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The group stayed at the Shanghai Towers Hotel that was the highest building In Shanghai at that time. I had an excellent view looking south over the the Huangpu river flowing north into the East China Sea as well as the Waibaidu Bridge over Suzhou Creek.
The British developed Shanghai almost exclusively on the left bank of the river where roads from the interior ended. Pudong on the other side remained largely undeveloped because it had little hinterland.
Pudong was still largely underdeveloped in 1973 except for a few warehouses and factories near the river bank as you can see on the left side of this photo.
The photo on the left of the left bank of the Huangpu river shows the famous "Bund", now called Zhongshan Dong Lu, where the British built their banks and trade houses.
The one on the right was taken while driving north on the Bund with the riverside
park on our right.
The long riverside park is a popular place to stroll or to do the healthy "tai chi" exercises early in the morning. It was therefore a good place to promote the cult of hero workers in 1973!
Colonial Shanghai was divided into "concessions" where the foreigners regrouped according to their various nationalities. The French concession where this picture was taken was easily distinguished by its shaded tree planted streets.
We visited various factories producing oil field equipment as well as the Shanghai Industrial Exhibition to gain insight on the level of Chinese technological development.
Chinese cultivators like this one and the two wheeled tractor on which it is based are well adapted to Asian farming practices. Consequently, they can be seen all over Asia where they replace draft animals.
This high reaching fire fighting crane was worth a photo.
Chinese drilling equipment looked very much like their western counterparts but our detailled questioning about maintenance revealed the lack of speciality alloys for critical applications like downhole turbines.
We were appalled at the lack of industrial security like this punch press operator working without access restraints.
Operations that are normally automated like the flame hardening of gears were still carried out by hand.
Our industrial visits allowed us to identify areas of technological exchange useful for China and profitable for Canadian companies.
Our visit to a silk factory was admittedly touristic but nonetheless interesting. This is a Jacquard loom where punched slats looping through the control mechanism determine the design of the embroidered silk piece produced by the machine. This machine's work was relatively simple. On some machines the design was so intricate that the stack of program slats was bigger than the loom itself!
Hangzhou's beautiful West Lake was a welcome respite after Shanghai's dusty factories and smelly refineries.
This bridge is part of the Bai Di causeway that leads to the delightful Zong Shan Park on Solitary Hill Island.
And here is the Louwailou restaurant also on Solitary Hill Island.
The Santanyinyue and Xiaoyingzhou islands in the center of the lake have been transformed into delightful gardens that can be reached by boat. The footbridge is zig-zag shaped to prevent access by evil spirits that only move in straight lines.
Here and below left, other views of the garden islands.
Below right, the 200 foot octagonal Six Harmonies (heaven, earth, north, south, east and west) Pagoda. It has only seven stories but it appears to have 13 because of six sets of false eaves (those between the rectangular and square windows). Originally built in 970, it has been restored many times in the last 1000 years.
After a reception hosted by the Zhejiang Province Revolutionary Committee, we flew to Beijing in time to attend the May first festivities.
