>The Bund and other street life

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Always a reminder here and there of the status of governance in China.

Coal barge--a reminder of China's dependence on coal-burning plants.

We arrived on the Bund about 8:30 a.m. and soon more and more people arrived just to walk along the river.

Older, classical buildings line the Bund and remain major financial corporation buildings.

Karis and Annemaria

Exercising in the parks in the morning, typical all over China and Hong Kong. We went through one park and there were many different groups--ti chi, swing dancing, fan dancing, jazz, etc. You have to walk through and around all the different collections of people.

The Pearl Tower is a symbol of Pudong--the east side of the river which was all fields until not too long ago, and Shanghai's renaissance.

One of the most beautiful places in Shanghai is along what is called the Bund. Originally this was a towpath to pull barges of rice and it gets its name from the hindi work "band" which means an embankment. This is now a newly renovated two kilometer walkway along the Huangpu River. This river, which goes through the center of the city, empties into the Yangzi just to the north of the city. The Bund and many parks are all being spruced up and redone to make the city more livable, but also because it is the site of the World Expo which opens in May. The controversy is that the US did not have a good pavilion planned until very recently, so it was becoming quite an embarrassment.