At the Ritz

We arrived safely after the long flight and are here at the Ritz Carlton in Shanghai for Fulbright orientation. When I was last in Shanghai in 1992, Pudong was mostly a swamp. We landed at the ultra-modern airport there and were driven past astonishing skyscrapers, high-speed magnetic trains and into the heart of a city I barely recognize. The monsoon rains--the thunder woke us up at 6 am today--were quite familiar and the city still floods during the worst storms. But it was an exciting light show from the safety of our hotel room and our family decided to head to the fancy health club in the hotel to get some exercise after our early awakening.
Last night, we were taken to a great Chinese restaurant and enjoyed sweet and sour whole fish, tofu soup and hot and sour soup, spicy shrimp, mushrooms and bok choy, pastries with red bean paste and many of the wonderful dishes you don't see often in the US, although we could have done without the jelly fish (a bit chewy and not very flavorful).
Marcus and Irene are off to the Shanghai Aquarium now and I just wrapped up a day of meetings with consular officials briefing us on do's and don'ts in China these days. Also talked a bit about ethics, which I hope will help with the course I'll be teaching. One thought is that shame, rather than guilt, is what constrains people's behavior in China.
According to the consulate experts, there seems to be more personal and political freedom but it seems as if press freedom has a long way to go and Internet sites are still being blocked from time to time (including blogspot, but there is a way to work around that). And there are still many problems with corruption and the gaps between urban and rural, rich and poor.
Still lots to learn about Nanjing and the university where I'll be teaching--the university rep is arriving this afternoon.
That's all for now. We should get to tour Shanghai tomorrow and I hope to find some places I remember from the olden days. Then we're off to Nanjing on Wednesday. I'll post from there as soon as I get Internet access.