Thursday, December 08, 2005
People's Park
A Walk in the Park
Well, not really. After a nice long walk up Nanjing Lu, we spilled out into People's Square/Park. It's a large, handsome urban park that's divided into to major areas by a row of museums and Shanghai City Hall. Walking around the "park" portion was relaxing and hidden along the trails that wound through the trees, streams and ponds were little cafes and a starbucks.
The park afforded some nice views of the city and it's cool buildings.
Well, not really. After a nice long walk up Nanjing Lu, we spilled out into People's Square/Park. It's a large, handsome urban park that's divided into to major areas by a row of museums and Shanghai City Hall. Walking around the "park" portion was relaxing and hidden along the trails that wound through the trees, streams and ponds were little cafes and a starbucks.
The park afforded some nice views of the city and it's cool buildings.
Signs, Signs...
But by far, the best part of the park was a rather large sign near the entrance. The sign spelled out the rules for using the park. Among my favorite parks of the sign was the notice that it was forbidden to "shit or urinate" in the park, however, one could in fact "shit or urinate" in appropriate facilities that would be indicated by a "conspicuous sigh!".
Also forbidden within the boudaries of the park was any activity that was "fuedalistic or superstitious" in nature. I was reminded, for just a moment, that among all these modern wonders, that many important freedoms are still years away in China...the ever important rights to engage in feudalistic or superstitious behavior in public.
