Shanghai II (12/15/08-12/19/08)

While Beijing is certainly culturally richer and contains a lot of reminders of old China, Shanghai has its own appeal as the shining gem of progress and new wealth (and if you look really really hard you can still find rustic parts). It was incredible to think that less than two decades ago Pudong (the eastern bank of the Huangpu river, where all the skyscrapers are) was basically just rice paddies. Shanghai is wild, fast paced and ruthless - fun for some, soulless and empty for others - you be the judge. We had our first major site visits here, to Baosteel (a company so large it has its own city built around it) and the Shanghai GM plant. What was amazing was that there were very few workers and the plants were extremely efficient. The GM plant produces 1 car a minute with only 400 assembly workers on the line. We only saw perhaps 5 people in total at the Baosteel cold rolling facility. It certainly changed a few of my preconceptions.