Shanghai

Its futuristic steel globes lost in the mist off the Huangpu River. It is a city of the mobile phone, the internet cafe, the museum with the state-of-the-art audio device. We could make out some of the columns of the colonial buildings along the Bund, the riverfront promenade, and here and there an imperial dragon raised its ghostly head. Modernism and traditionalism, communism and capitalism -- all seem to be living comfortably side by side. Most of the glass and steel of modern Shanghai disappeared into the clouds. When the sun came out, we could see that it moves like the future. In most of the Chinese cities, you'll find residents practicing tai chi in the parks, but their focus seems more intense in Shanghai, perhaps because of the bustle and clamor.