THE HEAD OF THE DRAGON. Review on Shanghai

SHANGHAI has been nicknamed ''the head of Dragon.'' To the Chinese this meant that it is at the Changjiang, (Yangtzi), River and a very important Port. Westerners will be told that it means it is the City that will lead China on the road to becoming a modern City. It was called ''the head of the Dragon'' before WW II and it was a modern City then.

We flew here from Vancouver Canada on Japanese Airlines, (JAL). SHANGHAI is across the South China Sea from South Korea.

It was an interesting City to visit but it has Streets that are so crowded that on the major ones, (for example), if you are walking west you can only walk on the right hand side of the Sidewalk. If you are heading east you walk on the left Sidewalk.

I found it to be a very dirty City. There was a lot of garbage on the streets and ally paths.

We were there in January and the City smelt from the garbage. They use coal to cook and heat their Homes and this makes the City very polluted. Many Chinese wear a white hospital mask over their face to filter out the pollution.

We were only going to be here for four days and part of our Tour included staying at Garden Hotel that was built in the formed area known as the French Quarter in the area of the Foreigners Village. It is a very nice five star Hotel. It is the first place I took a Tai Chi Lesson.

OUR TOUR:

1) The Jade Buddha Temple is a wonderful place to visit. There are three Rooms in the Temple. In the first room there are Statues of the four ''Celestial Kings.'' The second room has three huge ''gilded'' Buddha's. They represent the past, present and the future. In the third room is the Jade Buddha. He is almost 2m tall and 1.3m wide. He is on the second floor of the building. The Statue is adorned with agate and diamonds. Along the western part of the grounds of the Temple there is a Jade Buddha who is reclining. Theses Buddha's were each carved from one piece of white Jade.

2) The Shanghai Museum is a showcase for the Art of Chinese Calligraphy. We saw porcelain from the Nelithic Age to the Quin Dynasty. The Paintings were very interesting. They came from different Dynasties and show the different styles of each Dynasty. I could not estimate how many Ancient Relics there are in this Museum. The Bronze Art was amazing.

3) We visited the Yuyuan Garden that was built in the Ming Dynasty. First we stopped a the Thousand Flower Pavilion, then the Hall of Jade Magnificence and our final stop was at the Hall of Hearalding Spring. We had time to walk in the Inner Garden. It is inside a wall that has ''scale-like'' tiles to make it look like it is the skin of a Dragon. The Garden's show the landscape was done in the Ming and Qing Dynasties. There are about 30 things to see in the Garden. We liked the Grand Rockery they best. We had time to sit by the lovely Lotus Pool. Lotuses are my favorite flowers. They look so pretty floating in the pool with their green pads around them.

4) We walked along the Bund is in the ''Foreign Concession'' area, (Foreigner always had to live separately from the Chinese), and sat and looked at the architecture from the time of the 1930's. These are the buildings of the Tai Pan's.

5) One day we went to Suzhou, (Soo how), which is known as the Garden City of China because they are very old. This is Victoria, British Columbia's ''Twin City'' and we were glad that it was included on our tour.

We liked the Ancient Ruins as well. Our Guide told us that Marco Polo once visited here. I am not sure if this is true but then again it could be!

6) We visited a Housing Project that has a Kindergarten, a Seniors Day Center and a Medical Center in the Center of the Apartment Buildings. We were separated into different groups and shown a Seniors Apartment.

Each Senior has a Bedroom of their own but share the Kitchen and Living room. There was no Refrigerator and on a small patio there was a few Chicken's hanging from the ceiling and boxes of fruit and vegetables on the floor.

This may have worked well in the winter but I worried about what happened when the weather got warmer.

The Children in the Kindergarten were so cute. They knew we were coming to visit them and were asked to draw a picture of what they thought a Canadian Child would like to do.

We each were presented with two pictures, (that I still have hanging on my wall). The pictures we have are of Children watching Television, going for a bike ride, sailing a boat and watching a rainbow. All the ''Canadian Children'' looked Chinese.

7) We visited a Carpet Factory that made cotton, silk and wool Carpets. I bought a round wool Carpet and a small silk one, (that I hung on my wall), for about 1/8th of the price they are sold for in Canada.

8) We looked at some ''Antiquities'' but we both thought that they were fakes and didn’t buy any thing.

9) Our Tour included a night out at the Chinese Acrobatic Show. The Show is presented like a ''theater in the round'' and we were enjoyed the show very much.

We were embarrassed to find that when we were clapping after each Act the Chinese weren't and they were staring at like we were crazy. We learned that the Chinese people only applaud when they feel something is ''perfect''.

I enjoyed the few days we spent here but I don’t think we will go back.

©LL2002