Monday, June 18

Another line from a song: “Shanghai, ach was bist Du alt…”. I remember the recording I had with the German chanteuse Ingrid Caven who sang that song so beautifully. About the old Shanghai. The first impression once you arrive here is different. The airport, ultra modern, nice and clean, a big city, skyscrapers, Manhattan-like. Nothing seems old. Danny and Jessica, two musicology PhD students from the Conservatory, picked me up at the airport. Very interesting talks in the cab with the two. Danny is writing her PhD on Carl Dahlhaus, my teacher at Technical University of Berlin in the late 80s. They pointed out on our taxi ride into town, that Shanghai is not as Chinese as many other places in this country. Used to big cities I feel comfortable though. This is one of the global advantages of this world where one can feel “home” very easily. My first taste of China offers the nice lunch for which Professor Yang joins us. What a great welcome and more interesting conversations on our music and cultures. My second taste of China is the fact that I got lost. A cab driver drops me off at the wrong place. I have no idea where I am. A little confused with my phone in the one hand and the little note my hotel wrote down for me in the other, I approach the locals. My little adventure: Everybody is very sweet. What I get is a lot of nodding and smiling but no sense of direction. My friend with whom I am supposed to have dinner with gets on my cell phone and explains the new taxi driver where to go. To a nice modern restaurant overlooking the river. It works. With the result of more wonderful Chinese food! Getting comfortable for work this first day was not bad at all. No Wagner business for me in China yet. But tomorrow. My first lecture of this trip which will be taking place at the University of Hangzhou. Going to sleep now. The train leaves at 9.00 o’clock.