I enjoyed very much this journey in Shanghai: the encounter with Cynthia Ping Zhou, the talk about Shanghai and its economic growth , the birth control policy (one child) and the girls and their opportunities of studies and of jobs. Sophie shared nice moments with Cynthia: the tea house, the promenade of the Bund (where people were praticing Tai Chi), the Shanghai World Financial Tower, the Barbie shop, the karaoke night (singing "La vie en rose"), the old neighborhoods, the bird vendor and the insect vendor (cricket fights), the relaxing Chinese massage, the walk in the publc park where people were playing go, the visit of the market, the supper with Cynthia's mother and the Chinese circus with its great acrobats.
Besides we went to Lonjing,near Hangzhou: a village where the inhabitants get a parcel to grow tea (but if they leave the village, they loose this advantage): there we see the harvest of the tea leaves (women are coming from different parts of China to harvest and so get some incomes): Lonjing produce the best green tea of China. We enter also in the world of the Chinese millionaires with the examples of Huang Yangxan (a plastic chair producer for the Olympic Games stadiums) and Gu Jiemin, manager of an on-line business in England: now there are very private clubs in Shanghai (with restaurants, marinas and golf grounds).
Chinese people enjoy leisures: the most popular is the karaoke, but the new trend is the Orient Rome in Shanghai, where the clients enjoy bathing, massage, or games (cards) , they change change their cloths for pijamas and spend also the night in the place.
We discover also the life of the old neighborhoods (19 th century houses): some house will soon be destroyed and other will remain: there the people honor their dead family members preparing food and making offerings in the cemetery. Among these old neighborhoods a Taoist temple where people come to find a peacefull life. Another traditional activity is flying kites: in the suburbs the familes are flying kite and we can see a 54 meters long dragon kite.
But the modernity has also its cost: Shanghai made his new container port in one of the two Yangshan island, the fishermen and other inhabitants have been removed to the other island of Yangshan: the government gave them appartments in new buildinds but the town seems without life.
I enjoyed this journey through the modernity and the tradition in Shanghai and I appreciate the kindness of the Chinese men and women.