"Too many people!"

Probably the most common phrase I heard in China, from foreigners, locals, our students and assistants. For a while I thought that it was so crowded because we were in one of the world’s largest cities, but after travelling around I discovered that that was a general situation: there are many many many people everywhere, which I should have expected it from the stats; after all, China does have 1.4 billion people.

“Too many people” was the reason that many of my students gave for not really enjoying the World Expo. And I have to agree. Almost 400,000 cross the gates of the Expo site daily and queue up in interminable lines to enter the most popular pavilions. People sit in 3 to 6 - hour waiting lines to enter a single pavilion and endure the pouring rain and unbearable heat. It comes then to no surprise that manners and courtesy towards other visitors are absolutely absent, people are irascible and unfriendly. The accompanying bodily odors, burps and gases just add up to the uncomfortable situation.



This is a picture of the lines at the Chinese pavilion, probably the most popular destination for Expo tourists.

The metro stations were also extremely crowded, especially at rush hours. You had to push everyone out of your way to get out at the right station. Not to mention that there is no unwritten rule such as: “first you let people get off and then you get on”. Everyone pushes in all directions, so you just have to hang on and be tough. I was not able to get a very clear picture of the craziness, but you get the idea: People’s Square Station at 6pm…



Train stations are other places where you can get easily lost in the sea of people. At any time of the day and night that we had to take a train there was always a mass of other travelers, eating their instant noodles, sleeping on chairs or simply waiting. The following picture was taken in Kunming, before a 40 hour train ride to Shanghai. We were happy we made it to the train.



Some market places are also hopping in the afternoon, after people come back from work.



This picture was taken in the outskirts of Shanghai where we lived while teaching the camps. This place was a completely different side of the city: no skyscrapers, no new cars, no high heels. Just a couple of blocks away from what seemed like a civilized street was a market of street vendors who laid their products directly on the ground.

Although it came as a great surprise, that was the China I had imagined. For some reason, all that was modern seemed unauthentic. I had the impression that many things were artificial and people felt displaced by a new developed world that was taking away their traditional lifestyle. When people eat their corn sausages and sit on their 10RMB folding chairs in front of the world’s tallest buildings, you know something is wrong. Many times I had the impression that China is like a child trying to walk in her mother’s 5’’ Jimmy Choo shoes – she still needs time to grow into this latest fashion that’s available.