Plum Rainy Season

Monday, Shanghai

Looking east across the river from the Bund to 21st century Shanghai

A headline in this morning's Shanghai Daily announced: "Plum Rainy Season Begins Today." You got that right. From our perch on the 17th floor of the Sofitel Hotel all we can see is grey and gloom. Oh, well. It's our last day in China and we have sights to see.

We all broke out our rain gear and hit the road running. Our first stop was the beautiful Jingan Park right in the center of Shanghai. I think the rain made it lovelier. Like all the parks in China, it is at the core of socialization for seniors. Despite the weather, some were strolling, others doing Tai Chi. And like all proper Chinese gardens it contained rocks, water, plants and a gazebo. And like the others it seems to have been there forever instead of designed and installed within the last 100 years.

Next we visited the Jade Buddha Temple named because it contains a six foot tall Buddha carved from one piece of white jade. The Buddha was brought from Burma in the early 1900s and has survived wars, both military and cultural, often through the cunning of the chief monk. The Temple is a strange combination of religion and tourism.  While the devout are praying, the visitors are taking it all in. Our local guide, Alex, did a wonderful job explaining the religion as we admired the Buddha and other icons. And now to reach enlightenment...

There are so many dying arts in China and too often because of the physical toll they take on the artisans, such as the silk rug makers. Our stop at the silk factory was one of those items on the itinerary that turns out to be so much more than expected. I had no idea that a single cocoon yields 1,000 meters of silk thread. The cocoons are separated into those containing either single or double worms. The singles are put into water and swished around with what looks like a little whisk broom until the end of the thread appears. The cocoons stay in the water while the thread ends are attached to what looks like big bobbins...the number of threads per bobbin depends on the end use of the silk thread. For instance, a scarf uses fewer threads than a pillow cover. Anywho, the cocoons bob away in the water while the thread spins onto the bobbins overhead. They know how many cocoons it takes to make a scarf or garment or pillow case.

The double worm cocoons are popped open, the worms removed, then instead of unwinding the thread, the entire cocoon goes into water where it is stretched over a small U-shaped bamboo form and then that is transferred to a larger form until the silk is seven layers thick and then it is stretched by four people into a large rectangle and placed in a pile which eventually becomes a silk comforter. They are absolutely light as a feather but as warm as a goose down comforter. And like those comforters, they come in different weights from summer light to winter warm. Nearly everyone, including the Fishers left with one. Less than US$ 150? You better believe we all bought them!

But it was the silk rugs that were the show stoppers. These are hand-knotted from a few hundred to 1,000 knots per inch. The women (men's fingers are too large for the task and it's felt they haven't the patience) sit on a bench in front of a loom following a color chart much like a cross stitch or needlepoint pattern. Their hands just fly but in eight hours they will only finish three centimeters. The high count rugs are tiny, maybe 18 inches square and are done by women in their homes. It will take a master a year to make just one piece. But these women want their daughters to have a better life so aren't teaching them to carry on the art. We learned that they can only tie for so long before their eyes give out. And did I mention that the women tying the rugs do it mostly from the natural light pouring in through the large windows? I counted maybe eight fluorescent fixtures in the entire room, none over the women. And I can't thread a quilting needle without enough wattage to perform surgery.

The rugs cost tens of thousands of dollars, but, oh, do they feel wonderful. No rugs for us, but I did get a scarf or two to remember the experience. That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

On our last day we had a detour from the usual Chinese and had Mongolian barbecue for lunch. That even sounds silly as I write that sentence but, trust me, being able to put what we wanted into that bowl was a big deal! And now, only one more Chinese meal to go. I like Chinese food and we've had some fabulous dishes but after fourteen days I'm done with it. The current "parlor game" on the bus as we travel about is what we're going to eat at the airport in Shanghai: Dunkin' Donuts, Pizza Hut or Burger King!

After lunch we went to the extraordinary Shanghai Museum. To begin with, the museum building is a work of art. It is situated directly across the People's Square from the City Hall, yet another example of the banal Soviet Block building from the 50s. Inside are the treasures of China on four floors that wrap around an atrium flood with light from a glass-domed ceiling.(Square building with round dome = earth and heaven) And, altogether now, what is the material used on a every wall and floor? If you answered
anything other than marble, you just haven't been paying attention. We didn't have a long time so concentrated on the bronzes that are thousands of years old and the ceramics that range from BC to the 1800s. Every piece is beautifully displayed and labeled. The museum is only six years old but looks like it opened yesterday. The young women at the entrance are a bit bossy but put a Chinese person in any type of uniform and suddenly they have importance and authority no matter what the level.

The rain eased as we made our final stop of the afternoon on the Bund, Shanghai's grand waterfront boulevard. There is a broad, paved walkway along the river that gives an eye-popping view of the eye-popping skyscrapers across the river. And there is even a railing to keep the people on the dry side of the water. This is not always the case in China. Personal safety is your responsibility. In a whacky way, Libertarians would love this country except for that silly communist stuff about no private property, fixed wages, etc. We all took a zillion pictures of the Pearl TV Tower that looks like an ornament you'd put on the top of the Christmas tree, the Marriott that looks like a giant bottle opener, a "gold" faced tower that becomes a HUGE TV screen at night and on and on. Meanwhile, there is a constant parade of freighters coming and going. Shanghai is now the busiest port in the world.

As we stood looking at the architecture of the 21st century, behind us is a stretch of elegant colonial buildings that house the ultra five star hotels along with Chanel, Prada and the like. Look across the river and it's tomorrow; turn around and it's yesterday. Kudos to whomever for not paving paradise and turning it into a parking lot.

This co-mingling of past, present and future is what makes Shanghai so appealing. Unlike all of the other major cities we've visited, the older, two or three story residential buildings are still in use. This gives the eye a break from the monotony of skyscraper after skyscraper as well as making the city pedestrian-friendly. Every Chinese city has trees on every street, highway and major road. You can tell that this is a major effort because often these urban forests are newly planted. And not little saplings, but fifteen or twenty foot ginkos, magnolias, poplars and on and on. I'm not sure that this air exchange will make a dent in the pollution, but the green softens the cement and, well, it's just pretty!

And now it's time to pack up everything and head east to the Western world. It's still hard to believe that we are in China. It's been an amazing adventure. We've seen so much and learned so much. The wall between China and the rest of the world is still coming down. With television and movies and the internet (despite the blocked sites), there is no way that the leaders of China could keep their people isolated. The younger people seem to accept the system as they work it. They strive like mad for an education which is really their only path to a better life.

Time to go. No wifi right now, but maybe at the airport. I'll while away the 13-1/2 hours writing a final blog about more of the quirks and oddities. Our favorite sign yesterday: "To toilet go downstairs and walk backwards."