Shanghai vs Beijing

A couple of months ago I wrote a piece for China Expat, comparing Shanghai and Beijing. Here, I will just recap some of the points I made:

• Shanghai is often known as China's financial centre - but this ignores the fact that Beijing is the home of most of the regulatory bodies, and Hong Kong even has many more international banking outlets.
• As a port City, Shanghai can transport more by sea, than Beijing can from Tianjin. Shanghai shipped 25 million TEU's in 2009, Beijing only 8
• Airports - Shanghai might currently win with the impressive Pudong and Hongqiao airports, but Beijing has another airport coming, the Beijing International Airport.
• Shanghai wins biggest population, although the census data is a bit out of date, and likely to be innacurate
• Both cities have invested a lot of money in their subway system, but Shanghai's carries over 7 million people a day, Beijing's just over 5.5 million
• In terms of events, Beijing's 2008 Olympic Games certainly beats Shanghai's Expo. But Shanghai's annual international sporting events like the formula one and the tennis, means that the Pearl Tower is seen much more across the world, than Beijing's Drum Tower
• Museums - Shanghai has a tech museum, the Shanghai museum and the Communist Party Birthplace museum. Beijing has the Forbidden City, so it wins hands down.
• Peking Duck in Beijing, vs Xiaolongbao in Shanghai