Standing on the edge of the Bund, the waterfront of Shanghai, watching the very busy boat traffic on the Huangpu river, and taking in the skyline of the opposite bank, the Pudong area, it is easy to understand the full implications of China’s economic rise of the past decade or so.  Our guides told us that Shanghai is now the world’s busiest port.  I don’t know how they are measuring things but the assertion is certainly plausible.  You can feel the energy in the air, the city surges with activity and competition.  It is a tough town; everyone is scrambling to get ahead, to grab hold of a bit of the money that is to be made.  It seems that, here at least, a good number are succeeding.  The shops on Nanjing Lu and down in the French Concession are open to all.  The emerging Chinese middle class strolls from store to store; the young people dye their hair with streaks of blond or red; the well-healed skirt about in their VW Santanas.  This is where the winners of economic reform live.

      But last night, taking a cab back to our hotel, we saw what appeared to be a homeless mother and child on the sidewalk along Nanjing Lu.  We have been told that there are professional beggars in the big cities, and I am sure that there are.  I am also sure, however, that not everyone is winning here.  The poor do not try to get to the heart of middle class territory; their daily struggle for survival in the outlying areas and, especially, the rural towns, takes up all of their time.  I do not know if the woman with the child on her lap was a real beggar or not.  She was, in any event, a reminder of the other side of China’s transformation, a side that is not quite visible from the comfortable hotels.