My experience in Shanghai was most definitely eye-opening and incredible, to say the least. We arrived at our hotel, the Seventh Heaven, late at night, so my real explorations started in the morning. The Seventh Heaven Hotel was in the People’s Square, a popular area for shopping, tourists, and interactions. My first thought walking outside in the morning was about the plethora of people I was seeing. No matter where I went in Shanghai or at what time, I had never seen so many people in one place at one time. Something else that I noticed fairly quickly was that Shanghai had a lot of fog, and it was rare to see the sun. I soon found out that I wasn’t seeing fog, but, in fact, I was seeing and smelling pollution. I have read about the absurdly high levels of pollution in China, but I was surprised to see that it was so terrible. The pollution was truly overbearing, and it was often hard to breathe.
Nonetheless, the places I visited in Shanghai were absolutely incredible. In Shanghai, we visited the Jing’an Temple, a famous Buddhist temple, Xian Tian Di, a popular tourist shopping plaza, Yuyuan market and Yu Gardens, Dong Lai Market, the American Consulate, Neri & Hu Architecture, Treasury Wine Estates, the Chinese Communist Party Founding Site, the Bund, Pudong, Century Park, the French Concession, and the Urban Planning Museum. I thoroughly enjoyed all of these places, but I specifically enjoyed the Yuyuan market and Yu Gardens because it provided me with a better glimpse of the different facets of Shanghai. While touring the People’s Square, I found it hard to “feel” like I was in China. I was surprised to see how westernized Shanghai looked and felt. Shanghai is urbanized and resembles the fast, busy life of other global cities like New York City. There were many skyscrapers, high rises, Western architecture, Western shopping stores, food, and more. In the Yuyuan market, more of the traditional Chinese architecture was visible, along with more traditional food and “feel.” Something that also surprised me was the the CCP founding site was right next to Xian Tian Di, and the juxtaposition of the two was ironic to say the least.
My research question revolves around what avenues Shanghainese citizens have to political activism and ways they can express content/discontent with local policy, specifically in relation to pollution policy. While visiting the American Consulate, I learned much about political activism from two foreign service officers. They made it very clear that citizens in Shanghai, and across China, cannot organize mass demonstrations or protests. They are allowed to possess their own political opinions; however, they are clever and careful enough to not organize and speak publicly about their opinions. This prompted me to ask if Shanghainese residents were then politically apathetic. The foreign service officers claimed that although citizens cannot organize, they are not politically apathetic and do have opinions on local policy. In relation to pollution policy, Shanghainese citizens are somewhat content as the government has plans to implement many new approaches to lower levels of pollution. We also met with Professor Non A. who was able to tell me about small neighborhood community organizations to which residents can file complaints and talk to. These community organizations work with other neighborhoods in larger organizations and so on and so forth. They report back to the local government often. Unfortunately, most people use these organizations to lodge complaints against neighbors and most, if not all, complaints are about the neighborhood itself, not in relation to policy.
Looking back, Shanghai was fascinating, surprising, and unique. Below are some pictures from my stay in Shanghai.
