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While the air in Beijing is thick with politics and talk of the congress, many people in Shanghai seem more interested in making a living.

'The mood is quite different here in Shanghai,' says a newspaper editor. 'If you turn on the television in Beijing, the 16th party congress is everywhere.'

In 1966, during the Cultural Revolution, battling factions of students and Red Guards brought Shanghai to a halt as each group tried to prove their political worthiness. Now, most people's main political concern is whether the government will improve their living standards.

A young white-collar worker emerging from a glitzy office building in the city's downtown area says: 'The 16th party congress really isn't interesting.'

Meanwhile, in an alley off busy Nanjing Street, unemployed Mr Chen is selling boiled eggs to make ends meet after being laid off by a state factory.

'I am not really concerned about the 16th party congress. What I am concerned about is whether they're going to give me a few hundred yuan or find me a job,' he says.

Mr Chen gets 290 yuan (HK$272) a month in unemployment benefits and earns 20 yuan a day selling eggs.

Yet a worker in a bookstore says a collection of speeches by President Jiang Zemin is a best-seller, while pointing to a display of more than 100 books about the congress. However, most of the customers are students cramming for exams and officials from state companies and institutions.

'I'm not interested in politics, it's too theoretical,' says Yang Hong, who works at a water treatment plant.

Yet not everyone is so apolitical.

Chen Chunliang, vice-president of the Xin Gao Chao Group, which makes wood products, hopes the congress will provide a boost to private companies like his own.

'This is a major event for the nation and an important matter for private companies. Some new party policies involving private enterprises will emerge,' he says.

And the fact remains that Shanghai has an illustrious history in the Communist Party's history. In 1921, the city hosted the first congress, which was broken up by police officers from the French Concession and had to be finished aboard a boat on a nearby lake.

The site of the seven-day meeting - a grey and red brick building in the urban style of the 1920s - has been preserved as a museum.

Shanghai has built a two-storey memorial hall in the same style next door, with wooden floors and life-size wax statues of the 13 delegates and two observers of the congress. Mao Zedong stands at the centre of the display in a traditional Chinese gown.

This first congress vowed to 'put an end to capitalist ownership' and called for seizure of factories and machinery.

The site is near Xintiandi, the city's most popular entertainment district, and unwary tourists sometimes stumble across it looking for a restaurant.

Officials say hundreds of people visit the site every day, but mostly in groups organised by state institutions. On a recent day, 40 people from Shanghai's subway company rushed through the hall with a tour guide in several minutes.

A young soldier volunteered to be a tour guide and described the exhibits.

One member of the group, a young woman, said the exhibits were interesting and she was happy to have time off from work. She and her co-workers laughed when asked if they would join the party.

'I'm studying to join,' she joked.

The site includes a photographic history of all the party's meetings. A clerk at the souvenir shop tells visitors to come back in a few weeks for memorabilia of the latest congress.



Business as usual as politics leaves Shanghai cold