After traveling thru China for 6 days at this point, I didn’t know what to expect in Shanghai. We already saw the biggest sites on my China short list, so I didn’t have any expectations going into this unfamiliar city. I was pleasantly surprised.

Right from the plane, we headed towards the famous Bullet Train. This guys goes super fast and now I can say that I have been on the fastest train in the world. Woot!

China is the king of big cities, but as far as my eye could see, were sky scraper after sky scraper. And the ever present building cranes can be seen in the distance.
One night while John and I waited for the others to come down to the bus, we stood outside our hotel and just watched people go by. This view provided the perfect view of China’s development. In the background you can see examples of the recently developed China, with it’s new found wealth and growth. Yet, juxtaposed in the right corner is a man carrying his own tow, something you would never see in a first world nation. I thought this image perfectly illustrates the stretch-marks of how China is not as advanced as we think it is and still has a lot of room to grow. While we were here, we also got to visit an older section of Shanghai, where the buildings are only 5 stories high. We talked to a family about the Cultural Revolution and the prolific amount of abortions women must do to stay in compliance with China’s one-child policy. The use of contraception didn’t come up. And interestingly enough, these humble abodes were only one bedroom, yet 3 people comfortably lived in this very small place. Humbling. A highlight was going to see a Chinese Acrobatic Show. I have never seen Cirque du Soleil so I imagine it was very similar and that most of their performers are plucked out of Shanghai. We also went to a Silk Factory. Actually everyday we went to some sort of factory/gift shop, as a stipulation that the Communist government forces all tours to do. Nevertheless, the educational bits that were shared with us were pretty cool. Here we got to learn all about silk worms and how factory ladies are able to exploit these little guys to make beautiful garments.Then we went to the Jade Buddha Temple, where China’s largest hand crafted Buddha is. This temple actually brought me much saddness. You don’t see it in the pictures, but despite the beauty of the temple and the faith that can be found there, in every room there was a gift shop. I was reminded of how Jesus came into the Jewish temples and in John 2:13 accused them of turning the temple into a den of thieves and said “Do not make My Father’s house a house of merchandise!” This was a blatant example of how capitalism is alive and well in China for sure.
We then headed to a cool pagoda garden area that provided some quiet and pretty views.On the last night of our tour, we decided to take a night cruise along the river that divided the city. The views were spectacular and we had a blast taking pictures. This was the perfect way to end out trip!