Shanghai Shock

This is a repost of my July 13, 2006 blog. The old site, edublogs.com has been removed.

July 12, 2006

Dear editor,

            This short article is a first of a series on ideas I want to contribute to your paper.  I am planning to write a book on my “adventures” in Shanghai.  I hope you find my moot points appealing enough to deserve publication.

Thank you

 Joel Velasco Padua     

English Teacher

English Native Language Program

Philippine International English Institute

Gubei Area, Shanghai

 

 

Shanghai Shock

 

Arriving in Shanghai by Train, the first thing that struck me was how dirty the surrounding was.  Dirt was everywhere.  I could see plastic cups, plastic bottles, and plastic bags.  Name the garbage and it is there.  I thought then that Shanghai is not a well developed city after all.  Shanghai in my mind is a very prosperous city.  Supposedly, one should see only beautiful sceneries and tall buildings.

            Coming out of the train station, the first thing I saw was an American Fast Food Restaurant.  Mc Donald’s! So! The Americans have indeed invaded Shanghai!  In my little home island, we still depict the old China, when it did not yet open its doors to the west, commercialism and the open market.

            I am not a world traveler, but when I left the Philippines, I always thought that I should be wary of other people.  Difference in culture, surely will not help me go around Shanghai.  I was proven wrong.  Leaving Shenzhen by train, a middle aged Chinese woman had a couch opposite mine.  She was very amiable.  Maybe it was sheer luck but she offered her son’s van to bring me to my destination at Wuxing Road.  Before that, I really did not have any idea on how to navigate the big city of Shanghai.  Once again it shows that not everything in this world is not as bad as it looks.