Chinese Confession - A Brief Glimpse at the Beauty of Shanghai

Every once in a long while the elements all line up perfectly and harmoniously. You can put life on pause, even for just a few short minutes, and appreciate life and the world for how amazingly beautiful it truly can be. These priceless moments are very rare. Tragically, often times we are too busy and our thoughts too focused elsewhere to stop and savor such an amazing moment. I know I am certainly guilty of this. Yesterday, however, was one of those amazing and rare days.

The early morning drizzle unexpectedly cleared out by the early afternoon, leaving behind a freshly cleaned and lively city. The clouds broke apart, allowing the sun to shine down on all of Shanghai. This alone is a rare treat, but the fact that I had an entire day to do whatever I wanted meant complete liberation. The temperature was perfect. The humidity was perfect. The clouds were perfect. My schedule was perfect. I could stand out on the balcony, nine stories up and rising above all of the nearby buildings, and see to the end of the horizon. Well, I would have been able to see to the end of the horizon were it not hidden behind the endless sea of skyscrapers in every direction. But even this sight was amazing.

I wasted no time in deciding what to do for the day. I quickly grabbed my camera, a little bit of money, my transit card, and headed out the door. I wanted to take as many pictures as possible, and I certainly did not hold back. Shanghai may not have the same kind of beauty and awe that is so prevalent back at home in Colorado, where virtually everyday we enjoy an unobstructed view of the mountains as they rise majestically from the great plains. The beauty of Shanghai, however, is equally present. If you make too much haste, however, that beauty can too easily be overlooked.

The beauty of Shanghai is in the faces of its people and their immeasurable kindness. It is in the harmonious parks that are so abundant and truly cherished, where the locals come together and, in unison, execute the careful, controlled movements Taichi. It is in the rotting, dilapidated building that looks over the same park, a witness to what Shanghai was just a few decades ago. It is also in the newly built steel and glass skyscraper across the street that also shares a witness of what the Shanghai has become. It is present in the blood that pumps through the veins of a young and amazingly talented artist as he looks so carefully at my face, creating a flawless portrait of me as I am seated on a bench with an unobstructed view of the modern skyscrapers of Lujiazui on the other side of the Huangpu river. It is present in the hasty flight of a man running recklessly and as quickly as he can while pushing his Korean barbecue cart down the wide, elevated sidewalk, crowded with tourists, vendors, people flying kites, and even those just out for the day enjoying the scenery. It is simultaneously present in my own mind as I ponder what could possibly have caused him to so abruptly take flight. It is present in the moment that shortly followed when the artist took a pause from the picture, hid his folder and supplies, and tried to look as inconspicuous as possible as a local police patrol cart slowly drove down the same wide sidewalk. It was present once again as I wondered what kind of sketchy operation this artist had, even though he was only charging me about $4 for the portrait. It was present in the conversation that I struck up with a local Chinese man as I walked down the sidewalk, and even more present in the fact that I have been able to learn enough of this challenging language to even be able to have a pleasant conversation. It was present when I arrived in the neighborhood that displays the breath-taking architecture of the China of yesterday, either perfectly preserved or perfectly recreated as a way to draw in tourists. It is present in the lights of this same neighborhood as they lit up these buildings by night, adding to their brilliant beauty the vibrant energy of the city at night. It is equally present in the reflections of the light upon the water of the pond that surrounds an old tea house. It is in the fact that I am even able to be here in this city, in this country, at this time, with these people, and can appreciate it first hand. It is even in the flu or food poisoning that I somehow caught that is affording me the time to sit down and write this blog in the first place.

Fortunately you don’t have to rely on my insufficient words to see what I saw. Here are some pictures that I took as I tried to capture the beauty of Shanghai.

http://picasaweb.google.com/joeechols/20070924Shanghai