从磁悬浮到小笼包,"无处不优越"的上海

LUCAS PETERSON

卢卡斯·彼得森

Superlatives are everywhere in Shanghai. I forked over my 50 yuan (about $7.90) and boarded the maglev train departing from Pudong International Airport. My understanding was that this was a high-speed train, like the one I'd recently taken from Chengdu to Xian. I didn't realize that, operating by a giant set of magnets that caused it to levitate over the track (hence the name, maglev), it was the fastest commercially operating train in the world. After leaving precisely on time, our speed began to build. And build. Soon, we were screaming through a blur of new housing developments and farmland at 268 miles per hour as we made our way from the Pacific coast to the heart of Shanghai. The ride, while not exactly smooth—you feel the speed—was exhilarating. I stepped off 19 miles and a few minutes later at Longyang Road, slightly dazed.

上海的高级感无处不在。我掏出50元钱，坐上了从浦东国际机场开出的磁悬浮列车。按我的理解，这就是一列高铁，和我不久前从成都去西安时坐的那列一样。我没意识到的是，这列靠一组巨型磁铁悬浮在铁轨上运行的列车（因此有了“磁悬浮”的名字），是世界上最快的商业列车。在准点开车之后，速度就开始加快。再加快。不一会，我们就在一片新建住宅区和农田的模糊风景之中，以268英里时的速度呼啸而过，从太平洋海岸线驶向了上海的中心。这段车程虽然不算特别平稳——能感受到速度——但令人兴奋。几分钟后，我在19英里（约合30公里）外的龙阳路下了车，脑子有些发蒙。

Despite this high-tech arrival system, Shanghai is, in a way, a late bloomer. Cities like Beijing and Xian have been political and commercial powerhouses for centuries. Heading into the 19th century, Shanghai was a modest trading port that exploded after being "opened" to the world by Western imperialism. What became known as the Paris of the East laid the groundwork for what Shanghai is today: an unparalleled economic powerhouse and megacity of 24 million people.

撇去这个高科技的到达系统不说，上海，在某种程度上，是一个后起之秀。如北京和西安这样的城市，数个世纪以来都是政治和商业重镇。而在迈入19世纪之时，上海还是一个被西方帝国主义“打开”了大门后突然出现的、不算太大的通商口岸。后来，东方巴黎的名声奠定了今天的上海：无可比拟的经济发动机，有着2400万人口的巨型都市。