Today we started off by going to the famous French Concession neighborhood, where there were bars, restaurants, and shops. Like usual we all stopped at Starbucks to enjoy a cup of coffee and then walked around to enjoy the view. After this we walked the Bund which is a riverwalk of the Huangpu River  where you can view both the new “Pudong” section of Shanghai as well as the older more historic neighborhoods.   Pudong is home to the financial district of Shanghai which we will visit later this day.

Next, we headed to the Illinois Department of Commerce and Illinois Trade office on Nanjing Road. Here, we were hosted by Mr. Linston Terry, Deputy Director of the Agricultural Trade Office, who gave us a presentation on the importance of this office and the role he plays here in Shanghai. The ITO provides small and medium sized food businesses from Illinois the opportunity to enter the 1.3 billion-consumer markets in Shanghai. The ITO provided this free consultation service to over 2,000 companies last year. We learned that the largest import is currently soybeans and with the increase of e-commerce, consumers can get their groceries and fast food delivered directly to their house.

After this visit, we went to the Shanghai World Financial Center for a bird’s eye view of the city. It is one of the tallest buildings in Shanghai, and the top of the building is in the shape of a bottle opener. To get to the top floor, we had to take a long elevator ride to the 94the floor, took an escalator to the 97th floor and finally took another elevator to the 100th floor. Stepping off the elevator onto the 100th floor was an amazing and terrifying feeling. With most of our group being scared of heights, the all glass windows and glass floor were intimidating, but the natural light and endless view of Shanghai quickly took the intimidation away.  We got to take many scenic pictures with the city through the side glass windows and the glass on the floor. Leaving the building, we all agreed this was one of the best views we have ever seen.

After leaving the World Financial Center we made our way to a local restaurant where we had a traditional Chinese dinner. After this we took off for the the Bund to take a ferry ride through the beautiful city via the Huangpu River. Immediately upon arriving we noticed how crowded the ferry station was, a true indicator of the popularity of the ride. While we were admiring the view and talking amongst ourselves music started playing all throughout the boat. Immediately the large amount of middle easterners also on the ferry with us got up and began to dance to the music. Watching them dance didn’t resemble American dancing at all, but even some of the local ferry workers were getting into it and dancing with the passengers. After some time the music playing through the speakers softened and a Chinese band came out with interesting and foreign instruments. It looked as though they had a flute, harp, and a cello-like instrument. The band played favorites like Jingle Bell Rock and a mix of Chinese and American music. We also learned how aggressive Chinese people are when walking. The majority of our group was being herded throughout the ferry quickly due to the pressure of hurried little old Chinese ladies behind them. All in all the ferry ride was worth the 150 Yuan fee as it gave an amazing and different view of the sky line at night that we had not yet experienced and will remember forever.

Photos here!