This past weekend, having already moved into my apartment and settled in a bit, decided to see a bit of Shanghai.
I first visited Xintiandi, an old neighborhood noted for its Shikumen architecture, a style originating in Shanghai in the 1860s which combined Chinese and western styles. The buildings were beautiful but I felt a bit out of place wandering its narrow streets as it seemed every other door led into a ritzy, overpriced tea house, coffee shop or jewellery store. I took solace walking in one of the many busy, chaotic streets filled with small shops and vendors, with a canopy of tangled electrical wires and clothes lines.
At the edge of Xintiandi stands the site of the first congress of the communist party in China, in 1921.
The following day I sat on the Bund, an area at the edge of the Huangpu River and drew the Pudong Skyline (the picture at the beginning of this post). The buildings on the west side make up a patchwork of a wide variety of architectural styles, mostly western, including Neo-Classical, Art Deco and revivals of older styles. Leading off of The Bund, is Nanjing Road, probably the most famous road in the city and something like the Times Square of Shanghai.
Again, I felt a bit out of place, this time amongst the overwhelming glamour of expensive shops, flashy signs and an air of blatant materialism. I'm always struck by the contrasts of this city: from the modern skyscrapers of Pudong to the urine-reeking side streets skirting construction areas; from Xintiandi where a coffee costs 30 yuan ($5) to one of the chaotic marketplaces where you can get an entire meal for 10 yuan; from Nanjing Road with its expensive brand names to the streets leading away from it, like this one: