Zhujiajiao Sunset

I headed from Zhouzhuang to Zhujiajiao by bus and walked over a bridge to catch the sun setting over the older part of town.

Xintiandi

I wrote about Xintiandi, and here is a simple introduction to understand the adaptive reuse format which was used for the project. The area is in the old French concession and before the time of construction, it was a ratty residential area in row house format. Parts of some of the buildings were saved while others had to go. This was the eventual result, but here is some more info about it.

Xintiandi Masterminds

Along with some of the other stops with the ULI group, we got a chance to meet Ben Wood and Delphine Yip, the brains behind the wildly successful Xintiandi development in Shanghai. They were both inspiring and have a great story about the project from the seedling of an idea to what it is now.

Urban Planning Museum

I got to join the Urban Land Institute's Young Leaders Group from Tokyo when they came to Shanghai for a study tour. One of the highlights was going to the Urban Planning Museum, where they have this massive mock up of the city.

Mid Autumn Festival 中秋节

Mid Autumn Festival is celebrated as a holiday of harvest according to the lunar calendar. Moon cakes are eaten and it's a national holiday. I went to a festival at Jiangwan Park to see the traditional music and dance.

Shanghai Art Fair

The Shanghai Art Fair was an anticipated event, boasting both Eastern and Western artists, but like most things here in China, it had to be censored as well. Take the piece on the right as an example. One of the layered images was a woman licking another woman's breast. What did the thought police do? They taped a piece of paper over it. When I mentioned this humorously to a senior diplomat, he rolled his eyes, shook his head and said, "That's so Chinese." Of course, he is Chinese as well, with a healthy sense of humor.

Brunch

I haven't had brunch for about 5 months, mainly because it's not a common occurrence in Tianjin and most places in Shanghai are a little too spendy for me (RMB250+ = USD35+) until I found Cafe' Montmartre. This was the spread, for a grand total of RMB138 = USD20 per person! I almost formed tears of joy when I saw it.