4 ms·

Its super hilarious to me that nowhere could they find a picture where the background isn't completely grey from smog & pollution. If you know how cities feel t

by zwaps 8y ago

Its super hilarious to me that nowhere could they find a picture where the background isn't completely grey from smog & pollution. If you know how cities feel that look like that, you'll know that you don't want to live there for a second! All this daily propaganda about city X,Y or Z in China being the next NYC or Paris, and yet, almost nobody who is not Chinese seriously wants to move there. Not for pollution, and not for the dictatorship/fascism of the PRC. At the same time, Chinese with enough money are basically full-on fleeing the country, to the tune of buying passports, capital and housing everywhere that isn't China like we have never seen before.

verst 8y ago
I'm from Germany, live in the US and have lived in Shanghai for several months in 2015 and have returned every year since. Definitely had some blue skies. I would consider living / working in Shanghai. Ever since I spent my 3 months there I have called it New York 2.0.
- bduerst 8y ago
  Yep. I worked in Shanghai for four months, and I tell everyone now that it's "New New York". I would definitely consider working there again if the opportunity came up. The density is crazy but the subway is great and it's a fantastic city.
ASalazarMX 8y ago
The Shanghai Tower has one of the tallest observatories, but since there's too much smog, you can take a picture on a green screen so they can put nice backgrounds instead. On the other side, the city is surprisingly clean and well maintained, and the infrastructure is amazing. We can criticize their authoritarian government all we want, but microeconomically it has brought results at a rhythm we occidentals can only dream of.
riantogo 8y ago
The sentiment is more of, “this is how modern cities should be planned and built”. I visited Singapore last year and Tokyo last month. Then came back to San Francisco. It is clear that US cities are way past their prime and I don’t think it can even catch up to those modern places. San Francisco feels like such a crappy place and roads in Bay Area are full of pot holes. Drive on 101 between Mountain View and Sunnyvale and even the lane markings are painted down crooked and no one has bothered to fix it for 6 months now.
jamesjyu 8y ago
This also happened to London during industrialization (London Smog), and they were able to clean it up afterwards. The hope is that China can do the same—there's been significant progress in recent years.

by zwaps 8y ago

verst 8y ago

I'm from Germany, live in the US and have lived in Shanghai for several months in 2015 and have returned every year since. Definitely had some blue skies. I would consider living / working in Shanghai. Ever since I spent my 3 months there I have called it New York 2.0.

bduerst 8y ago
Yep. I worked in Shanghai for four months, and I tell everyone now that it's "New New York". I would definitely consider working there again if the opportunity came up. The density is crazy but the subway is great and it's a fantastic city.

ASalazarMX 8y ago

The Shanghai Tower has one of the tallest observatories, but since there's too much smog, you can take a picture on a green screen so they can put nice backgrounds instead. On the other side, the city is surprisingly clean and well maintained, and the infrastructure is amazing. We can criticize their authoritarian government all we want, but microeconomically it has brought results at a rhythm we occidentals can only dream of.

riantogo 8y ago

The sentiment is more of, “this is how modern cities should be planned and built”. I visited Singapore last year and Tokyo last month. Then came back to San Francisco. It is clear that US cities are way past their prime and I don’t think it can even catch up to those modern places. San Francisco feels like such a crappy place and roads in Bay Area are full of pot holes. Drive on 101 between Mountain View and Sunnyvale and even the lane markings are painted down crooked and no one has bothered to fix it for 6 months now.

jamesjyu 8y ago

This also happened to London during industrialization (London Smog), and they were able to clean it up afterwards. The hope is that China can do the same—there's been significant progress in recent years.