Shanghai was a British settlement for quite a while, the Bund was the location of the English commerce. In the evenings, you can take a river cruise of about 1/2 mile along the Bund. The British side is all white block and staid street fronts. The new side of the river, the east, or PuDong (east river) is the new, striking Chinese entry into the 21st Century. Huge tall buildings, many with neon or light bulbs done as pixels for a nightime show of color along the outside of the buildings.

A city of amazing contrasts: laundry (international flags they call it) hanging everywhere on the outside of condos and small houses, next to towering tall office buildings that rival any US city. Folks in pedicabs and limousines. Hovels and highrises.

Near the new airport, Western style condos abound.
Western style condos can run $5,000 US per square meter!!!
Here is the other end of the spectrum
Sculptures often pop up in unlikely spots
Spinning silk off the cocoon
Imagine sitting day after day following a small pattern above your head, tying off silk for carpets...
The finished products are unbelievably soft and rich in color and patterns!
International flags
My husband is an electrician and almost had a coronary over this photo and some of Beijing's "wiring"
This photo is looking straight down the side of our bus, notice the *other* bus about 4 inches off the side of ours. Traffic is a scarey thing!!
Golden arches everywhere in the world
A Chinese favorite, KFC

Beijing	Forbidden City	Great Wall	Peking Opera	Summer Palace	Tiennamen Square
Shanghai		Shanghai Acrobats	Shanghai Bund	Yuyang Garden
Xian	Big Goose Pagoda	City Wall	Shaanxi Museum	Tang Dynasty Show	Terra Cotta Warriors

All content and photos Copyright 2006 Sharon Ruck