We just got back from Shanghai.  I have added some images to the Gallery.  The place amazes on a number of levels - not just because it is just about the most vibrant, dynamic City in the world...yeah, you’ve heard that before - so what’s interesting?  Well, here goes.  The most vibrant City in the world has been for five months just about the quietest.  You walk through the old town, no roadworks.  You take the water front walk along by the river and see the miles and miles of sky-scrapers and everything is relatively calm.  Too quiet.  It took a while for the penny to drop and then someone told me the story.  During the Shanghai Expo the Mayor had instructed that there be NO major building work happening during the Expo.  The international City - a gateway to China - would appear to all visitors as “finished”, not a work in progress.  So no cranes in sight.  No building.  Skyscrapers that are unfinished are covered in acres of plastic sheeting while the Expo is on-going.  

The motto for the City is:  “Better City.  Better Life.”  The Mayor’s rule sticks.  

This couldn’t happen in any European or North American City.  China is the fastest growing country in the world and Shanghai the heart of commercial capitalism, but things are done in a certain Party determined way.  Scary in a sense.  But at the same time as I looked out across the view to the old City, somehow it was all rather magical.  We attended at the right time.

Shanghai.  See it, before they spoil it.