Quote:
Originally Posted by Razor
When it comes to world cities, I can't think of another country with the same 1-2 punch that America has with NYC and LA..I don't necessarily mean in size, but by occupying global space culturally as well..L.A because of it's large dominant movie and music industry.
London/Liverpool - nope
Rome/Milan- nope
China?
France?
etc?
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Ooh China would have Beijing of course -culture, power, investment - largest amount of fortune 500 companies and billionaires in the world, world's best contemporary art scene/ largest art producer and biggest bureaucratic sector, home to 7 UNESCO World Heritage Sites (biggest concentration in the world).
Shanghai -the 'head of the dragon': media, business, science and finance (ranked 3rd largest and most competitive in the world behind London and NYC), world's biggest port, subway and city proper, world's biggest urban region and most connected city, world's most expensive city (
Baer), 2nd highest amount of billionaires.
Hong Kong -the 'mouth of the dragon' - business and export, and China's funnel to the rest of the globe, world's highest concentration of UHNW individuals, most skyscrapers and highrises, the top 2 busiest international air routes, most visited city
Guangzhou and Shenzhen (or is that Shenzhen-Guangzhou?) - global tech and trends, SZ world's hardware capital (and soon software), home to Huawei, Tencent, DJI and ZTE. World's largest and most built up city, 3rd biggest port, 4th highest amount of billionaires (SZ -just behind NYC) and 9th (GZ) respectively, of course no 1 if you counted them together.
All of this but notably Beijing and Shenzhen that are the world's start-up capitals, and are seriously going to go places in the future.
I'd also pay a nod (but currently only within China) to Chengdu, Chongqing and Changsha -massive interior cities that have become cultural capitals for fashion, music and trends for the whole country and beyond -where most global TikTok trends source from. Built on the backs of the sweatshops from the noughties -long churning out fast fashion and trends for the rest of the world -but then appropriating their own versions that became giants. I'd call these the 'cultural' producers of the empire.