Chinese New Years Eve - Day 2, February 6

Now sitting in our hotel room watching and listening to a non-stop barrage of fire works after a day of site seeing here in Shanghai, and yes after spending some of New Years eve with our guide Ann and her mother and father at their modest apartment about 30 minutes away from where we are staying. What a wonderful way to start our time in China!

We started our day with a visit to the Yu Garden here in Shanghai which is a rather unique blend of the formal old China, a 400 year old family garden in the heart of Shanghai, and the new capitalist economic China, an open air mall designed to look like old Shanghai which surrounds the garden. The garden it self is a wonderful example of naturalist non symmetrical landscape architecture (no, I guess Olmstead and Central Park was not the first). It includes one of the best examples of a Ming rockery (who knew? and no not a rookery, I kept looking for birds roosting and there were none, in fact Shanghai seems to be strangely absent of most of the “nuisance” birds we associate with urban areas in the states). The rockery is just that, strategically placed interesting rocks, boulders actually, that mimic a natural landscape. I picture the workers creating the rockery much the same as those poor souls working for Olmstead on Central Park or at the Chicago Worlds Fair grounds. I cannot do justice to describing but to include a few photos. The garden also features the “dragon wall”, a wall topped by an undulating dragon. However dragons are only permitted in imperial gardens so this dragon is not really a dragon. The only way to tell the difference though is to count claws. Apparently real dragons, those featured in imperial gardens, have four claws. The dragon on the dragon wall has five claws and apparently this was enough to not incur the emperor’s wrath for presuming to have a dragon in your garden.

Adjacent to the garden is a more recent structure dating to the 18th century which was converted into a teahouse in the late 19th century. It is connected to the garden area by a “zig-zag” bridge designed to keep evil spirits away who apparently are unable to negotiate corners and prefer to keep to the straight and narrow when pursuing their evil deeds.

After leaving the Yu Gardens we embarked on a one hour river cruise. On one side of the Huangpu River is the Bund with all the architecture of the European colonial period in China of the very late 19th century and early 20th century, and on the other side the modern Shanghai, which hosts several of the tallest structures in the world. Could not help but notice the similarities of the Greek classical architecture and art deco structures along the Bund facing the Huangpu River with the architecture along Michigan Avenue in Chicago across from Grant Park and facing Lake Michigan. Apparently some of the same architects were involved.









After finishing our river tour we had lunch at a restaurant overlooking the river before moving on to duty free shopping for pearls at duty free market in downtown Shanghai. We were greeted by one of the store managers (believe it or not trade is slow over the holidays and we were all they had to entertain). It turned out she was from Harbin like our Andrea Zhi Bei! Brought out the photos of course and chatted a bit with her about Harbin. Ultimately she just let out a little shiver with the thought of the cold and went about her pitch. Steve was invited to fish out a fresh water oyster from a carp and oyster pond inside the store. The three of us were invited to guess the number of pearls in the oyster and whoever came closest to guessing the number of pearls in the oyster got to keep the largest pearl harvested. She opened the oyster (sorry bobby) to harvest the pearls. Ann had guessed three, Steve guessed six, and David guessed twelve. There were thirteen, so Ann got to keep the biggest pearl and the next biggest pearl as an added bonus for a pair (David is no idiot). We made a few purchases and then it was on to our next adventure. Sharing a hot pot with our guide Ann at her home with her mother, father and grandmother!

Our guide is truly the sweetest young lady for making such an invitation and I am afraid we were not very good guests though we attempted to be gracious. We had lunch a big lunch and were not very hungry, were still suffering from jet lag and a bit unprepared for the humble generosity that awaited us. We were truly moved though by all this gracious family offered.

They welcomed us into their modest home and seated us at a table with 2 chairs and a few stools. Here we were seated at the table, the three of us, Ann our Guide and Ann’s grandmother who sat back away from the table on a crate (she could not partake in the meal at eighty three and no teeth). No place to sit for our hosts. I am feeling so appreciative just reflecting on their graciousness. The hot pot (actually a small electric steamer) was already coming to a boil. The mother then brought out Chinese peanuts and candy and dumped handfuls into our hands to get the festivities rolling. Ann commented on how good the Chinese peanuts were and how we did not have peanuts like that in the states. Then various items started to appear on the table. First some cooked ham and chicken, then some prepared goose liver which we were all offered and partook, a little (isn’t that just pate?). Then came the rolled fish and shrimp balls that were promptly dropped into the hot pot. Guide Ann tried her best to show us how to properly use chop sticks. Her dad also tried, but to little avail. Guide Ann’s mom slipped out the door. Then came unusual skinny mushrooms and some very thinly sliced uncooked lamb. Guide Ann placed some of the lamb in the hot pot which cooked quickly and we all partook in the lamb. And then came the tripe. At least I guess it was tripe. Guide Ann described as part of one of a cow’s stomachs. Some tripe was placed into the hot pot which presumably quickly cooked. David gave it a shot but he does not remember anybody else in our little party giving it a shot. We all tried some of the fish and shrimp balls and some greens that were tossed into the hot pot. Those were relatively easy to capture with our amateur chop stick skills. Then guide Ann’s mother returned. Apparently she had slipped out to the store several blocks away and had bought several bags of peanuts to give to us, and maybe for the first time ever, introduced forks into her house.

Unfortunately by that time Ann was really getting tired and we were fearful she was coming down with the same cold that David was just now recovering from. We had to beg off from additional food, but could not resist an offer by guide Ann to play a song for us on a 7 string fretless slide guitar like (without the slide or frets) instrument. The three of us all piled into her room for the recital. The instrument is about a meter long, 5 to 7 inches wide (sorry about the metric/english mix, we are suffering from conversion shock) with a narrow sound hole on the back of the instrument. It produced a very subtle but beautiful sound. Guide Ann is just learning the instrument but apparently her teacher is very good and one of the few masters of this particular instrument. She then played us a video she shot of her teacher playing which was absolutely wonderful. David asked if he could get a copy of the video, thinking it would be a wonderful thing to have and that brother bobby would enjoy seeing it. Unfortunately guide Ann, understandably, did not want to provide a copy without the permission or her teacher who apparently is a very private person. David then asked if she could help them find some recordings of the traditional music. Apparently there is no time like the present so off they went for a walk to the local music store. This was around sun down and the New Years eve celebrations were just starting and you could here fire crackers being set off every where. The music store was a few blocks away and took us past more of the same 2 to 3 story apartment buildings that guide Ann and her family lived in, down a commercial street, past some army barracks (just tucked in the neighborhood, but there is really very little presence you feel of any authorities in Shanghai, army much less traffic cops!) and finally to the mall where the music store was……closed. It was around 6:00 p.m. on New Years eve and everybody was apparently ready to go home. So back down the street and past the army barracks we went. Not sure we can imagine somebody setting off about a dozen strings of fire crackers directly across from the entrance to an army facility, or even a police station, in the States without setting off some type of major incident. But not an issue at all here.

Once we returned to guide Ann’s house of course the first thing this very considerate young lady did was present David with a 3 CD set of the traditional Chinese music from her collection and refused to take no for an answer. By this time Ann was truly nearing exhaustion, but guide Ann’s father pointed out, gestured actually, that we had not yet set off any fire crackers. Sooooo, guide Ann’s dad broke out several strings of fire crackers. The first string of which he hung on a gaff like pole they used to retrieve clothes from their elevated clothes line. He handed the pole to Steve and the lighter to David. So what is a good son-in-law to do? We are not sure, but David lit the fire crackers. Steve dutifully held on to the pole, keeping the fire works elevated as they began going off in rapid succession. And then the remaining strands were lit in the same manner, Steve waving the fire crackers back in forth as they went off.

While it was obvious we had been very bad guests, had not even put a dent in the food being served, or even stayed for all the food to be served, it was time to say good night before Ann passed out standing up. We probably need to do a better job of describing guide Ann’s family’s apartment at this point in order for you to truly appreciate the generosity and grace of this family in inviting us to share in their New Years Eve meal. We did not notice any appliances other than a relatively small refrigerator maybe a meter tall and a microwave oven which were in the dining area. The kitchen had a sink and cooking was done on hot plates. The bathroom we visited had a faucet, no sink, a few buckets, no bath or shower and a standard toilet, which apparently was hooked up to sewer but not hooked up to a water supply. The only other part of the apartment we saw was Ann’s bedroom which had her computer, her music instruments, her bed, which was a very thin mattress on a sheet of plywood. They obviously lived extremely modestly by western standards in very limited space. We have no idea what the standard of living is in China but everything about them said they were your average middle class family here. We truly felt blessed to be invited into their family home on New Years Eve and this will be one of the most amazing gifts our daughter has given us by bringing us here.

We ended this part of our evening around 7:00 p.m., yes there is a bit more, with guide Ann frantically running out into the middle of an intersection trying to hail us a cab so we could return to the hotel. After several attempts, apparently few cab drivers wanted to head back into the center of the city on New Years Eve, she was successful. We made it back to the hotel exhausted but in the glow of our experience.

Our cab dropped us off about a block from our hotel and as we walked up to the hotel, roman candles began to be sent off about 100 ft in front of us adding to the growing din of firecrackers. It was amazing to be standing in the middle of a downtown street and see these rockets going up just steps in front of us and bursting over our heads. After this initial display we headed up to our room on the 25th floor of the hotel where, once inside the room and looking out the window, it became evident that this same display was going on all over the city. Ann soon collapsed in bed but Steve and David stood staring out the window for sometime as fireworks continued to regularly burst from every angle that could be viewed. They too gave into sleep sometime around 10:00 p.m.




Then around 11:30 p.m. the den was so great outside it was impossible to sleep through it. Upon looking out the window we were all awestruck. We have all seen many fireworks spectacles broadcast over the television. From bicentennial celebrations, to various Olympic spectaculars, to the dawning of the new millennium, to a Queen’s golden jubilee, nothing compared to this. No single organized event can compare with a city of 19 million’s, city wide, individual, spontaneous, un-choreographed, fireworks shows. It was endless and went on well past 1:00 in the morning, and truth be told is still going on as I finish recording this two days later. We tried to take some pictures to record this, but pictures cannot do the experience justice. David did shoot about ½ hour of video but that will not due it justice either. Trust us, it was amazing.