Shanghai 1988
LiNi, a happy thirteen-year-old Chinese girl is walking back home through the streets of the center of Shanghai. Three-roof dark brown brick houses color the center of the city, while the kids run and hide between them. As a big boat passes by in front of the Shanghai Bund, the side path of the Huangpu river is full of couples of all ages walking and enjoying a lovely Sunday evening.
China is starting opening to the world under the leadership of Deng Xiaoping, and the city of Shanghai is starting growing exponentially and with no return.
The day after, LiNi will ride her bike to her school, like every other Monday. On the way to the school, she will pass by the Citybank of Shanghai, where LiNi’s grandfather worked for many years until the Republic of China was founded in 1949.
In the 60’s, LiNi’s grandfather was sent to country farmland to do forced labors during the ten-year cultural revolution that took place in China from 1966 to 1976. That was a dark, bloody era in China: scientists, writers or anyone having worked for foreign companies or having western education, like LiNi’s grandfather, was treated as spion and sent to prison. LiNi’s grandfather survived and could reunite with his family in 1970.
In 1990, one year after the Tiananmen protests from the students against corruption were suppressed by force, one inspector from the CCP -Chinese Communist Party- knocked on the door of LiNi’s house. Her parents were not at home but LiNi’s grandfather, sitting on a couch with an injured leg and a mind full of black memories, took the note: The families living in those houses had to move to a new developing area outside of Shanghai. The government of China had unilaterally decided to exchange their houses for a new apartment on that new developing area of Shanghai.
LiNi’s grandfather did not say a word...
Shanghai 2018
As we are walking through the city center of Shanghai with an old friend of mine from my unforgettable Erasmus year, and with his girlfriend, I can’t stop imagining those streets thirty years ago. I am impressed by what I am hearing and, at the same time, amazed by what my depending-on-the-day almost green eyes are seeing: Shanghai, the fastest growing city in the world for the last twenty years.
My traveling team, my bags, my racket and this españolito spent three days in Shanghai with this old friend of mine -twentieth anniversary from our Erasmus year- and with his lovely girlfriend. Isn’t it lovely to feed everyday more than ten cats -Pablo and his friends- from their neighbourhood compound?
Coming out of Beijing and arriving to Shanghai, one can see immediately the differences of mentality between both cities: the tradition and the modernity.
Big XieXie to my friends from Shanghai -her name is not LiNi- for hosting me so friendly during those three days. From the first minute I felt like at home, but my #roundtheworldtrip needed to go on... And what a better way to say goodbye to China than cooking a paella at their place, without safran, but with a good wine from La Rioja.
And to you guys, my dearest surreal readers, I am sending you all my positive energy. Although the blog has still some date mismatch, we are slowly catching up. Many crazy stories are still to come. Happy to feel you all out there, somewhere in the world.
The world is so big and so small at the same time...
Next stop: Singapore
To be continued.
LiNi, a happy thirteen-year-old Chinese girl is walking back home through the streets of the center of Shanghai. Three-roof dark brown brick houses color the center of the city, while the kids run and hide between them. As a big boat passes by in front of the Shanghai Bund, the side path of the Huangpu river is full of couples of all ages walking and enjoying a lovely Sunday evening.
China is starting opening to the world under the leadership of Deng Xiaoping, and the city of Shanghai is starting growing exponentially and with no return.
The day after, LiNi will ride her bike to her school, like every other Monday. On the way to the school, she will pass by the Citybank of Shanghai, where LiNi’s grandfather worked for many years until the Republic of China was founded in 1949.
In the 60’s, LiNi’s grandfather was sent to country farmland to do forced labors during the ten-year cultural revolution that took place in China from 1966 to 1976. That was a dark, bloody era in China: scientists, writers or anyone having worked for foreign companies or having western education, like LiNi’s grandfather, was treated as spion and sent to prison. LiNi’s grandfather survived and could reunite with his family in 1970.
In 1990, one year after the Tiananmen protests from the students against corruption were suppressed by force, one inspector from the CCP -Chinese Communist Party- knocked on the door of LiNi’s house. Her parents were not at home but LiNi’s grandfather, sitting on a couch with an injured leg and a mind full of black memories, took the note: The families living in those houses had to move to a new developing area outside of Shanghai. The government of China had unilaterally decided to exchange their houses for a new apartment on that new developing area of Shanghai.
LiNi’s grandfather did not say a word...
Shanghai 2018
As we are walking through the city center of Shanghai with an old friend of mine from my unforgettable Erasmus year, and with his girlfriend, I can’t stop imagining those streets thirty years ago. I am impressed by what I am hearing and, at the same time, amazed by what my depending-on-the-day almost green eyes are seeing: Shanghai, the fastest growing city in the world for the last twenty years.
My traveling team, my bags, my racket and this españolito spent three days in Shanghai with this old friend of mine -twentieth anniversary from our Erasmus year- and with his lovely girlfriend. Isn’t it lovely to feed everyday more than ten cats -Pablo and his friends- from their neighbourhood compound?
Coming out of Beijing and arriving to Shanghai, one can see immediately the differences of mentality between both cities: the tradition and the modernity.
Big XieXie to my friends from Shanghai -her name is not LiNi- for hosting me so friendly during those three days. From the first minute I felt like at home, but my #roundtheworldtrip needed to go on... And what a better way to say goodbye to China than cooking a paella at their place, without safran, but with a good wine from La Rioja.
And to you guys, my dearest surreal readers, I am sending you all my positive energy. Although the blog has still some date mismatch, we are slowly catching up. Many crazy stories are still to come. Happy to feel you all out there, somewhere in the world.
The world is so big and so small at the same time...
Next stop: Singapore
To be continued.
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