上海：两块钱，一百年

On my first day in Shanghai, my friend didn't take me to the tallest tower.

She took me to ride a boat.

I said: a boat?

She said: yes. Two yuan.

We walked to the riverside and got on the boat.

There were a lot of people on board.

Some were holding bicycles.

Some were wearing work clothes.

They take this boat every day.

The boat set off.

There was wind on the river.

I looked back.

Behind us were old buildings; ahead of us were new towers.

My friend said: the spot you're standing in right now is very interesting.

She said: this river is called the Huangpu.

The west bank is called the Bund, and the east bank is called Pudong.

I said: why are the two sides so different?

She said: because they didn't start at the same time.

The buildings on the Bund are more than a hundred years old.

In the past, foreigners opened banks and did business here.

And Pudong?

Thirty-something years ago, Pudong was still farmland.

I said: thirty years?

She said: yes. Thirty years.

I looked at the tall towers on the east bank.

The tallest one has more than a hundred floors.

I found it hard to believe there were no towers here thirty years ago.

The boat took only a dozen minutes to cross.

My friend said: in those dozen minutes, you looked at a hundred years.

We walked around in Pudong.

The roads are wide and the towers are tall.

A lot of people in white shirts were walking fast.

At midday they came out of the towers to eat.

An hour later, they went back in.

My friend said: this side is where people work.

In the afternoon we took the boat back to the west bank.

She said: now I'll show you another Shanghai.

We walked into a very narrow lane.

There were old houses on both sides.

The houses aren't tall — only two or three floors.

My friend said: a place like this is called a longtang.

People were hanging laundry in the lane.

Someone was washing vegetables in a doorway.

An old man sat on a small chair, listening to a radio.

Two cats walked along a wall.

I said: it's very quiet here.

The road outside is so noisy, and you walk in here and it's quiet.

My friend said: a lot of Shanghai people used to live in houses like these.

Several families might live in one house.

Everyone shared one kitchen.

I said: and now?

She said: some still have people living in them.

Some have turned into cafés and small shops.

And some of the old houses are gone.

I asked: do you think that's a good thing?

She thought for a moment.

She said: I don't know.

I lived in a longtang when I was small.

It was crowded then, and cold in winter.

But I remember everybody's name.

Now I live in a new tower.

The apartment is better than before, but I don't know my neighbours.

I didn't say anything.

I felt the question didn't have a simple answer.

In the evening, we went back to the riverside.

The towers on the east bank all had their lights on.

The colours of the lights kept changing.

A lot of people were taking photos.

My friend said: everyone photographs this side.

But what I like best is that lane, in the daytime.

I said: why?

She said: towers are for people to look at.

Lanes are for people to live in.

I thought about that two-yuan boat in the morning.

In one day, I rode the boat twice.

From the old Shanghai to the new Shanghai, and back again.

One city can hold houses from a hundred years ago and towers from thirty years ago at the same time.

When you go to a new city, do you want to see its highest point, or the places where people live?