Tour of Shanghai (Day 1)

Before May Day in 2006, our company held a sports meeting, and our child would also take the high school entrance examination more than a month later. We wanted to take her out for a walk, so we used the few free days during the sports meeting to conduct a five-day self-service tour in Shanghai. At around 4 o'clock in the morning on April 28, our family of three took a train to Shanghai Station. We thought there would be many scammers at the station and wanted to leave the station to find a hotel. Unexpectedly, when we left the station, faced with the crowded crowd of people, I also changed my mind a little bit. They said how good the hotel is and how low the price is. We can take a look first. There are minibuses nearby to pick up and drop off, etc., so we got on the bus with them in the mood of giving it a try. In about five minutes, we arrived at the Dongshi Hotel on Hu-Tai Road. The hotel was not too big and had about five floors. When I entered the room and took a look, I found that the triple room was full of facilities and was quite satisfied. Asked about the price, he said that the store price was 268 yuan/day, and you could get a discount if you participated in a one-day trip in the store. When I went downstairs to the lobby, the soliciting people were eager to get me to pay for it. I read the travel agency's advertising page that the price for a one-day trip in Shanghai was 200 yuan/person, and the one-day trip in Zhouzhuang, Suzhou was 180 yuan/person. I wanted to kill his price. The price I offered was: the price for both one-day trips was the same, 150 yuan/person, and the house price was 100 yuan/day. Moreover, the price could not be increased during the Golden Week. The other party seemed very surprised and angry. I was not in a hurry to make a decision. I took out the price from the travel manual "Traveling All Over China" prepared in advance from my bag: 155 yuan for a one-day trip to Zhouzhuang/someone showed it to him. He said that climbing the Oriental Pearl Tower was the second ball to climb the 265-meter journey. The ticket alone cost 100 yuan per person, but he still disagreed. If I couldn't say it, we went to the tourist distribution center. He said that the price of the distribution center was not cheaper than this one. I said you agreed and I paid for it, but you disagreed with us looking for another hotel. Maybe he thinks I'm not easy to fool; maybe he sees that there are three of us and the profits are considerable; maybe he doesn't want to delay too long to attract customers. He gritted his teeth, patted his leg, pretended to be in pain and agreed. I handed him the money in one hand, and he wrote me a note. In this way, within half an hour of entering the store, I completed my two-day trip. Later, I thought that they were definitely not from the hotel but specialized in soliciting customers. Later, he would settle the bill with the travel agency and the hotel. My personal experience is: When I am away, there are traps everywhere. I must dare to bargain and save money if I can. It gives me a sense of accomplishment to spend less money to do the same thing.

After eating in the restaurant downstairs, we got into an Iveco at about 8 o'clock. There were more than a dozen tourists. Miss Zhou, the tour guide, spoke Mandarin okay. The weather was very sunny. The sun had just risen. It was very hot. Since I had been on the train all night, there was a feeling of chaos in time and space. It felt as if it was noon. The car quickly got onto the elevated road, and the tour guide Miss Zhou entered the front row of the commentary. Her commentary was very authentic and standardized. The commentary must have been memorized in advance. First, she introduced the day's itinerary: Welcome to Shanghai. Today, our tour is to first board the Oriental Pearl TV Tower, the tallest tower in Asia, then visit the Nanpu Bridge, the first bridge on the Huangpu River, and then take a cruise ship from the 16th Pu Pier of the Huangpu River to tour the Pujiang River. At noon, we will have lunch at the City God Temple located in Shanghai's Old City Xiang. In the afternoon, we will go sightseeing on the Bund and Nanjing Road at Shanghai's Window. At 7 o'clock in the evening, we will pick up the station on time at the Broadway downstairs at the Suzhou River Estuary. Then she began to explain, which was about the earth-shaking changes in Shanghai over the past 20 years of reform and opening up. She said that Shanghai currently has four elevated roads, namely, the Inner Ring Elevated Road, the Outer Ring Elevated Road, the North-South Elevated Road, and the Yan 'an Elevated Road. Talking about Shanghai's municipal construction, talking about the cost of elevated roads per kilometer, and talking about the cost of Oriental Pearl Tower and Jinmao Building, how many hundreds of millions of yuan, I was very shocked to hear it. There is one last sentence: Looking at Shanghai today will surprise the world." I grabbed the DV in my hand and captured the scenery outside the window while listening to the commentary. Suddenly, a row of high-rise buildings that soared into the clouds came into view. This was the high-rise building I saw that was different from other cities. It was about twenty to thirty floors, and looked down the building. Looking up, the roof seemed to be above the clouds.

Amid the tour guide's explanation, the mercedes-Benz car suddenly made a big turn on the viaduct. The viaduct was high and the scenery was cheerful. There were rows of high-rise buildings on both sides of the viaduct. The tour guide said that the car had entered the Yan 'an viaduct. In front of it was the center of old Shanghai and the People's Square where the city government was now located. I quickly turned around. Looking down from the viaduct, People's Square is open. In the center of the square, there is a huge white, square building with a twenty-story style. That is the Shanghai City Government Building that I am familiar with from photos. On one side of the building is the Shanghai Municipal Construction and Planning Hall, and on the other side it seems to be the Shanghai Grand Theater, both of which are very unique. The tour guide said that the famous 24-story International Hotel in old Shanghai is located in People's Square, which is also the west entrance of Nanjing Road in Shanghai. Unfortunately, I did not see the tallest building in old Shanghai-the International Hotel. (I saw it the next day when I came back from Zhouzhuang and passed by People's Square. It was an old brown-black building that was conspicuous among the many buildings around People's Square, but it was not tall.) Suddenly I saw a very special high-rise building on the right side in front of the car. The top looked like a blooming lotus flower. The tour guide said that it was the People's Government of Huangpu District of Shanghai City. The car followed the elevated road and quickly entered an underground tunnel. The tour guide said that this was the Yan 'an Road Huangpu River Crossing Tunnel. The tour guide said that through this tunnel, we would enter Pudong. The tour guide said that before the reform and opening up, Shanghai's Urban area was mainly concentrated in Puxi, and Pudong was very backward. Shanghainese had a mantra: "I would rather have a bed in Puxi than a house in Pudong." With the development of Pudong, the completion of Nanpu, Yangpu, Lupu and Xupu bridges, and the opening of several river-bottom tunnels, Pudong has undergone tremendous changes and is now a Shanghai financial, trade and high-tech demonstration zone. After the car entered the tunnel, my mood was very excited. The tunnel was eerie and cool. There were cars and sedans driving in front and back with their lights turned on, and the sound was deafening. I hurriedly turned on the DV capture camera. At this time, the car was driving to the bottom of the tunnel. The tour guide said: Dear tourists, we are now driving at the bottom of the Huangpu River, with rolling Huangpu River water and a 10,000-ton giant ship passing over us. The car passed through the tunnel, passed under the 88-story Jinmao Building, and in the blink of an eye arrived at the square under the Oriental Pearl Tower.

We looked from the square under the Pearl Tower. Because it was still early, there were not many tourists, only a few foreign tourist groups. We wanted to take some photos under the tower, but I found it difficult to take a panoramic view of the tower. At the urging of the tour guide, we quickly took two photos and entered the check-in hall under the tower. Before entering the elevator, we had to hand over our mobile phones and other metal items for security inspection. The elevator is very large and can accommodate twenty to thirty people. There are special elevator ladies inside, wearing red uniforms, who explain in Chinese and English. In about ten seconds, the elevator rose to the second ball more than 260 meters. Walking out of the elevator, the ball has a large area, as big as a small playground. There is a counter selling souvenirs such as Oriental Pearl models in the middle. Looking down from the tower, my heart was greatly shocked. I had a panoramic view on both sides of the Pujiang River. How many times have I dreamed of climbing the Oriental Pearl River? Now I look at the Bund International Building Complex under the tower, the Customs Building, Peace Hotel, Bank of China, Waibaidu Bridge, Suzhou River, Broadway Building, and other scenery that were only seen in pickets in the past. Then I look at the 10,000-ton giant ship slowly moving in the Huangpu River and the ocean liner parked near the Waibaidu Bridge, and then I look at the Century Avenue under the tower with cars flowing. It feels like I am in a dream.

After wandering back and forth on the tower for nearly an hour, we greedily took many photos that we couldn't remember. When we saw that the time was almost up, we quickly got off the tower, but getting off the tower was not easy. We had to wait in a long queue for the elevator. We were very anxious and afraid of delaying the travel time. Fortunately, the elevator has a large capacity and is very fast. It seems that there are two elevators running. Before entering the elevator, I greeted several foreigners waiting for the elevator in English. They couldn't understand it and later learned that they were Japanese. When I went down to Taxia Square, I saw a group of foreigners taking a group photo. I also went up to take photos of them. They were all happy when they saw me as a slow guest. I showed off the daily expression "welcome to Shanghai" that I usually learned, and they used the stiff Chinese saying "Hello! Hello!" When they greeted me, I didn't care much about greeting them and jogged all the way to the tourist bus on the edge of the square. The tour guide was very dissatisfied with our tardiness and wanted me to sing.

After leaving the Oriental Pearl Square, we passed through a large hotel built with funds raised by Pudong farmers after the reform and opening up. It was called the "Youyou" Hotel. Why is it called the "Youyou" Hotel? The tour guide told us that it means that Pudong farmers have a chance to grow farming. Then our car circled onto the Nanpu Bridge, the first bridge on the Huangpu River. The approach bridge of Nanpu Bridge was very long and spiraling. Below the approach bridge was a park. The car took a long time to reach the main bridge. The four characters of Nanpu Bridge inscribed by Deng Xiaoping on the bridge tower are strong and powerful. The bridge has a clearance of 50 meters. The bridge has dozens of steel cables to support the bridge deck, and the tens of thousands of tons of giant ships below is unimpeded. Looking from the bridge, you can see stacked buildings on both sides of the Huangpu River, and the 2010 World Expo Park planning area is there. After getting off the Nanpu Bridge, we returned to Puxi. We first passed through the "Big World", the entertainment center of old Shanghai. It was an old building of four or five floors, but now it is no longer glorious. Later, we passed a concert hall. The tour guide told us that the concert hall was originally in the middle of the road. When the road was widened, the construction workers used advanced technology to move the concert hall dozens of meters towards the roadside. We are all amazed at the magic of technology.

Then the coach took us to Shiliupu Wharf in the Huangpu River for a tour of the Pujiang River. I know that Lien Chan boarded the boat from here for his visit to Shanghai last year, but that time was at night. After boarding the ship, we quickly climbed onto the cabin roof for fear of missing the opportunity to take photos. After the cruise ship started, we took photos of the Oriental Pearl like the whole ship. The cruise ship arrived at the mouth of the Suzhou River and returned home. We took photos of the Bund buildings again. Finally, we returned to Shiliupu Wharf, back and forth for about 20 minutes. We thought about what we saw on the ship, but I didn't have a deep impression. It didn't matter, it was all on DV. I took two more photos in the cabin before getting off the boat.

Near noon, we arrived at the City God Temple in the Old Chengxiang of Shanghai. We had a meal at the restaurant. The tour guide led us at 20 yuan per person. We gave money on the spot and had a table for dinner. No alcohol was included. The food was okay! The City God Temple is just as I remember it. It is a prosperous shopping mall. It has temples, water pavilions, Jiuqu Bridge, and a garden built by Qing Dynasty officials to allow their parents to spend their lives and enjoy their body and mind. What impressed me the most was the flock of red fish under the water pavilion. We first saw the Buddha statues in the temple, and then visited the mall, which mainly sold antiques, handicrafts and the like. Yuyuan requires tickets for five yuan each. There is Jiang Zemin's inscription at the door, but we didn't enter. Mao Mao and her mother also bought head flowers and other things at a nearby two-yuan store.

Coming out of the City God Temple, we took a bus to the Bund. We passed the old city government building, the customs building, Nanjing Crossing, Peace Hotel, and the Bank of China to Huangpu Park located at the north end of the Bund. Huangpu Park is not big and contains the May 4th group carvings. The tour guide introduced that Huangpu Park was built by foreigners in the 1920s and 1930s, and the "Chinese and dogs are not allowed to enter" that humiliated the Chinese people occurred here. We were furious when we heard this.

During our free activities in the afternoon, we walked down the Bund and came to Nanjing Road under the Peace Hotel, known as the Old Shanghai Shili Yangchang. Nanjing Road is still the most prosperous commercial street in Shanghai. Most of the people shopping here are foreigners. It is said that Shanghainese never buy anything here. I was sightseeing and taking photos on the street, looking for traces of old Shanghai. Maomao and her mother entered a shopping mall. After a while, they came out and said that there was a nice black women's windbreaker inside. The price was not expensive, only more than 200 yuan. After I entered, the salesperson was extremely enthusiastic and said that it was up to you to buy it. When I saw that the windbreaker was of average style, even a little outdated, and the quality was not good. In our local area, it was only tens of yuan. Moreover, it was about to enter summer, and I couldn't wear it anymore. I only regretted buying it. So I was unwilling to sell it. When the salesperson saw that I was unwilling to buy it, he tried all he could, helping Wang Ying try it on, lowering the price, praising how rich we were, and saying that we would regret not buying clothes on Nanjing Road. But we made up our mind not to buy it. When she escaped from the mall without paying attention, she actually chased us outside the door with clothes. I finally experienced the enthusiasm of the Shanghai salesperson.

Wandering in the sea breeze on the Bund, we felt particularly relaxed. Looking at the cargo ships and cruise ships coming and going in the Huangpu River, and looking at the towering Jinmao Tower and the Oriental Pearl Tower on the other side, we lamented that we had finally arrived in Shanghai. It was not yet May Day Golden Week, tourists were not crowded. We took photos from multiple angles and came to the Memorial Tower of the People's Heroes in Shanghai City at the mouth of the Suzhou River. The memorial tower was built for the heroes who sacrificed their lives to liberate Shanghai. Here we met two elderly foreign tourists. Mao and I communicated with her in English and knew that they came from Washington, USA. She also praised our good English. We were very proud.

Unconsciously, when the lights were first turned on, the colorful lights on the Bund buildings lit up one after another. It was almost time to pick up the car. We walked along Zhongshan East Road, where the Bund was located, and arrived at Waibaidu Bridge on the Suzhou River. Waibaidu Bridge is an iron bridge that is very old. It seems to have been built in 1907. Walking on the sidewalk of the iron bridge, there is an obvious vibration when cars pass by. I know that there was a fierce battle here when Shanghai was liberated in 1949, and I have also seen photos of the cavalry of the East China Field Army led by Chen Yi passing through the Waibaidu Bridge when liberating Shanghai.

Across the Suzhou River, you can see the Broadway Building built in 1932. Today, the Shanghai Building is one of the tallest buildings in old Shanghai. This building is a witness to Shanghai's history. It was once the place where Shanghai's top underworld figures, Huang Jinrong, Du Yuesheng, Zhang Xiaolin, and others, had fun and had fun. During the Japanese occupation of Shanghai, it was the Japanese Supreme Command. I saw from the documentary that when the People's Liberation Army occupied Shanghai, it was the Kuomintang's blue sky and white day flag that was pulled down from the roof of this building. After liberation, it received dozens of foreign heads of state who came to China, including Nixon, Kim Il Sung, Khrushchev, Pompidou, etc. I learned from the article "Deng Jiaxian" written by Yang Zhenning in the middle school Chinese textbook that when Yang Zhenning returned to China for the first time in 1971, the leaders of Shanghai City invited him to dinner in the building. During the dinner, he received a letter from Deng Jiaxian confirming that China's atomic bomb was entirely made by the Chinese themselves. Even he himself did not know why, he could not help but shed tears of excitement and had to get up and go to the bathroom to have a plastic surgery.

Below the Broadway Building, I took a look up photo with the DV. After waiting for ten minutes, the travel agency's car arrived. At this time, the lights were shining and neon lights were flashing. The tour guide let the car return from the Bund, allowing us to enjoy the beautiful night view of the Bund again. After climbing the Yan 'an Viaduct, high-rise buildings glowed with neon lights, and the People's Square was brightly lit. I think this is one of the most beautiful landscapes I have seen today. Go back to Dongshi Hotel, eat, rest quickly and prepare for tomorrow's trip to Zhouzhuang.

July 2007

Dongshi Grand Hotel

Huangpu River Bottom Tunnel

Climb the tower soon

Mingzhutashang

Mingzhutaxia

Taking photos of foreigners

Pujiang Tour

The Monument to the People's Heroes seen from the Huangpu River

The good men and women in the City God Temple

Chenghuang Temple Water Pavilion

Red fish in the water pavilion

Waibaidu Bridge, Broadway Building

Customs Building on the Bund

Entrance of Nanjing Road on the Bund

Huangpu Park

Night view of the Oriental Pearl

subway line one

Fudan Campus

Old photo-The Bund in the 1930s

Old photo-Shanghai Liberation

Old photo--Huangpu River in the early days of its opening