Originally published @ 4:08 am, Mon 25th Oct 2010
By the time we got to Shanghai, the national holiday was over and the smoky fog was visible, even if the new high rise accommodation wasn't. (Later reports said the fog had been a particular problem in Beijing after just 3 days.)
In Shanghai, we met up with a friend of a friend and walked through a local neighbourhood which was perhaps only forty years old, but refusing to be redeveloped with high rise.
On these streets, local people hang the washing out to dry next to the kerb. The notion that clothing might get stolen seems in retrospect to have been foreign.
Highlight of Shanghai is the Bund, the riverside that was highly developed once Britain and France won the Opium Wars over China. Interesting that whilst the opium side of the war sems to have been a disreputable achievement by Britain, there seems to be some recognition for it being part of the process of opening China up.
That process of reform is still ongoing, and the Beijing Olympics and now the Shanghai Expo 2010 are further steps in that process.
Expo 2010 had over 250 pavilions from countries and big businesses from across the globe.
The Chinese government has offered a free ticket and free travel for a member of every family in China to see. That knowledge alone made the visit immensely satisfying, even before visit to the China Rail pavilion and seeing the electric bus fleet with their own pantographs, recharging at every stop.
The UK pavilion sought to convey the importance of nature, with seeds captured in long perspex rods, brought together as a tree, but perceived as a hedgehog.
The Chinese visitors were amazingly patient, waiting 2 hours to see the UK exhibit of seeds in plastic rods forming a tree of life. Brilliant concept, worthy and dramatic in photos, but a bit wanting otherwise. We should have at least provided videos for people to watch whilst waiting.
(The queue for Saudi Arabia's stall was 9 hours.)
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