Whenever I passed through Shanghai, I would stay there for only three or four days, seldom more than a week. So the city, like a person who is more of a nodding acquaintance than a close friend of mine, is still rather unfamiliar to me. But its look and voice are unforgettable.
Shanghai is a mysterious place! When I was a child living in the countryside of Yixing, I used to elbow my way into a big crowd so as to listen to someone lately returned from Shanghai chatting about things he had seen and heard in the dazzling city. To me, their summer wear of dark-colored xiangyuansha was characteristic of a Shanghailander. Evidently, those who had been working in Shanghai enjoyed a much higher status than their fellow villagers. They seemed to be quite rich. The tins of biscuits and wall calendars with pinup girls on them they had brought home were the envy of all country folks. Later, I learned, however, that they had been earning money the hard way by becoming factory workers, old jobbers or housemaids. Like 99 percent of our fellow villagers, my parents had never been to Shanghai. Though living not remote from Shanghai, they had to regard it as an inaccessible paradise on earth. In recent years, often in the waiting room of Shanghai Northern Railway Station, I have overheard some travelers speaking with a pure accent of my native place. They are apparently elderly villagers from my home town who, thanks to their children working in local factories, universities or research institutes, can now well afford to visit the city on sight-seeing tours.
The Bund is a marked feature of Greater Shanghai. Shanghailanders used to describe to country folks with pride how Nanjing Road is lined with high-rises. Later, while I was in London for a summer vacation, I noticed the remarkable resemblance between some of the narrow streets there with their renaissance-style ancient buildings and Nanjing Road.But I would rather say that it is Nanjing Road that has been modeled after London. Well, let’s review the history of Shanghai! Nevertheless, Nanjing Road has a characteristic of its own, that it, street congestion. In this respect, it can vie with Wangfujing of Beijing for championship, or world championship.