Jennifer in Shangai

Jennifer had a nice visit to Shanghai in late April this year.  It was a work trip, but since it's such a long way, she went a day early to try to recover a bit from jet lag before giving classes for many hours.

She got to visit some beautiful water gardens.  This one little maintenance man was busily maintaining the pond in his little boat the whole time.  Check out how Jennifer captured his reflection perfectly, and his arm in motion, with all the red lanterns everywhere.

Scary Chinese lion statue.  

Scarier Chinese dragon watching over the proceedings.

Look at the water near the people.  The water was solid orange because so many koi came up to the side of the pond to get fed. 

Harmonious, clean, and serene.  Jennifer said this was a relief from pushing through crowds on every street, shop, sidewalk, and mall in Shanghai, one of the bigger cities on the planet. 

When she stopped in to have some tea, there was something in her glass.  The tea leaves are at the bottom.  When they pour in the hot water, this little blossom re-hydrates, and pops up to show its colorful self.  There are probably not too many toxic chemical byproducts in it.  Anyway, I think she only had one, so I think she'll be OK. 

Jennifer caught the natives practicing their curious customs while visiting a Buddhist temple.  They have an incense vendor just outside the temple.

Light up your incense. 

Share the good karma in the wind.  

The interior of the temple dome is a masterpiece of sculptural Buddhist architecture.  Love the design and the flawless execution.

 Interior of a Buddhist temple.  I'm not sure if this is the same one or not!  We need to ask Jennifer.

The big show everyone must see in Shanghai is the skyline at night.  The best skyline viewing is from the area known as The Bund.  The city has created a sort of giant, glowing, man-made waterfall all along the river opposite the view of downtown.  These buildings are just the small ones.  Next picture has the famous skyline.  

The view at night is a really impressive sight.  We'll never know if this was achieved because of, or in spite of, the repression of freedom of religion, and freedom of speech, of Chinese citizens.  Jennifer found all Google sites simply could not be reached from her Shanghai hotel, even though it had  mostly foreign guests.    

Note the brightly lit touring boat in the foreground.  Jennifer took one of those cruises that night too.

Wow!  Jennifer's a damned good photographer!

For historical perspective on how quickly China's economy has grown, take a look at this comparison between 1990 and 2010 Shanghai skyline.  The Atlantic Monthly magazine featured this photo some time ago.  Of course, Jennifer's photos are far better than these, but the point here is the change.