The last days in China have been bittersweet. The last week we met up with everyone and it was quite fun. If only the whole four months we had always been this busy with things to do and friends to chill with.After saying goodbye to our friend’s family, Kelsey and I headed off by bullet train to Shanghai.
This is a city of action, not ideas. You won’t spot many wild-haired poets holding out flyers, but a skyscraper will form before your eyes. The Shanghainese play mahjong and talk about how they can become rich. The movers and shakers of modern China may give a nod to Beijing, but their eyes- and their money- are on Shanghai.
As anyone can see looking at the Bund or the former French concession, Shanghai is a western invention. Its location on the Yangzi River makes it an ideal trading port. When the British opened their first concession in 1842, after the First Opium War, it was little more than a small town supported by fishing and 
weaving. The British changed all that. The French followed in 1847, an International Settlement was established in 1863 and the Japanese arrived in 1895. By the 1930’s the city had 60,000 foreign residents and was the busiest international port in Asia. Built on the tradeoff opium, silk and tea, the city also lured the world’s great houses of finance, which erected grand palaces of plenty.
Shanghai also became a byword for exploitation and vice. By the 1990’s, things had settled down a bit, and the announcement of the plans to develop Pǔdōng, on the eastern side of the Huangpu River benefited the economy.
Lùjiāzuǐ, the area facing the Bund on the Pǔdōng side of the Huangpu River, is a dazzlingly modern high-rise counterpoint to the austere, old-world structures of the Bund. Pǔdōng is home to the home to the Shanghai Stock Exchange and many of Shanghai’s best-known buildings, such as the Jin Mao Building, The Shanghai World Financial Center, and the Oriental pearl tower, eventually petering out into farmland.
We knew when you are in Shanghai; one of the highlights is to see what the Bund and the Pǔdōng look like from high up in the sky. We decided on going to the Oriental Pearl tower, which is 468 m (1,535 feet) high and was the tallest structure in China from 1994-2007, which the Shanghai World Financial Center was finished.
The Panoramic views from up top were breathtaking, 
especially when you could sit on a glass platform and look down hundreds of feet.The tower is best viewed when illuminated at night by LED sequences.
The Shanghai History Museum in the basement of the tower was well worth exploring, not just because it’s one part of Pǔdōng where you can’t see the tower itself. The museum had fun multimedia presentations and imaginative displays that re-create the history of Shanghai, with an emphasis on the pre-1949 era. We learned about how the city prospered on cotton trade and junk transportation, when it was known as ‘little Suzhou’.
Life-size models of traditional shops are inhabited by realistic wax figures and there’s a wealth of historical detail. For 
example, there were replicas of Chinese Restaurants during the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911), with the development of commence in Shanghai, various styles of cuisine sprang up all over Shanghai. During the period of Emperor Qianlong’s reign (1736-1795), people from Shaoxing opened wine shops to sell their rice wine in Shanghai. The model of Tianchan Theater, the largest theater in old Shanghai, was built in 1925, specializing in Beijing Opera.
At that time, many top actors and actresses cut brilliant figured here, leading to the saying, “Beijing opera actors can never become famous without performing at the Tianchan Theater”.
A little girl posing for a photo with me.
In the late afternoon we went to the Silk Market in Shanghai. It is similar to the fake market in Beijing. In the evening, we went to the Shanghai Center to see an acrobatic show. There’s no arguing that the Chinese are the superior race when it comes to gymnastics. Whether its their naturally compact and impossible flexible
photo from website
photo from website
bodies or their extensive training and work ethic that drives them to the top, they continue to amaze the world as they excel in the Olympics every year. The show by the Shanghai Acrobatic Troupe, comprised of some of the best acrobats in China, was our chance to see these crazy little athletes up close and personal.
photo from website
When I went to school in 2007 in China, I went to an acrobatic show in Beijing , and it is still just as impressive.
My favorite part was an act in which a young girl and boy danced the tale of a love story–wrapping themselves in the ribbons that hung from the ceiling, twirling themselves into satin knots and propelling themselves gracefully into the air, sailing effortlessly around the stage. Violins sang out a melody that was both sweet and melancholy, and I felt moved in a way I can’t quite describe.
On one of the days in Shanghai we met up with my close friend from six years ago, Andy. He first took us to send home some of our belongings to the US from the local post office. We ended up at a tourist site, by surprise. The Shanghai Post Museum itself is a sight for its fantastic architecture and heavy period detailing, dating from 1924.
After the historical post office, and once we were all together (Andy, Andy’s girlfriend, Kelsey and I) we went to lunch at a Vietnamese restaurant. Delicious food before our day trip out of the city. Andy took us on a surprise trip to Xi Tang, an ancient scenic water town crisscrossed by nine river, just outside of Shanghai.
The town is linked by old-fashioned stone bridges, tiny alleyways filled with teahouses and small shops, and canals with small oared boats, which serve as the main transportation unless on foot. Xi Tang is frequently depicted in Chinese landscape painting, and the location was featured in the final sequence of Mission: Impossible III. We spent the day as a group, enjoying the tranquil ambience and tasting small treats. 
As their forebears have for more than a millennium, a few local families make their living by tying a string around the throats of cormorant birds so they can’t swallow larger fish, then forcing them to give up their catch.
After the full day trip outside the city, we drove back to the city and over to the French Concession. It’s a large and leafy quarter of shops, bars and restaurants, popular with expats and white-collar Chinese. We went for a five-star dinner at a fancy restaurant in the concession.
After dinner we rested for a little bit before meeting up to check out the Shanghai dance scene. Shanghai’s clubs are pretty famous for being innovative and filled with a stream of clubbers. Clubs range from electronic hip clubs to more relaxed, intimate spots and trendy bars. We decided on our last night in China to go full out and experience the trendy clubs of Shanghai. We went to Muze and it was cool, but it was so packed. They had really awesome DJ’s and dancers that wore glow-in-the-dark neon swimsuits. I wouldn’t have had fun if my friends weren’t there, but it was awesome to see it with them.
On the last day in China, we went to Madame Tussaud’s Wax Museum. It opened to the public in 2006, is the sixth in the world, with its other
branches in Hong Kong, Amsterdam, New York City and Las Vegas.
Madame Tussauds Shanghai has become famous throughout the world for its lifelike wax figures.
Now, there are nearly 80 wax figures, including Yao Ming, Liu Xiang, David Beckham, Tom Cruise, Jackie Chan and Marilyn Monroe. It was cool to pose next to famous Hollywood Actresses, and kiss the cheeks of heartthrob Chinese pop singers.
We spent the last afternoon strolling the Bund, and overlooking Pǔdōng. We talked about our experiences in China, and how we would miss this country but we couldn’t be too sad, because our next stop was Amazing Thailand.
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