A Tale of Two Cities: First Impressions

When I first visited Shanghai, my mom told me the city was "like the New York of China". Psssssh. Like that could even come close to being right. Then I got there. And Shanghai turned out to be like New York, but in China. It's a fashion mecca, a financial capital, playground for the country's rich and famous, and a city with an amazingly rich international history.

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The other Chinese city that's most often compared to New York is Hong Kong. And in a lot of ways that's a good comparison too. Hong Kong's another international financial titan, a hotbed for Asian fashion, and home to a self-created celebrity industry. That's why the two cities are so often compared with each other (though, obbbbbviously, Shanghai is hipper).

I'm in Hong Kong right now, my fourth time here. Usually my trips are fleeting visa visits or just a stop on my way home, so this is the first time I'll get to really explore on my own (I've got a little less than a week). But even with my rather sheltered experience of the city, it's obvious that Hong Kong, despite the structural similarities, is much different in character.

Shanghai is still a city in development--subway lines are still being installed and old neighbourhoods are still in the process of being replaced (for good or worse)--but Hong Kong is already way overdeveloped. Skyscrapers shoot up everywhere around you downtown, and skybridges connect one tower to the next. There are fewer back lanes and hidden corners, and even if you found one, there'd be nothing there. Maybe a bag of garbage or a dirty wall.

Part of Shanghai's charm is the city's barely-hidden "dark side"--the side the government would rather keep out of sight. A friend once mentioned, for example, that Shanghai was the only place she'd been where dark back alleys were beckoning instead of potentially dangerous. Even now, and even in popular downtown areas, you can get a glimpse of "real Shanghai" and the local residents who still haven't quite gotten the full effect of the supposedly quickly rising living standards. The yelling in the streets, the pushing of people everywhere you go, the constant construction, it all adds to the sense of chaos that the city thrives on.

Hong Kong is not at all like that. In Hong Kong, people are "civilized": the ask politely, they wait in lines. And even when it's impossibly busy, things stay under control. It has a sense of refinement that Shanghai's city officials have been trying to emulate for years.

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Really, neither Hong Kong nor Shanghai are perfect comparisons for New York. There is certainly some overlap between all three cities, but they're all cut from a different cloth. The Shanghai-Hong Kong (or is it Hong Kong-Shanghai?) comparison is probably the tightest, though the cities' similarities also seem to accentuate their differences.

Personally, I kinda like to think of Shanghai and Hong Kong as hot girls. Hong Kong's that hot, successful girl with a middle-upper class upbringing, a private school education and family connections, while Shanghai's more like the hot girl that's just broken through and made it big. She's still not quite sure how high her star will rise (or if she'll come crashing back down) and she's got something of a hidden, troubled past, but somehow, that all just seems to add to the charm.

Postscript: I may think differently in a few days when I've explored a little more.