Jeff in Shanghai

Jim and Jeff went to Shanghai for part of National Week. I asked students to write about one of their experiences in the style of Mary Morris, author of Wall to Wall: Beijing to Berlin by Rail, which she wrote about her journey on the Trans-Siberian Railway in 1986, when both Beijing and Berlin (not to mention Mongolia and the rest of what was then the Soviet Union) were very different than they are today. Morris writes travel books as well as novels (her best-known travel book is probably Nothing to Declare: Memoirs of a Woman Traveling Alone). Her travel writing combines memoir, history, and travelogue, and the students were asked to emulate some of her techniques.

From the assignment :

"Among other things, Morris

1. describes places, people, and events, typical of most travel writing you have encountered, as when she writes about going to the Mongolian Embassy

2. includes lots of detail, as when she describes the places she has already been in China

3. includes autobiography, as when she explains some details about her “companion” who will not be going with her on this trip and the story of her family (details of which may or may not be true)

4. includes historical information and analysis, as when she writes about the history and significance of the Mongol Empire

5. creates a narrative, making the trip into a story"

Here is part of what Jeff wrote about his observations of Shanghai:

On the Boardwalk

A “sea of humanity” is an understatement [to describe] the crowds filling the brick-paved boardwalk lining the Waitan side of the Huangpu River in Shanghai. On one side, the muddy river lazily carried overloaded freighters, crammed
sightseeing boats, and ancient barges from the Pacific to the port and back. The
opposite side of the boardwalk pushed against a quickly moving two-way street;across that street the buildings of the Bund rose up, lit by yellow andwhite lights. Looking at the Bund was like staring old Europe in the face; I believed for a minute that we had inadvertently stumbled into Prague. Regardless of the heavy vehicle traffic meandering by on both sides, the elevated boardwalk seemed loud and crowded simply because of the massive crowds celebrating National Week. Tourists from all over China pushed past each other, lingered at the railing above the river, and haggled for souvenirs. Crowds of people made the boardwalk in Shanghai come alive.

Shanghai is a relatively new city, at least by Chinese standards. The most liberal
estimates [allow] Shanghai a paltry 1000 years of age, during most of which it was an insignificant fishing town. This small port played a surprisingly minor role in Chinese history due to its southern, coastal location. After the Opium War, with the increased presence of Great Britain and France, Shanghai developed a quasi-colonial status. In the 1920s and 30s, the Europeans built a banking street parallel to the river in an architectural style that is anything but Chinese. This district became known as the Bund and did more than supply a distinctly European flavor to the port; it formed a foundation for Shanghai to assume the role as the economic capital of China.

Today, the columned, majestic marble and stone buildings stand as a reminder of the influence of Europe upon Shanghai. These buildings [remind] visitors of the occupation of Shanghai and the colonial nature of the port. Indeed,[its] economic strength remains visible as well, embodied in Versace, Armani,Dolce and Gabana, and Gucci boutiques lining the road. Bustling roads and rivers undoubtedly appear the way they did a century ago and continue to carry wealth, power, and prestige into the metropolis of 17 million inhabitants.

Married couples, apparently unaware of China’s one-child policy, strolled down the boardwalk towing two or three young children. Also close behind was at least one older family member, amazed at how little they could recognize the new China. Groups of teenage friends relaxed during the most cheerful week of the year. Many girls approached us shyly and asked to take a picture. We smiled, thinking they must have intended [that we] snap a picture of their group in front of the beautiful skyline. Rather, these Chinese tourists, probably from some remote village, instead desired a picture with us. A mother practically begged us to hold her baby for a picture, and a young boy stood tall with the foreigners. For them, an American was as strange and wonderful as a 1500 foot, gleaming tower. For some reason, it pains me to think that they may have wasted one exposure of their outdated film camera on me.

With the crowds came the beggars. An armless man sat cross-legged and hopeless next to his friend who played a poorly written, melancholy piece on a keyboard. Dirty, weary vendors peddled the goods we have come to expect from China. Yet the difference in Shanghai was that they hawked their items almost exclusively to Chinese tourists. Beautiful kites, meat kebabs, picture-taking services, and statues of the skyline all could be purchased for just a few American dollars. City workers, assigned to sweep up after the crowds, sat in groups of three or four and casually smoked. Dressed in light blue jump suits and armed with a broom and pan, they were just what the boardwalk needed after a long day of guests. They too gazed at the sights and watch the vendors. Perhaps they were on a 15 minute break; I assumed that they too were simply enjoying National Week.

We will never know the reason each individual journeyed to the Waitan. Every one of Shanghai’s tourists,beggars, vendors, and workers crowding the boardwalk all strained at the railing above the river for a glimpse of the future. They gawked at the modernity springing up opposite the Bund, contrasting in a typical Chinese fashion. There was no need for us to squint at the Pudong skyline’s majesty directly
across the Huangpu, since it dominated in an indescribable manner. And just like a historical timeline, those seemingly ancient buildings of the Bund stood proudly behind us like the bygone era they represented. Yet in that instant, when the air just began to hint at fall, no one cared if the purse on their shoulder was Gucci or their shoes fine Italian leather. Everyone seemed to lust more for a cheap flashing pin, a wind-up mouse, or a Chinese flag. That National week night filled the Chinese with too much love and merriment for the expensive merchandise Shanghai offered.