Shanghai the Oriental Metropolitan, CHN(上海—东方大都会)-儿歌荟萃-万维博客-万维读者网（电脑版）

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		Shanghai the Oriental Metropolitan, CHN(上海—东方大都会)	2020-07-23 08:24:59

2018-08-22

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【Aiden in English】

Alright, so now I'm in Shanghai... That was fast. I guess it's expected of a bullet train. Leaving Nanjing in the late morning, we arrived in Shanghai at midday, receiving a very, very warm welcome with delicious Shanghai cuisine. Luckily, the humidity dialed down a notch to a bearable level, and many shops in Shanghai had air conditioning.

I suppose that would be the first difference I noted between Shanghai and Nanjing. There was quite a drop in degrees, Celsius, but the sun shines brightly I feel in Shanghai. Perhaps it's the East China Sea residing right beside the city, or the lack of ozone right above the city, but under the sun, it is swelteringly hot. Then you step into one of the many Gucci or Nike stores and it feels like a freezer. This also transitions into another major difference: there are a lot, I mean a ton, of imported goods. Today's journey took me and Mom along Shanghai's Main Street like Yu Garden and Nanjing Road, normally culturally rich places. However, Shanghai is a port city with a lot of money and a lot of visitors, resulting in high cultural diffusion. So, instead of some local sportswear, you have some American models posing with style rocking Air Jordan or Gucci sweatshirts. It may seem pointless, but the flare of these streets comes at night when an ocean of people comes out and policemen have to direct the flow wandering the sidewalk. On any given block, you could have ten police officers lined up with batons and obnoxious whistles tweeting at any sign of stepping out of order.

So what does being the center of Chinese trade make you? Well, you get the best coastal city view in the world. I thought Penn's Landing in Philadelphia at night was magical; Shanghai wanted to destroy that image. And well, I can safely say Shanghai's city coastline blows every other city I've been to out of the water. Surrounding the Bund along the Huangpu River, a mother river, the mouth opens straight into the East China Sea. That should be a beautiful natural sight, but money decides city growth, not scenery, so the spread of skyscrapers ended up swallowing up the mouth on both sides. The result is arguably a more beautiful sight than the river itself. A night lit up by stars, the moon, and an electric glow emitting from several modern pieces of metal.

China has a lot of people as we already know. But it's astonishing to see so many people around the world come out at once for a night view of a river. I suppose when you get a sight so clean like this, it motivates the soul to go out and explore. A black surface extends to the horizon, only to be interrupted by ships and reflections. Then, an opposing bank rises out of the dark, protruding high into the black sky, black as the water, similarly lit by reflection. In limbo hangs a series of modern architectural works of art, testing, and turning, lights illuminating the edges, marking the angles, and defining each corner. Later on in the night, the Oriental Pearl Tower even put on a light show, drawing 'oooh's and 'aaaahhh's from the crowd of spectators. And what a crowd it was. Massive lines piled up to even get onto the riverside. We went with the flow, and twenty minutes later arrived at the night show, all well worth the wait.

Today felt like our visit to Rome all over again. We hardly stopped (the longest break all afternoon was for restrooms), and we drained all our water. However, neither the heat nor the people stopped us from exploring (almost). Due to the two days, we are spending in Shanghai, Mom attempted to cram as much of the city into 24 hours as possible, and I got to say, sometimes more is more.

【红霞译文】

这下好嘞，现在我来到上海……眨眼工夫，多亏了高铁，上午很晚的时候动身离宁，中午时分便如期抵沪，千里之行始于嘴下，美味可口的本帮菜隆重为我们接风洗尘。值得庆幸的，湿度业已降到好过的程度，况且上海许多商场店铺爱用空调。

可能这是上海与南京之间我所察觉的首要区别，温度低了几度（摄氏），不过阳光火辣，也许因为靠近东海或缺乏臭氧层的缘故，所以天气依旧闷热，可一旦踏入像古驰、耐克之类的商店却恍若钻进冰库，由此引出两地第二个区别：进口产品比比皆是。今天我们的行程集中在豫园及南京路一带，通常列为历史积淀丰富的地方。然而，上海属于港口城市，古往今来生意兴隆群英荟萃，导致文化高度渗透，致使当地体育用品难寻立锥之土，美国模特所做的 “飞人乔丹”鞋款或“古驰”运动衫广告牌铺天盖地，说这些似乎毫无特殊意义，但当夜幕降临霓虹齐放潮水般的游客涌上街头时，警察不得不全力以赴疏导交通，任何一个交叉道口，你都能看到十名警官严阵以待，只要发现有人偏离步行过道，他们立刻挥舞手中的指挥棒并玩命吹响刺耳的哨笛。

那么身置中国贸易中心究竟有何感想呢？没错，你将全天下最棒的海岸线尽收眼底，我觉得费城威廉·潘登陆地的夜景固然奇妙，但跟上海外滩相比却黯然失色，而且我可以肯定地说十里洋场万国建筑群与江水交相辉映的美景盖过本人所鉴赏过的任何一座海滨城市。从外滩附近沿黄浦江这条母亲河顺流而下，江水经吴淞口直入东海，“一条大河波浪宽，风吹稻花香两岸”，自然风光本应充满质朴气息，但金钱主宰城市发展，而非取决于地貌状况，因此高楼大厦如雨后春笋般飞速发展，彻底改变了河口两岸乡土风貌，结果确实让上海出落得摩登无比，黄浦江上繁星璀璨月光闪烁，若干现代化金属产品发射出溢彩流光，外滩的夜晚灯火辉煌。

中国人口众多早已是既成事实，但亲眼目睹来自五湖四海的游客为观赏夜景共同涌向黄浦江畔的宏大场面还是甚感震撼，我想每当赶上像今晚这么好的能见度，难免让人放飞思想，要不是船只穿梭光线反射，黑黢黢水面一直会延伸到远方的地平线。接着，对岸霓虹划破黑暗，高高悬挂在夜空之中，水天一色珠璧交辉。一系列现代建筑艺术作品仍处于施工阶段，灯光打到框架四周，把边角轮廓照得一清二楚。晚上，东方明珠塔上演了一场灯光秀，阵阵“哦”“啊”惊叹声从围观的人群里迸发出来，气势滂沱。大队人马集结于江边，我们随大流走到哪儿算那儿，廿分钟后表演才开始进行，为此付出的等待非常值得。

今天我仿佛重归罗马，一路上马不停蹄（整个下午歇脚最长的地方非厕所莫属），出了几身臭汗。其实，这既不怪天气炎热也不怨人多拥堵（说得过去），由于上海之行咱前后仅逗留两天时间，所以妈妈打算尽可能把大部头活动安排在廿四小时以内，要我说有时多多益善。

Today in History(历史上的今天):

2018: Shanghai—Yu Garden & City God Temple, CN(上海豫园与城隍庙)

2017: Black Forest NP—Home to Cuckoo Clocks(德国黑森林国家公园)

2017: Baden the Longest Wine Region, DEU(德国巴登—跨度最长的葡萄酒区)

2017: Neuf Brisach—Fortification of Vauban, FRA(法国新布赖萨赫—沃邦防御工事)

2017: Breisach the Haven of Romance along the Rhine, DEU(德国布赖萨赫—莱茵河浪漫天堂)

2017: Colmar—Capital of Alsatian Wine(法国科尔马—阿尔萨斯葡萄酒之都)

2017: Colmar the City of Fairy Tale, FRA(法国科尔马—童话之城)

2017: Colmar—Hometown of F. Bartholdi, FRA(法国科尔马—自由女神故乡)

2017: Colmar the Little Venice, FRA(法国科尔马—微型威尼斯)

2017: Strasbourg Kouglof, FRA(法国斯特拉斯堡—奶油圆蛋糕)