China torch relay: Shanghai views

Yang Ning-ning says the modern Shanghai is an open and tolerant city

The people of Shanghai have been waiting for the torch for a long time. It had been delayed for some days because of the public mourning for the victims of the earthquake. So it's going to be a great thing.

I have lived in Shanghai for many years. In my childhood and when I was young, life was very hard. Living conditions were especially tough - there was a lot of overcrowding.

For example, two or three families would share one apartment. Sometimes several families had to share one bathroom and one kitchen. Three generations of one family would be confined to one room. That was terrible.

During the 1970s and 1980s my family lost its apartment. All of us were forced to share one room in an apartment which four families shared. I lived there for eight years. I had no place to sleep so I put a bed in the corridor shielded by a board. There were no windows.

I didn't finish middle school so I got a job in a factory when I was 18 and worked there for 10 years. Then finally, after the Cultural Revolution, college students started to be accepted and I could take an entrance exam which I passed and so returned to school.

Living conditions in Shanghai have improved a lot. There are still some families living in old apartments. But most families have their own apartment. That's a big improvement.

Also Shanghaiese society is so much more open and tolerant these days. We can accept different living styles and different ways of being a family.

Now China is able to host the Olympic Games. That is something very important. For most people this is a big event.

It's also a celebration of how much China has changed.

Henny Gang, 35, is a medical student from Shanghai. He introduces his city and describes his reaction to the touring torch.

Henry Gang thinks Shanghai could become the world's financial centre

I am a not sports loving guy. I felt that the Olympics was just a game. Nowadays, I have changed.

Many Chinese take pride in attending the torch relay ceremony or the actual games. These should be occasions for promoting peace and loving and fraternity.

As a Chinese I felt very sad about what happened in London, Paris and San Francisco. The torch relay inside China simply reflects ordinary Chinese joys and our pride

A colleague told me how she took her son to watch the torch relay elsewhere. On one side of his face he painted the Olympic logo, on the other side of his face he painted China's national flag. I found that moving. These things bond the Chinese people.

So I will be watching the torch in Shanghai as a bystander although it is hard to imagine that I will shout slogans or anything like that.

I think Shanghai is a great city, a modern city. Maybe one day it will become the world's financial centre. I don't feel an affinity with Beijing - it's too political.

I think Shanghai is an international city which shows the bright side of China. There are great landmarks here such as the Oriental Pearl Tower. It is a real melting-pot. In Shanghai you can enjoy many different food styles and people have come here from all over China.

I believe there are a lot of misunderstandings between western people and Chinese people. The Western media often confuses the Chinese government with the Chinese nation - and many Chinese people also mistake the Chinese nation for the Chinese government.

E-mail this to a friend

Printable version