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| The Bund | ||
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Shanghai is a vibrant city of contrasts.
With a population of 17 million people, Shanghai is no longer considered the
largest city in China--it's now in second place. Yet it is this city that
China intends to make into a world-class city, and to remake into a regional
financial and trade capital. So the central government is pouring millions
of dollars into Shanghai to build up its infrastructure in order to transform
it into a modern, high-tech metropolis.
So in central Shanghai and in it's eastern district, you see gleaming new high-rise office and apartment buildings, sprawling new Western-style housing developments and multi-lane expressways. In the midst of all this new construction, old and traditional style houses and apartment buildings reveal Shanghai's unique history. The old French quarter as well as the old British Concession are still clearly delineated by their prominent architecture. The old circular (and formerly walled) Chinese city is also easily identified, whether you're looking at a map or walking through its streets. The people themselves are undergoing a dramatic change as well. Once just average Chinese working hard to realize the great socialist dream, now with all this attention and investment and emphasis on trade and development, these people are concerned more with building up their own wealth. They are becoming less communal-oriented and more self-oriented. They are abandoning traditional values and losing the historical basis for moral restraint. As time passes, they live more for improving their own lives and, Shanghainese in particular, live for passing cultural, entertainment, shopping and experiential pleasures. You can imagine the coming fruit of this pursuit of "experience" and pleasure in an environment of fading moral restraint. As much as ever, these people need Christ. Above all else, Christ simply deserves their worship, because He created them, but even more because He loves them and died for them in the midst of their lostness. To learn more about Shanghai and experience what's happening now, check out some of these sites:
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The old is rapidly losing ground to the new.
The Old Cathay Theater remains in use as a theater.
Shepherd's Grace Church, in the cultural heart of Shanghai, was the first church to reopen here after the Cultural Revolution. (Formerly Moore Memorial Church.) |
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