Nanjing

After yet another lunch in the hotel we went for a walk to the Hunan Road. Nanjing is such a different city than any we've been to in China. The Hunan Road was a line of shops much like any High Street in Britain or Main Street at home.
Pam told me it was a wealthy city and I now see she was right. It's so clean in comparison to any other Chinese city we've been before. Even the Civil Affairs office was so well-run and in a nice building. (To G & J: polar opposite to Shenyang civil affairs office!) The cars are new, they follow the traffic rules (!). Fashionable young people are everywhere. Also, I've noticed when we see young children a lot of them are girls and many two-child families. A sign of wealth as only certain incomes can afford the fine of a two-child family. There is almost no construction. Unlike Shenyang where we counted sometimes 15 cranes in one block, or Beijing in its mad dash to the Olympics when we were here last, Nanjing has two major construction projects that we've seen so far.
Today we went with our traveling partners to the WalMart to get some snacks and drinks for the hotel room. Standing on the street corner in that part of Nanjing it could have been near 34th Street in NYC. This is a very different view of China than before.
One of our two English-speaking connections at the Ramada - Alex, a young man from Columbia working here to try and learn Chinese - has filled us in on life in Nanjing. He describes a young, happening city with an active nightlife. The other, Warren, a young Chinese man who lived in New Zealand to learn English, is the hotel's assistant manager, who tells us Nanjing is China's western city.
Steven is convinced there are government restrictions on energy use. The neon displays of two years ago are nowhere to be seen. And the city's highrises are dark at night. He's pointed out how in the large department stores sales people are wearing coats and the heat is turned down. He might be right.
Tomorrow Breeda will likely see some of the China we knew from two years ago as we journey 3 hours each way on bus to Wuxi, Lila's former home. Lila sits on my knee as I write this and repeats after me "Mommy's computer." She's adorable.