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Shanghai is a cosmopolitan city of over 14 million people. As a modern commercial city, Shanghai pales against Hong Kong because of its late start. Outwardly, it has all the appearance of a modern city. But management lags far behind. The overwhelming impression of Shanghai in May 2000 was the poor visibility brought on by air pollution and perhaps bad weather. There was not a single day in two weeks when the sky was not overcast. Bad lighting made it impossible to take a clear picture of the river front. The same conditions applied in May 2002. Another annoyance is the rampant spitting in the street by almost anybody. Men and women included. I suppose the bad air and deep-fried food (street food vendors sell a lot of deep-fried food) promote a lot of phlegm in people. There are 3 things that I like about Shanghai. The subway system is second to none among major subway systems in the world. The Shanghai Museum is also a world-class cultural institution that is not uptight about visitors taking pictures of exhibts. The third thing is its service as a jumping-off point to go sighting in the surrounding regions. One good thing about Chinese Communist rule is the widespread acceptance of Common Speech (putonghua) as the lingua franca of everyday transactions.
K. K. Fung
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