Day 72 Shanghai 4th day

Today is a special day both here in Shanghai as well as for Christianity. Easter Sunday for we Christians just happens to fall on April 4th this year. Well April 4th is 4/4. Four is a bad number for the Chinese since when it is pronounced it sounds like the word for death. Therefore 4/4 is like double death. For that reason they use this day each year to honor their dead relatives. They call it "Tomb Sweeping" day or "Tomb Cleaning"day. It is a national holiday.
We went to a restaurant for brunch to celebrate Easter. From there we had a view of the "Bund". This is their river walk. The river is a major part of the city since it bisects the city right thru the business district. Shanghai is hosting the World Expo (the new name for the Worlds Fair) and they have been doing major improvements to the Bund which runs right past the pavilions. The Chinese are very conscious of the appearance of their city so they have been working night and day to finish this improvement. It opened last week, so this weekend was the first opportunity for many to see it. With out wanting to exaggerate, from our brunch table we probably saw over one million people The Chinese have a saying for times like this. They call it "sea of black heads. "
One thing has become abundantly clear during our stay. You can bargain over the price of almost anything. It is expected. We made some purchases where the seller starting price was 2,800 yuan and we bought it for 800 yuan. My sister Nancy and her husband Tom and their daughter Sara have shown us things that most people would not even know existed. It is sad that tomorrow is our last day in Shanghai as we have had a wonderful time and have totally monopolized their time.
Tomorrow Shanghai and a plane ride to Sydney, Australia.

Chris - Paul told you most of what we did so I'll just comment on a couple things I noticed. One thing is how many people there are and how they tackle projects. Things that would take maybe a year to build in the States would be done in mere weeks due to the vast number of workers they have and the fact they work around the clock. From the train I saw a construction site and there appeared to be about 500 men working on the roof of a building, much like a huge Amish Barn raising. Then about a mile later there was another site and there were about another 500 people working on a foundation of a building. It's amazing to see sooo many people working on a single project. Everywhere you looked on this holiday weekend you see wall to wall people.
It's a daunting sight. Another really interesting thing has been that you can buy anything here at a low price. We're talking anything...eyeglasses, bronze figures, Buddhas, cameras, pig's heads, pearls, jade, plates, oil paintings...anything!

It's been terrific to experience the unfamiliar city of Shanghai within the warmth and love of the familiar ... our family. Happy Easter to All.