Shanghai’s Yu Yuan Garden and Building China’s Image

No visit to Shanghai would be complete without exploring Yu Yuan Garden – or at least that’s what we’ve been told! The garden shares many of the same qualities as some of the gardens we visited in Beijing – beautiful water features and rockeries – but what makes this garden stand out is designer’s use of the small space. Unlike the gardens we’ve visited in Beijing, Yu Yuan is quite small – only 5 acres. While not as beautiful as the garden at Prince Gong’s Mansion or the gardens at the Forbidden City, it is still quite nice.

The Yu Yuan Garden.

While walking from the Bund to the Yu Yuan garden, we passed in front of quite a few buildings constructed during Shanghai’s colonial days. Originally constructed as office buildings, many of them now house important banks and ultra-premium stores. In front of one of these buildings (an expensive-looking jewelry store) we saw an obviously poor man selling roasted chestnuts off of a street cart. Just after we passed him by, I heard shouting and a loud snapping sound. I turned around to see two men wearing suits yelling at the street vendor and hitting his street cart with a large stick. The two men continued to harass the street vendor, and when it was clear these two men in suits meant real business, the street vendor tried to push his cart and run away. Alas, he was stopped by a police officer, and the look on his face was one of sheer terror. Busted.

Earlier that same day, we noticed a little old woman begging on the Bund. She might have been 5 feet tall, she was quite old, and while she was persistent (and a little rude), it was easy enough to ignore her. As she was approaching Sara and I to hassle us for some money, a street cop grabbed her arm, yelled at her, and pushed her towards the main road (and away from the Bund). This woman also looked to be quite poor.

I have mixed feelings.

On the one hand, I understand the perspective of the jewelry store. They’re not paying top-dollar for property so that they can have some shabby-looking man selling chestnuts in front of their store. They have every right to chase him off. On the other hand, I wonder how much it damages their image to allow this man to work in front of the store. After all, he’s just trying to earn a living.

Here’s a small sampling of the constant pestering that tourists get from street vendors. It got to the point that any Chinese person who approached us was told “No” before they could open their mouths. Shame on us, huh?

The same goes for the old woman begging tourists for cash. The areas that we’ve been in China are amazingly devoid of beggars in tourist areas – Beijing especially – and it’s very nice. In Denver, I couldn’t walk down 16th Mall without being hassled by half-a-dozen bums looking for a handout. While I got used to it when I was living in Denver, I noticed that many visiting tourists (and locals from the suburbs) were uncomfortable and uneasy with this nuisance. China has obviously decided that removing beggars from the public eye will help the country’s image and tourism, and I wish that Denver would follow suit.

But the fact is the old woman was begging because it was her best option. The same goes for the street vendor. What should China do about the poor? This question confronts the USA as well, and the answer still seems to be unknown.