By Matthew Yglesias
Well, I got to my hotel at about 2 PM Chinese time so with 6 hours or so of Shanghai living under my belt I doubt there’s anything I can say about the country that you don’t already know. That said, I do note that it’s interesting how subjectively witnessing a place can make you see certain well-known facts in a more stark and clear manner than before. For example, obviously everyone knows that Shanghai is a very big city and that China has an enormous population. But you really need to walk around Shanghai a bit to witness quite how giant and full of people it is. I grew up in Manhattan so it’s not as if I’ve never seen a big urban crowd before, but man oh man are there a lot of folks milling around this city.
The other thing that slightly weirded me out is that where I was walking seemed pretty clearly to be a super-obvious and touristy part of town. Lots of chain stores, lots of folks trying to sell me random crap, lots of Expo 2010 volunteer pavilions, etc. And yet virtually everyone around was Chinese, whereas if you go someplace touristy in a major European city you’ll find it full of foreign visitors. Once I shook the jetlag cobwebs out of my brain I was able to remind myself that there are over a billion people in China (plus plenty of Han individuals living outside the PRC’s boundaries) so of course it’s perfectly possible to fill a Shanghai street with Chinese tourists. For the western tourist, this is sort of a bonus because it means that even if you’re doing something touristy it still has some of that authentic vibe—nothing ruins a nice Italian church quite like realizing that everyone in it is an American.
Nanjing Street Pedestrian Mall, Shanghai, China (cc photo by Let Ideas Compete)
Meanwhile, even though I brought a camera to China I forgot to pack the mini-USB cable that lets me move the photos to my computer and thence onwards and upwards to the internet. So no photos until I get back and/or someone stops me on the street offering to sell mini-USB cables instead of knockoff designer apparel. That said, there are plenty of creative commons photos of Shanghai in the world already without me.
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