Shanghai and New York City and Me

Well, according to your comments, of those who stated a preference, half prefer window and half prefer aisle. You window people, I admire your bladder control!

In my last post I mentioned that Shanghai is more developed than NYC. I’ve never lived in NYC, only visited two or three times a year for work or pleasure. I’ve been once to Shanghai. So, that’s my background in both cities. Here are a few reasons I think Shanghai is more developed:

1. The maglev train. As of this writing, the maglev in Shanghai is the fastest train in the world. It runs 268 - 310 miles per hour. There’s a station at the airport, and it takes seven minutes to get from the airport to the city. Now, can you imagine arriving at JFK and getting to Penn Station in seven minutes, for $6.00? How nice would that be?

2. Transport cards. In Shanghai, you can buy one refillable card and use it to pay for the subway, buses, or taxis. So convenient! I especially love that you can pay for a taxi with them, I hate carrying a lot of change. And they use hot spot scanners instead of turnstile runners, a little faster and less error prone.

3. Bus stops on the street have electronic signs telling you how many minutes until the next bus on that line will arrive. Subway trains arrive every 5-10 minutes, every time. (Hello 6 Train, can you hear this?)

4. The subway is super clean, super brightly lit, and super safe. My favorite feature is the ceiling to floor glass walls separating you from the train. It’s quiet in the stations because the glass walls muzzle the noise of the train. It’s like being in a space station in 2001: The Shanghai Odyssey. (Quiet except for the people, of course.)

5. In every taxi, there is a sign for a city hotline you can call if you are having trouble with your taxi driver. They print the sign in English, Chinese, Japanese and Korean. Maybe NYC doesn’t have this because it would be overloaded? I wanted to write down the number and call it from Chongqing, but I forgot. Next time!

(I’m sure you know people in China don’t vote, so all of this is done based on what the government, not the people, choose.)

But despite how developed Shanghai is, here are reasons I still love New York City more:

1. Diversity. Shanghai does not have the diversity of foods, population or thought that NYC has. Until you can get falafel, tacos or hot dogs on a single street corner in Shanghai, NYC will always win.

2. Beauty. In Shanghai, they tear everything old down and build new. Historical preservation can be taken to an extreme, but I love the old architecture of NYC. If you haven’t seen my youtube video of NYC firehouses on the historic register, you can see it here. It’s still one of my favorite photographic collections I’ve done. And don’t even get me started on the NYC bridges: gorgeous. If you want to see my general NYC photo collection, click here.

3. Personality. NYC has an arrogant confidence that is appealing. It’s dirty. It’s crime-ridden. But it’s where millions of people from all around the world with little to their names came to start a new life. It’s where people still go to really succeed. It has a world renowned fire department and beautiful architecture. It’s one of the greatest cities in the world, despite it’s flaws and scars. (I also think it has more eccentric, crazy people, but maybe that’s just the romantic in me.)

I leave early tomorrow morning for the dentist, wish me luck!