Probably the highlight of our recent China trip was our last day spent in Hangzhou, exploring West Lake and surrounds. This thousand year old lake is one of the most famous tourist attractions in China and is surrounded by lovely landscaped gardens, pathways, bridges, pagodas and temples. And as the photos shows, the lake is right next to a prosperous city of 4 million plus people. It was created from a lagoon in the 8th century, and gradually beautified and developed over the next centuries. When Marco Polo visited in the 13th century he remarked that Hangzhou was one of the finest and most splendid cities in the world. (And when you visit you will be reminded of this fact many times). As China's fortunes lagged in recent centuries it wasn't so well kept, however over the past decade it has been restored to the pristine state we experienced it in. From what we saw, one of the many signs of China's wealth is the impeccable state of their tourist attractions, another example being this temple below.
Shanghai was great too, such an interesting combination of old traditions and modern development. One of the most intriguing experiences we had was wandering through this gathering of people on a Saturday afternoon in People's Park in central Shanghai. There must have been about a thousand people there all with the one goal in mind, to find a spouse for their son or daughter. My friend had told me about these match-making events but I had no idea that it would be on this scale.
It seems that each parent comes with an A4 sheet of paper like these, detailing the essential characteristics of their child, so you can just browse the sheets of information until you find one that looks like a good match. The atmosphere was very convivial. I did wonder if some people just came for the social aspect, or as with real estate and the way people visit open houses, some were not seriously looking, just generally interested in the market.
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