Over the weekend, I gave a talk at my temple about Jews in WII China and books and novels that have been written about that time. Here’s the YouTube link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S09ZWpwkohg&feature=share. I thought at most 8-10 people would show up, but the room was full at 40-50! One of the people in attendance was my mom’s best friend, my former high school English teacher, and the person who first took me to China. Mary even brought some photos from that trip way back in June of 1988!
I was almost too mortified to post that photo, but whatever. It was the 80s. That’s all I’ll say. I think it was taken at the Ming Tombs in Nanjing, but I’m not certain. We also traveled to Beijing, Shanghai, Suzhou, and Wuxi on that trip. Here’s another photo from that area.
The other photos Mary brought from that trip were of the Jin Jiang Hotel, where she lived more than 30 years ago. This was the place to stay back in 1981 and in 1988 for that matter. (As students and teachers, my group stayed at the Shanghai Conservatory of Music’s international students’ dorm.)
I think this was the fanciest boutique I came across then.
I love how there are no cars in some of these shots.
But the transformation of Shanghai had already started in 1988.
I hope to get my hands on more photos from that first trip. Sadly, I took eight rolls of slides (because they’d hold up better, right?) and they were lost in one move or another.
Thank you for sharing your photos. 🙂
Thank you for your comment! It was difficult to post that first one!
You’re right, it’s the number of cars that stands out most – the rest of the shots could have been taken yesterday in some areas.
Just because there’s more of something doesn’t mean a country’s actually making progress.
I completely agree! I’ve enjoyed living in cities where I didn’t need a car. All those cars in China, to me, is one of the great downfalls of progress. Aiya.