Shanghai and the spiritual principles of China

19. - 28. august

From Chengdu we took a flight to Shanghai.

First, we stayed a couple of nights outside the city at a hotel with a pool. The place was shabby, the standard low, but the pool gave the kids joy and Hannes even learned to swim there! But what stayed with us most was the sight of animals in terrible conditions: kittens locked in glass cabinets (!), a mother cat without water in the heat, a rabbit with no food, turtles floating in warm algae water. The kids cried themselves to sleep, begging us not to leave until the animals were free. It broke something open in all of us. We thought of our own animals at home, safe and happy, and felt both sadness and gratitude.

But then Shanghai opened her arms.

We moved into a one-room studio apartment in Huangpu district, with tree-lined streets, little cafés, and boutiques. Suddenly it felt like we had stepped into another world, almost European, but with Shanghai’s cleanness, colors, and beauty. Our apartment was full of character: baroque furniture, a fireplace, a bath tub with lion feets, Japanese toilet, a backyard full of charm. (It was quite messy, but it was our first garden and the kids tried to tidy it up as best as they could.) The location was great and you are ever considering going to Shanghai, this is the place to stay.

Our entrance. Charming and ready for Christmas Holidays. Hehe

Here, everything shifted. Shanghai is a city with everything: modern and historical, colorful and calm, fun and elegant. We never once felt crushed by crowds. Beautiful, exciting, full of life. This is our number one favorite city in China. We fell in love with it completely, and we hope we will come back one day.

One of our small victories here: finally buying a drip filter so we could make our own coffee. After weeks of strange hotel coffee and starbucks, this was life-changing. It sounds small, but in long travel, this little small ritual makes the mornings sacred.

Not everything was smooth. The kids fought more than ever here — over schoolwork, over bedsheets, attention, over everything or nothing at all. Force or threaten them into cooperation is not what we want to do, that will ruin the relationship; we had to listen, negotiate, adjust. Everyone had look into themselves, choose empathy, respect, and patience over and over again. It’s messy, but real.

Shanghai skyline from the bunt area. To the right is the second tallest building the the world!

China’s spiritual principles

After 24 days, we tuned into China as a spiritual teacher and learning field. Each place we’ve been holds a certain vibration, and China’s has been unmistakable. Looking back, these are the principles we take with us:

Discipline, patience, adaptability, compassion, balance, growth, unity and love.

China has been wild, strange, chaotic, beautiful, and demanding. It stretched us, cracked us open, and showed us parts of ourselves we must work with. We are growing into a more complex being, all four of us and it takes a little bit of kicking and screaming before it all sinks in.

So old, yet still vibrant and full of life.