Day 8, Thursday morning
Shanghai, The Bund

Photo by Sheryl Arnold

On our last day in China, Thursday, March 23d, we spent the day in Shanghai. Our first stop of the day was the Bund, the well-known waterfront area along the Huangpu River. After the Treaty of Nanjing in 1842, at the end of the Opium Wars, China was forced to provide trading concessions for some of the European countries and Shanghai was chosen to become one of the Treaty Ports. Shanghai grew quickly as an economic and financial center and the European companies located their buildings and settlements along the Bund.The Bund was to become known as the Wall Street of China because of its importance in international financial markets.

Photo by Lucie Field

The buildings along the Bund reflect a variety of architectural styles. The buildings housed banks, hotels, consulates, restaurants and more. By 1949 the foreigners were gone and the buildings were used by the new government for other purposes. Now they are considered historic buildings. The government once tried to get the companies to return to their original buildings, but these companies were already located in newer, modern quarters.



In the picture on the left, the building with the pyramid roof is the well-known Peace Hotel.

Now Shanghai is experiencing an economic and financial rebirth and many international companies are trading with China; business is booming. Cranes are everywhere. A new section of the city - the Pudong - has been built across the river on what was once just a small island. Now it is covered with skyscrapers, very modern and very tall.

The Orient Pearl TV Tower is supposed to be the tallest TV tower in Asia and the third tallest in the world. At the top is a revolving restaurant.




Photo by Gene Field

There is now a walkway, or promenade, along the river, nicely landscaped. When we were there it was full of people walking, enjoying the view, avoiding the souvenir vendors, and taking pictures. We were allowed about an hour to wander around, take pictures and enjoy the view.

In the picture above right, looking towards the Pudong, we saw this Chinese tourist boat In the middle of the Huangpu River, which looked like it was in danger of sinking - it never did, at least not while we were watching it.

The building to the left is one of the many old buildings along the Bund from the 1800s. It can be seen to the left of the Peace Hotel in the picture above left.

When we left the Bund we were told that there was a river cruise at night that went up and down the river by the Bund and by Pudong across the river. Everyone wanted to go because it was supposed to be very beautiful with all the lights at night, so our guides got to work getting tickets for all of us.Then we reboarded the bus and headed for the silk carpet factory.