Waking up in our hotel room after a very good night of sleep was surreal for me. I did feel bad for Michael who not only has to sleep on the unstable, inflatable bed, but also apparently had to put up with me and Evan’s snoring! I was a little worried about feeling the jet lag from the drastic time difference, but I think the excitement I have just being here has helped me quickly adjust (if that’s possible). Contrast to the weather yesterday, the weather today was clear and brisk which had a noticeable positive impact on the overall mood of the day. Venturing down to the subway, I was caught by surprise by how few people were out and about on the subway, but it’s probably due to it not being a workday.

Our first destination for the day was to the Yuyuan Garden. The architecture of many of the buildings within the general area and along the Ren Ming road embraced the traditional Chinese architecture which was exciting to see. Along the crowded street there were a countless number of shops selling things from “designer” watches and sunglasses to wigs. Making our way through the touristy market place took us to the very scenic and historic Yuyuan Garden. From the many, many pictures I took in the garden, one interesting image that I captured is one that embraced part of the traditional Chinese architecture of the ancient gardens along with a high-rise building being constructed shooting out from behind the trees. I felt like this was a perfect image of massive urbanization with the attempts to preserve the quintessential cultural heritage.

After the garden we headed to our two sessions that took place in the Shanghai Library. The first session was all about the history of Shanghai and from it I gained very valuable information that helped me gain a better understanding of how Shanghai got to its current state. The second session involved a woman who is a documentary director, and besides being able to see some of the productions she has been a part of, she shared some great information about the role of the government in the selection and development of the documentaries. The government controls the production of the films and they often get to select the subjects that they want to learn more about. The government will also sponsor the topics they choose. She also mentioned that the general assumption that is made when it is mentioned that the Chinese government is opening up is that this is being forced, however the government is actually just interested in learning more about certain topics and issues.

After our sessions we ended the day with a checking out Tianzifang, which is a collection of shops and restaurants that are configured through these very cool, narrow alley-like pathways. Another full day was of course then finished with a great meal.