China: Bill Bogaard, Pasadena Mayor

I visited Beijing and Shanghai with a group from Pasadena. We had contact with officials from Beijing’s Xicheng district, our sister city. In Shanghai we were just vacationing. We celebrated the opening of a rose garden in a park in Beijing. There were performers and folk dancing. In Shanghai we visited a museum that re-creates the city. You walk around it at a level above. We went to another museum in Shanghai that had Chinese art and did side trips out of Shanghai.

Discovery: The overriding experience is how rapidly development is taking place. Skyscrapers seem to go up every week. This is a source of huge excitement.