Shanghai Expo Redux

We're weeks away from the World Expo opening here in Shanghai. I've been living in Shanghai for over 4 months and what I find amazing is how quickly things get deconstructed gutted, remodeled and rebuilt so quickly!

Like the Olympics in Beijing, there have been many construction projects in preparation for the millions of expected international visitors. From the facades (I've seen front of buildings painted nicely, but when you go into the alley, you see it's only the front facade painted), to entirely new buildings and parks (like the Expo grounds), it's an amazing site to behold. But what I find the most fascinating are scenes like the picture to the above and left.

These are actual commercial sites that have many active customers and patrons. But then suddenly a few days later you'll see it gutted. It's not like there's only a few patrons, but hundreds of active patrons. Yet as you see in the picture above, many people still frequent these places while construction is going on. I literally had just eaten at that food court a few days earlier only to see this place gutted a few days later. This has happened to at least a few other places I used to eat at. The speed of change, construction and renovation happening in China is already mind blowing. Add international events like the Olympics and the World Expo to that change and I'm witnessing a very unique, strange and exponentially rapidly changing China everyday.

This unique time in history is a daily aspect life in China right now. It is just one of the many reasons I choose to live here at this time.