On the Road in China: Shanghai

Winding up the China odyssey is Shanghai, a city that I think pretty much confirms that future of the world is in China. The amount of building and construction that is going on there, the infrastructure being put down and the apparently limitless cash being thrown at the city is scary to say the least. If you’ve got any doubts as to what the Chinese can do, take a visit to Shanghai and while you’re there stop by the urban planning museum. They’ve got an intricate, step-by-step plan for zoning and constructing over the next 20 or so years, including the building of a deep sea port of the coast using two artificial islands, then ramping up of their 500km/h airport maglev train system and three more subway lines. Even with the Olympics as a feature, Beijing is going to struggle to come even close to Shanghai as the showcase city of China. There’s a tower in Pudong called the Jing Mao tower, and you can go all the way up to the 88th floor, stand at the top, and pretend you’re watching Bladerunner. Running around in underpants howling like a wolf optional, of course.

Posted in Travel on Thursday September 30, 2004.