), restrictive
policies, SARS
Where I Stayed: Hotels throughout China
China in Five Words: historical, suppressive, misrepresentation,
heritage, growth
My Thoughts: Although many academics and journalists
try, it is impossible to summarize China, the "Middle
Kingdom." As this future superpower is stepping away
from its communist past (essentially the country is communist
in name only), it is modernizing at a furious pace. For example,
twenty percent of the world's construction cranes are in
Shanghai, which will have the world's tallest building in
the near future. However, this growth is not even, as a large
portion of rural China (Such as Yangdi, where I visited)
lacks telephones and running water.
While the US government and media may have labeled China as an
oppressive monster, I found it to be a mystical place with a friendly
and intelligent populous who prejudges and misunderstands us as
much as we do them. One of the greatest lessons I learned from
my time in China is that you cannot form an opinion about something
until you have experienced it firsthand. I respect the Chinese
and am anxious to see how their role in the world will change this
century.
In April 2003 I was offered the rare chance to relocate
to China for six months and I gladly accepted the chance
to undertake a new adventure. However, my relocation also
coincided with the SARS epidemic and at the time the true
severity of the disease was not known. I moved to Shanghai
and was there for one week when the number of SARS cases
exploded and I was sent home for good. A few months later
the entire epidemic blew over and all was well again, but
by then the assignment had changed and I was back home for
good. Even though I was in Shanghai for only a short time,
after work each night I spent hours walking around the city
and was even able to squeeze in a few rolls of film.
© David
Metraux 1996-2006
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