Zeka-wei, Shanghai, China Mar.17 – 18, 2025
Xu Qiguang and Catholic, Shanghai fried noodle and breakfast at hotel
As soon as the meeting finished in Suzhou, I took a hotel car to return to Shanghai as I needed to take a flight to Tokyo the following morning. I booked Mariotte Courtyard Xujiahui at Zekawei, Shanghai. It is west side of the city relatively close to Hongqiao airport. The hotel has a good access to METRO line #1,#9 and #11. You can get to the airport approximately in 30 minutes by taking the line 10 and changing to the line 2. There is a Catholic Church in the neighborhood. I’ve been here before to visit the church. So I am a bit familiar with the neighborhood. I wanted to avoid walking in the area I am not familiar with when I got Shanghai in the night. The hotel was the perfect choice this time. I arrived at the hotel around seven o’clock. Taking the shower in the room, it got nearly 8 o’clock. I found it is the time the restaurants in the hotel were closed except Momo Bar. There is no room service after 8 o’clock. I did not want to go out to dine in the night. So I went down to the lobby quickly where the bar is located. I set on the sofa in the bar there was no guest. They have a menu. It looks foods are cooked at the restaurant on the third floor. I ordered a dish of Fried noodle and a glass of Tsingtao beer. I spent time watching soccer for about 20 minutes before the order came. Fried noodle came to my table was large. It could be for two to three. It did not matter. I was starved. The noodle was chewy and tasted sweet. It was a Fried noodle Shanghai style. It went well with Tsingtao beer. I returned to my room feeling happy. It was a long day, too. I would return to Japan tomorrow.
Next morning, I woke up around 5 o’clock. I recognized the red St. Ignatius Cathedral from my room’s window. I decided to take a walk to the church after the breakfast. I felt hungry though I ate up a large plate of Shanghai fried noodle late last night. The restaurant MOMO cafe opened at 6:30. I went down to the third floor of the hotel where the restaurant is located. They serve buffet style breakfast. You can eat whatever you want from their wide variety of food. Out of those food, Colorful thermal pots on the table near the entrance caught my eyes. They are Tibetan butter tea. I know it is tea Buddhist monks in the monastery in Tibet drink during their break time. The butter is made from milk of Yaks, which makes body warm. I never thought I could drink here. I tried. I am not sure if it is the authentic Yak butter tea. It tasted something like a milk caramel. Very interesting. The hotel is known as Mariotte Tibet hotel in Chinese. It seems the hotel has some connection with Tibet. Another thing what caught my eyes was packs of Instant ramen noodle Demae Itcho or Chēutchìhn Yātdīngon in Cantonese at the noodle section. I saw a few people brought an enamel pot of the instant ramen to their tables. I know the instant ramen is the most popular in Hong Kong. It is even served at cafeterias. I guess those who were eating might be from Hong Kong.
After the breakfast, I went out towards St. Ignatius Cathedral. It was chilly outside but the air in the quiet morning on back streets were very soothing and nice. I like this moment very much. Kids on tracksuits with bags were going to school. There was a park near the hotel. Women were group dancing. Seniors were talking each other around the bench. I saw some were practicing Tai Chi in the park. This neighborhood is called Xujiahui or Zekawei for Xu Guangqi, 1562 – 1633, an astronomer and mathematician who lead the Shixian Calendar reform during the late Ming dynasty. He is known as the author of “A complete Treatise on Agriculture”. This area was where three creeks got together. He lived here, developed the area to start farming and wrote books. His family lived this area and it has been called Ze-ka-wei, the neighborhood of the Xu family and where streams got together. He learned Western science from Matteo Ricci, a Jesuit priest. Ricci and Xu Quang translated Element of Euclid into Chinese together. Xu himself converted to Roman Catholic by Ricci. Now Xujiahui is known as the place Roman Catholic in China started. There are related properties to Catholic and Xu Quang in the area. On my way back to the hotel after visiting St.Ignatius Cathedral, there was a school. It is St. Ignatius Middle school. St.Ignatius College was built as a school to bring up priests by the Jesuit in 1850. It was known as the first Western style school by French and Italian priests in China. The school was integrated into the public school system in 1953. It is one of the prestigious public middle schools. It was about 9 o’clock when I returned to the hotel room. It meant I spent almost two hours since I left the hotel. It was time to check out and go to the airport.
