COURTESY PHOTO A row of ornately designed brushes adds color to the display of wares for sale at an outdoor kiosk.

China’s biggest, busiest city has a look of old and new

If you're at all claustrophobic, a trip to Shanghai is not recommended. But once there, you can't help but feel part of the massive flow of humanity that is China's great experiment. Shanghai is being put forth as the premier example of the best the country can offer to the rest of the world. With so much new development, the contrasts in architecture, a clash of the old and new, can be mind-boggling.

Two students of the University of Hawaii's Academy for Creative Media, Henry Mochida and Jay Hubert, captured these images on trip last month to participate in the Shanghai Film Festival.

Mochida put it best when he said, "It's such a photogenic city, with its various lights, shapes and structures. And the people-watching is great. You can really see China at its wealthiest and poorest meshed together."

Next week we'll feature more of the photos of Mochida and Hubert, showing the city's residents.

COURTESY PHOTO Restaurant patrons look out upon the shopping bazaar just outside of Yu Garden. A famous city landmark in the background is the Oriental TV Pearl Tower.

COURTESY PHOTO A city in constant change: Suzhou Creek seems to divide the city into examples of new and old architecture.*

COURTESY PHOTO Ceiling-to-floor windows at the Institute of Visual Arts campus offer an impressive view of Songjiang University Town on the outskirts of Shanghai.

COURTESY PHOTO A prevalent sight in the city is laundry hung to dry outside apartments.

COURTESY PHOTO A luscious bunch of watermelons on sale.

COURTESY PHOTO Bamboo poles make for curious-looking scaffolds on refurbished buildings, against a background of construction cranes.

COURTESY PHOTO The sophisticated night life in Shanghai is captured in this moody bar setting.