Our first sight of China was through the rain and mist as the plane touched down in Shanghai. Lots of water, of course, in this coastal city of 22 million. Also people, traffic, tall buildings, and neon – bright color everywhere. Xiaoling Zhu says if all you’ve seen of China is Shanghai, you haven’t really seen China. I’m sure that’s as true as anyone who sees New York City, thinking they know all of the USA.
Xiaoling is the area executive for East Asia and the Pacific for Division of Overseas Ministries and Global Ministries. He’s our guide for this trip. This visit is designed for the presidents of the two Churches that together make up Global Ministries to get to know our Church partners and they us. So my counterpart for the UCC, Geoffrey Black is part of the group, as are Rick Lowery and Pat Black, our spouses. Rick will be giving a lecture at one of our partner seminaries later in the trip.
Our host in Shanghai is the YMCA. Last night at dinner with the General Secretary and Vice General Secretary we already started hearing the stories of YMCA ministries here. In particular we heard about the plight of the millions of immigrants who make their way to this bustling center of trade, shipping, culture and finance. The “Y” seeks to make life more tenable for immigrants by advocating for benefits available to those Shanghai born. More about that over the next few days.
A first adventure of Shanghai was to ride the Maglev – the magnetic train – into town from the airport. Riding
off the “rail” (levitating – that’s the “lev” part of the name) and propelled forward by magnets, it topped out at over 400 kilometers per hour, getting us into downtown in 7 minutes. A cab would have taken an hour!
We checked into the YMCA hotel – a very nice hotel! – and quickly got ready for our first Chinese dinner: fabulous! Great tofu offerings, seafood including jellyfish, lotus root, as well as some more familiar fare.
Though we anticipate some difficulty with jet lag in the first few days, we were certain sleep would be no problem on this first night in China. We look forward to learning more about the ministries we share with brother and sister Christians in this giant of a country.
