Mark Meek's Ideas: Shanghai

Shanghai is China's largest city, and the world's busiest export port. Let's have a look at the city that so many products that you see and use every day likely passed through. Shanghai is a very old city, that once was walled. It is on an alluvial plain where the Yangtze River, one of China's three great rivers, meets the sea. Shanghai is reputed to have the best education system in China, which is believed to have the best education system in the world.

The following six images, except the first, from Google Earth, show a port area of Shanghai.

This is shipping containers lined up, and being loaded onto ships by crane, maybe with goods on their way to Walmart.

This looks like an area where shipping containers are stored or repaired.

These tanks seem to be for importing oil or fuel.

The Huangpu River is an artificial tributary of the Yangtze River, and is over two thousand years old. The famous street known as the Bund, meaning the waterfront, is built on Zhongshan Road, which is along the Huangpu River. The following scenes begin along the Bund, which is Shanghai's old business district. The domed stone building is the Shanghai Pudong Development Bank. It was once the headquarters of HSBC, as well as the Shanghai Municipal Building.

Across the river from the Bund are the tall buildings of the new business district, known as Lujiazui. This has been developed since 1992 as a Special Financial Zone, and is in a bend of the Huangpu River. The building with the globes is the Oriental Pearl Tower. The tallest of the buildings is the Shanghai Tower, which is the tallest building in China. The Aurora building forms a video screen at night. The following seven scenes of Lujiazui are from Google Street View.

The Shanghai Tower is the tallest building in China. Three images from Google Street View.

The building with the globes is the Oriental Pearl Tower. Seven images from Google Street View.

This is from the top of the Oriental Pearl Tower. Two images from Google Street View.

The Aurora Building can be illuminated like a billboard. Three images from Google Street View.

The side of the river with the older buildings, the Bund, is also illuminated at night. This was the business center of Shanghai before the modern buildings were built across the river. Five images from Google Street View.

There are multiple scenes following. To see the scenes, after the first one, you must first click the up arrow, ^, before you can move on to the next scene by clicking the right or forward arrow, >. After clicking the up arrow you can then hide the previews of successive scenes, if you wish.

https://www.google.com/maps/@31.240591,121.4861832,3a,75y,138h,90t/data=!3m8!1e1!3m6!1s-WSAuclUjXd0%2FVuMUEArM06I%2FAAAAAAABLR8%2FOQUFqI3h6UcbJYy_EyDzuQZgGfxaslAFwCLIB!2e4!3e11!6s%2F%2Flh6.googleusercontent.com%2F-WSAuclUjXd0%2FVuMUEArM06I%2FAAAAAAABLR8%2FOQUFqI3h6UcbJYy_EyDzuQZgGfxaslAFwCLIB%2Fw203-h101-n-k-no%2F!7i71

The following scenes begin in the Old City of Shanghai, but with views of the modern downtown across the Huangpu River. This part of the city used to be walled, until the walls were dismantled in 1912. The following eight images are from Google Street View.

https://www.google.com/maps/@31.2251557,121.4910694,3a,75y,90t/data=!3m8!1e1!3m6!1s-hDUYCemOxQY%2FUlkXF07c-HI%2FAAAAAAAAi8U%2FFdDhmMlLj0o0pYwlSdK3C9AfyUSydlLwgCLIB!2e4!3e11!6s%2F%2Flh5.googleusercontent.com%2F-hDUYCemOxQY%2FUlkXF07c-HI%2FAAAAAAAAi8U%2FFdDhmMlLj0o0pYwlSdK3C9AfyUSydlLwgCLIB%2Fw203-h101-n-k-no%2F!7i4000!8i2000

These scenes are amidst the tall buildings of the modern downtown of Shanghai, known as Lujiazui. The first two images are from Google Street View.

https://www.google.com/maps/@31.2386605,121.5023924,3a,75y,34h,90t/data=!3m8!1e1!3m6!1s-dtk19iqt2ng%2FUj14esMhfQI%2FAAAAAAAAilw%2FoZmNf_Z0XFojv01EEKzmqwy6rUadav1ggCLIB!2e4!3e11!6s%2F%2Flh3.googleusercontent.com%2F-dtk19iqt2ng%2FUj14esMhfQI%2FAAAAAAAAilw%2FoZmNf_Z0XFojv01EEKzmqwy6rUadav1ggCLIB%2Fw203-h101-n-k-no%2F!7i4000!8i2000

It may seem to some westerners that there is a similarity between the Chinese and Japanese languages, since both are written with characters. Chinese characters have had some historical effect on Japanese characters but, other than that, the two languages are not related. These two images, from Google Street View, show Chinese (top) and Japanese (bottom).

The following scenes begin in the area around Nanjing Road and People's Square Park, in the middle of downtown. The first three images are from Google Street View.