So you might be wondering:
“SwitchbladeAdrenaline. This is going your third week in Shanghai! WHY!? YOU COULD HAVE GONE TO ANY OTHER CITY IN CHINA BUT YOU DECIDE TO GO TO SHANGHAI FOR A THIRD TIME! WHY???”
Calm down, alright? Calm down. I’ll explain.
This week was my last week at China, and I just got back from Nanjing ( Navigating Around Nanjing (Travel... Blog? Part 6)) . And I didn’t want to miss a flight, nor did I want to rush back to Shanghai before my day of departure, so it was much more convenient to just be at Shanghai for a week. Also I did say that I haven’t explored Shanghai from top to bottom just yet. So here we go.
Day -2 (Saturday).
I went to a garden in Shanghai called very simply Yu Garden.
It was very large and there was a lot people there (I only had around an hour in the garden before it closed.)
Yu Garden was actually kind of like a “Base of Operations” for the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom.
If you don’t know what that is, it is a Theocratic Absolute Monarchy movement that wanted to overthrow the Qing Dynasty and replace China with a Christian nation.
Problem is, is that no one liked the idea, not even the Europeans, because the leader (Hong Xiuquan, 洪秀全) somehow believed that he was the younger brother of Jesus Christ. I don’t know how someone can be this delusional. It’s worth researching about.
But I got to say, they chose a pretty beautiful place for their base. Here are some photos of only a few parts of the garden.
Another thing to note is that the garden, like the Confucius Temple in Nanjing, is in the middle of a… square/market? And like Nanjing, they turn on the lights at night, and it’s really beautiful. The market doesn’t close even when the garden has. Here’s an image of one of the paths. (There’s too many people)
Here’s a main part of the square.
That’s all for this day.
Day -1 (Sunday).
So, you thought that all non-Chinese religions are outlawed and criminalized in China right? WRONG!
This is Xujiahui Cathedral, or St. Ignatius Cathedral. It is the largest Christian (I believe Catholic) place of worship in Shanghai, and many, many Chinese Christians come here to pray to their lord and savior, Jesus Christ.
I’m sure these images have stunned you. I’m sure that it will stun you even more to let you know that this wasn’t the only Christian place of worship in Shanghai. In fact I would come across another four churches in a single day. And there were certainly a lot of Chinese Christians from what I could tell.
“Hey SwitchbladeAdrenaline. What about other religions?” You ask.
Well my dear forumer, how about I put it this way: I haven’t walked across a single Mosque (Islamic places of worship), but there were some Halal restaurants across Shanghai (often ran by Indonesians or Malaysians who have moved to China, because Islam is the majority religion in these countries). Maybe there will be mosques in Xinjiang, but I don’t know. Other than that, I haven’t seen the presence of any other religions.
Ah I forgot to mention. It’s called Xujiahui Cathedral because it is located in Xujiahui (徐家汇), the (uncertain) most prosperous suburb (locality) in the already prosperous city of Shanghai.
It’s home to Metro City, a 25-year old… mall? Plaza? idk. Anyways, I actually don’t know what is so special about this place besides it has more American stores than other plazas.
Oh yeah, the mall has collaborated with Azur Lane to increase visitors (it most definitely worked from what I could tell). Idfk why they would but there they are. If you don’t know what Azur Lane is… well… let’s just say Naval Combat which disrespects ww2 Navy veterans.
Asides from that, I got some beautiful (my personal opinion) sunset images of Xujiahui and Metro City.
I visited another church after that (yes there’s more than one), before heading home. This one isn’t too impressive.
That’s it for today. Now we can actually begin my week.
Day 1 (Monday).
Nothing. I literally did nothing but visit a small bookstore. And yes they sell the Chinese constitution (I think most bookstores do).
Day 2 (Tuesday).
Ok, I know most of you don’t really like museums. I don’t either. So on this day I went to the “Shanghai Natural History Museum”. Basically it tells you the history of nature and humans.
The building is one of those buildings that look miniscule from the outside, but there are 5 massive levels on the inside, with each dedicating to a specific topic. The museum had English translations, but it had probably the worst grammar I could come across. Understandable, but also unforgivable. It also catered towards kids (I don’t know why I wasn’t expecting that), and it was also the Winter holidays, so I could barely walk since I was surrounded with children.
Nearby, there was a place that was a lot more peaceful, called Fuxing Park. Fuxing Park is significant in Shanghai, because not only was it the oldest park in Shanghai, but also because it was built by the French (the French actually had the authority/colonized a part of Shanghai), and remains the only “French” style park that is being maintained today.
If you like parks and want a peaceful time, please visit this place. It’s beautiful.
To top it all off, it has a statue of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. The pioneers of Communism.
That’s it for this day. Oh yeah, I would walk across 2 more churches
Day 3 (Wednesday).
I love space. I absolutely love space. Nothing beats space. So I went to a MASSIVE space museum (again, catered to young children, but who’s to stop me?)
Honestly it just made me want to play starscape more than ever, after spending 5 weeks without roblox at all.
Day 4-5 is non-existent, as I was preparing for a flight back to Australia.
Oh yeah it was also in Shanghai that I discovered that my Great-great grandfather military general: When you discover that your Great-great Grandfather was a General
Overall: I feel fully satisfied knowing that I have explored Shanghai from the top down, as the feeling of doing nothing means that you have done everything.
Of course, there is probably still a lot more that Shanghai has to offer.
I love Shanghai, not only because it is the cleanest city that I have been to in China, but the food, it’s culture, it’s history and so much more has contributed to my liking.
I can finally give Shanghai a rating, and I give it a well-earned 9.5/10. The only reason that there is a 0.5 missing, is because Shanghai is too populated. It’s population 30 million, 5 million more than Australia. So theoretically, the entire Australia would fit in Shanghai.
This was my last week at China, and as such this week there wasn’t much to write about. I also feel like that this blog was also rushed, mostly because school starts (at the time of this post) tomorrow for me.
My series of blogs in China are coming to a close, but not really. I still have to write an overview and a topic about my flight back (it has a bonus, look out for it).
So, as always, I shall see you ggguuuyyysss next tttiiimmme.
Thank you.
