Shanghai tries to charm Ravenstahl, delegation
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Mayor Luke Ravenstahl is greeted before a 10-course lunch by Tang Deng Jie, vice mayor of Shanghai, on Friday at the Grand Central Hotel in Shanghai. An interpreter is seated between and behind.
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SHANGHAI -- Mayor Luke Ravenstahl drank up the panoramic view of Shanghai with his morning Diet Pepsi 59 floors above Shanghai.
"The enormity of it is what hits you at first," reflected the mayor as he looked out the windows of the lobby of the JW Marriott hotel built as part of an appropriately named Tomorrow Square. Below him he could spy a 17-story, dark brown art deco building, the Park Hotel, built in 1932, a relic of the city's colonial era that still marks the city's center.
"It's amazing to think that 20 years ago that was the tallest building in Shanghai. Now there are over 3,000 buildings that are taller than it."
Five minutes later Mr. Ravenstahl and the Pittsburgh delegation were out the door, in a van, and on their way to meet their first official and see their first site, Shanghai's Urban Development Museum. The delegation includes Dennis Yablonsky, CEO of the Allegheny Conference on Community Development; conference Vice President Suzi Pegg; the mayor's Chief of Staff Yarone Zober; and Ning Shao, who heads up the China office for the state of Pennsylvania and is serving as liaison for the delegation during their stay in Shanghai,
The day had begun at 8:30 with a breakfast briefing from Mr. Shao on the do's, don'ts, who's and what for's of the day's agenda. Mr. Ravenstahl, admittedly still somewhat jet-lagged having arrived in China early Thursday afternoon (which was the wee hours of the night Pittsburgh time, 12 hours earlier) after 18 hours in the air, said his hope for the week was to "make the appropriate introductions."
"It's a great opportunity to introduce them to our city and talk about all the wonderful things that are happening in Pittsburgh and hopefully create opportunities for business growth or investment," said the mayor.
From a whirlwind review of Shanghai's urban development the delegation was whisked to a luncheon at the 1-year-old Grand Central Hotel, a marble and chandeliered showcase of Shanghai's new wealth, with one of Shanghai's 20 vice mayors, Tang Deng Jie.
First Published October 9, 2010 12:00 am
