Before and After

My original perception of China before going on the field study trip was one of a country where there are many big cities and economic power, but with restricted rights for its citizens and visitors. The China I imagined was more like the one in Beijing rather than Shanghai, but through my visit I was able to see that China has both areas of a first and third world country spread throughout the country. Before going I had the fear about the rights as a visitor, but that was clearly not a problem, because China was different that I thought. China’s developed areas vary significantly throughout the country, the farther the west you go the more rural it gets. This idea of China was formed through my studies about China in High School, news, movies and experiences of people who have visited China. The city that totally differed with my idea of China and impressed me the most was Shanghai, because of its modernism and how clean the city was given that millions and millions of people live in it. Shanghai has become one of the premier cities in the world in the last decades. Shanghai is now home to more than 10 million people and keeps growing as well as all major cities in China caused by the modernization of the country. Millions of people have been immigrating to the cities to find jobs. The whole trip was a wonderful experience but as a city I was amazed how developed Shanghai was.