Beijing vs Shanghai

I'm writing this in Shanghai in a jazz bar bar on a Saturday night; packed of course with foreigners who seem to still be packed into Shanghai, and who seem not to speak any Chinese. In Beijing there are so many foreigners there studying Chinese or working but still trying to study. Shanghai is, true to its reputation, more International than Shanghai and its clear more Chinese people here speak English. This is especially true in bars, but then this would be necessary to serve the foreigners!

The city is laid out completely the opposite to Beijing. Whereas Beijing only  has roads going North-south and East-west, as it was planned hundreds of years ago and has been rebuilt in the same way in the last ten years; Shanghai developed in a mess eighty years ago and is still a mess with traffic lights everywhere from zigzagging criss-crossing roads. Shanghai has a couple of highways from the centre out to the suburbs but Beijing's 5 ring roads start just 3 miles from the centre (is diameter) which, when they are not gridlocked make travelling much smoother.

As public transport goes, Shanghai's subway has variable pricing (the longer you go, the more you pay) but Beijing is set at a paltry 25p for any journey. Shanghai auctions off new car registration plates forcing the prices up and trying to reduce car numbers but Beijing only lets 80% of cars on the roads each day.

Beijing has plenty of parks, but Shanghai almost none. However Shanghai has more trees and definitely looks and feels green compared to Beijing's mass of concrete and wide roads. But in the winter shanghai is wet and cold and lacks heating, whilst in the Summer it is hot and humid. Beijing is cold and dry with excellent heating in the winter and, in the summer, hot but rarely humid. But Shanghai is more modern, with old people often doing modern dance or the tango in parks as well as Tai Qi. Shanghai is more forward thinking and better designed with more 'food streets', 'painting streets', 'art dtreets', 'bar streets' etc that are well planned, well designed and useful.s

Shanghai has at least 3 major districts with another 3 smaller ones, and numerous special trade/development areas whereas Beijing's businesses are mostly all concentrated into 1 big area. The one thing they both have in their bars and clubs are generally all within an area of 5sq miles -but Shanghai's are more expensive as with everything else in the city, and there are more trendy bars (that are even more expensive).

There is not much to see as a tourist in Shanghai or much countryside, but some nice towns within an hour or two nearby. Beijing though, is packed with touristy stuff and beautiful countryside but has no nice towns nearby really. On the one hand Beijing is the government, media, NGO and political and thus conference centre of China. On the other hand Shanghai has the edge commercially, although only just. Beijing has many more Unis and thus research centres, but Shanghai has the lion's share of Asia headquarters (and more and more are moving here from Singapore and Hong Kong).

Shanghai gets more of the international musicians on their Asian tours but Beijing has the slightly better local music scene. Shanghai has the Masters Tennis and F1 racing but Beijing has, because of the Olympic stadiums, all the other minor sports that come to China. Beijing is beyond doubt the winner for history, art, culture, theatre and the like -as is often the case for a capital.

Overall it all depends on the kind of person you are and what your job/passion is. For career-minded business people or partying and socialising people head to Shanghai. For those with more interesting, diverse or meaningful (such as media, government or NGOs) jobs, or more interested in culture and history head to Beijing. Then again China is a country where generalisations are impossible, so no matter what you do or like, you can find it, or do it, in either city.

Of course, the battle and competition between Beijing and Shanghai, let alone the debate, is sure to continue...