Sunday 6th March
Overnight the weather changed and we awoke with cloud virtually to the ground and the tops of buildings impossible to see. We took the sightseeing bus around the city and from People’s Square, near the hotel, we passed through familiar territory to reach the waterfront at The Bund. Great disappointment!!!
The opposite bank was impossible to see. Our tour continued to the Old Wharf section of the south Bund where according to the road signs ships carrying cool and cold produce loaded and unloaded here. Our bus turned inland passing the City God Temple and Yuyuan Gardens and the remains of Shanghai’s old city. A lot of this area was absorbed into the French Concession and has the remains of elegant houses and buildings used initially by the Chinese Communist Party.
Soon the narrow streets and traditional low rise buildings gave way to the modern high rise and multinational stores.
Having left the bus at People’s Square we returned to the hotel by means of subterranean walkways and shopping malls that surround the entrance to the Metro Station.
After lunch we explored the Art Deco (1930s) architecture of the hotel. This was a most important and influential building and was part of a boom in Shanghai that led to the construction of many, now preserved, Art Deco buildings.
Our late afternoon walk took us past many examples of this architectural style and by the time we arrived at the waterfront their details were wonderfully illuminated.
At 6:00 p.m. The Pudong waterfront was a mass of lights which were reflected in the river and witnessed by hundreds of people. What a way to end Sunday!
