Before I finish writing this piece, Shanghai would have got more than one million dollar of additional investment.

A British citizen who was working with UNICEF was climbing Great Wall with me. We were talking about China and its history.

He said, "Better you go home and write your story faster. China is changing so rapidly that it has defied my expectations. I have spent my whole life in managing development issues in third world country like Bangladesh, Myanmar, Sri Lanka and some 20 other countries. But after coming to China I must confess that I don't know the ABC of development."

As a not-so-conservative Indian, I fail to understand how as ancient society as China will withstand these rapid changes in a long run.

Right now, urban people are enjoying their moment and as Pallvi Aiyar, a writer in Beijing, put it the urban Chinese have developed vested interest in not rushing for democracy but more music, more sex, more food and more American films and better and better Western buildings and architecture will bring in individuality of western flavour in Chinese society.

A bird's eye view of Shanghai