| We were there just before Chinese New Year, so the markets were filled with red. These good luck braids are the largest ones that I have ever seen. |  |
| This is the view from a popular dumpling house in Yuyuan. One of the things that impressed me the most about Shahghai is the way that old architecture has been preserved and converted into modern commercial space. |  |
| Even though this tourist experience surely belies the massive number of old neighborhoods that have been razed by the goverment for new development, it is a very noticable contrast from Taiwan, which has made almost no attempt to preserve or restore old architecture. I especially enjoyed tree-lined streets like this.... |  |
| ...where old brick buildings have been renovated into high-end retail space. Of course, these buildings clearly have new exteriors, but they provide a warm and historic feeling to areas of the city that have not been overtaken by skyscrapers. |
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| There seems to be a fascination in Shanghai with "window shopping restaurants". Here, they are preparing steamed soup dumplings, one of the city's best cheap meals. |  |
| The women here are making sweet rice dumplings served as a dessert soup. The tower on the right side is a mountain of black sesame paste, with which they fill the dumplings. |  |
| One more shot of Jenny at the Yuyuan bazaar. |  |