Day trip to Shanghai Museum, Communist Site, Tian Zi Fang and Yu Yuan Garden Area

Besides studying business and Mandarin in Shanghai, one should not miss the opportunity to explore Shanghai. I went on a field trip today to visit some tourist attractions at Puxi area.

Our first stop was the Shanghai Museum. Here, we were greeted with the different symbols and artwork of the many centuries in China. Having only an hour in the museum, we didn't have the opportunity to look at every single exhibit in the museum.

Chinese Ethnic Minorities' Arts and Crafts
It was definitely interesting to see the different clothing of groups based on geography. Groups with similar climates produced similar clothing.

Chinese Ming and Qing furniture
The furniture displayed were so beautifully crafted. I was told that furniture with dragons were for the use of the royal family or king only.

Ancient Chinese Jade
Ancient China was also famous for its Jade, a gem where ancient Chinese people used in accessories. The Jade is known to bring long life.

After that, we ventured to XinTianDi (新天地-New Heavy and Earth), a eating, shopping and entertainment district of Shanghai to visit the site where the first ever Communist Party of China meeting was held. It was incredibly eye opening and informative. The site contained artifacts, old documents, old photographs, wax figures recreation of the first meeting (Which I must admit that it looked so real - Like Madame Tussauds) that were associated to the emergence of CPC in China. 

A recreation of the first meeting

The site gave me a different viewpoint of how I thought "Communism" was like. Reading and looking at all the old artifacts, I was reminded that those carry hidden propangandas. 

Xin Tian Di is also an area of redecorated old Shanghai residences called Shi Ku Men. Although, along the street, most of the buildings were demolished, there is one stretch where the old buildings were preserved. 

Shi Ku Men

It was about lunch time and we headed to Tian Zi Fang (天子坊), also known as Art Street, where the alleyways were previously old Shanghai houses but now have been converted into antique shops, restaurants and souvenir shops. 

A typical street at Tian Zi Fang

We ate at a foreign restaurant called New York Style Steak and Burger. I must admit that it was one of the best burgers I have ever eaten in Shanghai. It was delicious but the portion was huge. 

Blue cheese bacon burger with Onions

After lunch, we took the bus to Yu Yuan Garden (豫园), a historical garden in the middle of Shanghai. It was so beautiful and there were many tourist when we were there. The Yu Yuan area was filled with a wide variety of shops and restaurants which sell their famous dumplings in Shanghai. 

A view from the bridge in Yu Yuan Garden

Camwhoring with my roomie Ebony

A dragon spraying water

They became celebrities in China

Camwhoring with my Columbian friend, Camilla

One of the buildings in Yu Yuan 

We ended out field trip by taking a group picture at The Bund, the waterfront area central of Shanghai. I don't have the picture now, will upload it when I have it.