Shanghai has the unfortunate position of being at the mouth of the Yangtze River, and is thus on the receiving end of polluted water discharged from hundreds of inland factory outfalls along the river banks. As a rich city, Shanghai has been able to afford major improvements in the area of waste treatment in recent years (although at present only 60% of Shanghai's waste water is treated). Nonetheless, in 1999 the city divided Shanghai's water system into four sections, each operated by a separate company. Three years later, it signed a contract with Veolia Water of France, giving it the right to operate the water system in Shanghai's Pudong area. Here is Charles, interviewing the company's current Deputy General Manager, Remi Paul:
Since they began operating Pudong's water system, Veolia has almost doubled the number of water meters in the area, and in 2005, installed an impressive computer system which can pinpoint the location of any problems:
In our four days in Shanghai, we had only a couple of hours where we weren't busy researching, interviewing, or trying to arrange an interview, but one evening we passed by Yuyuan, a tourist magnet southeast of the city center. Of course there is a Starbucks, but since the entire are is pretty fake and gaudy anyway, they are more welcome here than at the Forbidden City.
Fashionable Shanghai.
As you can see, Chinese New Year was approaching (all the more reason to finish up the story and get out of the country, quick):
The one very authentic part of Yuyuan are the famous Xiaolongbao, or dumplings. We had a two-batch wait; not that bad. (Having a new camera that can actually zoom is definitely a plus, as I was able to shoot the back room of the kitchen while waiting in line!)
Eventually our batch was done, and the steam cleared enough to actually see what the chefs were doing inside:
[continue to Changzhou] - [return to intro]