In a manner of speaking, Shanghai epitomizes and symbolizes not only China’s glorious past but also the present, and its vision of the future.

For Filipinos, there is also an object lesson of China’s many seemingly harsh laws that have unwittingly produced positive material benefits to its teeming population.

Anyway, while collecting, collating, consolidating, and rectifying historical facts, ancient documents, artifacts, and relics of 9,000 years of civilization, Shanghai today is a beehive of frantic activities in preparation of Shanghai EXPO 2010 in May next year which aims, among other things, to formally put Shanghai on the map not only as the financial center of the East but also the trade exposition location in Asia as the famous Milan Trade Fair is in Europe.

They are all very ambitious visions.

Both Shanghai and China are unabashedly forging ahead at full throttle-crisis or no crisis.

First, for tourists, provided one does not cross the line into their domestic politics or infringe on their ethics-based laws, one tends to forget that the country remains a Maoist-Communist nation, except for its liberated market economy and robust tourism drive.

Ordinarily, tourists will hardly see armed soldiers or military vehicles roaming around the city other than a sprinkling of unarmed policemen in tourist belts who have, unfortunately, been replaced, a sorry side effect of capitalism, by a proliferation of pickpockets, pimps, massage brokers, fake watches, street corner money changers where counterfeit currencies also abound, and fake tourist guides.

In most cases, these hasslers are not native Shanghainese but migrants from different inland provinces and rural areas who come to Shanghai to look for jobs but cannot go back home jobless and broke to avoid losing face.

Second, Shanghai, like Hong Kong today, is not cheap for Filipinos traveling on a depreciated peso.

Notwithstanding the fact that humble eateries abound and poor imitation watches, dresses, shoes, handbags, suitcases and other tourist goods are comparatively cheap, the key to enjoyment is in the exchange rate where US$1 = (RMB) 7 yuan, like Hong Kong, while US$1 = P48 which dampens the enthusiasm of the Filipino travelers.

Third, in the meantime in preparation for Shanghai EXPO 2010, the metropolis is a cacophony of jackhammer noise, backhoes, diggings in every corner, a skyline of cranes, multi-level superhighways, high-rise buildings trying to reach the sky, and the steady demolition of pre-World War II structures and European architecture that Shanghainese, except The Bund as a tourist nostalgia, would rather not be reminded of.

Apart from these prolific construction activities, the Shanghai World Financial Center building now claims itself as the highest building in the world.

The dedicated eight-lane no speed limit superhighway between downtown and Pudong International Airport still takes a full one-hour of continuous driving while the “Mglev” bullet train at 450 km/hr speed takes only 7 minutes from the outskirt of Shanghai to the airport.

In other words, Shanghai simply cannot wait to modernize which is in harmony with China’s global strategy and vision.

Last but not least, China’s longtime one-child policy, which is abhorrent to Christians and Catholics, has had the beneficial effect of giving Chinese families vast purchasing power when all three members of an average family of three are gainfully employed pari-passu with free education, free medical care, low-cost housing, minimal taxes, cheap transport, and stable food prices. This is food for thought for the Philippines.

When all is said and done, Shanghai, like China, has seen the worst of times before 1949 when isolated instances of cannibalism were recorded due to hunger and starvation during the civil war, and the best of times today when Shanghainese are now enjoying the fruits of their labor and the benefits of capitalism and market economy.

You be the judge. (For comments and views, please e-mail: chaff_fromthegrain@yahoo.com.ph)