The Pudong New District community center

   One of the places we visited while in Shanghai was the Pudong District Community Center. This was an impressive place that far surpassed anything I had seen in America. It also highlighted, to me at least, what some of the benefits of a Communist system can accomplish that is a benefit to its citizens.

   The building itself was extremely larger than any community center I had ever seen. As we were being led from one room to another, I was amazed at the number of different programs that were offered. We were taken from room to room. There appeared to be some kind of yoga, tai chi room that some of the females in our group joined in on. In another there, was the salsa being taught that a few other members of our group participated in. I enjoyed te ping pong room and was able to score at least once, although I am sure they were just being nice.

   One of the highlights of our tour was the Chinese Calligraphy class. Here we were taught how to make some basic words on large pieces of papers that we were able to keep and take home. In this room I saw smiles on all of our faces that showed how much we were enjoying ourselves. They were also doing art in this room and one of our members was gifted this amazing picture that was finished while we were there.

   In another room, they were doing these intricate Chinese "cutouts". I would later see these same cutouts for sale at some of the street vendors in the alley near our hotel in Beijing. We were fortunate enough to receive several of these items for free thanks to some of the participants there that were making them.

   We also got to witness a musical Opera performance. I feel that we may have upstaged the performers as it seemed that most of the audience started paying attention to our group of Americans (and one Mexican) tourists. It was interesting to hear them sing, it is not something that I would have normally paid to see, but am glad I got to hear it at least once.

   After our tour we were taken to a conference room where we were shown a film about the community enter and were given an opportunity to listen and discuss things with the Community Center leaders and volunteers. They were very gracious and even did something out of the ordinary for them and made our group coffee. They were very accommodating hosts. I found that a very reoccurring theme in China. I look forward to a return trip.