Ni hao 
The last time I was in China was 2 passports ago. At least 6 years ago, China was a giant construction site, dirt barely washed from the ground and masses of old bicycles everywhere. This time, sparkling new buildings covered a modern skyline with old bicycles replaced by new electric bicycles and mopeds (made in china :)). From the outside, urban China now looks very much like Tokyo. With 25 million people in Shanghai, it is twice Tokyo’s population but does not feel as densely populated as Tokyo. I heard that before the Beijing Olympics the government banned spitting on the ground. It’s evidently worked because the ground isn’t covered with shiny little pools of spit anymore.
Despite everything being made in china, shopping in china isn’t cheap. It’s also pretty amazing how voracious shoppers chinese can be. They are also very pushy. If you’re not walking fast enough in a queue, at least 5 people will push their way past you to make up the distance. Yes, even if there are guardrails on either side. The major thing that reminded me that Shanghai is not Tokyo is that personal space is not an issue in china.
That, and the dad who picked up his 3 year old son to pee in a bin in the middle of Shanghai. Well… at least dad knew better than to pee on a tree? Trousers for kids with conveniently allocated holes (depending on your gender) is common in China. And the single-child policy means that families of 7 (4 grandparents, 2 parents, 1 kid) fills restaurants on weekends.
Architecturally, it was amazing to see everything we’d ever dreamed in built form. And since 6 years ago, the chinese have since taken every piece of technology imported into china and built their own version to suit local tastes. Tvs, dvd players, fake iphones, fake smartphones, local cars, local electric bicycles, the Chinese have gone way beyond fake Nike shirts.
Pretty amazing trip. China is an eye opener for sure. Huangzhou is very very beautiful, Suzhou is such a lovely old city and the Shanghai expo was excellent. Only managed to get into 4 pavillions (Denmark, Britain, Italy, Canada) in 7 hours. Would need a week to see them all. The Shanghai subway (newly opened) was superb, fast and quiet.
This lady does a much better job of describing Shanghai life, with gorgeous pics and evocative text. Check it out:
愛上海 (love shanghai)
Shi
ps: oh, the pic with the shoes – yeah, ugly shoes but great toe protectors 
Btw, it’s safety glass there.
Btw, it’s safety glass there.