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I'd really like to visit Beijing; I have an affinity for Chinese culture as well, prefer Chinese cuisine to Japanese cuisine, and it's definitely near the top of my list of places to visit... however, I've heard few good things about Beijing from my friends and aquaintances who have traveled there, or are even from there. The pre-eminent complaint I hear is that it's extremely "dirty," polluted, and crowded on a level that is incomprehensible in the West... which actually doesn't really repel me; it's not Mumbai or anything.
I agree, I'm also really into Japanese-Chinese-South Korean-Thai-German-British-Australian-Israeli-Spanish (Spain) culture myself.
Mumbai's not so bad anymore, over the last 5 years the coastal areas of the city have dramatically transformed- they're actually quite nice now. Delhi on the other hand just never seems to get better, same with Kolkata.
I remember a time when the coastal areas by FAR and large looked dumpy, these days they're quite lush, tropical looking with palms lined, cranes everywhere, and infinitely more cleaned up than ever before. Also a lot more vibrant too and it's becoming liberal hella fast somehow.
Quote:
Originally Posted by 415_s2k
One of my friends lives in Osaka and loves it; she prefers it to Tokyo... I'm not sure which I would prefer.
Same, as do I.
Sounds weird but I actually prefer Osaka to Tokyo, possibly Nagoya to Tokyo too. They're all large megacities, Nagoya being the smallest of the three but when it comes to Japan I feel confident there's no wrong choice.
I also quite like Los Angeles, although a lot of it confuses me to be honest. I've tried getting to know the place and I always have mixed feelings, mostly positive but something about it just doesn't register to me. It's not the culture, my favorite part of Los Angeles are the people there and more or less it's not so much the city either but it's something that's caused me to not embrace it as much as the Bay Area or San Diego.
I don't know how accurate these are but I've always viewed Shanghai as the cultural center of China (albeit I'm aware of the rivalry between Shanghai & Beijing and their history), the historical one between the two, the more diverse one between the two, as well as the more innovative and creative class one between the two. The logistics center of China as well (well between these two cities at least) and the stock exchange there is one of the largest in the world, it's been giving Hong Kong some stiff competition as of late on that till it finally slowed down sometime in 2011. While I'm not one to glamorize GDP as much as others, Shanghai also has (albeit very narrow) lead over Beijing by $50 Billion USD. The port of Shanghai is significant and in popular culture- as an American that's never been to either of these cities, I have to say from my experience I've heard of Shanghai mentioned quite a lot as a cultural getaway while what I hear about Beijing is related to government, it's media, and it's financial & business activity.
More diverse = Shanghai, just walk down East Nanjing Rd... no where else in China can compete with the diversity of Shanghai but its a far cry from being as diverse as the US, HK, Paris, etc
Sexy women = Shanghai. In China Shanghai has a reputation for sexy women... Beijing is more like your DC, sophisticated and smart women and the nightlife is underground Basskake... in the US you would call this "dubstep". TBH the women in Beijing are nerdier but they can be cute too, nothing like Shanghai though.
Nightlife = Beijing for unique, Shanghai for more fun.
Art scene = Beijing, its not even close. Beijing has become an art mecca in China. More passionate artists in Beijing
Architecture/history = Beijing. Beijing is a textbook example of architecture from every generation, Shanghai has displaced much of its historic architecture but you will be able to find plenty though not like Beijing. Beijing you can go from a modern sleek city to the Forbidden City 4000 years old. In Shanghai the best you can do is go from modern Pudong to early 1900s Bund but its still nice IMO.
Transit = Shanghai. Beijings metro system is older but it's also slower than Shanghai's which is seeing the worlds most aggressive agenda for transit. It has 14 lines and will have 20 in 7 more years. Shanghai is much more urban than Beijing, its much denser and getting around in Shanghai is easier than in Beijing IMO.
Interesting location = Shanghai. It's close to Nanjing, Hangzhou, Suzhou, Anji Bamboo forest but Beijing is close to the great wall and thats it.
Weather = Shanghai IMO.
Music = Beijing. It attracts artists and talent from all over China and has arguably China's best music scene right now IMO
Food = Shanghai
Shanghai is much newer and the progress its made has been unprecedented growth, Shanghai is a modern city. Beijing is a historical city, folks there are proud of their history and they know their city is the capital of China and are proud of it. Folks in Beijing can be more Chinese oriented but friendlier, sometimes cocky while folks in Shanghai are more westernized, modern, and progressive IMO. Comparing Shanghai to Beijing is the same as comparing DC to SF, there is no wrong answer because there are few cities as different... IMO you're thinking of modern history where Shanghai has been in the worlds eye more but historically Beijing wins.
Once again I agree with most of what you're saying but I have a few things I want to add in.
You mentioned Los Angeles along with New York as a media center, for entertainment for sure (film, television shows, and the like) but for media itself I think New York is more so in a different ball league than Los Angeles.
Media to me, since it's my field of experience and what I specialized in college as well as what I plan on pursuing a career in is journalism, news broadcasting, news papers, current events, among others. I wont deny that Los Angeles has a huge film & television presence or even that it has some media presence but it's not particularly strong.
I think of Atlanta-New York-Washington as the media hubs of the United States. Media, broadcasting, current events, news, publishing, news magazines all seem to be havily concentrated and monopolized by the cities in the United States' eastern seaboard (Atlanta, New York, & Washington) where major news networks are based and operated. New York Times, Bloomberg Media, Huffington Post, TIME Magazine, CNN, Washington Post, CNBC, Atlantic Media Company, Interface Media Group, Red Zebra Broadcasting, Regnery Publishing, Witeck Communications, Gallup, and so on are much larger networks and media centers than Los Angeles Times for example.
Also with Washington, again I wont deny that Washington's niche (the government) has a hand in other industries here but Washington in relation to the United States is a very strong contender in media, technology, engineering, Life Sciences, defense, and even it's corporate power is modest to strong. I'm not saying it's a Beijing, which is vastly larger and FAR more on the international stage than Washington on most of those things (although politics & media, definitely they can see eye to eye in my opinion) but I also don't think Washington gets the credit it deserves for what it excels at. Washington also has a sizable tourism industry, airport system, research & development sector, growing financial market, strong education sector as well. While I'm not going to say these are in anyway large compared to the government itself in Washington, in which case an argument can be made these industries in Washington are all in one way or another infused with the federal government but it does make a significant leap up there. For example on technology, Washington's concentration is only behind Bay Area, New York, Boston, & Seattle and ahead of power hitters like Dallas-Fort Worth, Los Angeles, the Research Triangle, Austin. It has a good hand in aeronautics as well, more as a design center than a manufacturing center to be honest. Washington's media is incredibly strong, perhaps I'm biased because I watch CNN for 6 or so hours each day and read a lot of current events but it's hard to see anywhere besides New York put up a show like that on current events in which case it really speaks to how strong New York is.
I agree I also vastly prefer Shanghai to Beijing and I knew Beijing was a strong media network as well as a strong financial market but I didn't know it was the film & television hub of China. I've always figured that would go to Shanghai personally but I don't know for sure.
I don't know how accurate these are but I've always viewed Shanghai as the cultural center of China (albeit I'm aware of the rivalry between Shanghai & Beijing and their history), the historical one between the two, the more diverse one between the two, as well as the more innovative and creative class one between the two. The logistics center of China as well (well between these two cities at least) and the stock exchange there is one of the largest in the world, it's been giving Hong Kong some stiff competition as of late on that till it finally slowed down sometime in 2011. While I'm not one to glamorize GDP as much as others, Shanghai also has (albeit very narrow) lead over Beijing by $50 Billion USD. The port of Shanghai is significant and in popular culture- as an American that's never been to either of these cities, I have to say from my experience I've heard of Shanghai mentioned quite a lot as a cultural getaway while what I hear about Beijing is related to government, it's media, and it's financial & business activity.
I think overall we see eye to eye, I can understand exactly how you think Beijing is the more important of the two but I honestly think any major differences between them is mostly splitting hairs. They seem to specialize in different things, which makes it hard to compare them.
I disagree with your use of media. It is generally used much more inclusively than you have there and includes entertainment as delivered through media. I don't argue that LA has a prominent place in terms of journalism (though in advertising, another component of media, LA produces a lot of non-print advertising).
Washington does well in a lot of other categories, but it's certainly not the top in most of those categories for the US though it does fairly well in several. Beijing, for China, is actually at the top for many industries pretty much without dispute.
I've worked in media in China and the US, and I grew up speaking Mandarin fluently and have spent several years all around East Asia. Shanghai was historically a prominent intellectual, arts, media and cultural center prior to the Communist victory over the nationalist. Part of the reason why Hong Kong became such a big player in entertainment (and actually pretty much everything) was because of the huge amount of human and material resources that fled to Hong Kong from Shanghai. At this point, Beijing is by far the largest media producer. It has the company headquarters who produce the films, it has the top schools for the dramatic arts, and it has the big studios. This is not arguable at all.
A plurality or outright majority of leading intellectuals, including those who are not particularly disposed towards the government, are based in Beijing.
Shanghai is a gateway because it is way friendlier towards expats (in my opinion, but I think shared by a lot of others) than Beijing is. It also actually has an ocean waterfront and a massive port. It's also been allowed by Beijing to be far more open towards foreign investments and definitely much more so than Beijing itself has. It's easy to understand why a bunch of international rankings put Shanghai on top when they talk about financial services for global corporations, but at the end of the day it's Beijing holding the reins on it.
Basically, any of the other cities/metros are obviously not top dog overall for their respective countries. For Beijing, it's definitely arguable that Beijing tops over Shanghai.
As for the topic, I'd prefer to live in LA over all of these (grew up there and do like it) but would most like to visit Osaka because I really like Osaka and the surrounding region a lot.
Location: The western periphery of Terra Australis
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Quote:
Originally Posted by GoldenTiger
Los Angeles: nice place to visit for teens and children, but not so good if one prefers history or nature rather than Hollywood and theme parks.
I disagree, LA is one of the better cities for a nature lover. It has more fairly natural parkland/forest in it's city/county boundaries and especially the surrounding counties than just about any other city in the US. Griffith Park has deer and even cougars for example.
I disagree, LA is one of the better cities for a nature lover. It has more fairly natural parkland/forest in it's city/county boundaries and especially the surrounding counties than just about any other city in the US. Griffith Park has deer and even cougars for example.
Point taken, but I don't see LA as a nature destination, but rather as a stopover for nature trips outside of the metro area. While Griffith Park may be nice, it's easily overlooked and overshadowed in favor of the world-famous national parks in California. Any way, aside from more flights going to LAX, I would recommend anyone who loves to go on nature trips to visit San Diego or San Francisco instead.
btw this is the first time I've heard of a "Rhine-Ruhr". <---- does this place actually exist??
Yes, Rhine-Ruhr is a place. Have you heard of Dusseldorf or Cologne? Those are the prominent cities in Rhine-Ruhr, it's a conurbation like Randstad & Bay Area (where you live).
I only make threads for cities that I like or have a favorable opinion of, that should be a testament of all the threads I've made recently.
He's an ignorant Asian-American who thinks the Bay area is the universe. Don't mind him.
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