Beijing and Shanghai Compared

Mr. Beat compares and contrasts the two largest cities in China, Shanghai and Beijing.

Produced by Matt Beat. All images/video by Matt Beat, found in the public domain, or used under fair use guidelines. Music by Patrick Patrikios and French Fuse.

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#shanghai #beijing #china

Beijing and Shanghai

The two largest cities in China, which itself has the largest population of all countries in the world.

Now remember, I go by metropolitan area population on this channel so just calm down there, son. Based on that, Shanghai is the largest, with almost 27 million people! That’s more than the population of Australia, for crying out loud. By the way, you could fit 1,213 Shanghais in Australia. As I said a bit earlier, Beijing is the second largest in China, with 20.4 million people.
Both are bustling, modern, global cities and yes…two of the most influential cities in the world. And of course, the two cities have heavily influenced the culture of the rest of China for decades, although Beijing has dominated it for far longer. More on that later on.

They're about 1,066 km, or 662 miles apart. Or about a two hour flight apart. Or about an 11 and a half hour road trip.

Both are direct-administered municipalities in China, which means they have the same rank as provinces.

The biggest ethnic group in both is Han Chinese. The majority of residents in both cities are not religious and apparently atheists.

[iammrbeat]

Which is better? Shanghai or Beijing? Which two cities should I compare next?

[matheuspenteado]

Moscow and Saint Petersburg next would be cool.

[obsidianstatue]

To understand China in the past 100 years, visit Shanghai
To understand China in the past 1000 years visit Beijing
To understand China in the past 5000 years visit Xi'An

[hunterfinan]

Clarity on Chongqing for anyone curious:
It was separated from Sichuan province to accelerate its growth as it is SURROUNDED by mountainous terrain, with the total administrative population is about 30m. However, according to the Chinese census, only 16m lives in a continuous urbanized area, on par with Guangzhou, which is far richer considering it's advantageous geographical position. Chongqing has made great progress, but has ways to go. The urbanization process is long, with only 9m urbanized as of the last census. The rise of Chongqing as a key Chinese city should be an interesting watch over the coming years.

[aronenark]

Having been to both Beijing and Shanghai, I must say I enjoyed Shanghai more as a tourist. Shanghai seems friendlier and a more organic city; Beijing feels very structured and systematic, like everyone was in a hurry.

[osberswgaming]

I did Chinese history/geography in school once; personally I find it really fascinating. I should defo recommend this to them!

[languist]

Been to Beijing three years ago, and man, lots of stuff to explore there.
Went to Suzhou by bullet train five days later, and visiting the so-called "Oriental Venice" was magical <3

[alecschambach]

Love this series. Would be cool to see Buenos Aires and Santiago!

[JackyVSO]

I'll let you in on a little secret: Shanghai is the coldest city in the world.

How can that be, you ask? Surely it's quite far south and has a mild, oceanic climate? Well, it can be because Mao. When Mao and the communists decided they needed to equip China with central heating, they were a bit short of cash, so they thought, let's save money by only equipping China NORTH OF THE YANGTZE with central heating. Guess who's just a tiny bit south of the Yangtze? Shanghai. And, being near the ocean, the winters are exceptionally humid and, yes, cold. Not cold in any way that would be a problem if you had proper heating but, yeah, you don't. Inside is basically as cold as outside in Shanghai. People sit in restaurants and libraries in their overcoats. The only place I found mildly tolerable in the Shanghai winter without my overcoat on was in my bed. It was horrible.

[Entername-mdev]

Cool video!! Here are some more possible comparisons for 2022 that come to mind:

- Hong Kong vs Singapore
- Australia vs New Zealand
- India vs Indonesia
- Britain vs France
- Norway vs Sweden
- Belarus vs Ukraine
- Baltic’s (Lithuania vs Latvia vs Estonia)
- Italy vs Greece
- The Guineas (Papua New Guinea vs Guinea vs Guinea-Bissau vs Equatorial Guinea)
- Slovakia vs Slovenia

[scottg]

Great comparison choice Mr. Beat! As a "lao wai" (foreigner) who lived in both cities (BJ from '06-'10, SH from '11-'14), I can tell you you've done a great job. A couple of other insights.... As a foreigner, if you want to learn about China and Chinese culture and how to speak Mandarin, BJ is definitely the place to go. Their Mandarin is much more pure as is their cultural perspective. If you want to have fun and have a great nightlife, SH is a bit better (but BJ still no slouch there either!). Btw, Mr. Beat, in Shanghai it's really only old folks who speak Shanghainese. I'm guessing most people living there are not "original" Shanghai people, hence Mandarin is spoken everywhere in SH. Lastly, while BJ has a lot more history, as you alluded, SH from an architectural standpoint has much more of their more near-term historical architecture preserved, and it's definitely a much prettier city. I think a lot of stuff got ripped up during Mao's various "phases" in the 50's and 60's in BJ. Personally, I enjoyed living in BJ more, but barely more than SH; they both were a blast!

[MarkSebring]

I enjoyed this video a lot. I spent several weeks in Shanghai in 2003 (as part of a project to build a new data center) and then again in 2007 (to implement a major software upgrade). I had a lot of free time while I was there and spent much of it just wandering around. I never got the chance to go up to Bejing though.

[revolutionaryape]

Great video Mr. Beat!!!
I suggest you to compare "Belfast" with "Dublin". I love your compared series!
It's one of my favorite series alongside Presidential Elections series!
Anyways, Happy New Year Mr. Beat and keep up the great content!
You are *OUR* Favourite Youtuber.

[AquaHearrt]

I’m Chinese and I grew up in Shanghai, so I’m happy to see you cover this :)

[MsShonny]

I've lived in Beijing for the last three years. This was interesting to watch, especially with the expat communities from BJ and SH having this friendly "rivalry". Oh, and the sand storms are no joke 🥲

[Trequavion]

A video i’ve wanted to see for years, worth the wait.

[XiaosChannel]

can't believe you didnt mention train ride time because the high speed rail from beijing to shanghai was like the only one profitable last i heard

[Leeroyaly]

Thank you for introducing the two cities in MUCH detail!!

[ronweasley]

As someone learning Mandarin you did well with most pronunciations, the only thing is the “ZH” makes a J sound, so the “Zhou Dynasty” is pronounced like “the Joe Dynasty”.

[rosswebster]

Yes! I’ve been waiting for this video for a long time! Thanks Mr. Beat!