Part I, Museum
Today, the group took the Shanghai Metro to the Shanghai Museum. We spent two hours looking at the exhibitions on the four floors of the museum, such as the currency exhibition and the jade exhibition. Each exhibition demonstrated the effects of other cultures on Chinese culture at various time periods. For example, there were coins in the currency exhibition with the face of an emperor on one side and the face of a deity on the other, which is a characteristic of Greek coins. The exhibitions in the museum exemplified the cultural clashes that I learned about in my history classes at Friends, and it was nice to see the cultural changes in China with each new dynasty.
Part II, Tian Zi Fang
Today we visited Tianzifang (田子坊), a center where we got to do some shopping. People broke off into groups or wondered off in their own searching for souvenirs for their families. I was able to bargain for gift that was originally 165 yuan to 90 yuan a piece. It’s fun to bargain, but I never really know when I’m being ripped off. The other day I bought something for 40 yuan while someone else got it for cheaper.
Tianzifang is full of narrow streets and there were many tourists, but the further one goes in the less people one starts to see. The prices start going down as well. I came across a street where the scarves were 30 yuan cheaper than another store closer to the front of Tianzifang.
