At night the buildings light up. Some are subtle and elegant as shown here. Others are loud and garish. I am fortunate to find a small park where I spend the most time enjoying the views in every direction. Only extreme cold and tired feet convince me to leave this magnificent photo candy shop. I hop in a cab and return to my hotel where I promptly collapse.
The ionic Oriental Pearl Tower. At 1,535 feet high, it is the tallest completed tower in Asia. The tower features 11 spheres, big and small. The two biggest spheres, along the length of the tower, have diameters of 164 ft for the lower and 148 ft for the upper. They are linked by three columns, each 30 ft in diameter. Regrettably this was the best photo I could manage.
A short ride through a bizarrely illuminated tunnel under the river delivers you to the epicenter of the ultra modern skyscrapers which grace every block.
A visit to the Bund (historic district of Shanghai) offers magnificent views of the eclectic skyline of Pudong which lie across the Huangpu River.
China, for all its modernization, still remains a land deeply rooted in the past. It is my belief that the rate of change is so great that a major political discontinuity is inevitable.
After work is done for the day, I have several hours to myself for exploration of Shanghai. This is the future site of Expo 2010, a major international exposition in the tradition of the grand World Fair’s. It is something of a coming out party for Shanghai and the city is a buzz with preparation and construction everywhere. This photo taken through the window of a moving car was as close as I could get.
Our production line is staffed primarily by young women who constitute the vast majority of labor in the consumer electronics manufacturing industry. Although the work is highly repetitive in nature, the skills required are quite sophisticated and the working conditions are very good. Our factory employs 12,000 people at this location. To put this in context the town of Concord has something like 15,000 residents. I spend several hours watching each one of our products being assembled and tested from start to finish.
We are treated to another wonderful meal, this time at a traditional Chinese restaurant. This evening we are joined by the full compliment of General Managers from Inventec our contract manufacturer. This is a sign of great respect and we are honored by the gesture. Business meetings have gone extremely well and will conclude with a tour of the production lines tomorrow.
After meetings today at our factory in Pudong and before dinner our hosts take us to the famous TMSK bar in the Xin Tian Di shopping area. This place is a photographer’s dream and while others drank and socialized I soaked in the beautiful light. Illuminated glass is used everywhere in the design to dramatic effect.
The Crown Plaza Hotel will be home for the next three nights. Christmas decorations dominate every hotel lobby and shopping area. This one features an antique car and movie making theme. I could not figure out the holiday tie in but it certainly made for a nice photo.
Today is a travel day from Taipei to Shanghai. Despite it being a relatively short flight, the journey took the better part of the day. This image, taken from the airplane, reminds me of the backgrounds in Chinese brush paintings.
We are treated to a magnificent traditional Taiwanese dinner by our gracious hosts which includes those seated at the partially shown second table. Successful business partnerships in China depend of building strong personal relationships and there is no better way to do this than over fine food and wine. The affair lasted three hours and after a full day of meetings and sightseeing I was ready to sleep for two days.
A brief visit to the Grand Hotel on the way to dinner afforded this interior shot of the lobby. No need for red lights on the Christmas tree when that is the primary color to be found in the hotel.
The Gate of Great Centrality and Perfect Uprightness is the main entrance to the park. I regret now not having photographed it from the other side, looking back on the illuminated park.