I just love the way they pronounce the word 'Shanghai' in China. They pronounce the letter G very softly and then stress on H. So you can properly listen Shan(g) Haay.
Shanghai is the most developed and largest city in China. It's China's commercial hub and surely a prominent city in the world.
Shanghai is an interesting mix of old and new. It has some ancient gardens and temples and at the same time it boasts some modern day architectural wonders.
Huangpu river divides the city in two parts Puxi and Pudong. Puxi is the older part and Pudong is the new part having all modern buildings with headquarters of almost every giant commercial company in the world!
When in Shanghai, you have to be careful. Though there are many people who can understand English, some taxi drivers may not understand English.
When we had visited Shanghai in April 2013 and I was roaming in the city on my own, I used to get the address of my hotel written in Chinese from the hotel staff before stepping out of the hotel.
For two days I had taken tours which had pickup and drop at my hotel. But for the remaining two days, I had travelled by the metros. Shanghai has many lines and a very complicated maze of metro lines.
On the first day I had to struggle a lot with the map on metro station, with the Chinese names of the stations written in Chinese characters. But I could manage well. I kept on thinking that being a prominent international city, why aren't they writing the names in English?
I literally sweated about it on the first day, being constantly worried about the direction and metro line I am taking! But I had surly enjoyed the thrill in the process, roaming on my own, seeing tourist places without a guide as I was not having any time constraint.
Only on the second day, I could realize that there was a toggle button on the map on all railway stations, which could change the language to English!! I couldn't stop laughing on myself!!
Shanghai is huge in size. It may take lot of time to travel by road. So train can be a faster means of transport in the city. Just one has to avoid the rush timings in the morning and evening.
YuYu an Gardens
These are 'gardens of Happiness'! I mean that is the meaning of the words 'Yuyuan gardens'. These gardens are nearly 400 years old and were famous as the most prestigious and of course largest gardens in that era. Today as well they don't cease to amuse the spectators.
According to the Chinese mythology, by walking on the zigzag bridges, you can avoid negative forces! So when in China, you will see a zigzag bridge in each and every garden. Yuyuan garden is no exception to it!
The zigzag bridges look beautiful and give you more time and place to enjoy the surroundings.
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| Ancient tea house built in 1855 |
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| Zigzag bridge |
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| Zigzag bridge and the pond |
There are various halls, gardens, ponds in Yuyuan garden. The areas have dragon walls around them to separate one area from another.
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| The wall with rounded gates |
The names of the pavilions are very poetic, may be they are lines from famous Chinese poems. Some of the names are 'chamber of ten thousand flowers', 'pavilion of listening to billows'!
There are various parts in the garden decorated with certain themes e.g. various seasons of the year. Our guide told us that as women were not allowed to go out, the gardens were made in such a way that women will be able to enjoy beauty of the nature in each and every season.
One can see exquisite rock structures in this garden. The carvings on wooden panels are magnificent.
In ancient China, depending on the owner's post in the government, the design and architecture of his house was decided. How many courtyards the house can have, what design can be carved on the wooden panels, how will be the design of roof, all these elements were dependent on the post of the owner. If some one went against it, it was taken as offense to the king and the person was severely punished.
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| Exquisite carvings |
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| Dragon walls |
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Tea festival 2013 |
The ownership of garden has changed many times along the years. The garden was used as military base or operational base by British, by the Chinese rebellions and by the Japanese as well. The structures in the garden were destroyed many times. Many of the structures, which we see today are restored structures.
Located besides the Yuyuan Gardens is the 'temple of City Gods'. This is very ancient temple built in 14 th century. It was converted to various things along the centuries. Previously it was some other temple, then was converted to City god temple. During cultural revolution in China the temple was closed down and shops were opened in that place. After that, it was converted in Tao temple.
The temple is a must visit place for all Chinese people who visit Shanghai and is always crowded by locals as well as tourists.
It seems that Chinese people believe that, while entering the temples, men should put their left foot first and women should put their right foot first. Your guide will surely ask you, what do you think about this? What could be the reason? The answer is simple, 'women are always right'!!
Confucius Temple
Confucius was one of the most prominent personalities in Chinese history. He was a philosopher, educator and politician. He was born in 551 B.C. and still his principles are famous as Confucianism. He has followers in China and Korea and many other parts of the world.
The Shanghai Confucian Temple was built in 13 th century to worship the thinker and educator. At that time Shanghai was a small fishing village. Soon the temple became the center for learning and became the most prestigious learning institute in China. Students appearing for the imperial examinations were trained in this center.
Many times this temple was destroyed by Chinese rebellions and some times by external forces. But it was restored again.
Now even when Shanghai has become the commercial capital of China, Confucius temple is a prominent cultural and religious place.
There are many pavilions, pagodas, libraries, gardens, pools in this temple area. There are many stone carvings as well.
There are three paths for going towards the temple. It is said that one is for worshippers, one is for students and one is for those who want to enjoy the beautiful nature!!
When you are China, visiting a tea house is a special experience. The tea ceremony in China is not so ritualistic as in Japan. In Japan, the tea ceremony is like a cultural as well as spiritual experience. In China it felt like some cultural and more commercial experience!
They sell many beautiful artifacts as well various types of teas.
There was a special tea type called dancing doll. A plant was kept in glass and hot water was poured in it. Within few minutes dancing dolls appeared in the glass!!
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| Dancing Dolls! |
Shanghai museum
A not to miss place in Shanghai. It is situated in People's square park and has wonderful collection of ancient Chinese artifacts. It is a five storied building built in 1996. It consists of many galleries and temporary exhibitions of paintings, brass ware, wooden articles, stone ware, precious stones, sculptures, ceramics, Chinese Calligraphy, Coins, Seals, sculptures and many more art forms. It is very well curated and maintained museum.
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| Ancient Chinese Musical Instrument |
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| Twin bodied vase with enameled design of dragon and Phoenix |
There were French, Portuguese, American, British concessions in Shanghai. Rule and law of the respective country used to prevail in those parts of the town.
'Xiantiandi' is an affluent part in the center of Shanghai city. With 'no car' area, only pedestrian roads are there. The beautiful buildings are wonderful mixture of old and new architecture and offer a very romantic setting. It is the costliest place to stay in Shanghai. It has stylish restaurants, beautiful buildings, fountains and is a busy place for nightlife.
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| Statues of Fortune, Prosperity and Longevity. |
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| outdoor Sitting in Xiantiandi |
Oriental Pearl Tower
You surely can't miss it. when I had visited Shanghai for the first time in 2013, this was one of the tallest buildings in Shanghai. It's upper observation deck at 351 meter/1148 ft height has an outside area of glass transparent floor.
The Bund
The Bund is the heart of Shanghai. It is a riverfront area lined by many iconic buildings. When I had visited for the first time, I could also witness the typical Shanghai pollution and so all the photos are smoggy.
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| Monument to the People's Heroes |
Though there is smog, it was surely a perfect place for a leisurely walk in the evening in Shanghai!
There is much more to see in Shanghai. Shanghai tower, the nearby water cities and many more places are worth visiting and writing! I will surely write about it in another post!
Shanghai Pronunciation is best ๐
ReplyDeleteBeautiful photographs and and and women are always right'!๐๐
Keep it up ๐๐