First days in Shanghai

Here is a map of some polar routes.

The first time I logged on to Blogspot here in Shanghai, all the text around my blog was in Chinese characters. I remembered where the links were to sign in and give my password. Then I finally found the drop down box to select English. So now I can see all the web page items in English and do not have to guess!

I took the Afternoon Cultural tour of Shanghai. My guide was surprised that I was here to see factories. I explained that I teach business subjects and that I would tell my business students about China’s factories and businesses.

It was late on Saturday afternoon and the city was crowded with lots of traffic and people. I said to the guide that a typical American city would be mostly disserted late on a Saturday. The guide said that tomorrow, Sunday, people will go back to work. I thought I misunderstood, but she said that since there was an extra holiday for the New Year, that everyone would work on Sunday, January, 4 as a make up day.

All the Christmas decorations are still up in the department stores and here in the hotel.
People in Shanghai dress in black clothing. Reminds me of New York. Yesterday there were many shoppers along the Nanjing Road. This is a pedestrian mall. So many of these malls have been failures in the US. Fayetteville Street in Raleigh NC and Penn Avenue in Pittsburgh are no longer pedestrian malls. I watched an amateur troop of ladies dancing traditional Chinese ballet with fans. It was a little cold. They had a large audience which did not clap for the performance.