If you wish to tour Shanghai, avoid the crowded tour groups or the frightening get unlost method. To truly do it right, you'll need to do it like a real American.
The TV, the boob tube, the old dozen inches of red-green-blue cathode ray. I'm talking of course of, well, of all the things I just mentioned above.
In Shanghai you will find no less than sixteen million people, hundreds of whom you can see on television. There are tons of performing arts, again which you can watch on TV. Also there are crazy little animated animals, and those can only be seen on the tube.
The best part is, instead of taking many months to see everything the pearl of the orient has to offer, you can do it all in easy 30-minute installments neatly interlaced with 30-second snippets of the very best stuff, complete with prices and phone numbers.
One criticism I've heard of Chinese TV is that the people talk funny, but as a child of the new century I've seen my fair share of television and heard a lot of people talk. Frankly, all you people are babbling nonsense whether it's in the states or Asia.
If you're looking to see the world but can't foot the bill, don't be sad. Just head down to your local ethnic video store and rent a couple tapes of who knows what, doesn't even matter if it's Spanish, Chinese, Korean or Punjabi. While the meaning of the movies will surely escape you, the gist of the peoples will undoubtedly shine through.
Article appears courtesy of Perplexing Times.
