The story behind Haibao

Haibao is the mascot for the upcoming world Expo in 2010. We always though he was just a cheesey cartoon character. However, at the Urban Planning Museum, we did find out he has a somewhat interesting story.

Haibao is in the shape of the Chinese character for "people." The ocean blue color reflects the robust dynamism of China and the ocean-sized bosom of the Chinese people who embrace the whole world.

I particularly like the "ocean-sized bosom" part. (So many slogans or captions here are just too much.) Feel free to read the whole text in the photo below.

The Urban Planning Museum

The Urban Planning Museum has been on our to-do in Shanghai list for a couple years. When Bettina said she'd like to go, we decided to join her and cross it off that list!

It seems to be open every day until 6 PM. Different websites say different things, but the official site says 6 PM. (The official English site doesn't work.) If you exit the subway at People's Square from Exit #3, on line 1 or 8, you are at the base of the museum.

The whole museum had lots of interactive LCD displays, backlit info panels, and models for everything.

One annoying thing was that many titles had English translations, but none of the body of the text was translated! (This annoys me about magazines too. They'll have Chinese and English titles on the cover, but only Chinese inside.)

The model of the inner city of Shanghai is a highlight. It's very cool. This photo was taken from the 3rd floor, looking down at it.

See the building that is taller than the WFC (the bottle opener)? They are just beginning construction on it, so it's a bit strange that it's already in the model. Online, it says that the "clear plastic models" are planned buildings, but I didn't see anything in the museum mentioning that.

This is what the exhibition grounds for the World Expo in 2010 will look like.

These are our apartment buildings, but they look nothing like the actual buildings do! The roof has nothing like that, same with the round holes in the sides.

One cool part was on floor MF (between 1F and 2F). There were many old photos of Shanghai. Two LCD screens had simultaneous photos of Shanghai, taken from the same viewpoint, but years apart.

Propaganda Poster Museum

Jon and I have been here before, but the posters get changed around and also we like to support this guy's effort. It's a personal collection of Propaganda Posters, most of which were supposed to be destroyed after the Cultural Revolution. It's just 20 RMB for entrance to the tiny, two-room museum.

It's a little hard to find. First, go to 868 Huashan Lu, near Fuxing Lu. 华山路868号， 近复兴西路 The guard will hand you a card with a little map on the back. You'll go to the right (north?) side of the complex to Building B. Then, just go down one floor and to the left.


We usually buy something there. Last summer we bought this poster, and just now finally got around to getting it framed! You can buy an original English copy of the "Little Red Book" for 300 RMB. I didn't realize that many copies were printed in other languages to spread Mao's view on communism.

It was printed in 1968 and says: The Working Class Must Lead All The People

Propaganda Poster Museum

We also went to the Propaganda Poster Museum. It's a private collection and we met the owner. A lot of the posters were destroyed right after the Cultural Revolution so it was pretty amazing to see so many posters from throughout so many years.

We bought this one - it's a unique one because it is felt.

the Shanghai Aquarium

Today Inge, Jon and I got up fairly early and went to the Shanghai Aquarium. Unfortunately it wasn't a pleasant experience.


There were thousands of people, and it is not the culture to stand back and let everyone have a look. Instead, everyone tries to push their way to the front to see. I guess the mentality is if you don't fight for it, you won't get it. Parents would throw their kids up against the glass for photos and bang on the glass (as the signs clearly forbid.) There were thousands of kids screaming with excitement - it was just a bit too much for us.

Videos from the aquarium

Center of the Nation

My mom and dad drove from Howard to see us one day. Mom had relatives around Belle so we went to the courthouse and looked up their property records. She found where they lived and will maybe go out there sometime.

When Hawaii and Alaska entered the United States, the geographic center changed to Belle Fourche.


We also drove through Spearfish canyon and through Deadwood. It was still cold! Bridal Veil falls was frozen over (above).