| Wonders of China | |
| 上海 | |
| Shanghai | |
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| Some cities are forever associated with a single landmark and in the case of Shanghai it is surely the Bund, a Hindi word meaning embankment. Despite the rapid and literal rise of Pudong across the river, the iconic old buildings along the Bund have survived - VIDEO CAPTURES Malcolm McCrow | |
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| A copy of New Yok City's Charging Bull in front of the Shanghai Pudong Development Bank which was built in 1912. The bronze statue looking down the Bund is not Chairman Mao, but Chen Yi, revolutionary commander and first mayor of Shanghai after 1949 - VIDEO CAPTURES Malcolm McCrow | |
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| Further along the Bund the green roofed 1930s Fairmont Peace Hotel (left) counts Charlie Chaplin and Noel Coward among previous guests. The distinctive former Palace Hotel (right) was built in 1906 - VIDEO CAPTURES Malcolm McCrow | |
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| The Chinese for sea horse is Haima and the effects of Typhoon Haima (October 2016) were being felt most notably along the south eastern seaboard. So it was no surprise that heavy rain greeted our arrival in Shanghai and Pudong was partially hidden by low cloud - VIDEO CAPTURES Malcolm McCrow | |
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| As we left the Bund it was somewhat of a surprise to learn we were heading for China Town - VIDEO CAPTURES Malcolm McCrow | |
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| Heading down streets reminiscent of Beijing’s hutongs we arrived at the Yu Gardens where the white walls are topped by an undulating dragon which, in order not to incur the emperor’s wrath has only four claws. Imperial dragons have five - VIDEO CAPTURES Malcolm McCrow | |
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| The walls divide the garden into six scenic areas - VIDEO CAPTURES Malcolm McCrow | |
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| China Town is more properly known as the Yu Gardens Bazaar. The old style buildings are not really old, but the fanciful roofs reflect times gone by - VIDEO CAPTURES Malcolm McCrow | |
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| The centre piece is the genuinely old Huxingting Teahouse built in 1784. Since evil spirits cannot turn corners, the building is protected by a zigzag bridge - VIDEO CAPTURES Malcolm McCrow | |
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| As darkness began to fall the rain began to ease as the lights came on and the rush hour traffic intensified on the Yan’an Middle Road which leads to the Bund and the Huangpu River - VIDEO CAPTURES Malcolm McCrow | |
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| Night Cruising on the Huangpu is very popular and boats of varying design and size are usually crowded - VIDEO CAPTURES Malcolm McCrow | |
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| A floodlit replica American steamboat (left) heads up the Huangpu past the (right) crowned Westin Bund Centre, the Shanghai Pudong Development Bank and the Customs House - VIDEO CAPTURES Malcolm McCrow | |
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| Another extravagantly decorated craft passes the 1920s American styled Bank of China and the green roofed Fairmont Peace Hotel and then continues past the Customs House and the Shanghai and Pudong Development Bank - VIDEO CAPTURES Malcolm McCrow | |
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| The former Bank of Communications and Russo-Asiatic Bank Building (left); The People's Heroes Monument (right) marks the entrance to the Suzhou Creek also known as the Wusong River - VIDEO CAPTURES Malcolm McCrow | |
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| Pudong flaunts its modernity as a merchant ship presents itself as a ghostly image as it heads for he Mighty Yangtze and the sea - VIDEO CAPTURES Malcolm McCrow | |
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| As the cloud cleared intermittently the taller buildings of Pudong made brief partial appearances through the clouds - VIDEO CAPTURES Malcolm McCrow | |
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| Shanghai Oriental TV Tower is some 468 meters high and ranks amongst the highest in Asia and the world - VIDEO CAPTURES Malcolm McCrow | |
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| Pudong shoreline at night - VIDEO CAPTURES Malcolm McCrow | |
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| Pudong from the Huangpu - VIDEO CAPTURES Malcolm McCrow | |
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| Almost hidden among the skyscrapers lining the Yan’an elevated expressway is the golden Jing’an Temple. Flower troughs and trees line the rainswept street below the elevated expressway - VIDEO CAPTURES Malcolm McCrow | |
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| The Sovietesque Shanghai Exhibition Centre built in 1954 and originally known as the Palace of Sino-Soviet Friendship - VIDEO CAPTURES Malcolm McCrow | |
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| The Maglev train connects Shanghai to the International Airport. It has no wheels and employs magnetic levitation - VIDEO CAPTURES Malcolm McCrow | |
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| Time and speed is displayed in each of the seven cars and it takes only three minutes and eighteen seconds to reach its maximum speed of 431 kilometres per hour – 268 miles per hour. By this time it is slowing for the airport terminal - VIDEO CAPTURES Malcolm McCrow | |
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The distance of just under 19 miles is covered in just 7 minutes. Returning to Longyang Road (right), the Shanghai terminus of the Maglev - VIDEO CAPTURES Malcolm McCrow |
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| Making a brief tour of the rainswept streets of the former French Concession - VIDEO CAPTURES Malcolm McCrow | |
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| The former French Concession and a green pillarbox reminiscent of Ireland - VIDEO CAPTURES Malcolm McCrow | |
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Regretfully the atrocious weather cut short even the short tour of the former French Concession which concluded at the building where on July 23, 1921, thirteen members held their first national congress marking the birth of the Chinese Communist Party. The view from 18th floor of the Equatorial Hotel in Yanan Road West after abandoning the walking tour of the former French Concession - VIDEO CAPTURES Malcolm McCrow |
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Next morning at Shanghai’s Pudong International Airport and a British Airways Boeing 787 Dreamliner for the return flight to London - VIDEO CAPTURES Malcolm McCrow |
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| China | |