This blog is dedicated to parents and friends of the students traveling to Shanghai, China to study abroad. It was created to keep friends and family in touch with eachother while so far away. We will be posting pictures to accompany the description of the many sights and sounds of China. This blog was created by Baylor Computer Science and its friends in the Baylor Business School.
Here's a little information about Shanghai, for the curious ones:
Originally a sleepy fishing town, Shanghai became China's most important city by the twentieth century and was the center of popular culture, intellectual discourse and political intrigue during the Republic of China. Shanghai once became the third largest financial center in the world, ranking after New York City and London, and the largest commercial city in the Far East in the late nineteenth century and early twentieth century. After the communist takeover in 1949, Shanghai languished under heavy central government taxation and cessation of foreign investment, with many of its supposedly "bourgeois" elements purged. Following the central government's authorization of market-economic redevelopment of Shanghai in 1992, Shanghai has now surpassed early-starters Shenzhen and Guangzhou, and has since led China's economic growth. Some challenges remain for Shanghai at the beginning of the 21st century, as the city struggles to cope with increased worker migration and a huge wealth gap. Despite these challenges, Shanghai's skyscrapers and modern lifestyle are often seen as representing China's recent economic development.
