XUJIAHUI PARK

The downtown campus is located in a large area of the city called Xuhui. Close to the campus and the Faculty Club is Xujiahui (sounds to me like  shoe geea whey).  Xujiahui identifies a localized area that has at least 3 or 4 huge department stores and the Grand Gateway mall, which must have more full restaurants (with waiting lines) on its upper two floors than any other shopping mall in the world.  (More on eating and restaurants later.)   The area is a grand place to shop, one of the top three identified by the guidebook.

Turning left at the huge intersection that holds these grand shopping venues and walking a couple of blocks brings us to Xujiahui Park. Ding Yaping took me to the park the second or third day I was in Shanghai.    It was a most pleasing moment in the middle of the city rush hour.

Entrance to the park

Black swans swim in quiet pond, where people can sit and feed them if they wish.   We notice two young swans, whose feathers still have the brownish downy look to them.  One appears to be disabled (see its right leg), but otherwise is healthy.

There is an old building now being used as a restaurant, a number of trees, some flowering, and works by international sculptors.

Yaping is sitting in front of a century old  camphor tree.