I was fortunate enough to be able to go on a business trip to Shanghai in December 2009. So, here are my impressions…
Shanghai is a fusion of New York and Paris, only bigger. The city is bustling; it never sleeps. And, almost everything (as of the winter of 2009) was under renovation due to preparations for World Expo 2010. The fashionistas in Shanghai are more fashionable than NYC or Paris, and the skyline is more grand and more vast. Incredible.
If you never visited anywhere outside of Shanghai, you’d think China was beyond superpower status. But I’m told by natives that there are much more rurals areas. And, lest we not forget that average family’s disposable income in 2007 was about $3,375. Living space in Shanghai is about 140 sq. ft. per person. (Think about that the next time you complain you need a bigger house.) And, official minimum wage is set at about US$1 per day. I’d say China is probably the equivalent of America in the 1920s. They are certainly beyond starving in the streets, but I’m not sure the entire nation has TVs, cell phones, or indoor plumbing yet.
Interestingly, I found Internet access fairly good. I could get my Yahoo! email, and I had no trouble logging in to work on my company’s website. I was not able to access Facebook or Twitter. These sites are blocked.
We managed to take a side trip to the city of Hang Zhou, which used to be the capital of China. It reached its peak around 1179 A.D.
Pictures say a 1,000 words…I’ll post more when I have time.
