Why I love Shanghai

"Nothing can distract Chinese people from getting where or what they want. No crowd, no sleepless night, no famine, no compromise."

Dragon boats and flows of people under misty rain. We stroll along the streets of the city and come across mixed scenes of highest luxury brand design and poorest tiny roads where children play with any curious thing visitors left. Clothes hang in the streets for drying. The noise is steady. Car and e-bike drivers blow horns at the sight of any moving thing or person. Bicycle drivers ring their bells. Advertising screens play their music and the people in the streets shout to be heard. Equal to the constant and changing levels of noise, smells fill the air.Within 100 feet you come across smells of grilled food, rotten fruits or clean laundry. But then again, you hear a loud laughter and a friendly face is smiling at you. Around the corner couples dance in a tiny park at french chansons. Men carry their girlfriends bags. Girls dress up for their boyfriends, no matter how poor or rich. All hold high-tech and highly decorated smart phones in their hands. The glow of the screens light up their faces while they expertly write messages or play games. At 7pm we finally return to our room on the 9th floor of a hotel in front of the Shanghai Train Station. There is suddenly music playing outside. Loud enough to hear it and low enough to be pleasant. We look out of the window and in the middle of the square, dozens of middle-aged and young women exercise headed by three red dressed teachers.

This is China. This is Shanghai.

#China #Shanghai