Veteran US diplomat Joseph J. Borich has two tales to tell about Shanghai, with more than 20 years between them.
Borich first came to Shanghai in 1978, when the city had no expressway or international airport. The few dozen foreigners living there could fit in any one of the banquet halls in the city's grand hotels today, he recalled.
"The tallest building back then was the 24-storey International Hotel," he said.
Borich, 58, is executive director of the Washington State -- China Relations Council. He served as consul general at the US Consulate in Shanghai from 1994 to 1997.
What impressed Borich most during his first China visit was his embarrassment at being the center of local people's attention wherever he went.
"Shanghai did not have many entertainment facilities back then -- in fact, we foreigners were ‘entertainment’ enough for the local citizens," he joked.
As few Shanghaiers had met a foreigner before, most people -- no matter what they were doing -- would simply stop to stare at him curiously whenever he came into view, he recalled.
Borich once went to the Shanghai Zoo with three American colleagues. "There were about 5,000 visitors there that day," he said, "You can't imagine it: we outshone all the animals! All these people were watching as we passed by. Even the animals were staring at us as if we were ETs."
Borich is unsure exactly how many times he has been to Shanghai since.
"I have been here two or three times a year since 1978," he said. He is now on his third Shanghai tour for this year as advisor to the American team for the second Sino-US chess contest.
The veteran diplomat said he saw changes in this oriental metropolis each time he came. "No other city in the world has undergone so many changes in so short a time," he said.
The most profound changes, however, lay in people's attitudes and way of life, he added.
Today, crowds of foreigners lived in every corner of the city and were on good terms with the locals.
"Instead of being stared at like ETs, foreigners have actually become a part of Shanghai," he said.
Over the years, Borich has made a number of Chinese friends and learned to speak excellent Chinese.
He has also got a Chinese name -- Bo Ruiqi -- which sounds very much like Borich and which he has proudly printed on his business card.
"I'll come here whenever I have the chance, because I consider Shanghai my second hometown," he said.
(eastday.com July 23, 2002)
