Shanghai: Day One

We arrived in Shanghai after a 16 hour train ride from Xi'an. We went for a walk around the city and ended up in a beautiful Chinese garden- Yuyuan Gardens, which were built in the 1500's. We wandered the gardens and found a place to have dinner.

After dinner we watched a Shanghai acrobatic show. They did stunts on bicycles, motorcycles, and ropes. Girls spun plates and hula hooped with every part of their body. One part where a man and woman swung on ropes, they played a part of Titanic in the background. The first thing David whispered to me was, "They definitely don't have the rights to show this." During this acrobatic rope routine to "My Heart Will Go On" the girl swung by her neck a few times, which was scary. The acrobats also did the "ball of death" which is a round metal cage in which 4 guys ride motorcycles around each other.

After the show we walked along the Bund to go on a night cruise along the river. In the 1840s, the Bund was a muddy narrow lane with tall reeds. It initially became a British settlement. After Shanghai was established as the trading port in 1846, a street was paved there and the riversides were reinforced. Then, rows of commercial buildings were constructed. As the UK Concession, a building boom at the end of 19th century and beginning of 20th century led to the Bund becoming a major financial hub of East Asia. It was the center of Shanghai's politics, economy and culture more than a hundred years ago. Now the Bund is known for the beautiful buildings lining the waterfront, including buildings of various architectural styles such as Romanesque, Gothic, Renaissance, Baroque, Neo-Classical, Beaux-Arts, and Art Deco (Shanghai has one of the richest collections of Art Deco architectures in the world).

The night cruise along the Huangpu River was beautiful. All the buildings have different types and colors of lighting that lit up the whole skyline. It provides a great contrast between the old and the new- the old buildings and architecture along the Bund on one side of the river and the brand-new skyscrapers dominating the other side.

Zaijian!

D & K