shanghai reflections
Keeping me company on a recent business trip to Shanghai was a heart laden with worry and tension. A senior colleague's inability to make good his word had led to many additional responsibilities falling on my shoulders. To make matters more challenging, being the only one accompanying the Big Boss on this trip meant having neither an intermediate superior to consult nor peers to share the workload. As I went through customs, deliberated over work issues and ordered dinner on my own, my solitude grew a little too much for me to bear. With no one but myself to count on in a foreign land, I was uneasy about how I would perform.
Thankfully, there was solace to be found in exploring the streets of Shanghai. During my free time in the evenings, I enjoyed wandering around aimlessly and losing myself in the city’s unfamiliar streets and people. What I found fascinating about Shanghai was how the old and the new, the historic and the contemporary stood in contrast, side by side. Alongside Shanghai's gleaming skyscrapers, there would be buildings such as the unique shikumen residences that stand as a landmark of the city’s history. In these fast disappearing houses that can be more than a hundred years old, I caught a glimpse of Shanghai’s rich heritage. In the nearby bigger, taller and flashier skyscrapers, I saw the shining future China is striving for. With scenes of construction workers I often came across toiling away in the night in dust and darkness, I thought to myself, these are probably the faceless hundreds of thousands making up the backbone of China's blazing ambition.
Thankfully, there was solace to be found in exploring the streets of Shanghai. During my free time in the evenings, I enjoyed wandering around aimlessly and losing myself in the city’s unfamiliar streets and people. What I found fascinating about Shanghai was how the old and the new, the historic and the contemporary stood in contrast, side by side. Alongside Shanghai's gleaming skyscrapers, there would be buildings such as the unique shikumen residences that stand as a landmark of the city’s history. In these fast disappearing houses that can be more than a hundred years old, I caught a glimpse of Shanghai’s rich heritage. In the nearby bigger, taller and flashier skyscrapers, I saw the shining future China is striving for. With scenes of construction workers I often came across toiling away in the night in dust and darkness, I thought to myself, these are probably the faceless hundreds of thousands making up the backbone of China's blazing ambition.