After roaming around Shanghai on our own for a day, Pat and I began the guided part of our two-week China journey. We didn’t pay for a private tour, but that’s what we’re getting since we’re the only ones who signed up for our offseason package. January is such a slow time for tourism in China that even Shanghai, a city of 24 million people, doesn’t seem crowded.

With the help of our van driver Mr. Ji (pronounced GEE) and our guide Kevin, a diminutive 40-year-old Shanghai native, we covered a lot of ground.

Our stops included People’s Park, Shanghai’s version of Central Park; the Shanghai Urban Planning Exhibition Center, which features the largest scale-model city I’ve ever seen; the Shanghai Museum, which contains more than 120,000 relics; Yuyuan, a 16th-century classical garden whose centerpiece is an 11-foot tall, 5-ton boulder with 72 holes known as the Exquisite Jade Rock; and Dairy Queen, a 20th-century landmark where I bought an Oreo Blizzard.

At People’s Park, we got a fascinating glimpse into modern Chinese romance. The park was transformed into what Kevin called a “marriage market,’’ where parents of Shanghai singles looking for a mate advertise their offspring’s’ qualifications on flyers attached to open umbrellas. Some moms and dads show up in person and stand next to their umbrella so they can eyeball potential candidates.

Some parents even hire a matchmaking agency, which prints ads and photos of their kids on giant posters in the park.

“It is hard to find a good husband or wife,’’ explained Kevin, who is married and off the market.

At adjacent People’s Square, the white roof of the Urban Planning Exhibition Center is a grid supported by four structures shaped like petals of a magnolia, which happens to be the city flower. Inside is a massive scale-model of Shanghai that covers an entire floor of the six-story building. It looks like a toy train set on steroids.

The center traces the development of Shanghai from a small fishing village into what, by some measures, is now the world’s largest city. Shanghai has so many skyscrapers spread out over such a large area that it makes New York seem like Toledo.

Another striking building is the circular Shanghai Museum, which houses artifacts from thousands of years of Chinese history. There are exhibitions dedicated to scrolls, calligraphy, ceramics, furniture, currency, jade and other products from the Middle Kingdom. It’s a sobering experience for a haughty American to see what amazing things China was making long before the first white man set foot in the New World.

One of Pat’s favorite Shanghai sites was Yuyuan, with its bucolic ponds, imposing rock gardens and ancient trees. The only bummer was the relentless sales lady in the gift shop, who kept pressuring us to buy a folding lacquer screen. Though we told her we weren’t interested, she followed us around with a portable calculator, offering discounts that eventually dropped the price of one screen from $110 to $58. She continued to shadow us even after we left the store, running up to Pat and shoving the calculator in her face so she could see the latest price drop. She didn’t give up until we turned our backs and practically sprinted away. While she didn’t make the sale, I think she’s got a future with Amway.

We capped off our day by watching a thrilling performance of Chinese acrobats at Shanghai Circus World. One troupe member spun a large vase on his forehead, while another somersaulted on stilts. A man flipped a stack of bowls onto his head while balancing himself on a rolling plank, and a fellow performer juggled burning sticks as he walked on top of a giant spinning wheel. A couple swung and spun high in the air as they clutched a pair of giant sashes suspended from the ceiling.

But the closing act was the most amazing: As many as eight motorcycle riders raced inside a giant round cage, crisscrossing each other in the dark while separated by just a few feet. The fluorescent cycles formed intricate patterns that were displayed as a multicolored light show. Even Evel Knievel would have been impressed.