Escape from Shanghai

With Max in Charlottesville and Jacob headed to Harbin, I decided to move on-- to Souzhou for 2 days and thence to Beijing. But near the train station was one of those Chinese things-- a huge market building, the first floor many separate sellers of cameras, the second, phones, and the third, hundreds of glasses makers. I had brought a prescription with me and had a pair made on the spot, for 150 Yuan, then caught the train to Souzhou.

The Shanghai Rail Station is a piece of socialist architecture if I ever saw one-- a massive block paved with glass and metal, but not contemporary; more like 60's modern. But for all that, just like other Chinese transportation hubs, very transparent and easy to negotiate, not the confusing free-for-all mob scene I had feared. Excellent signage!   had to produce my ticket, which Jacob had bought earlier, in order to get into the station.
Subways here are also way better than any other metro I have tried-- I haven't gotten confused once.

It is amazing how well and smoothly everything works here, considering how many people there are everywhere. There is general goodwill, a sense of human community. It seems like petty crime is not an issue, though bureaucratic crime is. The feel is so different from Sardinia. Can it really be true that this is the case, or do I just not see it? There does not seem to be the racial/class/other paranoia that saturates the US and Europe. Everyone just seems to do what they are supposed to.Of course, in Shanghai, it is fairly racially homogeneous.

At Hangzhou

Jacob and I had another conversation about our various plans. He wants really to continue with the NYU program towards a PhD; barring that, Geneva, which would pay him 40K Euro plus tuition . . . He is pessimistic about the future of the US and sees class war and guns in the streets within ten years. Oddly, he is not considering the influence of economics on all of this, or how US, Chinese, and world economics are intimately intertwined. For him, though, it means the degradation of the University of California, Berkeley and or University o California at Irvine. He said what I have told myself on pink days, that I should decide what I want to do and, rather than diversions like drawing, travel, etc, find work I really want to do, within the limits I am working with. I have been lazy about this or subject to inertia and I have been piddling the years away. I wonder how all this will feel after a couple of weeks' percolation in Beijing and back home. I am not seeing a huge menu of choices within the limits I have in terms of location, cash, skill, time in hand, and the employment market. I could consider that I am lucky to have a secure, well-paying job that allows me trips to China.

The ride was very like that to Hangzhou, with small fields of rice or small fruit abutting the tracks, and the occasional old man laboring under a brightly colored umbrella. These fast trains don't go clickity clack, they go swoosh and a quiet hmmmmm. Large comfortable seats and a ride so smooth it doesn't seem fast; until you are waiting at the station and you see one go through without stopping. Wow, they are FAST!
Souzhou is promoted as a quaint little town with canals rather than roads, but in fact there are 2.5 million in Souzhou proper, 6 million in the metro area.