Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
2
Flower, Bird, Fish & Insect Market
MARKET
One of the few remaining traditional markets in town, this is the spot to go shopping for
city-sized pets. There are all sorts of critters for sale, but it's the crickets and their bamboo
cages that are the most remarkable.
( S Xizang Rd;
9am-4pm;
Laoximen)
3
Dajing Pavilion
PAVILION
Dating from 1815, this pavilion is attached to the sole preserved (and restored) section of
the Old Town wall, which was toppled in 1912. On the ground floor is a Chinese-language
exhibition of the Old Town, and you can climb the battlements.
( Dajing Rd; admission ¥5;
9am-4pm;
Dashijie)
Understand
Life as a Shanghai Resident
Shanghai has a strong regional identity, forged from its unique history, dialect and geographic location. In many
respects, however, the Shanghainese are similar to the Hong Kong Chinese: both are southern Chinese from flour-
ishing coastal towns that historically served as havens for refugees and embraced Western customs and beliefs.
Like the Hong Kong Chinese, the Shanghainese typically are physically shorter and thinner than their taller and
stockier northern brethren.
The Shanghainese are admired by other Chinese for their competence and envied for their material successes.
On the downside, they are also sometimes seen by their compatriots as being stingy, petty, calculating, unfriendly
and demanding.
Shanghai has long flirted with the Western perspective, but the city remains staunchly Chinese in its traditions
and customs. Like all Chinese, the Shanghainese are proud of their ancestry; concessions to Western taste are of-
ten no more than a theatrical device. The average Shanghai resident actually has little exposure to the West bey-
ond the TV set, and speaks no English. It's easy to overlook, but virtually no tourists left China prior to 1979 and
only in very recent years have visitor numbers to foreign destinations slowly grown. China - including Shanghai
- remains comparably sheltered from the outside world.
Employment, health care, education and property prices are major concerns for both young families and retired
workers. House prices have rocketed since the 1990s and although property prices on average are not as high as
those in Europe or the US, the average salaries in Shanghai are far, far lower. With vast salary disparities and no
