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Beijing vs. Shanghai - By Alexa Boyce
While Beijing and Shanghai have roughly the same population, the cities vary widely in nearly every other way. Beijing is the commercial and technological center of China, Shanghai is the cultural and historical center. The government filters quite a bit of funds into Beijing for the sole purpose of development, and the city is currently working overtime in preparation to host the 2008 Olympics.
If a foreign visitor sees only that which is located within the city limits of Beijing, they will come away with an impression of the country that is, quite frankly, completely inaccurate. Shanghai also is in a period of rapid development, but it is more a city of extremes. Next to the gleaming skyscrapers and elaborate department stores, you will see homeless children and prostitutes.
Beijingers are stereotypically held to be open, confident, humorous, majestic in manner, enthusiastic about politics, art, culture, or other "grand" matters, unconcerned with thrift or careful calculation, and happy to take center stage. People from Shanghai have long been categorized by other Chinese as materialistic, pretentious and disdainful of provincials.
Beijing, meaning "northern capital" is located at the northern tip of the North China Plain. It is also the name of the Municipality, or province, in which the city is located. Shanghai’s name means literally on (shang) sea (hai). It is located on the East China Sea, which is part of the Pacific Ocean. In Beijing, most of the widely-recommended tourist spots are related to historical events, such as the Forbidden City and Tiannamen Square.
In Shanghai, the tourist spots are mainly art galleries and theaters. Shanghai was the birthplace of Chinese cinema and theater, though Beijing is the home of the Beijing Opera. This is widely considered to be one of the greatest accomplishments of Chinese Culture. It is performed through song, dialogue, acrobatics, fighting and gestures. It is often performed in an archaic "stage dialect" that is very different from modern Mandarin. It can be hard to understand even if one is familiar with Chinese, so many modern theaters utilize electronic subtitles.
Sources:
www.wikipedia.com
Lonely Planet Travel Guide- China
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