Tuesday, February 13th.
Another day, another set of adventures in foreign places. Today I headed to the cultural centre of Shanghai (which, due to this city's unique layout, is in a different place to the economic centre, which in turn is seperate from the historical centre, geographical centre, commercial centre etc etc.), Renmin (AKA "People's") Square/Park.
Taking the light rail then subway in (today I waited until -after- the rush hour, after experiencing the public transport system at peak capacity yesterday), I hopped off at Renmin Square station. Now, back in the colonial days, this area was in fact a horse racing track, but has been transformed into a park and a large public square, with a variety of museums, concert halls, government offices and and around.
Renmin Park is very nice, it's a rare (relatively) peacful spot in the cacophany of Shanghai, with a pretty ornamental lake, lawns (not for walking on!), and all of the other accoutrements that go with a public park. Once I'd nosed around the park a little, I made my way across Renmin Square (and its resident population of incredibly fat, breadcrumb fed pigeons) to the Shanghai Urban Planning Exhibition Hall.
After paying the 40 Yuan entry fee, I headed on into the incredible Shanghai Urban Planning Exhibition Hall. The first couple of levels are mostly history - they've got a really interesting photo collection from the early 20th century, as well as some amazing before and after shots showing how much the place has changed just in the last 20 odd years. They also have a 'multimedia experience', which is code for 'history film projected onto a screen, except that when it rains on the screen, little nozzles in the roof spray water on your head'. Which is annoying.
On the 2nd level, there was (strangely enough), an exhibition of oil paintings from contemporary Russian artists, which was good - I don't think I'd been to any 'paintings hanging on a wall' type galleries on my trip thusfar.
But the 3rd level was the real treat. Let me give you a little background first. So Shanghai, like many cities around the world, is ringed by a set of freeways. This is the main built-up area of Shanghai, and it's growing incredibly fast. I mentioned how, back in 1990, Pudong was farmland, right? And now it's home to some of the tallest structures in the world - that's how quickly basically the entire city is growing right now. Shanghai are hosting a World Exposition in 2010, and they've got biiiiiiig plans. So on the 3rd floor, they have a scale model of Shanghai - The whole thing - or at least everything inside the ring of freeways which encircle much of the city. This thing is -massive-. Apparently it covers 800 square metres (so, think roughly 30 * 30 metres). But here's the kicker - this isn't Shanghai today, this is the vision for the future of Shanghai, so you can look at any spot within the city, and see what the plan is for it in 10 to 15 years time. Apparently the Hostel I'm staying at is gonna be a block of flats. Which is nice to know.
Other than the giant model, they also have a number of displays on various aspects of the city and its development - Pudong airport, the Suzhou River, etc etc. Additionally, they have a 360 degree showreel of the city's future (So, you go into this round room, and they project on the walls all around, so it's like you're flying through this computer generated Shanghai of the future).
All in all, I spent almost 2 hours in the Planning Exhibition Hall - of course, I'm sure it's not for everyone, but for me, it was an incredible experience.
Once I was finished there, I popped down to a bakery for lunch, then took a walk down western Nanjing road, just taking in the sights of the city. And I've gotta say, the architects in Shanghai sure do a mean line in scary skyscrapers. I mean, they're not all scary. Some are beautiful, some are ugly, some are boring, but an unusually large number bring to mind adjectives such as "Imposing", "Brooding" and "Foreboding". I've gotta say, they're mighty impressive things.
So after a bit of an architectural tour (more of that tomorrow too, I'm heading for the French Concession district) of the city, I hopped the train back to the hostel to do some washing :p
Well, that's about it for today, so 'til next time.
Jono
Another day, another set of adventures in foreign places. Today I headed to the cultural centre of Shanghai (which, due to this city's unique layout, is in a different place to the economic centre, which in turn is seperate from the historical centre, geographical centre, commercial centre etc etc.), Renmin (AKA "People's") Square/Park.
Taking the light rail then subway in (today I waited until -after- the rush hour, after experiencing the public transport system at peak capacity yesterday), I hopped off at Renmin Square station. Now, back in the colonial days, this area was in fact a horse racing track, but has been transformed into a park and a large public square, with a variety of museums, concert halls, government offices and and around.
Renmin Park is very nice, it's a rare (relatively) peacful spot in the cacophany of Shanghai, with a pretty ornamental lake, lawns (not for walking on!), and all of the other accoutrements that go with a public park. Once I'd nosed around the park a little, I made my way across Renmin Square (and its resident population of incredibly fat, breadcrumb fed pigeons) to the Shanghai Urban Planning Exhibition Hall.
After paying the 40 Yuan entry fee, I headed on into the incredible Shanghai Urban Planning Exhibition Hall. The first couple of levels are mostly history - they've got a really interesting photo collection from the early 20th century, as well as some amazing before and after shots showing how much the place has changed just in the last 20 odd years. They also have a 'multimedia experience', which is code for 'history film projected onto a screen, except that when it rains on the screen, little nozzles in the roof spray water on your head'. Which is annoying.
On the 2nd level, there was (strangely enough), an exhibition of oil paintings from contemporary Russian artists, which was good - I don't think I'd been to any 'paintings hanging on a wall' type galleries on my trip thusfar.
But the 3rd level was the real treat. Let me give you a little background first. So Shanghai, like many cities around the world, is ringed by a set of freeways. This is the main built-up area of Shanghai, and it's growing incredibly fast. I mentioned how, back in 1990, Pudong was farmland, right? And now it's home to some of the tallest structures in the world - that's how quickly basically the entire city is growing right now. Shanghai are hosting a World Exposition in 2010, and they've got biiiiiiig plans. So on the 3rd floor, they have a scale model of Shanghai - The whole thing - or at least everything inside the ring of freeways which encircle much of the city. This thing is -massive-. Apparently it covers 800 square metres (so, think roughly 30 * 30 metres). But here's the kicker - this isn't Shanghai today, this is the vision for the future of Shanghai, so you can look at any spot within the city, and see what the plan is for it in 10 to 15 years time. Apparently the Hostel I'm staying at is gonna be a block of flats. Which is nice to know.
Other than the giant model, they also have a number of displays on various aspects of the city and its development - Pudong airport, the Suzhou River, etc etc. Additionally, they have a 360 degree showreel of the city's future (So, you go into this round room, and they project on the walls all around, so it's like you're flying through this computer generated Shanghai of the future).
All in all, I spent almost 2 hours in the Planning Exhibition Hall - of course, I'm sure it's not for everyone, but for me, it was an incredible experience.
Once I was finished there, I popped down to a bakery for lunch, then took a walk down western Nanjing road, just taking in the sights of the city. And I've gotta say, the architects in Shanghai sure do a mean line in scary skyscrapers. I mean, they're not all scary. Some are beautiful, some are ugly, some are boring, but an unusually large number bring to mind adjectives such as "Imposing", "Brooding" and "Foreboding". I've gotta say, they're mighty impressive things.
So after a bit of an architectural tour (more of that tomorrow too, I'm heading for the French Concession district) of the city, I hopped the train back to the hostel to do some washing :p
Well, that's about it for today, so 'til next time.
Jono
posted by Jono Russell at 1:25 AM
4 Comments:
Buildings, buildings, buildings...! As Winston Churchill said: 'We shape our buildings; thereafter they shape us'. just thought id put that in :P .. Shanghai sounds so incredible! What's the public transport system like? and are the train/ subway stations as organised as say the UK, or more like ours? the third floor sounds amazing! guess you weren't allowed to take photos, but hopefully you can show us current photos and tell us what the plans are for the future... what an undertaking the model must have been... did they say how long it took to build? lol, trust you to spend 2 hours in there! so, are you getting sick of bakery food? is it similar to bakery food here (not including burnt plastic donuts...). Looking forward to seeing pictures of the skyscrapers... have you got a silhouette photo yet? Pretty quiet on this end... other than moving house, of course.. talk about stress i did not need :P you don't realise how many boxes it takes to fit all of your stuff until you have to move house... and trust me when i say, its a lot of boxes! anyway... have a good one!
Cass
Hahaha, I've gotta say, I agree with Winston.
I was allowed to take phots of the giant model, it really is quite spectacular. The public transport is pretty good, not as good as in HK, but probably better than back at home (though it's hard to compare, Melbourne's network is so enourmous, it's not quite the same thing) - very, very busy though. Baked goods can be good, depending on where you get then from. I've been lunch-ing on stuff from a chain called Breadtalk the last couple of days, which I think is the same thing as Breadtop in Australia. I've got plenty of tall building photos of all description - possibly to the point where no-one else would be interested, but oh well. Are you using the moving experience to jettison unwanted stuff, or is everything just being shifted across :p
Hi Jono, sounds like another great day of touring. Are there as many skyscrapers as Manhatten? Did you travel with commuters during peak hour and was it just like the Belgrave line at 5pm?
We are all well here, Mum is in Sydney and driving back tomorrow and friday with stops to raid the stock of unsuspecting country bookstores.
Keep up the good blog.
Dad - There's not quite as many skyscrapers as New York - which is only equalled by HK in terms of numbers of tall buildings. And the trains are a heck of a lot worse than the Belgrave line at any time - I've never before missed a train because I simply wouldn't fit in the carriage. :p
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