In which of the 20 largest cities you'd agree to live? Multi-answer poll.

[Urban Ranger]

I hope those voted for Tokyo and Osaka are willing to pay for it.

[Dis]

Beijing is communist. 'nuff said

they go against my beliefs

[Zero]

For those who havent voted for new york (city, i assume)... Theres nothing really bad i can think of here. City becomes kinda dull once you get used to the freaks, but im guessing novelties wear out on other cities as well if you live there long enough. At least we have plenty of things to do here though

[OneFootInTheGrave]

None!

Cities suck, bigger they are worse it is.

Unless you are a millionaire, and you can go away whenever you wish which I am not so... clearly none.

[Thud]

I agree, I am shocked and dismayed at London's lack of attention here.

Everyone loves New York

[TheBirdMan]

None. Absolutely none of above choices.

Even the "little" local city of Copenhagen is too big.

[Viking Berserk]

NONE!

[Fiera]

Originally posted by Thud

Everyone loves New York

... not!

As a matter of a fact, I've met three people already who moved to LA from New York because they couldn't stand living there (too crowded, they'd say), so there.

[Fiera]

Oops, double post!

[Dis]

someone should find the world's smallest 20 cities and post them. See which one of those we would live in.

[MRT144]

moving from new york to LA because new york was too crowded...out of the pan and in to the fire.

[Worthingtons]

I dont understand the population estimates over here, the big cities are made to seem to tiny, and towns look massive. Manchester is MASSIVE but i think the official pop is about 600000. Rotherham, where i come from, has a pop of 250k , but there arent that many live there at all. it's wierd.

Of the counted cities i chose the popular ones, New York,LA,Paris and Bananabad.

Not looking at the chosen cities, I'd like to Live in London,New York,Paris,Milan,Rome,Los Angeles,Florence,Vienna,Perth or Naples and I'd love to live in Chicago, how many people live there??

[cpp]

http://www.citypopulation.de/Country.html?E+World

from http://www.citypopulation.de/cities.html

[Lord Merciless]

Originally posted by Alinestra Covelia


From this statement, it is indeed clear that you have evidently "never ever lived" in Beijing.

If you had, you would know that atmospheric conditions make nearly every day a clear one.

As for the "incompetent bureaucrats" (all 11.3 million, to "fill" the city) are you saying that you'd really prefer Paris? Or London? Hey, both are socialist countries with administrations that all too often feel they're above the law.

I've seen two types of first-time foreigners in Beijing. There are some who can hardly believe their eyes and who jump right in and have fun in the rough and tumble of the place. There are others who come and who refuse to give up their preconceptions, grudgingly grumbling about everything for a semester and then going home to nurse their sour grapes (not a euphemism for haemorrhoids, I promise).

Each time I go back, the city has new things to show me. I don't think another city exists on earth with such a mix of history and modernity, where the pace of change really is breakneck.

Just think - 15 years ago, Western-made baby clothes were considered a fitting gift for a cadre party member. Nowadays, everybody has a cell phone and the broadband internet connections are more advanced than what you'd get in most of America. (More on a par with South Korea's ADSL service, though not universal.)

Plus, potstickers.

You haven't lived if you've never eaten a potsticker. And Beijing's the best city to go to for losing your potsticking virginity.

I had been to Beijing as recently as May 2002. I spent there for 2 weeks and had not seen the blue sky a single time, and the Sun was supposed to shine every day. If I remember correctly, the CCTV news always broadcast air quality of major Chinese cities in their evening news, and Beijing ranked worse than even Shenyang.

As for why Beijing is bureaucrats's paradise, that conclusion came after talking with many Beijing residents, most noticeably the taxi drivers. This city leeches off tax subsidies like no other places in China, and yet its economy flounders well behind that of Shanghai. Why? One explanation is that the mentality of the city is too bureaucratic. For example our hotel, the Lanqing Hotel, was a very nice looking building. But unfortunately, it was run by the government like many others, and everything was broken inside. They close their fax rooms at 9PM, basically chasing away anyone with business needs. The hotel's restaurant has more workers than customers, but it took 15 minutes for them to serve a single bowl of cold "Doujiang".

And I forgot the horrendous service industry, and the bad attitudes of service workers in general. Where as I was met with friendly servers all over the place in Shanghai, I often ran into people with strange attitudes in Beijing. Those guys, who took pictures for tourists in historical costumes in front of the Forbidden Palace, were completely jerks.

My only bright spots in Beijing were the low ticket prices at famous historical sites, and the Uighur run restaurant Afanti.