Average hours of sleep
1. There are more people in Shanghai than in New Zealand
Like… 4 times more.
According to the 2009 census, Shanghai has a population of about 19 million. In comparison, Statistics New Zealand’s population clock points at 4 million at the time of writing.
Density-wise, Shanghai scores a whopping 3000/km2, 3 times higher than Auckland City, New Zealand’s most populous urban area. Although, both cities look like playgrounds when compared to those in the top 50 list…
2. The main language spoken in Shanghai is, well, Shanghainese
Like many regions of China, Shanghai has its own spoken language. Of course, technically speaking it’s a dialect. One of the 248 Chinese dialects identified by Wikipedia. Shanghainese is gigantically different from Mandarin. If I say something in Shanghainese to a Beijinger, I’m bound to get a confused look, and possibly some eye-rolling.
It gets better. Even within the city itself, there are a few mini-dialects. People from the outer suburbs have accents, and sometimes vocabulary, that are slightly different from their fellow Shanghainese in the urban area. For you Kiwis, imagine someone from Auckland has a different accent than someone from North Shore. Weird, huh?
3. Shanghai has a world-famous TV tower
Featured (and in most cases destroyed) in movies such as Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer, Mission Impossible 3, and Godzilla: Final Wars, the Oriental Pearl Tower is widely considered a symbol of Shanghai.
. Shanghainese kids start learning English in the first grade
Like it or not, English is now a compulsory course for all pupils in Shanghai. Some anxious parents go so far as to send their toddlers to English-teaching kindergartens. Come to Shanghai in a decade, and you might find that everyone speaks English.
Or Chinglish.
Shanghai, the largest city in P.R. China. The host of World Expo 2010. You may have learned a few things about it from Jackie Chan’s Shanghai Noon and Shanghai
Like… 4 times more.
According to the 2009 census, Shanghai has a population of about 19 million. In comparison, Statistics New Zealand’s population clock points at 4 million at the time of writing.
Density-wise, Shanghai scores a whopping 3000/km2, 3 times higher than Auckland City, New Zealand’s most populous urban area. Although, both cities look like playgrounds when compared to those in the top 50 list…
2. The main language spoken in Shanghai is, well, Shanghainese
Like many regions of China, Shanghai has its own spoken language. Of course, technically speaking it’s a dialect. One of the 248 Chinese dialects identified by Wikipedia. Shanghainese is gigantically different from Mandarin. If I say something in Shanghainese to a Beijinger, I’m bound to get a confused look, and possibly some eye-rolling.
It gets better. Even within the city itself, there are a few mini-dialects. People from the outer suburbs have accents, and sometimes vocabulary, that are slightly different from their fellow Shanghainese in the urban area. For you Kiwis, imagine someone from Auckland has a different accent than someone from North Shore. Weird, huh?
3. Shanghai has a world-famous TV tower
Featured (and in most cases destroyed) in movies such as Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer, Mission Impossible 3, and Godzilla: Final Wars, the Oriental Pearl Tower is widely considered a symbol of Shanghai.
. Shanghainese kids start learning English in the first grade
Like it or not, English is now a compulsory course for all pupils in Shanghai. Some anxious parents go so far as to send their toddlers to English-teaching kindergartens. Come to Shanghai in a decade, and you might find that everyone speaks English.
Or Chinglish.
Shanghai, the largest city in P.R. China. The host of World Expo 2010. You may have learned a few things about it from Jackie Chan’s Shanghai Noon and Shanghai