--- Impressions of the Trip ---
1.
Day 1 ---
-
Feeling about this trip ---
(1)
It took not very long (1 hour and 55 minutes) to fly from Taoyuan,
Taiwan to Putong, Shanghai. The first impression of the airport was just
large!
(2)
I felt interested in the mini-size of our group, just 5! In the past,
this is impossible for be a group accepted by a travel agency. Chih-Hua
told everybody the second day that it was now allowed to organize a
group of two to visit Shanghai, as announced on the Internet by Lion
Travel. This is indeed a great jump in travel agency’s policy!
(3) Whatever
it is, we are happy to be here with our oldest travel mates, Professors
Mao-Chieh Chen and Tai-Sheng Chang. My family members in the group
included me, Chih-Hua (may wife), and Wan-Jung (my daughter).
-
Impressions about Taiwan Pavilion ---
(1)
We visited the
Taiwan
Pavilion
without waiting in line.
Instead, we were received as guests by the director of the pavilion
(Director Chiu) formally. At the moment he seated me as the first guest, I
realized that the Lion Travel arranged me to be accepted as a president of a
university (though not any more then).
(2)
Taiwan Pavilion was rated as No. 1 by a Japanese press. It is a proud of
Taiwanese. We were so eager to see what it looks like.
(3)
We saw or participated in four major activities in the course of our visit:
(a)
watching a 360 spherical movie about nature and traditions in Taiwan;
(b)
participating in letting go an electronic “tien deng” (sky
lantern flying high into the space) with a self-chosen slogan;
(c)
watching a dance performed by two “electronic princes”
(two of the three little gods of princes with traditional costumes in a
large scale); and
(d)
watching a tea master
showing a graceful way of preparing and taste tea.
(4)
The interactions of all the activities were good. And so the pavilion gave
visitors a kind of interesting and friendly.
-
Impressions about France
Pavilion ---
(1)
We had dinner in the
France
Pavilion and
this allowed us to enter
the pavilion directly. That was the most French-flavored
dinner I and my family have ever had so far.
(2)
We encountered raining in before entering the France Pavilion. Though we
have brought umbrellas and raincoats, but we still got very wet, especially
in the shoes, everybody.
(3)
The displays included only the following three major items:
(a)
many movies shown on the walls along the way;
(b)
an area with eight hanging-down half-open cylindrical columns within which
smells of various flavor could be felt as depicted by the drawings in the
column; and
(c)
six masterpieces of paintings by famous artists exhibited;
(d)
and a piece of LED show.
(4)
We were disappointed with the exhibition content of the
France Pavilion
because all the shown content was static.
2.
Day 2 ---
-
First impressions about Shanghai ---
(1)
Lots of the buildings in the downtown area were all high-rising. I wonder if
their did not have the enforced regulation of requiring allowing sufficient
open space in a building structure.
(2)
The downtown area is more or less like that in Taipei.
(3)
The salary level for young people here is about 3000 RMB (»
15000 NT dollars), as Chih-Feng (temporary guide from Taiwan accompanying
us) told me.
(4)
The weather was so wet that the body skin feeling of being like in a bath,
which I had when I returned to Taiwan from the USA in 1979, appeared again.
-
Impressions about the visited pavilions ---
(1)
The Chinese Private Enterprise Pavilion had good shows, especially
the last one which was said to be directed by three famous directors in
China, including Yi-Mou Chang. The show included waves of real balls hung
from the ceiling controlled by a computer program, followed by a Tachi-like
show performed by a handsome young guy.
(2)
The SAIG-GM Pavilion had a movie about the future of Shanghai in
2030. At that time, the transportation is going to change a lot. Personal
transportation vehicles become cute, each for carrying one person only. We
sat on rocking chairs, simulating riding the vehicle in the movie. After the
movie, a dance show performed by dancers and real cute vehicles appearing in
the movie followed. Bothe the movie and the dance performance were
impressive and touching. Before exiting, people could touch the real
vehicles seen in the movie and the dance show.
(3)
The Pavilions of Denmark, Belgium, Sweden, and Switzerland which we
visited sequentially were all not so interesting. Though they all exhibited
articles and objects related to the theme of the exposition of this year ---
environment protection, the contents were mostly too normal to attract
longer watching.
3.
Day 3 ---
-
Impressions about Taipei Case Pavilion –
(1)
There were four programs in the visit --- welcome by the city major,
Lung-bin Hau; a 3D panoramic movie show of Taipei life (watched by wearing
3D glasses) ; a four-face LED movie show of Taipei’s achievements of
wireless networking and environmental protection, and an interactive
exhibition.
(2)
The movie shows were somehow too short to show real facts more completely.
-
Impressions about China Pavilion –
(1)
The China Pavilion is huge, but some of the shows were not so meaningful.
(2)
The best is the cartoon show of the “Over the river in Chingming Festival” (清明上河圖)
which obviously used a lot of man years to complete using the computer
graphics technique.
-
Impressions about other visited pavilions ---
(1)
Italy
Pavilion --- the most artistic exhibition in
the ones we have seen.
(2)
German Pavilion --- the most technological
exhibition in the ones we have seen.
(3)
Pavilion of Urban Planet --- an exhibition
arousing our attention to human beings’ destruction of the existing
resources on the earth.
4.
Day 4 ---
-
Impressions about Shanghai’s culture and art ---
(1) In
the four days of our stay in Shanghai, we have visited several museums and
galleries, including Shanghai Museum,
Shanghai Sculpture Space,
Minsheng Art Museum, Shanghai Art Gallery.
The overall impression is that there is no much difference from those we see
in Taipei.
(2) Tuianzifang
is a good place to visit again. I like the old atmosphere in the lanes and
lungs in there.
(3) 1933
Shanghai is a building built by the English people for killing cows when
they occupied part of the city at the ending period of the Ching Dynasty. It
is now used by artists as a platform for art exhibitions and music
festivals. A revival of old things! Good idea!
-
More about Expo 2010 ---
(1) We
were lucky to get tickets to see a special opera “Carmen” in Expo 2010,
which was performed vividly by a group of Spanish dances. I like it!
Unfortunately, we did not have enough time to see the show to the end.
(2)
After seeing the opera of “Carmen,” we
took pictures of all the pavilions one after another. The Expo may also be
said to be an architecture exhibition! I also bought many postcards
illustrating the pavilions, intended to be used by Meimei.
5.
Day 5 ---
-
More impressions about Shanghai ---
(1)
High
buildings
are numerous and harmonic in order, as seen from the People’s Square and the
SWFC (Shanghai World Finance Center).
(2)
The SWFC we visited has three records:
highest observation deck (awarded by Ginness World Records);
highest building in the two categories of highest occupied floor and
height to top of roof
(awarded by CYBUH, the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat). As a
comparison, Taipei 101, though once highest in the world, its observation
deck is on the 85th floor only.
(3)
The Yu Garden’s scenes and building
architectures are finer than I could imagine. Nan Yuan in Hsinchu is
inferior.
(4) We
had lunch in Nan-Shiang Steam Buns Restaurant, but the food was inferior to
that of Tin Tai Feng, though similar.
-
Overall impression about Shanghai ---
(1)
a city of Internationalization;
(2) a
city of reach people;
(3)
a city of prosperity;
(4)
a city of crowdedness;
(5)
a city of fast development;
(6)
a city competing with Beijing.
6.
Day 6 ---
-
Descriptions and thoughts of major visited spots ---
(1)
Today we visited Hanshan Temple,
Zhouzhengyuan, Jinji Lake, and Guan Qian Street.
(2)
It is kind of joy to visit an old temple
“Hanshan Temple” which we learned from reading a poem appearing in our
high-school textbook for Chinese:
(3)
I was very happy today because visit to
Zhouzhengyuan has been one of my travelling targets so many years. I like
old-style gardens! Zhouzhengyuan is regarded as a model of Chinese garden.
Every kind of typical architecture element in traditional Chinese gardens
can be found here. Almost every view from any direction is like a scenic
picture.
(4)
Guan Qian Street which we strolled after
dinner was not as expected; it was remodeled though with a little Chinese
architecture flavor was kept on the roofs of the new buildings. Cars were
not permitted on the street. It was named so because it was right before a
Tao temple.
-
Other observations and thoughts ---
(1)
Today two new tour guides came to
accompany us, in addition to the original one, Miss Hsieh Wang. The first,
Mr. Chun Ho, was fluent in telling facts about new China. The second, Miss
Lee, was good in telling facts about local relics.
(2)
The hotel we lived today was sort of
modern style. Even the reception hall is lightened in red light. The
interior is new.
(3)
Ms. Lee, the local guide, told us that
the population of Suzhou is 600 million which astonished me. Another guide,
Mr. Ho, told me that Suzhou is larger than Shanghai in the aspect of land
size, which 8000 km2
while Shanghai only has 6000 km2.
7.
Day 7 ---
-
Feelings about visited sites ---
(1) Suzhou
Museum was designed by Ieoh Ming Pei who was born locally. The architecture
is more attractive to the visitors than the exhibited articles.
(2) Wuzhen
is really a town fixed in time! Even the restaurant where we had lunch,
Jioujianglou, is a historical building made of wood.
(3)
Sightseeing in Wuzhen includes Maotung’s
old house, a money museum, a bed museum, and an old yarn die shop, etc. The
cultural relics are abundant.
(4)
The Xixi Wetland is a new park. The
resources as seen superficially seem not much.
(5)
The on-water opera “Impression West Lake”
was really astonishing! That is why the director Yi-mou Chang becomes
famous.
8.
Day 8 ---