We had another Chinese holiday last week. The Cat office was closed on Thursday and Friday to celebrate international labor day. We scheduled a two day, two night visit to Shanghai with the dual purpose of doing some sightseeing and taking Marco to have his arm cast removed.
International Labor Day or May Day is an international holiday that celebrates the advent of the eight hour work day which advocated 8hrs for work, 8 hrs for recreation, and 8 hrs for rest. I heard somewhere that this movement started in Chicago in the meatpacking industry. However, the U.S. is not part of the May celebration - we celebrate labor day in September of course.
As you can guess, we were not the only folks in China who had the idea of spending the May Day holiday in Shanghai. According a news web site, the Chinese rail service arranged for an extra 110 trains per day to carry 720,000 passengers into and out of Shanghai over the long weekend. We personally saw 500,000 of these folks in the subway station below the Peoples Square in downtown Shanghai.
Our primary activity was a visit to the Shanghai Science and Technology Museum. We visited a few of the display rooms and watched an IMAX movie call "Forces of Nature." The museum was great, albeit incredibly crowded. Maria enjoyed the dancing Fanuc robots and we saw a Chinese family who enjoyed the place so much, they had to take a nap in the hallway. These folks were sacked !
We did some shopping in a large "copy market" adjacent to the museum. You can see us shopping for ties, game boy cartridges, and as usual, more handbags. Joseph enjoyed the shopping and guy behind him seemed to be a nice guy despite what his T-shirt says.
We did some walking around the old town of Shanghai looking for a McDonalds. Along the way we saw two men on the sidewalk scraping the covering off of wires to reclaim the copper - commodity prices are up in China. Next we saw a corner shop selling ducks. The first pictures shows dozens of ducks hanging from the rafters with their throats cut. The next picture is the line of customers at the duck shop waiting for their chance to buy some "yā ròu" (duck meat).
Next, a couple pictures of the happy family, first at "Yu Yuan", the center of old Shanghai, then with the Blue Ren cartoon character for the 2010 Shanghai International Exposition. And finally a picture of Marco at the Shanghai United Family Hospital with the orthepedist getting his cast taken off. Marco was rewarded with a Nintendo Game Boy for being such a a well mannered and happy invalid for three weeks.
International Labor Day or May Day is an international holiday that celebrates the advent of the eight hour work day which advocated 8hrs for work, 8 hrs for recreation, and 8 hrs for rest. I heard somewhere that this movement started in Chicago in the meatpacking industry. However, the U.S. is not part of the May celebration - we celebrate labor day in September of course.
As you can guess, we were not the only folks in China who had the idea of spending the May Day holiday in Shanghai. According a news web site, the Chinese rail service arranged for an extra 110 trains per day to carry 720,000 passengers into and out of Shanghai over the long weekend. We personally saw 500,000 of these folks in the subway station below the Peoples Square in downtown Shanghai.
Our primary activity was a visit to the Shanghai Science and Technology Museum. We visited a few of the display rooms and watched an IMAX movie call "Forces of Nature." The museum was great, albeit incredibly crowded. Maria enjoyed the dancing Fanuc robots and we saw a Chinese family who enjoyed the place so much, they had to take a nap in the hallway. These folks were sacked !
We did some shopping in a large "copy market" adjacent to the museum. You can see us shopping for ties, game boy cartridges, and as usual, more handbags. Joseph enjoyed the shopping and guy behind him seemed to be a nice guy despite what his T-shirt says.
We did some walking around the old town of Shanghai looking for a McDonalds. Along the way we saw two men on the sidewalk scraping the covering off of wires to reclaim the copper - commodity prices are up in China. Next we saw a corner shop selling ducks. The first pictures shows dozens of ducks hanging from the rafters with their throats cut. The next picture is the line of customers at the duck shop waiting for their chance to buy some "yā ròu" (duck meat).
Next, a couple pictures of the happy family, first at "Yu Yuan", the center of old Shanghai, then with the Blue Ren cartoon character for the 2010 Shanghai International Exposition. And finally a picture of Marco at the Shanghai United Family Hospital with the orthepedist getting his cast taken off. Marco was rewarded with a Nintendo Game Boy for being such a a well mannered and happy invalid for three weeks.
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