!!!Shanghai

by Stanislav Sedov and
Dmitry Moiseenko,
members of the [AirPano Team|Geography/About/Consortium/AirPano,_Team] that is a member of the [global-geography Consortium|Geography/About/Consortium]. \\

20 June 2013

with kind permission of [AirPano|http://www.AirPano.com]

The first day in Shanghai

From the first moment in Shanghai I had a feeling that I was surrounded
by endless construction sites. The area where we were staying looked
like an anthill; we were surrounded by a crowd of people, heavy traffic,
and scooters that were all over the place, even on the sidewalks.

We went to sleep without any strength left. In the morning, while
cursing at the damned alarm clock, we barely woke up at 4pm local time.
The weather outside was foggy (we couldn't tell if it was due to smog or
heavy clouds). It didn't change in the evening either, but we still had
to go shooting. We crawled out to the street where the first
communication problem was waiting for us: taxi drivers stationed near
our hotel didn't understand where we needed to go or pretended not to
understand. In the end we had to go by foot. Past three or four blocks
we realized that we wouldn't make it to the embankment before sunset.
Dima managed to catch a taxi, and we had a fast and cheap trip to our
destination.

[{Image src='01_Shanghai, China.jpg' caption='Shanghai, China' alt='' width='900' popup='false' height='388'}]

We chose a little square where we unpacked our equipment and launched
the helicopter. Dima suggested a very busy place for the evening and
night shooting — the area around big flowerbed near the television
tower. It was a heavy traffic area (with very lively crossroad), not to
mention the square was surrounded by an overpass with the crowd of local
people and tourists. There were too many people. At that point we
couldn't find a better place and had to launch our helicopter.

[{Image src='02_Shanghai, China.jpg' caption='Shanghai, China' alt='' width='900' popup='false' height='600'}]

It was getting dark fast. The helicopter flew up into Shanghai evening
sky, and Dima kept saying that television tower refused to fit into the
frame. It was a very crucial moment, not only because we were launching
the helicopter over our heads, but the altitude was higher than 200
meters. And, finally, Dima said that everything worked out. The flying
altitude was 270 meters. For a night flight it was so awesome!

It made me realize that Shanghai was a very difficult place for taking
pictures with a radio-controlled helicopter. There were too many
high-rise buildings. Some were higher than 400 meters. But locals were
very friendly: they seemed to be interested in what we were doing and
even took some pictures with us. We weren't bothered by police. We had
everything to continue our work.

[{Image src='03_Shanghai, China.jpg' caption='Shanghai, China' alt='' width='900' popup='false' height='600'}]

Shanghai. Day two

Elated by our yesterday's success of high altitude flight, we decided to
raise the bar and launch the helicopter in the middle of a small park
that was surrounded by high-rise buildings; but a guard came up to us
and ordered us with gestures to stop the launch.

[{Image src='04_Shanghai, China.jpg' caption='Shanghai, China' alt='' width='900' popup='false' height='719'}]

At first we pretended not to understand him, then we showed him our
photos and explained that all we wanted to do was to take some pictures,
and then, suddenly, Dima noticed radio-controlled helicopters inside one
of kiosks not far from our starting point. Dima went up to the kiosk
window and pointed to the helicopters, implying that we were trying to
fly the same thing that was sold there. I couldn't understand the logic
of that one minute pantomime, but the guard seemed to understand him and
started consulting someone on the radio transmitter. After finished his
conversation, he shook his head, but with less confidence than when we
first met. I smiled and made a waving motion so he would step away from
our launching point. He decided not to resist and joined the rest of the
observing crowd gathered around us.

[{Image src='05_Shanghai, China.jpg' caption='Shanghai, China' alt='' width='900' popup='false' height='318'}]

Generally speaking, Chinese were very curious, just like little
children. Wherever we decided to launch our helicopter, we were
momentarily surrounded by a small crowd of people. But if we didn't ask
them to move they would get in our way: they would push us aside or try
to look into the monitor, standing right in front of us.

Nothing interesting happened that day. Except, maybe, when a guard (or
policeman, one couldn't tell by their uniform) approached us on the
embankment and forbid us to launch the helicopter. I played dumb and
ignored his request. He consulted someone on the radio transmitter, and
in the end allowed us to launch the helicopter. After we landed our
helicopter and showed him some of the pictures, we parted as friends.

[{Image src='06_Shanghai, China.jpg' caption='Shanghai, China' alt='' width='900' popup='false' height='456'}]

When we finished shooting on the embankment, we headed towards the park.
I asked Dima, "Where are we running?"

"We won't make it in time! It's getting dark very fast! I can hardly see
anything!"

"Dima, would you mind taking off your sunglasses?!"

" :)))))))"

During our second night flight we beat a new high altitude record — 300
meters above the ground.

[{Image src='07_Shanghai, China.jpg' caption='Shanghai, China' alt='' width='900' popup='false' height='433'}]

Our stay in Shanghai was coming to an end, but it seemed we were able to
show the most interesting places in the center of the city, that convey
the atmosphere of an ultra-modern metropolitan city.

And now a few facts about Shanghai:

Not many cities can boast as many records as Shanghai, China's largest
city, the world's most densely-populated metropolis, and the largest
seaport on the planet.

Shanghai's lands have been inhabited from ancient times: people who
lived here were engaged in agriculture, fishing and salt production. The
land had been passed from one dynasty to another, until this fishing
village, with its favorable location on the Yangtze River near the East
China Sea, was given an official status in year 751.

[{Image src='08_Shanghai, China.jpg' caption='Shanghai, China' alt='' width='900' popup='false' height='321'}]

During the centuries of Shanghai's history, the city has seen both
peacetime and war: it was invaded and bombed, and then, with new powers,
it was restored again. But only in 1992 Shanghai entered a fast
development phase, which allowed it to become the leading city in the
country, and then in the whole world. And now it's one of the world's
major financial centers, the core of China's political intrigues, and,
at the same time, the cradle of modern Chinese cinema and theater.

Despite the fact that the city is full of ancient temples and cozy side
streets with houses built in the beginning of the last century, the
first real symbol of Shanghai is the urban landscape. Modern buildings
have a unique architecture, and the shape of their upper floors resemble
flying saucers. One of the most amusing creations is a pedestrian
ring-bridge built in Pudong district in 2012. You can go up as high as 6
meters above the ground by using stairs or escalators, and the
pedestrian part of the bridge is so wide that you can line up 15 people
in a row. In the evening the bridge has a very beautiful illumination.

[{Image src='09_Shanghai, China.jpg' caption='Shanghai, China' alt='' width='900' popup='false' height='600'}]

Another most important Shanghai landmark is the Bund, a waterfront area
on a plot of 1.5 kilometers with 52 buildings of different styles, from
Gothic to Art Deco. Because of that it's often called "the museum of
world architecture." Since 2003 it also houses Aurora Plaza, a beautiful
185-meter tower on the other side of the river. At night it turns into a
huge screen broadcasting various videos that can be seen from the
promenade: from commercials to news reports.

There are more than 80 buildings higher than 170 meters in Shanghai.
The most famous skyscraper, which ends up in any album of Shanghai
photos, is a 492-meter high World Financial Center. It is crowned with a
strange trapezium-shaped window intended to reduce air resistance.
Initially, the window was round, but some people thought it was
associated with the sun on the flag of Japan. As a result, the circle
turned into trapezium, and building started to look like a giant beer
bottle opener. Nowadays it's the highest building in the city, although
it's threatened to be overshadowed by another 632-meter high skyscraper
that is being built in the Pudong district with a predictable name
Shanghai.

[{Image src='10_Shanghai, China.jpg' caption='Shanghai, China' alt='' width='900' popup='false' height='650'}]

I can tell you endless stories about different sights of Shanghai, the
city where antiquity meets modern civilization, tradition crosses with
avant-garde, and green parks are framed in glass and concrete, but why
should I? You can enjoy this magnificent scenery through our panoramas!

\\ \\
[14 Panoramas of Shanghai|Geography/Asia/China/Pictures/Panoramas_of_Shanghai]










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