Lingang New City Outing (4/22/2012)

Sunday, April 22, 2012
A group of colleagues from BASF, with spouses, went on a trip organized by the Shanghai Flaneurs, a group that  hosts mostly walking tours of Shanghai in order to better experience the city.
Today's trip was a bit farther afield, to Lingang New City. We met at the offices of gmp International (von Gerkan, Marg and Partner), a German architectureal firm, which won the design competition for Lingang New City.
View from the gmp offices terrace:

There we had a slide presentation by project director Fanny Hoffmann-Loss, before boarding a bus to take us over an hour south of Shanghai.
Different than the "One City, Nine Towns" project, Lingang New City was developed not only to accommodate the growth of population, but mainly as a city for people involved with the deep-sea container ship harbor on the offshore island of Yangshan and related industries along the coast.
First we bypassed Lingang to go to the Yangshan Free Trade Zone:

From the bus we could see the buildings of Shanghai Maritime University, and its gymnasium complex:

And its lighthouse:

We headed out over Hangzhou Bay of the East China Sea on the 32.5 km/20 mile Donghai Bridge. Passed the wind turbines of a sea wind farm:

It was very hazy today.
The bridge brought us to Yangshan Island:

We made a stop to climb a hill at Shenshui Sightseeing Area.
A man-made waterfall:

Hilltop pavilion and reclaimed land:

View towards the deep-sea harbor:

Original steps?

A view down on the visitors center:

KSS

Ling Tower:

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Since all the former residents of the island were relocated to the mainland, this tower was built to give them a place to worship their ancestors.
The top of the waterfall:

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Odd-shaped rocks, many have names:

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Returning on the bus, we drove back over the bridge and into Lingang New City, passing the China Maritime Museum:

The museum was also designed by gmp International, and the roofline resembles sails of a ship.
A commercial building designed by gmp:

We got off the bus to walk along a portion of the Dishui Lake promenade.
Kent with the promenade clock tower:

Jim and Kent:

Tamiko & Kent:

(Thanks, Jim!) Now you see why they installed a wind farm here! And you can barely see a sculpture that marks the center of the circular lake, looking like a stainless steel tire rim from this angle.
The promenade with more on the sails theme:

Dishui/Waterdrop Lake is a man-made lake in the shape of a perfect circle. The concept for the urban design is that of a drop in the water creating concentric ripples:

This map shows the current Chinese version of the original design.
Deposit your organisms here:

Eek!

Pop the balloon game:

Toss game to win a bear that was "hung out to dry:"

Speed boat ride:

BASF Picknick, with Christine, Sabine, and Bruno:

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Kristin & Mark:

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Fanny Hoffmann is behind Kristin.
Tamiko:

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We actually had a cooler!

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which Jim brought back from Singapore.
"Picknick" potluck:

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Back on the bus; can we get by that car on this narrow road?

I didn't hear any scraping of metal.
We drove down to the edge of the sea, where once upon a time a small whale got trapped in the lake, and was rescued and taken back out to sea. A sculpture memorializes that whale:

KSS

As a "fish," a lucky symbol for the Chinese, this bodes well for Lingang New City.
We made another stop.
Tamiko is in this photo:

KSS

Tamiko & Kent join other workers:

(Thanks, Bruno!)

Some weekend crabbers and a crab shack:

Sculptures relating to land reclamation, upon which Lingang New City is situated:

These pipes transported and spewed sand and silt.
I am still thinking about the relevance of this sculpture:

Pyramids of reclamation sand:

Local fishing boats:

The bus then took us through a residential section that is thriving. The residents here are the professionals who work in the two universities (Shanghai Maritime University and Shanghai Ocean University) that are now located here.

Our final stop, the China Maritime Museum:

Although no one else was around, they made us go through the back-and-forth queue:

The centerpiece of the museum was a replica of a Fu Junk that gmp suggested should be elevated to fill the space under the two sails of the roof. But it sits low on the ground floor:

The masts just make it up into the open space:

The roof sails are impressive, inside and out:

with glass netting between them.
The sails of the Fu Junk:

And a yellow banner.
Ancient compasses:

Model of an early port:

Container-loading simulator:

Chronometers:

Decorated horseshoe crab exo-skeletons:

Across the street is the Lingang/Nanhui District Administration Building, also designed by gmp:

We returned to Shanghai on the bus.

We were dropped off near the Yongkang Food Street, so we decided to try the other fish and chips place, called Catch:

The Catch sign:

Catch uses more expensive New Zealand line-caught fish:

We had the monkfish. It came with an herbed mayonnaise, and fried slices of breaded potato.
I think we vote for Shanghai Brewery for having the best fish and chips in Shanghai.