Orienting in the Orient

Fact: One of every 12 people on the planet lives in the Yangtze river drainage. The three cities we visited are in the flat delta, arranged in this order East to West.

Shanghai

The tall buildings and apartment blocks of Shanghai stretched as far as we could see in all directions. The population is 13.8M. The older buildings in the foreground were built early in the 20th century by the British. Even on a rainy, foggy night it was beautiful.

We saw the famous Chinese acrobats, the Yu Yuan Garden in Old Town, the bird and fish market, Shanghai Museum, the Jade Buddha Temple, the French Concession and walked the Bund. One evening we crossed under the river to visit Pudong and its Pearl Tower from which the above picture was taken.

Suzhou

Suzhou is one of several canal cities west of Shanghai. Water transportation is still important in the delta. There are 32 kilometers (20 miles) of waterways in the town and 170 bridges.

We took a day trip to visit two beautiful gardens and the Silk Museum.

Nanjing

Though it is also a big city, Nanjing is less international than Shanghai, and has fewer western influences. This woman is selling grapes and plums.

We visited the Brocade Institute, the Nanjing Massacre Memorial, the Ming Tombs, Sun Yat-sen's Memorial, the South Gate of the city wall and the great bridge over the Yangtze.

Neighborhoods

Also, we spent a lot of time walking through the neighborhoods of the cities. Everyone was friendly and welcoming, though perhaps this little guy found us a bit unusual.