A Chinese Odyssey: Soaking in Shanghai's Delights

China's largest city and financial hub is easily a cut above some of its international peers.

Autumn winds blew on us after we got out of the terminal. Oh how the train-lovers among us would have relished the experience of taking the high-speed Maglev to the Shanghai city centre from Pudong, but a comfortable minibus awaited us to take us for a traditional dinner.

Looking out of the window at the high-quality roads and the new buildings that came up in the quieter areas of Shanghai’s outskirts, there was no hint of the extraordinary skyline downtown, at least not initially. As our bus drove on to the city centre, we crossed the Nanpu Bridge, a cable-stayed bridge with a main span of 428 metres. It was ready in 1991, and became the first bridge over the Huangpu River in Central Shanghai, connecting the traditional city centre with Pudong. Our wonderful guide Mr Shan told us that the ferry services still existed and some people very much liked to use them rather than this bridge. There are now 13 bridges over Shanghai’s famed river. The impressive Nanpu has seven lanes.

We soon arrived on the Bund, crossing the Art Deco masterpieces on the waterfront and then went through a tunnel to have our first Chinese meal (I am not counting the rather nice lunch we had on the flight).

The Shanghainese cuisine was nothing like we had tasted in India or elsewhere, but was far tastier than modified versions of Chinese food. At a revolving table, there was a plethora of salads, fried vegetables, fish, pork, beef, chicken, a soup and of course Chinese sweets. Special care was taken of the vegetarians in the group, so no one would miss out on the delights of various Chinese cuisines, but of course, there was that *one* ‘character’ who started longing for vada pavs and Indian food. Travel isn’t for everyone, but I digress…

Chinese people generally eat dinner before 7 pm. Now, this is a habit I quite like, as I am also a proponent of early dinners. Our first meal was a great indication of what was coming over the next week.

Happily full, though still tired from the long journey via Hong Kong, we set off to the jetty for a cruise of the Huangpu. As we waited in queue, there were also tourists from other parts of China. The likelihood of locals going on a river cruise on a cold autumn Monday night was very low. These young people, loud and excitable and self-absorbed in selfies, were hardly any different from Indians their age.

For a long time, I used to feel that the skyline that one sees from Hong Kong’s Victoria Harbour was the most impressive (it make Manhattan look small), but the Huangpu cruise made me change my mind in a hurry. On the one side you saw Art Deco masterpieces from the time a large part of Shanghai was occupied by foreign colonising powers and on the other side, the modern towering giants of the financial hub.

The Bund does have a resemblance to Bombay’s Marine Drive, but with more dazzling buildings, but Pudong! What a sight! We were fortunate enough to be in the city on a very clear evening and the cruise, despite the (in)famous chilly Shanghai winds is something that will stay with us for a long time.

Midway, as I observed the Sassoon building, all I could think of was the shameful legacy of businesses from Bombay that sold opium in Shanghai and other parts of China, getting richer by the day! All those great 19th century Bombay Gothic structures that many of us are proud of, were built on opium money. Sure, the Sassoons and others did their share of philanthropy, by which they are remembered, but the colonial structure and those businesses that benefited from them did immense harm to both ordinary Indians and Chinese. There really can be no whitewashing of this legacy! Read more about the Sassoons in China here.

After that cruise it was time to go to our hotel in the erstwhile French Concession, the modern wing of a hotel that has been around since 1934. It was here we got our first glimpse of China’s technological prowess. The ‘smart bathroom’ had a toilet with a seat that opened automatically when someone entered. There were also a bunch of buttons ready with different functions that I would rather not go into too much detail to express, but it was impressive.

Logically, it would have made the most sense to catch up on sleep after the rigorous journey to Shanghai, but then there was a charming neighbourhood to explore. An Indian friend who lives in the city joined us for a late-night walk and we explored the tree-lined avenues. When the French occupied this part of Shanghai, they planted the London plane tree (Le platan commun). This tree is a hybrid of the North American sycamore and the Oriental plane. The tree is believed to have originated in Oxford in the 17th century and was taken to France and then brought to Shanghai.

A few corner shops were open at that hour and it is from such places that people pick up a drink and a snack and walk around at night. The youth of Shanghai, at least in the French Concession, seemed to have a special love for pet dogs. The neighbourhood shops also seemed to cater to what one would call hipsters.

We noticed plaques and memorials to those non-political figures who enriched the cultural life in the days of foreign occupation. These lanes had so many stories to share and one night simply was not enough.

Shanghai is a wealthy city and a lot of the rich use e-commerce, fuelling the gig economy. We thought of heading to a pub for one drink before getting to bed. Hopping into an aggregator cab, our friend suggested we go to a basic pub that he identified on a map. He spoke to the driver, who said he came to Shanghai from the distant Sichuan province and worked more than 11 hours a day. This was the city of his dreams and he had wider ambitions.

As it turned out, the pub we wanted to go to was closed. We headed back to our hotel for that much-needed sleep. The next morning, we needed to head to another city to check out an electric car factory…