As we drove around Shanghai to our destinations Melody told
us about Shanghai women. The women of the city are very materialistic. Because
there are so many more men than women (about 40 million or so) and because they
live in a city surrounded by extreme wealth, the women basically get to be as
picky as they want with their men, and they will always hold out for the
richest man they can find. It is not uncommon nor is it looked down upon if a
girl chooses money over love. She told us a story that people use to describe
Shanghai women. There was a girl who had two guys who loved her. They both
proposed but the girl wasn’t sure what to do at first so she told them both,
“This world is a huge place, go travel around the world and when you get back if
you can still say I am the most beautiful and you still love me, then I will
marry you.” The first guy ran straight off to the airport. The second guy
simply walked in a circle around the girl and told her, “You are my world, I
have walked around the world and you are the only one I will ever love.” So in
the end, who did the girl choose?
The one with the most money.
The Only Child policy went into effect in China in 1981.
There were a few exceptions to the rule for farmers and minority groups, but
most of China now is made up of single children. Because parents can only have
one child that one kid tends to be very spoilt by both the parents and
grandparents. The parents want the best for their kid, which is natural, so
they try and influence their career, their lives, they will help the kid buy an
apartment. They even will try to find good spouses for their children or at
least try and have influence over who the child choses. Our guide Gump is an
only child as is his wife and he told us that since they are both single
children and neither of them work for the government, they are now allowed to
have two children.
Back to the actual tour, we went to the Jin Mao tower, it is
the highest lookout tower in China, going up 88 floors. Culture shock #2: As we
were walking past the food court to get to the elevator there were men in
business suits eating lunch and smoking inside the food court. Gross. At the
top of the tower it felt like we couldn’t see more than 10-20 miles away, after
that distance the city faded into fog and smog. I couldn’t tell if it was
because of the rainy day or the pollution, probably both. There were these
monopoly houses, groups of houses that all had red and blue roofs that I found
very amusing. We were told that during the World Expo in 2010 the local
government was trying to make the whole city look better so a whole bunch of
apartments got new roofs. I thought that was a pretty good deal, free new roof,
even if it is bright red, I’d take it.
After the tower we went and rode of the Maglav train. It’s
the fastest train in the world but it’s completely useless. It only runs one
place, from a suburb in Shanghai to the airport. The top speed it reaches is
430 km/hr , approximately 267 miles/hr. When it reaches 340 km/hr it passes the
other train going the other way so there is a difference of about 680 km/hr or
422 miles/hr. They told us when the trains would pass so when we started
getting close we were all watching for the other train then FOOMPFOOMP, it’s
gone. It literally made me jump, both times.
Dinner was even fancier than lunch. We went to a hotel where
every table had its own little private room with a fancy chandelier. One lady
in our group, Anne, wanted soy sauce to go with her rice. Turns out soy sauce
is actually not that commonly used in China. And the waiters who didn’t really
speak English had no idea what she was talking about. She kept repeating it
over and over like they would just magically understand but it didn’t work too
well. Eventually with some help they brought her some soy sauce.
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