In Defense of Shanghai

After telling Adrienne that I had written a terribly one sided blog about how much better Hong Kong is than Shanghai, she insisted that I wasn't being fair and needed to point out the benefits of Shanghai. She made some good points, so as an addendum, I would like to state the argument for Shanghai.

1. It's more exotic. Shanghai isn't western. It might want to be; it might feel more like it than the middle of Sichuan Provence, but at its sole its totally foreign to anyone coming from America. When I came to China I wanted to be somewhere different, and this place definitely is. Hong Kong was filled with Body Shops, Outback Steak Houses and even 7-11s (complete with Slurpee machines), whereas the occasional Subway or Burger King is as western as Shanghai gets (although an Applebee's just opened last month apparently). While Hong Kong is a magnificent city, its too western for a person searching for another world.

2. Shanghai is cheaper; the entire mainland is. Even though for the first time in history the RMB surpassed the HK$ in value two months ago, China is still way cheaper. The entirety of our 3 day weekend to Hong Kong cost about as much as a 10 day trip to Beijing. I can eat delicious food here until I'm so stuffed it hurts for about a bunch and a half, but in Hong Kong it would cost about 5 dollars to be content, far from belly-busting full.

3. Rooms are normal sized in Shanghai, unlike Hong Kong where its considered a luxury if you can't touch both walls of your apartment at the same time. Seriously, property is so scarce in Hong Kong that most families live in apartments smaller than the two SUV's many American families own, yet still pay more for it than the average American home. Both cities have thier fair share of old run down buildings, but in Shanghai you can walk around the bed in one.

There you have it, the three best reasons to choose Shanghai over Hong Kong. Well, those and that EF doesn't employee teachers in Hong Kong, so I didn't really have a choice. Both are dynamic, exciting and growing cities - the twin business giants of China someday to be vying for the top economic spot in the country. Someday. But for now the economic clout, and just like most other comparisons, favors Hong Kong.