People, Food, Daily Life in Shanghai

A visit to China would usually incorporate trips to both Beijing and Shanghai. The differences in terms of architecture and history are at once obvious. However under the surface more and more differences are apparent, until you realise that one of the only aspects they have in common with one another is their importance to China.

For travellers with a basic knowledge of Chinese, the first difference is in the language itself. Shanghai is a dialect as different from Beijing’s as Cantonese. Shanghainese can be difficult to get used to for foreigners, but this gulf in dialects truly reflects the gulf between the Shanghai and Beijing’s residents. Shanghai may not be the capital of China, but its residents don’t care, because they know that they live in China’s greatest city, and will be more than willing to let you know that. This is a city full of people proud to live at the forefront of China’s economic boom, and upon visiting Shanghai you may feel that their arrogance is justified. The Communist Party itself has its headquarters in the capital Beijing, but has its roots in a Shanghai back street where they Party held its first meeting in the 1920s. The Shanghainese will admit that China’s history lies in Beijing, but its future is Shanghai.

Before your trip to China, you will no doubt have heard of Peking Duck, the unofficial national dish of China. But Shanghai’s cuisine is celebrated throughout China and is markedly different to the rest of the country. A prime location on the coast at the mouth of the Yangtze River gives Shanghai wonderful fresh seafood, with crabs, fish and chicken the mainstay of Shanghai cuisine. Shanghai has notably smaller, more delicate portions than the rest of the country, with care and attention focused on bringing out flavours in each dish. Sugar is a frequent feature in Shanghai cooking, from where popular sweet and sour dishes originate. A must-eat is surely Shanghai’s shengjianbao （生煎包），a fried dumpling commonly eaten for breakfast with a stick of fried dough (youtiao 油条) and soy milk. Another popular dish is the Shanghai hairy crab, caught fresh in the mouth of the Yangtze, this is a popular dish with locals available throughout the city.

Shanghai may be a modern metropolis, but in comparison to Beijing there are fewer obvious sights for tourists to flock to. The real pleasure of visiting in Shanghai is to find the locals, and enjoy what they do in their leisure time. Whether it be going to Fuxing Park to listen to Chinese music and singers, or to even join in with the groups of dancers (ballroom, line dancing, tango…) dotted around the park. Stroll through the many markets in the city, whether it be Dongtai Road’s antiques and curio market, or the many various animal and food markets, you are sure to spot amazing items for sale. With all of its skyscrapers and fantastic 21^st century architecture, Shanghai may be a city with its head in the clouds, but the real beauty of it is at street level.

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What to see in Kunming, China

After living in Kunming for over a year, I felt it was about time to get out of the city and see some of the less hectic surrounding area. A friend and I met in Prague café on Wenlin Jie (40-5 Wenlin Jie, Kunming (昆明文林街40号附5号附6号) to discuss where we wanted to go – so many possibilities – the Bamboo Temple, the Golden Temple…Eventually we tore ourselves away from the beautiful breakfast and cheap coffee, determined that we were going to get out of the Wenlin Jie bubble for a change. We decided on the Black Dragon Pool (黑龙潭), a park 12 kilometres out of the city centre, precisely because we knew absolutely nothing about it. After spending hours getting off and on a variety of incorrect buses (please see the bottom of this article for directions of how you should actually get there) we arrived at the entrance.

In essence, Black Dragon Pool feels much like many other Chinese parks with its bright colours, goldfish and turtles, and temples populated by ornate plump Buddhas. In the middle there’s a big tranquil pond – the Black Dragon Pool which gives the park its name. The goldfish cluster to one side, and parents hold kids over the edge to drop bread into their mouths.

We wandered off the beaten track – there’s no point getting out of the city if you’re surrounded by as many people as you would be if you were in it, and, trying to escape every party of schoolchildren we came across, ended up in a hilly area with what seemed enormous trees and rocks. The quiet and calm seemed eerie to our ears, by now accustomed to Kunming’s steady backdrop of car horns beeping, people yelling, builders drilling and knocking down, endless promotions of the newest products accompanied by enthusiastic young men shouting into loudspeakers. And here there was nothing, just the wind in the trees.

We found a tree we both liked and settled under it for a chat as the sun went down. A few hours later we made our way to the Pool, and watched the fish and two small hummingbirds. Most of the people had gone by then (most probably for a prompt 5.30 dinner) and we had the pool pretty much to ourselves. Other than a bit of a scare when we couldn’t find the exit and had visions of being locked for the night and having to somehow snare fish for our dinner, this was one of the more relaxing days I ever had in Kunming.

Getting there:

By taxi: Take a taxi to Black Dragon Pool黑龙潭. From the city centre this should cost roughly 50RMB.

By bus: Take bus number 9, 79 or 128 for 1 or 2 RMB, depending on if it has air conditioning.

China Holidays can tailor made any tours to China, especially to the Yunnan Province. For more information please call Elizabeth on 020 7487 2999