Shanghai and Hong Kong: The Differences

Shanghai Versus Hong-Kong

Introduction

China is currently one of the most populated places in the world. Although this country is highly populated, there is a lot of diversity amongst the different cities located within. Large cities come in different sizes when it comes to China, for example, both Shanghai and Hong Kong are considered megacities in the country but are very different in areas including economy, population, and even culture. Shanghai, considered the Mainland of China is more traditional while Hong Kong is more westernized like U.S states. These two cities that are in china differ in so many ways when it comes to population, economy, and culture but also have similarities between the factors. The two being so different come together to complement each other when it comes to making China a better place.

Population

The population, as of 2015, in Shanghai is about 24 million people. The current population density, meaning there is a significant amount people per unit in that city, is about 46,000 people per square kilometer (Cox, 2011). Over the recent years shanghaies population has grown so much due to immigration. Migration from smaller cities that surround such as Anhui and other rural areas make up for this population increase. The population growth in shanghai is due little to births in the megacities, “Shanghai's natural growth rate has been negative since 1993 because of low fertility rates” (World Population Review, 2017). The urban part of shanghai makes up from most of the population while the rural area only sums up to be about 10 percent. According to, World Population review has about 31000 Japanese people, over 20000 Americans, 20700 Koreans (World Population Review, 2017). The numbers of one ethnicity can sum up the amount of a small city in an Ohio alone. The people of shanghai share one of the cities with the longest life expectancies of its residents.

The current population is Hong-Kong is about 7 million people which is only about 29 percent of Shanghai’s population. Although The population amount is Shanghai is significantly larger than Hong Kong, the population density is surprising. The population density in Hong Kong is about 57,000 people per square kilometer, meaning there are more people filling up a smaller amount of spaced in this megacity (Information Sevice Department, 2015). Like shanghai the fertility rate is very low along with the rest of the cities in china.

With The two megacities being significantly different in population size there are a fair amount of similarities when it comes to demographics. Both Shanghai and Hong Kong are increasing over the years due to immigration and not fertility. Also, the two cities have a large population density, even though Hong-Kong is denser it seems the numbers are very close.

Economy

Shanghai is said to be an example of the entire country of china, economy wise. The economic development has increased in quality which has set out a noteworthy example for the entire country of china. Residents in this city are spending money wisely on residential areas and goods that are good for consumers (The Urbanist, 2011). In earlier years Shanghai’s economy was ran on exports but as of today they are transitioning into making come from within. The city is using internal services including business and finance, computer science and services to better the economy. These new ways of economy are making the residents and the city increase in profits.

Unlike Shanghai’s business based economy, Hong-Kong and manufacturing and serviced based. Using the exports and imports to create goods for profit. In the entire east Asia Hong-Kong’s serviced based economy is the most developed. With the use of service, it helps Hong Kong develop a business mindset which gives them a boost financially (Information Service Department, 2016). With Hong Kong Sustaining there economic structure this way they are also a significant factor in the overall growth in economy.

Although the two countries have a completely different economy structure the two play a part in the developing economy of china. With imports and exports of service and goods from Hong Kong and the business and technology advancement of shanghai the two come together to develop a growing economy for the east of Asia.

Religion

There are several religions practiced in Shanghai that include Confucianism, Daoism, Buddhism, Islam, and Christianity. The two most practiced are Buddhism and Daoism. Buddhism is practiced amongst the older people in shanghai. Hong Kong for the most part has a heavy following of Buddhism in their religion make up. In Hong Kong, there is also a mixture of Daoism and Confucianism as well as a small amount of Christianity. The Chinese traditional religion is Buddhism which is why the two cities are similar in this area.

Conclusion

Two Chinese megacities that are very similar but are also totally different. In population size shanghai is almost 3 times as large as Hong Kong is. But the density level in Hong Kong is greater. The two megacities located in china are leading examples for the rise of the Chinese economy, but in different ways. Shanghai which is a business model focus continues to grow in technology and Hong Kong which is serviced based continues to grow in import and export of services. Because the two mega cities are both located in china there is a significant amount of similarities in religion, one would say it’s almost identical. One should believe that it is very interesting to find how much two mega cities in the same continent could differ in many ways.