I woke up this morning in the most populous city (proper) in the world expecting more noise. At 7:30 AM (7:30 PM, Kentucky time), Sunday morning, only tiny intermittent sounds of bicycle bells, a whoosh of a moped every few seconds, and sneezes from walkers along the street below. My husband, Kevin, and I are staying at a nice, simple, hotel at Shanghai University, on one of the many campuses.

At breakfast in the hotel, there was a choice of American breakfast or Chinese. We both chose the American--fried eggs, toast, and coffee. Tomorrow I’ll have the Chinese one, a hard-boiled egg, congee, (porridge), and another dish that I couldn’t make out from where we were sitting.