Jim : An Adventure in Old Shanghai
Chinese International School , O ' Sullivan , Christopher - 13
W inter blew past Shanghai with a cold breeze whipping into his face . The crowds of people that made up a great portion of life in Shanghai forced Jim alongside the Bund river , almost pushing him over the decaying fence . Having found one of the rare spots in which one could remain still without being pushed to hard , Jim stopped to look around . Being both a central hub for tourism and trade , tourist boats and freight ships travelled along the narrow , winding river , dodging each other and sounding horns frequently . Behind Jim , cars sat in traffic jams right the way along the side of the river , trying to get past one another at every opportunity , as they attempted to reach their destinations in the fastest manner possible . Jim stepped back into the endless sea of people , only to be shoved further up the riverbank . He let the people carry him along , rather than tiring his legs further . However , he had a particularly speedy man walking behind him , causing him to stumble , and lost his balance . Before he knew what was happening , he was falling . His stomach lurched up , but his body was going down .
Jim was clueless as to what he landed in , but whatever it was , it wasn ' t water . It most definitely was not water . He felt himself spinning around , lurching sideways and flying upwards , almost going upside down . The entire experience was extremely disorienting . After what felt like hours of endless violent movements , Jim was thrown out onto a riverbank in an entirely different world , but at the same time , one which was seemingly similar . The river remained bustling , but this time with something different . Instead of large , metal tourist boats and giant ships hauling tonnes of goods , old , worn merchant vessels cruised along the river , bringing exotic items into Shanghai , and carrying local goods out . Steamers ferried people from place to place via the river , and the once busy street contained little more than a few horse-drawn carriages . Jim , still slightly disoriented , looked around . The township was strangely familiar . The streets were laid out exactly as they were in the Shanghai that Jim knew , and the river retained its winding path . Jim , who was absolutely confused , walked cautiously up the road that should have had a building that Jim would have lived in should he have been in new Shanghai , a skyscraper overlooking the Bund . Instead , a worn out wooden shack stood in place of that skyscraper , looking as if it could collapse at any moment .
As a horse-drawn carriage rattled passed Jim , he started to realise where he was . He recognised where he was because he lived there , in that very place – a few hundred years in the future . He had seen pictures of this place in a museum , but it felt very different seeing things in colour , as opposed to black and white . Now he knew what life in the 16 th century really looked like , not what it was said to look like . The buildings all looked unstable , the roads were covered in dirt and wherever Jim went the stench of horses followed him . The little paint that was put on buildings was peeling off , and nobody seemed bothered to fix it . In fact , countless people passed Jim , and they didn ' t even bat an eyelid at the smell of the horses , or the buildings in desperate need of repair . They were somewhat similar to the people that would push Jim next to the Bund , or , in some cases , into the Bund , in that they seemed fixated on getting to their destinations , and nothing would distract them , regardless of its importance .
Jim walked onwards down the street , but after a few minutes of walking he is was stopped by a wall . A massive wall . Jim looked up to see the humongous cobblestone structure towering above him . It was by far the largest man-made structure in the entire town , but it was not obvious why it was needed . It seemed to have no purpose other than to keep any potential invaders out . Jim looked behind him . It had just dawned on him that he had no way of returning to his real home , in new Shanghai . He looked around him . The sun was setting on the endless sea of wooden shacks , making Jim really think about how he would get home . He came to old Shanghai in a way that even Jim wasn ' t entirely sure what had happened , but he vaguely remembered getting pushed into something by lots of people . Perhaps if he walked into another large crowd of people , he would be able to get pushed into something and potentially get sent back to his normal life . But where in this ancient city would he find such a large group of people ?
It was sunset . People would definitely be walking around now , probably going home after work . Jim walked along the side of the wall , looking for people that would be doing that . After about fifteen minutes , Jim stumbled across a group of people that looked to be walking towards the wall . When they reached the wall , Jim began following them , trying to stay as close to the centre of the group as possible , hoping to get pushed into something that would enable him to return home . Strangely , the group turned towards the wall , and walked through a large hole in it , which Jim suspected was a gate out of the city . They crossed an old wooden bridge going over a large moat , with no fence stopping them from falling in . Jim was precariously walking along side of the bridge , almost falling into the moat . Jim looked up at the wall behind him , and did not notice the narrowing bridge in front of him , causing him to fall into the moat .