Lotus flower season

Lotus flower season is in full swing! 

With their roots in the mud, but their beautiful flowers turned towards the sky they symbolize faithfulness and remind you to keep striving. 

And on a less metaphysical note: the roots make a great soup, and the seeds are sold everywhere as a snack. 

twists in the park

When they're not in their nursing homes, or browsing the digital highway, elderly are often found in the parks. This is one of the many things they do: they dance! With the speakers blasting, they twist & twirl in dusk and dawn. It's Latin dances, waltzes, and self-invented pirouettes. 

Aging is a bit of a problem in China. With the one-child policy coming into effect in the '70's of last century, the expansion of the population has slowed down and shown even negative growth in some areas. Four grandparents, two parents, and only one little emperor to take care of all six of them. It's a heavy burden on the shoulders of the young work force. The current fertility rate in Shanghai is the world's lowest at 0.7, below the level to maintain a healthy population.

One phenomenon related to the aging population are the health shops that you see everywhere. Inside these little shops are lectures about the human body, people getting dialysis, full body check up, etc. And of course, these shops are in the park...

Walk in the park

Parks here are special places. Ours, the Peace Park, is quite big. Still it is always full of people. Every corner of it has its special destination. Some of the activities are a little dark, involving stacks of money. Those are mostly in far away corners, and attended by men only. It will take some more courage from my side to take pictures there. Those I will cover last. 

Expect classical dancing, badminton, Qi Gong, music bands, knitting, reading news papers, kites, electric boats, children's gambling hall, bears, lions & tigers. The best part is that in the corner for music bands, all the bands sit together and play at the same time. And all of them using amplifiers. But that's for later. 

First this woman drawing calligraphy on the tiles with water, and tens of birds singing in their little cages up in the trees and bushes, their owners looking up at them from their benches  (always smoking men).