Shanghai Hi!

Ultra-light cappuccino, 431 km/h Maglev trains, 6 million visitors to China Pavilion, 2nd highest building in the world and Hitler's pregnant. -  City of superlatives, contrasts and constant development. 

The first cappuccino I have had in a Shanghai branch of Starbucks (yes, this was necessary!) seemed to be much lighter than usually. A closer look under the lid revealed that all of the milk in the worldwide standardised "Grande"-size cup, not just the very top part, was foamed. It probably reduced the weight of the cappuccino by a third. Degustations of the same coffee beverage brewed in three other of the (whopping) 131 branches (Source: http://www.starbucks.com.cn/) in Shanghai confirmed: This is just the way it is made here. Alternatively, you may want to try the local specialty Green Tea Frappuccino or one of two sets of moon cakes for the mid-autumn festival. - By the way: Starbucks celebrates is 40th anniversary this year. 

The 30 km journey from Pudong International Airport to Longyang Road metro station took us 7 minutes with the magnetic levitation (Maglev) transport system. Between 15:00 and 16:00, the time we travelled, the train has a peak speed of 431 km/h. (What is the average?) Most of the other 115 daily trains operate at a lower maximum speed as we learnt from the display at the ticket office. Noteworthy also - rather the latter part -, "[...] the Shanghai maglev is extremely fast and comes with on time - to the second - reliability of greater than 99.97%." (Source: Wikipedia)

Probably (based on personal empiric over a week this August) the Shanghai Metro's reliability for on-time arrivals is lower. Nevertheless the TV screens in the metro stations display the arrival time for the next 3 trains to the second. If you need any help taking the metro please follow the 8-step instructions from the official metro website: "1. get into the station, 2. buy the tickets, 3. move to the platform through turnstile with ticket, 4. wait for the train, 5. get on the train, 6. get off the train, 7. move out of the platform through turnstile with ticket and 8. get out of the station". (Source: http://www.shmetro.com)

"The China pavilion at Expo 2010 in Shanghai, China, colloquially known as the Oriental Crown (东方之冠), was the largest national pavilion at the Shanghai Expo and the largest display in the history of the World Expo. It was also the most expensive pavilion at the Shanghai Expo costing an estimated US$220 million." (Source: Again Wikipedia) "A total of 6 million people (7% foreigners) visited the China Pavilion during its 6-month-long reopening period, according to municipal authorities in Shanghai. [...] The average number of daily visitors was around 30,000 during the reopening period, the officials said. However, this number surged to 50,000 during holidays such as Spring Festival, according to the officials." (Source: http://news.xinhuanet.com) - That sounds more like the number of people trying to enter on the Sunday when we went too. The "cattle" queuing system before the entrance had surely been designed to keep visitors in line. 

The Shanghai World Financial Center, a mixed use skyscraper in Pudong with 101 floors, was the second tallest building in the world (based on architectural detail; 492 metre) and the tallest in China (including Hong Kong) when it was built.  In 2008, it also had the highest occupied floor and the highest height to roof, two categories used to determine the title of "The World’s Tallest Building". Today the Burj Khalifa in Dubai (828m) and the Taipei 101 (509m) have exceeded the SWFC. (Source: Wikipedia) The Shanghai Tower, currently being under construction and expected to be completed in 2014, will reclaim the second rank with its 632 metres to the top of the antenna spire. - More on the tallest buildings and structures in the world and their history here: 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_tallest_buildings_and_structures_in_the_world.

One day, we decided to go to the Shanghai Grand Theatre and, being attracted by one of the leaflets, to see the Chinese drama (no sub-titles!) titled "Hitler's Belly". The description on the theatre's website reads: "The story happens in Germany, 1945. The Second World War is approaching to the key point, while Adolf Hitler——already 56 years old——suddenly finds his belly is becoming bigger and bigger. He is pregnant! To hide this truth, he has to affect illness, and continue controlling his war and life. We went, despite the repeated questioning of the lady in the box office if we are sure that we want to buy tickets and her final attempt "But you cannot return the tickets and get a refund." To our (probably not anyone else's) annoyance, late comers kept on entering the auditorium until 15 minutes into the performance of acting, singing, dancing and playing rock music. While we still have no clue about what was said or sung about during those two hours, were at least able to identify the key scene where Hitler delivered the newborn. But again, why, what for and what then - no idea!

Finally, according to the Economist's China Special Report, by the end of this decade the GDP per person in Shanghai, China's richest city, could be almost the same as the average for America in 2009. (Source: Economist) Full article "Beware the middle-income trap" is online at: http://www.economist.com/node/18832106. 

Go, Paris of the East, go...