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Photo Essay: CET Shanghai
Written by Sam Schulman (Brandeis University), Student Correspondent for CET Shanghai, Fall 2019
A view from one of the many footbridges that allow easy access over the wide car, truck, electric scooter and bike filled roads. These footbridges are frequented by Donghua University students, neighborhood locals, people taking a stroll, and people moving to and from work. This footbridge is just down the road from the University, and it provides easy access to a frequently used metro station, line 3 and 4’s West Yan’an Road.A procession of international and domestic Donghua students walk under two large highways on our third day in Shanghai. The full-time Donghua students are already showing us their favorite spots in the neighborhood as we walk to a local gym. Many of us can view the numerous vehicles on the highways from our dorm room windows. As the Shanghai locals show us around, night starts to fall and colorful lights turn on around many buildings. We walk alongside an electric scooter and bike lane where numerous people zoom by us. Scooters especially are a frequented form of transportation, and their users are experts at weaving around pedestrians. West Yan’an Road is one of the most frequently utilized metro stations by Donghua Students. Whether it is a quick trip to the Cloud Nine Mall at the Zhong Shan Park stop, or an hour plus journey to an internship, everyone eventually becomes familiar with this stop. One of the first views inside the West Yan’an Rd. station is the numerous turnstiles operated by card tap-technology, or the multipurpose app, WeChat. WeChat allows the normal functions of cell phones and social media, but also includes features to pay for transportation, groceries, restaurants, and much more. In this photo, the station is calm, however, as soon as rush hour hits, it’s bustling with hard working people and students. As Shanghai feel the effects of a nearby typhoon one morning, people continue about their lives despite flooding. The road on this bridge has ankle deep water levels, yet people continue to walk, bike, drive, and ride scooters through it, seemingly unbothered. Donghua students walk across a footbridge winding throughout the area People’s Square. Having just come from the Shanghai Museum, we journey to try some Shanghainese street food and make our way to the famous Bund. One of the Donghua campus regulars takes a cat nap on a parked scooter. Quite friendly, and knowledgeable about who to score some snacks from, this cat seems to frequent and claim a spot on one of the many parked scooters. A scooter uses takes a brief pause as pedestrians take the opportunity to make their way across the wide street. This picture is taken right by Donghua, where you will find many scooter riders both on the street and weaving throughout the narrow sidewalk. The Shanghai metro is one of the best in the world. Clean, bright, and efficient, many people utilize this shockingly pleasant public transportation. This photo is taken on Line 4, as I head back to West Yan’an road after a day at my internship. The majority of the available handholds are covered in QR Codes that can be scanned to access webpages on WeChat, or you can simply watch the outside view when the train is aboveground. As I return to my dorm, I catch a quick glimpse of the Zhong Shan Park area starting to light up. Next the Cloud Nine Mall are many buildings that are full of color as soon as night falls. People relax in the station, and I contemplate a trip to the shopping center as the metro doors start to close. If I wanted to return, the metro ride would only be about three minutes.
