Living in a city of up to 23 million people has left me starved for culture because the policy here is to obliterate the past (or, at least, recreate the past as some commercial construct/theme park). Recently when I was traveling to what is called the Nordic Lighthouse (actually a warehouse, but renovated and a pleasant area) I spied some of that culture clash from the elevated subway -- the bland modern encroachment of "progress" without architectural context nor significance threatening to stamp out the storied layers of the past:

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View from southeast to Pudong from metro line 3/4 in from the elevated section between Baoshan Lu and Hailun Lu stops [Sept 23rd

It was this mind set that led me to the surprising Shanghai Art Museum, which, while not as exhausting as the Asian Art Museum in San Francisco, is still worthy of praise (especially the bronze and ethnic minority folk art gallery). I visited the museum on Sept 18th. Read More »