Allan: Today, for the first time, I heard the birds singing

Its taken me almost two weeks to understand just what I'm experiencing in Shanghai. It's big, it's noisy, it's dirty, but it's also fascinating. It's like no other city I have had the opportunity to visit. It's a city of juxtaposition; an old city and culture being reborn (or more accurately being rebuilt) into a new city and consequently a new culture...and today, for the first time through it all, I heard the birds singing.

The birds, of course, had always been there. It was me that changed, my vantage point to the city. I have started to see what's underneath; beyond the bigness, the noise and the dirt. There are many points of beauty; a person's energy and smile, a building's shadow that has been cast for literally lifetimes, a community of people that appear to be of one. Experiencing Shanghai goes beyond experiencing the new districts like Pudong (the new financial center) or the glamorous shopping malls with every imaginable Luxury Brand such as Gucci and Louis Vuitton. To experience Shanghai, one needs to walk the streets between the new buildings and shopping malls, to experience what has always been Shanghai, the old tree lined neighborhoods filled with longtang (communal living tenement buildings). Although many of them have met their fate, the wrecking ball, making way for the 'New Shanghai', many of them still exist, sharing a glimpse of 'Old Shanghai'. It's a city of contrast, old and new, literally across the street from one another.

To understand Shanghai it's also important to understand it's past. Originally a fishing and textile town, the favorable port location town became a major trading hub between East and West during the 19th century. It wasn't until the Communist take over in 1949 that foreign business investment seceded and foreigners exiled. In the early 1990's the Chinese government implemented economic reforms that once again opened up China to foreign investment. Today, Shanghai is the largest commerce and financial city on mainland China.

Shanghai has asked something different of me than other cities; patience to understand her, time to get to know her and not to judge her...I realized this only today when I heard the birds singing.