Sylvia Herbert World s Fairs in History Shanghai Old or New? I really didn t know what to expect. From what I had read, Shanghai was a new city popular in the 20s before the depression, and trying to regain its flashy and glamorous status once again today. However, Shanghai is in China. China, the ancient, the huge, the communist country. The very idea of a city of nightlife and sparkling glamour seemed paradoxical to the view we Americans had of communism and its effect on countries. And so I was lost for ideas as I tried to picture it in my mind I just had no idea what to expect. Now, after 10 days of walking all over Shanghai I still have no idea. There are contradictions everywhere, and every turn leads to another surprise. Below I ve listed some of the more interesting cases where the old and the new are struggling to obtain equilibrium. The City We boarded the bus from the airport with faces flushed with excitement tinged by tired red eyes from the 14-hour flight. As we rode into the city, we could already see a whole new world. Farmers weeded their small plots of land next to enormous power lines and highways. As we got closer to downtown, small, old houses turned into countless enormous apartment complexes, many of them still deserted after construction. Those inhabited were draped with clothes hanging out to dry, right next to the solar panels that decorated everything in sight. This juxtaposition of the quaint and old with the industrious and new was found everywhere, leaving us clueless as to what would come next.
The Religion China has no official religion, and the Shanghailanders seemed ambivalent about the idea of religion in general. The lack of religious icons throughout of trip was a glaring gape through my expectations. However, one could see the hints of Buddhism hidden from the surface. This became especially apparent at the expo, when visiting pavilions of other Buddhist countries. Nepal in particular had several statues of Buddha, which were strangely adorned with Chinese coins. A poster from the pavilion leaders explains, stating: Nepal Pavilion has noted that visitors are offering small coins and notes to the statues of Shakyamuni Buddha. To show respect to the offering made by visitors, money is being collected and will be spent on a charity program to educate girls in Lumbini, the birth place of Buddha in Nepal. I was shocked to see the Chinese, who were normally so stingy with their money, throwing coins eagerly at these Buddhas. It became obvious that the Buddhist sentiment had remained in the people, though they did not openly show it.
The Culture The entire city seemed to be suffering an identity crisis. Every morning when I looked outside I could see older men and women practicing tai chi in the grass. These same old men and women would later on shove anyone in sight to acquire a better place in line, elbowing anyone in their ways. Girls my age couldn t seem to decide whether to dress to the nines or throw on a tee-shirt and there was no middle ground. People in jeans and sneakers walked alongside those in miniskirts and enormous heels. And everyone from little kids peeing in the middle of a room to old men spitting on the ground in front of us seemed to have a strange standard for what is acceptable behavior in public. Building tried very hard to be either old or new, with very little in between. In the Yu Gardens, where one could supposedly relax in the beauty of old China, security cameras hid amongst beautiful statues and architecture. Despite this, and despite the immense crowd, the gardens were gorgeous. This beauty was hard to appreciate, however, because through the thick walls of the gardens one could hear the consistent beeping of horns on the road outside.
Once downtown in the shopping centers, huge malls can be found next to abandoned stores and crummy neighborhoods. Upon searching for a bank, I came across a deserted store with a Bank sign in the window. Inside were some cardboard boxes and an ATM. These types of experiences were not unusual. Tourist Traps Finally were the tourist traps. In a desire to see ancient china, we headed out to Hangzhou to visit an old lake with islands spotted with ancient buildings. This was to be our calm day, the day to recover from the excitement of the city and the expo. Apparently everyone else thought the same thing. The islands were packed with tourists, and the community of course decided to take advantage of these hoards of visitors. Carts filled with trinkets lined the walkways, and ancient buildings housed vending machines and gift shops. Even the long climb up the hills to see the old pagodas had escalators and elevators for the crowds to use. And at night, these buildings lit up brighter than a Christmas tree. The entire city glowed so brightly the sky could be seen as clear as day. The effect of these calm, ancient places was lost on most of us. Rather than experiencing the history and past of these amazing sights, we instead learned only of the commercialism and
industrialism that was taking over these areas. Nevertheless, the lesson was important, and it stuck with us all. These we just some of the many unusual aspects of Shanghai. Each day we experienced a whole new world, and each day was stranger than the last. We came to learn about world fairs, but I left with the current state of the people, city, and country of China on my mind. I am both excited and wary to see what happens as this clash of old and new unfolds throughout the country, leaving behind an entirely different China. I wonder what it will look like. I wonder what the next generation of Shanghailanders will wear, how they will act, how they will change their city and world around them. I don t know what to expect. But I m hopeful.