We decided not to go to Shuzhou after all -- there is so much to see in Shanghai and so little time to see it. So little time mainly because it's very difficult to move at even close to normal speed in this heat, so everything takes longer than you'd expect.
Yesterday evening we went to the Oriental Pearl tower to get get a view of Shanghai by night from the highest vantage point in the city. Then dinner in a very fashionable restaurant -- "M on the Bund" -- where we had crispy suckling pig (the poor beast was probably ripped from its mother's breast yesterday morning to be slaughtered and cooked for me) and slow-baked lamb. The restaurant is on the top floor of one of the classic Bund buildings and has a terrace with a wonderful view.
Today we paid homage at the place where the Communist Party of China held its first national congress in 1921. Appropriately enough, entry to the museum on the site is free, though you can buy souvenirs at the small gift shop at the exit. The displays recount the history of 20th century China's struggle to break free from the oppression of European, American and Japanese colonists and to establish the workers' dictatorship. The high ideals of the revolution have been diluted somewhat since the victory of the people over their foreign slave masters and the native bourgeoisie, as is perfectly illustrated by the Rolls Royce showroom about 100 metres from this shrine of Marxist egalitarianism. I'm sure Marx, Lenin and Mao rolled in their graves the day Deng Xiao Ping declared not only that to own private property is acceptable, but that "to get rich is glorious". Many have embraced this adapted form of Communism judging by the number of BMWs, Bentleys and Buicks intimidating the tuk-tuks in the streets. But not all. Yesterday I read that the legal minimum wage in one the the western provinces of China has just been increased to 750 yuan per month. That's less that we paid for dinner at M on the Bund.
Yesterday evening we went to the Oriental Pearl tower to get get a view of Shanghai by night from the highest vantage point in the city. Then dinner in a very fashionable restaurant -- "M on the Bund" -- where we had crispy suckling pig (the poor beast was probably ripped from its mother's breast yesterday morning to be slaughtered and cooked for me) and slow-baked lamb. The restaurant is on the top floor of one of the classic Bund buildings and has a terrace with a wonderful view.
Today we paid homage at the place where the Communist Party of China held its first national congress in 1921. Appropriately enough, entry to the museum on the site is free, though you can buy souvenirs at the small gift shop at the exit. The displays recount the history of 20th century China's struggle to break free from the oppression of European, American and Japanese colonists and to establish the workers' dictatorship. The high ideals of the revolution have been diluted somewhat since the victory of the people over their foreign slave masters and the native bourgeoisie, as is perfectly illustrated by the Rolls Royce showroom about 100 metres from this shrine of Marxist egalitarianism. I'm sure Marx, Lenin and Mao rolled in their graves the day Deng Xiao Ping declared not only that to own private property is acceptable, but that "to get rich is glorious". Many have embraced this adapted form of Communism judging by the number of BMWs, Bentleys and Buicks intimidating the tuk-tuks in the streets. But not all. Yesterday I read that the legal minimum wage in one the the western provinces of China has just been increased to 750 yuan per month. That's less that we paid for dinner at M on the Bund.
