Shanghai Museum

On Saturday morning the Shanghai Museum had a line snaking a half mile through the parking lots made up of suburban school children and Chinese tourists. (There was a much smaller line at the handicap entrance of western tourists and their paid guides).

With 120,000 exhibits and well designed guides it is probably the best Asian museum outside the new ones in Beijing and SanFrancisco. The most famous are the Bronzes Gallery and the Ceramics Gallery. A unique feature is that they display matched pairs going back 6000 years.

They also introduce the 55 non-Han ethnic groups through clothing and handicrafts.

Still topped by the newer Beijing museum, Shaighai bosts an incredible 120,000 exibits with its most famous collection being the bronzes gallery, 6000 year old pottery and an enormous variety of porcelain. And jade, some dating back 5000 years. Also handicrafts and clothing of the 55 non-Han ethnic groups now composing modern China.

Shanghai Day 3 Renmin Square

As with most world class over crowded cities, Shanghai has an imposing public square at its heart, now at the intersection of lines 1&2 of the Metro.

The park is home to the very modern Shanghai Museum and the Shanghai Grand Theater.

It is a fun place to relax and watch people strolling, flying kites and yes even waltzing to live music.

Towering above the park are is Tomorrow Square housing the JW Marriott hotel and the

UFO topped Radisson. It could be downtown Chicago.

Shanghai Day 2 Shopping

So off to see the city. With 1.8 mllion users a day, the metro is fast, cheap, clean and easy.

Nanjing Road, China's most famous shopping street is home to a bonanza of retail shops, busy restaurants, and determined English-speaking girls latching on to foreign men.

Lunch at Xinya Yuecaiguan dating from 1927 serving Cantonese food and now part of the Ramada Inn complex. Barbeque pork ribs with beer $7.50.

Shanghai Day 2

Well that is until you wake up the next morning and realize that your hotel is across the street from a 24 hour McDonald's that delivers on the back of a motorbike just like Pizza Hut.

And the street front of the hotel is a Starbucks.

Shanghai Day 1

If you half closed your eyes you might think you were in 1950s Paris. The French Concession where I stayed has tree-lined streets, 1920s mansions, and French-inspired architecture. The main drag is Huaihai Road named after a battle that ended with the communists routing the Kuomintang during the civil war.

The apartment blocks like in Paris go back to alleys with more apartments.

Even the bicycles seem out of 1950s Paris.