People’s Square is a large park in the middle of Shanghai. Before the Cultural Revolution in China, it was the site of a race track for horses (it is mentioned in Lisa See’s novel, Shanghai Girls). It sits on top of an extremely large metro station that is a major transfer point when traveling between Pudong (west side of the Huangpu River) and Puxi (east side of the river), the two halves of Shanghai. There is also a mall underneath the park, and some small displays of what Shanghai looked like during different periods of time.

On the weekend, large numbers of parents gather in one area of the park in an effort to find matches for their children. General personal information is printed onto single sheets of paper and hung off of others to create long streamers of these ads. Some parents sit around next to an umbrella onto which the information sheet is taped, and try to talk to people who pass by. Not all the ads are for young people though; I saw some with the descriptors “70年” and “87年”, or men and women in their 70’s and 80’s.

Down a couple of tree-lined walkways, two musicians performed around a large lotus pond in bloom. Walking around, I found a very random and seemingly deserted roller coaster. However, the lack of attendants and riders may have been because of the slight drizzle.