Shanghai
Changing attitudes towards homosexuality in China are spearheaded by the rapid evolution of its most cosmopolitan city. Academic Dean Durber gets a pleasant Shanghai surprise.
Shanghai is a city teetering on the edge. Peering out of an open window from the 24th floor of a high rise, I look down on sprawling layers of traditional one-storey wooden houses squashed in between towering silver steel symbols of the modern world. Polluted air chokes the lungs, leaving tasty reminders of the intensity of this place at the back of the throat long after departure. The traffic is in utter chaos, but somehow manages to meander towards its destination with the taxi bill rarely exceeding five
Australian dollars. Clothes quickly get dirty from the smog and dust, but are cheaply copied and revived at the South Bund Soft-Spinning Material Market. The city is one giant mega-plaza of neon-flashing shops, restaurants, and tooting horns. Its buildings are so tall even on a global scale – and the tallest one is currently under rapid construction – they literally bring tourists to a halt. Sipping slowly on a cocktail in the Cloud 9 bar on the 87th floor of the Grand Hyatt in Pudong is a simply breathtaking experience.
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