Today was more of a historic day to see a little more of the museum and older districts scene.

First was a quick visit to the Shanghai Urban Planning Exhibition Center.  The picture above is 1/60th of the city of Shanghai and it is only the 1st inner ring.  It was to demonstrate the 2020 plan and they are now going to build the 2030 plan.  It was slightly interesting, but I am not sure I would recommend it to most people.

Next was a visit to Shanghai Museum.  They have 4 floors and a large number of exhibitions.  I found some to be quite interesting even though the amount of content and objects is quite small given the size and long history of China.  I found the exhibits of the clothing of the ethnic minorities around China to be quite interesting myself.

This one: the Jade Divine Figure is one of the most famous and is over 4,200 years old!

Personally, the Thousand Buddhas tablet/stone was quite captivating and amazing to see.

I thought the art and calligraphy were very limited compared to what you can see in the National Museum in Taipei, but there were some pretty darn cool statue carvings to see.

For lunch, we headed over to the French Quarter (or concession) which is quite popular with the hip crowd.  Tons of bars and restaurants.

There was a ton of cool/different stores that were fun to explore and check out.  This one…I could not figure out.  It was only a 10×10 store, only appeared to sell t-shirts and backpacks…and had huge lines and queues to get in.

Then…I found something even more interesting!  Guess what it was?  The Communist Party historical museum! I had the right attire (hat) to enter of course…

I believe this might have been one of the original typewriters used in the rise of the party and the national manifesto.  I believe the site of this museum was the location for the 1st national congress of the upcoming communist party.

Overall, it was actually interesting to check out.  It was free to enter as long as you provide a thumbprint for identification.  It mostly about the history and formation of the communist party and not the modern cultural revolution, etc.

The last exploration for the day was to go visit the famous WWII era Jewish ghetto in Shanghai.  Did you know that maybe as many as 14,000 Jews were rescued from Austria before WWII and provided visas from China when many other countries would not?

I had no idea of all the history and the people that had been saved during WWII.  The reality is they all eventually left, but it was an important time in history and China played a major role in helping. We got to visit some of the homes, the park and the restored synagogue and museum to learn some of the history and how they survived.

It was a long day, but a good one.  How can you not like Shanghai and its Gumby style mascot?

If you don’t like him, try out one of the Michelin Star restaurants in Shanghai to unwind?  We had dinner at the Jean Georges which was right next to our hotel.  Fantastic food and service…but it was so busy and loud, it was hard to enjoy.  Teenagers on date night in jeans and families bringing in their 1-2 year olds running around.  It was a different experience to say the least!

On the way to Hong Kong in the next posting!