Century Park
Shanghai is divided by the Huangpu River. West of the Huangpu River is the ‘old’ Shanghai, whereas East of the River is the ‘new’ Shanghai – Pudong. This is where the majority of the skyscrapers are, where the Oriental Pearl Tower is, and the 90-odd storey Jinmao tower. Shanghai’s financial district is here, and it’s all very modern and trendy. It seems to me to be very well planned and thought-out. In Pudong is a park called Century Park – I assume this is supposed to sound like Central Park – and we went there for the first time at the weekend.
I’m not sure I have ever really been a ‘park’ person, but I was very impressed with Century Park. It was big, at least by Shanghai standards, with a lake in the middle, complete with dancing fountains, and a ‘river’ that ran around the perimeter with boats for hire. There were individual gardens, beautifully laid-out with flowers and shrubs and trees, wide promenades around the lake, secluded pathways, trees with benches under them so you can sit in the shade, and little bridges over a network of streams and waterfalls. There were all variations of bicycles for hire – tandems, ones with three seats, 2+2 ones, with and without parasols.
By chance, there was an International Music Festival on; we saw the Scottish ensemble posing for photographs by the lake, although we didn’t see them performing. After spending an hour on a boat, and an hour pedalling round on a bike, we decided to watch some of the musical performances. We stopped at one particular stage that seemed to be show-casing some Chinese children, some of them singing (some very well and some dreadfully), some of them dancing (I assume it was traditional Chinese dancing, though I’m not sure) and some playing instruments. We thought it was very sweet, none of the children could have been over 7, but the Chinese didn’t seem to be so impressed – the crowd had dwindled considerably towards the end. The final act was 5 little girls playing violins. They started surprisingly with Jingle Bells, followed that with Away in a Manger, and continued with more well-known Christmas carols. Standing in that beautiful park in the blazing sun, with the little Chinese children on a stage in front of me, the fountains on the lake as their backdrop, and the skyscrapers against the brilliant blue sky in the distance, while listening to Silent Night, was yet another surreal Shanghai moment.
I’m not sure I have ever really been a ‘park’ person, but I was very impressed with Century Park. It was big, at least by Shanghai standards, with a lake in the middle, complete with dancing fountains, and a ‘river’ that ran around the perimeter with boats for hire. There were individual gardens, beautifully laid-out with flowers and shrubs and trees, wide promenades around the lake, secluded pathways, trees with benches under them so you can sit in the shade, and little bridges over a network of streams and waterfalls. There were all variations of bicycles for hire – tandems, ones with three seats, 2+2 ones, with and without parasols.
By chance, there was an International Music Festival on; we saw the Scottish ensemble posing for photographs by the lake, although we didn’t see them performing. After spending an hour on a boat, and an hour pedalling round on a bike, we decided to watch some of the musical performances. We stopped at one particular stage that seemed to be show-casing some Chinese children, some of them singing (some very well and some dreadfully), some of them dancing (I assume it was traditional Chinese dancing, though I’m not sure) and some playing instruments. We thought it was very sweet, none of the children could have been over 7, but the Chinese didn’t seem to be so impressed – the crowd had dwindled considerably towards the end. The final act was 5 little girls playing violins. They started surprisingly with Jingle Bells, followed that with Away in a Manger, and continued with more well-known Christmas carols. Standing in that beautiful park in the blazing sun, with the little Chinese children on a stage in front of me, the fountains on the lake as their backdrop, and the skyscrapers against the brilliant blue sky in the distance, while listening to Silent Night, was yet another surreal Shanghai moment.
posted by Linda at 9:48 AM
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