in those days foreigners held shanghai in what amounted to economic bondage -- the bund along the waterfront housed representatives of all the major banks of europe , the jin jiang hotel was a french enclave , and the high-ceilinged rooms of the huping fandian , the peace hotel , were filled with german and british traders -- but even in post-mao times i couldnt shake the feeling that the average chinese was still not treated very well in his own country , even by his own people .