Museum of Science & Technology, Mao Former Residence (6/18-19/2011)

Saturday, June 18, 2011
Over 4 inches of rain predicted for today. Time to go to a museum. We chose to go to the Shanghai Science and Technology Museum, because it is reported to be connected to the Metro. First of all, we came out of the wrong exit, so we did walk a bit outdoors, but it was not raining yet. You could see dark clouds in the distance.
The Science and Technology Museum was built in 2001:

It is huge, as you can tell by the tiny people:

Here's the other half:

A storm is coming:

A large garden snail:

Don't know what the snail was doing on a railing very far from any garden!
Fountain:

An Asian Longhorned Beetle:

So much nature!
A little bit Natural History Museum, the Animals' World (sic) was established through a donation by Kenneth E. Behring, founder of the Global Health and Education Foundation. One whole side of the gallery was crowded with animal specimens from Africa, in "realistic" poses:

Oops, lots of leaks through the museum:

They are using foam cushions to soak up the water.
Here is North America, with fighting turkeys:

 And what is that tiny white thing?

A stoat or ermine, but he seems so tiny!
A rainforest waterfall:

Rainforest bridge:

The Spider Exhibit was also from a Ken Behring donation. Here there were live tarantulas in glass-topped drawers, and more hands-on displays, such as the one where you can feel the vibration on the web when a victim is caught:

The World of Robots was fun. Here a visitor plays the game "Go" with a robot:

And here a pair of robots team up in an archery competition:

One aims and one shoots.
This face demonstrates odor recognition:

If you put a scented bowl to his nose, he tells you what it is (in Chinese).
Demonstrating voice or sound recognition, this activity allowed you to command the puppy what to do (in Chinese):

A little bit Ripley's Believe-It-or-Not:

Two-headed calf, four-eyed lamb, and three-legged chicken.
A little bit Historical Museum, with reproductions of science experiment "labs" through the ages:

The German-Austrian monk Gregor Mendel and his peas.
A little bit amusement arcade, the Human and Health section had you testing yourself:

This kid kicked the ball which slowly rolled towards the screen and got past the virtual goalie!
This little girl was punching the bag simultaneously with both hands:

Oh, boy, racing cars!

One car flipped and came down in a neighboring track facing the opposite direction, and zoomed off to spectacularly crash with another car!
The Magic Room:

You were challenged to walk across the room. I had to lean against the wall to take the photo:

The room looks like it is angled at about 30 degrees?
Zap!

A little bit Applied Arts Museum, with the Cradle of Design exhibit:

The Light of Wisdom Hall did have all the usual hands-on science museum activities you see in most of the U.S. museums today.

Sunday, June 19, 2011
Happy Father's Day!
Even though it's Sunday, we spent an hour and a half at the bank trying to straighten out a problem with our ATM card. I guess the bank is open every day of the week here...
We hopped on the Metro to go to Wujiang Road, that food street we visited recently. This time to try the best fried dumplings in Shanghai, from Yang's. Yang's used to be a small shop at the other end of Wujiang, but was displaced by construction. Now they are on the second floor of a shopping mall,  but they are still tiny:

The drill is to first get in the line for the cashier to order your food and pay. You take the receipt and get in the line to pick up your food from the window. Watch them making the fried dumplings as you wait in line:

Sorry, this is turned sideways:

Almost forgot to take a photo!

This is the drill for eating the fried dumpling: Take a tiny bite off the top. Slurp out the "soup." Then eat the whole thing. Just be careful that you don't get hot soup all over yourself.
How to meet girls in Shanghai:

Wujiang Road sculpture:

Former residence of Mao Zedong:
One of the founders of the Chinese Communist Party and the first premier of the People's Republic of China, Mao Zedong lived in Shanghai on several occasions.

This residence was his home in 1924, in a shikumen/stone-gated tenement built in the 1920s.

Outside sits a sculpture of the family unit who lived there at the time: Mao with his first wife Yang Kaihui, and his sons Anying and Anqing:

Tablets etched with quotations of Mao:

Doorway:

Woodwork:

Mao in the study/bedroom:

As he looks tenderly at his wife and children:

Hi, Mao!

Kitchen:

Care Meet??

A safety helmet and fire-viewing glasses used by Mao on his inspection trips:

Korean dirt from the battlefield where Mao's son Anying died and was buried:

A bicycle that will keep going and going:

A beauty shop:

A shikumen alley, with a man in his pajamas:

Another alley: