From Summer Palace To Shanghai

We were taken to the Summer Palace, some eight miles or so northwest of Beijing, originally built by Emperor Qiang Long. It was reputed to have 3000 buildings for the Emperor, his wives, his eunuchs, his servants, his many soldiers, and so on. 
It was the playground for the royalties.

Much of the place was destroyed in 1912, and was rebuilt in l924. 

But the marble boat and the lake survived the revolution.
The marble boat was turned into a gift shop.

History told me that The Empress spent the money on the Marble Boat and other luxuries at the Summer Palace instead of building the Chinese Navy, and that was the reason we lost the Opium War to the British. 
Was that the truth? Would the Chinese have won the War with a better Navy?
I wonder.

We had the renowned Peking Duck at its original restaurant near the Forbidden City. It was every bit as good as it was reputed, if not better. 
They had the best plum wine in the world!

Then off to Shanghai!

I had not been back to Shanghai since I left there in 1949. I did not know what to expect.
Of course, it had changed greatly.
But it was still crowded. A populous city always!
The harbor was still busy as ever.
New buildings sprout up in the ares across the  harbor where there were fields when I lived in Shanghai. And they were building the future tallest building in the East.

Many street names were changed.
I did not recognize most of them.
The famous horse-racing grounds were turned into a park.
The home where I grew up was not there anymore. Along with many of the houses, they had been razed to make way for a Flyover (a highway of sorts). 

The Bund (the water front) was still there. 
There was some attempt to restore some of the colonial buildings along the Bund. Some European companies had started to move back into the old financial part of Shanghai. The buildings were there, but they badly needed renovations.

It wasn't until 2001 when I revisited Shanghai that I saw a great deal of improvements. 
Of course, Shanghai has really developed and it is booming these days.

in 1986, most of the private buildings and homes were in disrepair. The nation was still struggling. 

There was serious air pollution. 

Of course, we were taken to the best places. 

We visited a Children's Academy, housed in a former mansion that needed paint and repairs. A selected group of children were being groomed, artistically and so on. But for the majority, the standard of education was noticeably underdeveloped.
In the evening, we were taken to a Chinese Acrobatic Show, which was entertaining. But it was nothing like the old Peking operas - like the difference between Crafts and Fine Arts.

Soon we had to leave, heading back to the U.S.

Like the Blind man and the elephant, we merely touched a very small part of this vast country.