More from the Asian trip of my friends:
"Shanghai is a daunting city to wrap your arms around. In the 4th century B.C. a famous Chinese philosopher named Zhuangzi wrote, "Good order results spontaneously when things are let alone." This statement is the precursor to spontaneous order, the observation that when individual entities are left alone to pursue their own interests, more collective benefit is accrued than if a single authority dictates a plan for everyone. Shanghai struck us as an ironic paragon of spontaneous order. One sees the trappings of central planning, but the frenetic energy radiating throughout the city exemplifies spontaneous order.
"At over 20 million people, the place is explosively massive, and so seemingly chaotic; yet somehow things work. Standing in a vortex of spontaneous order was exhilarating -- nowhere as much so as on the streets. There are functioning stoplights, but one quickly learns that cars have the right of way. Furthermore, traffic lanes are, at best, suggestions. When you feel a car isn't going fast enough, typical protocol is to turn on the brights and start honking the horn. If that doesn't work, you weave around -- the spacing of this maneuver being measured in inches, not car lengths. The thought of changing lanes or merging into traffic is harrowing to an uninitiated passenger, yet the drivers do it reflexively. There is more weaving than you'd see in a Persian rug factory. We never really did get used to it, but we also didn't see a single accident or ambulance. The only police we saw were a pair standing next to a street vendor selling pirated DVDs.
"Our friend Johnny gave us a fantastic on-foot tour of various areas. Highlights were Yu Gardens, Nanjing Road, the Bund, Pudong, and Xiantandi. We also took a day trip out of town to Suzhou and Zhouzhang. In Suzhou, we saw I.M. Pei's family estate, featuring a spectacular Chinese garden. We then toured a silk factory. The ingenuity involved in harvesting, processing, and weaving the silk is astounding.
"We saw a great martial arts show featuring Shaolin monks. Lots of impressive feats, not the least of which was a monk throwing a pin through a plate of glass to pop a balloon on the other side.
"The markets were amazing. Knockoffs are the rule, not the exception. Louis Vuitton and Gucci had a strong presence, along with Tiffany's, Rolex, Prada, et cetera. The U.S. is good at exporting its culture to China but not getting paid for it. We saw mountains of pirated DVDs -- everything from Prison Break (the latest American TV show sweeping China) to films which are still in the theaters.
"We also reached new heights -- literally. The Grand Hyatt in Pudong is a monster of a building, with an ultra-sleek bar on the 87th floor. It's called Cloud 9, where you're close enough to the clouds to read the 'made in China' label on them."
