Destination: SHANGHAI, China

Tale of two cities

East meets West in Shanghai

Shanghai delight: A day-and-night ferry system carries workers and tourists between the Pudong New Development Zone and downtown Shanghai.

 SHANGHAI -- With growing fascination, I stood at my 19th- floor hotel window and watched the traffic on the Huangpu River, which slices through the heart of this burgeoning metropolis of 14.5 million people. The waterway was alive with vessels of all sizes: Freighters, tugboats, barges and cruise ships.

 Also, just two blocks away, vintage ferryboats were departing every 10 minutes to carry foot and bicycle traffic across the Huangpu to a terminal situated near riverfront buildings adorned with turn-of-the-century European-style architecture. The latter is a landmark area called the Bund, once known as the Wall Street of China.

 I soon would be catching one of those ferries to explore other Shanghai sights: Nanjing Road, hailed as China's greatest shopping street; the historic Peace Hotel; the city's new art museum; and the enticing teahouses, shops and 400-year-old Yu Garden in Old Town.

 But first, I had to join Robert Adelski for breakfast downstairs in the 612-room Pudong Shangri-La hotel. I was looking forward to meeting Adelski, an expatriate businessman from California who has lived and worked in Shanghai for 10 years. He wasted no time offering his personal insights about the city's pluses.

 "My wife and I love the secure feeling here. If she wanted, she could walk home at 3 a.m. without fear of being mugged or attacked. There are no guns on the streets, no drugs in the schools and no graffiti on the buildings."

 Pointing out the window, Adelski continued, "As recently as 1990, there was nothing but farmland and rice paddies on this side of the river. Now the government is building a huge new development area that'll become the centre of finance and commerce in China. The future is here; Hong Kong is yesterday."

 He was describing the new 21st-century tourist, economic and commercial centre being built in Pudong, or East Shanghai. This sector is designed to become China's Manhattan.

 The Shangri-La (1998) was the first international hotel in the area. It has been followed by the Grand Hyatt Shanghai, which occupies the top third of an 88-storey skyscraper.

 Even taller is the nearby Oriental Pearl, highest TV tower in Asia at 1,535 ft. and the symbol of Pudong's phenomenal growth. It's a must-see because -- after rocketing upward in its jet-powered elevators to a roomy observation deck -- you're treated to a spectacular 360-degree overview of Shanghai.

Western tourists get a joyous greeting from Chinese youth.

 Visitors also can see the transformation taking place in Pudong, where the new toys will include an international airport, industrial parks, convention centre, shopping malls, tree-lined promenades, more hotels, theatres, railway station, aquarium and a forest of high-rise office towers. Linking Eastern Shanghai with the rest of the city are bridges and an auto-only tunnel. New bridges, tunnels and a subway line will follow.

 Despite this progress, Adelski said, "In China, you still need three things to succeed: Patience, patience and patience."

 After breakfast, I took my first ferry ride across the Huangpu. The roundtrip fee is $1.20 Cdn.

 A short walk along the Bund promenade took me to the nostalgic Peace Hotel, Shanghai's grand monument to Art Deco. A bellman said Noel Coward had worked on a play in one of its suites, and Stephen Spielberg had filmed a scene there for Empire Of The Sun. The hotel's 11th-floor roof garden, open to the public, is a great spot for scanning and photographing various city sites.

 Next stop: Busy Nanjing Road.

 An estimated one million pedestrians crowd each day onto this street of department stores, shopping malls, designer and gift boutiques, cinemas, restaurants, bookstores and nightclubs. The Western influence is everywhere. That's especially true of the young Asian women, who are resplendent in the latest Western fashions, from short skirts and flashy earrings to high heels.

 Even the mannequins and most of the women's wear in the Number One Department Store, a Russian-style emporium where the escalators only go up, are Western. So are most of Shanghai's wedding parlours and the glitzy government-owned Friendship Store.

 For a serious look at the city's cultural past, I visited Old Town, the French Concession and Shanghai Museum.

 My favourite site has many names: Old Shanghai, Old Chinese Quarter and Old Town. Whatever it's called, it offers a semblance of 19th-century Shanghai with its winding alleys and old temples, pavilions, shops, restaurants, teahouses and Yu Garden.

 Built 400 years ago, the classic Yu Garden is a beautiful monument to the past with architectures of the Ming and Qing dynasties. Though small in acreage, this retreat from Pudong's frenzied construction seems far larger because its ingenious design leads visitors on serpentine walkways that meander past a temple, pavilions, carp-filled lotus ponds, artificial mountains, bubbling streams, rookeries, arching trees and little bridges.

 Opposite the garden's entrance is the equally classic 19th-century Huxintang Teahouse, floating like a lotus flower in a small pond. After crossing its zigzag Bridge of Nine Turnings, I entered this five-sided, two-story pavilion to sip a wonderful cup of Jasmine tea in China's most-visited teahouse.

 Some architectural traces of the last century also remain in the French Concession, a neighbourhood accessible via a vigorous walk from Old Town. Although lots of new construction is under way in the French Quarter, the surviving architecture includes Art Deco and Tudor townhouses, neo-Gothic office blocks and a potpourri of mansions, villas, churches and public buildings.

 Worthy of a look-see in Frenchtown, too, is Children's Palace, a centre where talented youngsters pursue extracurricular activities. The palace offers short-term training classes and after-school programs on music, art, literature, science, technology and sports. I sat in on an enjoyable music program where elementary school children sang songs in English and Chinese.

 Another way to experience China's cultural treasures is by visiting its new mega-million dollar oval-shaped art museum. Within its four stories are superb collections of artifacts that span all the major dynasties, paintings, calligraphy, jade and coins. Shanghai Museum (1996) is the newest marvel of People's Square, the city's political and cultural centre.

   

BOTTOM LINE: Foreign nationals need a current visa, stamped in a valid passport, before visiting China. Contact the Chinese Consulate


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