Xin-Zhuang Park covers more than eighty acres. While there, we witnessed several people practicing Tai Chi.
The people in the picture to the left are playing cards and
Early mornings and in the late evenings, we often saw groups of people gaining benefits from Tai Chi in city parks while mist still blankets Shanghai. Next time we are there, I'll take a few pictures of this activity and add them to one of the Shanghai pages.
My wife is in the next picture.
The local Chinese Communist government built this park for the people. It costs nothing to visit the park. Does that sound like the totalitarian government that we so often hear about in our media?
In the next photo, you will see one of the city's buildings outside of Xin Zhuang Park in the background. This is a residential building with all the modern conveniences.
To gain a better understanding how the Chinese government works, study the five great relationships as taught by Confucius. Your concept for the term Communist (regarding China) may change after you learn about this way of thought that goes back more than two-thousand-four-hundred years.
The Chinese practice capitalism Chinese style. They also govern Chinese style. Maybe one day China will have a two party system but that two party system may not work the same way it does in the United States.
We also listened to people singing and playing traditional Chinese musical instruments (I took some pictures, but I can't find them. Maybe my sister has copies. If she does, I'll add them to this page at a later time.
What we saw and heard was not a professional performance. Most of the people were retired and were enjoying themselves in a beautiful park with friends.
The bridge to the right crosses a canal reaching another portion of the Xin-Zhuang Park. City residential buildings can be seen in the background. Shanghai has more than four thousand high-rises and skyscrapers. Construction is ongoing.
Shanghai 's total area measures 6,341 sq.km, consisting of 16 districts and 4 counties, the city area itself measures 2,642 sq.km. Permanent resident population counts over 14.6 million, of which 9.48 million live in the urban areas. The average life span is 77 years.
