You needn t be a history buff to applaud. Opportunities have boomed for local thespians, says Yu Rongjun, marketing director of the Shanghai Dramatic Arts Center. Himself a playwright, he s staged three shows in the last year. In early March, five plays opened in one week, she says. Few Asian cities can boast as much.
Reporters criticize projects as expensive showpieces for a new China that doesn t really exist.
They point to Pudong as Potemkinville, fa ade for a false New China, concocted for foreign investment at a cost that cripples the entire country. The recently-opened pedestrian tunnel connecting Pudong to the Bund is but one example. Even odder are parks with piped-in bird sounds. Or the walls lining Century Avenue. Shanghai has been building bigger, taller, faster for so long, it s fair to ponder the ultimate outcome.