Shanghai....not the tourist brochure

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George

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Shanghai....not the tourist brochure
« on: March 17, 2010, 11:11:07 PM »
The ugliest building in the city..

Another contender...

A glimpse of the backside...

Nanjing Road...nothing to recommend it...nice at nights with all the lights, but that's about all.


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AMonk

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Re: Shanghai....not the tourist brochure
« Reply #1 on: March 17, 2010, 11:14:05 PM »
Nice photos, George agagagagag
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Re: Shanghai....not the tourist brochure
« Reply #2 on: March 18, 2010, 05:35:47 AM »
Shanghai has lots of cool buildings, and I especially like the two big hotels looking across People's Square at each other. But I absolutely hate the second building pictured here. I've hated ever since I first saw it 4 years ago. I'm actually headed to Shanghai this weekend and I know some idiot is going to be like 'hey look at that cool building' and I'm just going to have to slap them.

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mlaeux

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Re: Shanghai....not the tourist brochure
« Reply #3 on: March 18, 2010, 10:11:01 AM »
Thanks for sharing George. I always look forward to your pictures!  bfbfbfbfbf
And the little commentaries too.  ahahahahah

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harry_aus

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Re: Shanghai....not the tourist brochure
« Reply #4 on: March 18, 2010, 04:40:52 PM »


That second building - the uppermost top on it -looks like
one of those plastic containers that you put flowers in!
First time I've seen a close-up of it, and yes, it is indeed a
hideous design.  The Oriental-TV tower...I do like the upper heights,
but looking again at those supporting 'legs'...not too fussed on them.
Reminiscent of a James Bond movie-set, maybe.

But,great photos, George, particularly those rainy-night street images in
Nanjing Road.

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Dex

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Re: Shanghai....not the tourist brochure
« Reply #5 on: March 21, 2010, 02:35:08 AM »
What's the buzz about Shanghai?

Apart from shops and er... shops, I can't feel much else grounds the city onto a fascination level. I know about the old parts, selling mostly modern-made 'nostalgic' junk (which I really love - make great gifts to take back 'home')... but apart from that, it's lost so much true Shanghai character over the last few decades. I'd love to have seen it in it's old 'divided' style adorned with European and North American -mixed with Chinese of course- architecture; you know, like in that Indiana Jones film they made!

However... sweet pics mate, keep 'em rolling.

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annar

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Re: Shanghai....not the tourist brochure
« Reply #6 on: January 01, 2011, 05:17:17 AM »
What's the buzz about Shanghai?

Apart from shops and er... shops, I can't feel much else grounds the city onto a fascination level. I know about the old parts, selling mostly modern-made 'nostalgic' junk (which I really love - make great gifts to take back 'home')... but apart from that, it's lost so much true Shanghai character over the last few decades. I'd love to have seen it in it's old 'divided' style adorned with European and North American -mixed with Chinese of course- architecture; you know, like in that Indiana Jones film they made!

However... sweet pics mate, keep 'em rolling.


i guess Shanghai is just more open culturally to foreigners. i arrived there just after Beijing and have witnessed the huge difference in peoples attitude. I no longer had to flee local "paparazzi" in the form of locals who just wanted to take my pictures or randomly practice their English on a foreigner. In shanghai the number of such people reduced immensely to my great content.its also a great city to get around to water villages and travel from it, at least that was my impression. Another thing i found interesting was the Jewish quarter and its brief history, including a synagogue (that is wrongly preserved on the inside but lets not be petty). Its a city that lives and breaths 24 hours but i guess its not a big deal for people who lived in megalopolises before.

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Raoul F. Duke

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Re: Shanghai....not the tourist brochure
« Reply #7 on: January 01, 2011, 06:21:06 AM »
Shanghai is the closest thing to a world-class real city- a la New York, Hong Kong, London, Toronto, etc.- one can find in China. Beijing and Guangzhou etc. are big, and they're cities, but they just don't have the funky urban jazz other world cities have. Only Shanghai really even approaches it.

The Shanghainese love to compare their city favorably to Hong Kong...and I generally half-strangle myself diplomatically trying not to just bust a gut laughing out loud at them. ahahahahah
Still, though, Shanghai is the closest thing to a true city you'll find on the Mainland. bfbfbfbfbf
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Re: Shanghai....not the tourist brochure
« Reply #8 on: January 01, 2011, 02:58:09 PM »
Raoul, I also think Guangzhou is coming pretty close to a world-class city too. I feel I could be anywhere when I'm there, the transport is great, lots of international food choices, lots to see etc. Why do you think it's still a long way from Shanghai in that respect? Granted, I agree about Beijing, just because it IS very traditional and lots of Chinese culture and history and government stuff etc etc, but I wouldn't want that to change!
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xwarrior

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Re: Shanghai....not the tourist brochure
« Reply #9 on: January 01, 2011, 03:45:07 PM »
I lived in Guangzhou and to me it is a great city with its mixture of old and new.

I have visited Beijing and it has the history and great places to vist (especially the Summer Palace) but it so sprawling it seems to have no heart ... and sure does not feel like it has a soul.

I had 5 days in Shanghai this year and had the overwhelming impression every day that it is a world class city in every way... architecture, planning, transport, etc.
The problem came when I when I wanted to show my son - he was visiting China for 2 weeks - the "real" China that I know. I was a visitor to Shanghai myself but in 3 days I had not seen anything that was very different from back home. 
In the end we went to the "Old City". which turned out to be an up-market re-
creation for tourists.
Eventually I found a side alley where the locals were living in the 'old' way - old apartments, micro-industries, mahjong, people sitting on steps and chatting.
My son had been with a government funded promotion group, staying in 5 star hotels all the way, but felt that 2 hours in this place gave some window into the real China.
I have my standards. They may be low, but I have them.
- Bette Midler

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Raoul F. Duke

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Re: Shanghai....not the tourist brochure
« Reply #10 on: January 03, 2011, 11:20:16 AM »
Don't get me wrong, guys...I really like Guangzhou a LOT. I wouldn't even consider challenging its greatness. (Right fond of Beijing, too...)

I just never got a "hide the language on the signs, and this could be any urban center anywhere in the world" feeling there. Only place where that came close to happening was Shanghai. I'll concede that I haven't spent nearly as much time in Guangzhou as in the other two, but still...

Guangzhou struck me as a really incredibly great Chinese city.
Shanghai is knocking on the door of becoming a really great World city.

"Vicodin and dumplings...it's a great combination!" (Anthony Bourdain, in Harbin)

"Here in China we aren't just teaching...
we're building the corrupt, incompetent, baijiu-swilling buttheads of tomorrow!" (Raoul F. Duke)