So, I was gone last week. I'm back now, and I think I'm going to dedicate the next month or so to recounting my trip to the mainland. I went to four cities, so maybe I'll spend a week or so on each.
First stop is Shanghai. Me and my two peers （woah, I have peers now?) set out very early on Friday, and took a train to Shenzhen so we could catch a bus going to the airport. Flying from Shenzhen is a lot cheaper than flying from Hong Kong. Anyway, after going through customs, taking my first step in the mainland, getting on and off the bus and in and out of the Shenzhen airport we finally arrived in Shanghai, where we could just sort of relax for the night. Our hotel was quite nice, but I didn't take a picture of it.
Anyway, after 4 modes of transportation we were all pretty swamped, and decided to get some food and then call it a night. Food is considerably cheaper in the mainland than in Hong Kong, so we ate some very authentic Shanghai cuisine, drank some beer, and then headed back to the hotel. The next day was spent almost entirely in the Shanghai Library and the Shanghai Museum. I took nearly a hundred pictures at the Museum, and I won't bother boring you with most of them. However, I was happy to see the find a set of Zhou Dynasty ritual bells there, since Ancient Music is pretty much central to my research topic.I was also happy to see the incredible variety of art and calligraphy they have there.
More pictures of what I saw in the museum can be found here: http://s1235.photobucket.com/albums/ff421/perpetualjoe/Shanghai%20Museum/
Anyway, after spending the majority of the day in the Museum, we checked out the Catholic Church at Shanghai, which is one of the oldest churches in Asia. I'd post the picture here, but it did not come out very well. You can find it in the link above if you really want to see it :)
Next stop, XuZhou 徐州 and the Han Dynasty Stone Engravings!
