New Tales of Old Shanghai
The Independent Schools Foundation Academy , Ba , Qizhen - 11
I f a person wants to know himself , then he must look into the mirror , and look at the reflection he has created in the civilized world . In mirrors , you can see yourself in another kind of angle , and in the meantime you get to know yourself . This is the same on how to improve a city . By comparing a city with another , there will be a lot difference between . That way , cities can learn from one another , improving their own custom , while understanding other people ' s ’ ways of doing things . I think Hong Kong and Shanghai is a perfect pair for competitors and working partners . Shanghai this city has a lot of tales , the old Shanghai have tales that can be compared , and new ones waiting to be compared .
Shanghai and Hong Kong are related to each other just like sisters . Some people that is working in Hong Kong right now are from Shanghai , they bring the new tales to this place and inspire people ; some people in Hong Kong before are now living in Shanghai , bring the tales of Hong Kong to the people of Shanghai , telling them the tales from the far away land . Different kind of big companies are spreading their jobs in those two cities . They are all near the sea , which bring a lot of visitors because of the beautiful view they both have . They both run as an important financial centre ; in Hong Kong , it ’ s in central ; in Shanghai , the city for finance industry is in “ Pudong ”; Hong Kong have a Disney Land , so do Shanghai . Kids all around the world love to visit the museums in both cities . The view is both cities are famous , even the view at night are worth a look . At night , Hong Kong shows the mountains and the skyscrapers , but Shanghai is a totally different view . Shanghai has buildings that could represent all the countries in the world .
Shanghai and Hong Kong have their most lively time differently . Before 1949 , Shanghai is the most global city in China . But at the same time , Hong Kong is just a city that is very normal . Let ' s say if Shanghai is a girl from a university , then Hong Kong would just be a student from primary school . After 1949 , the cold war between East and West , China opened the door to people from other countries . Hong Kong then become the city for financial markets , and become important to China . People call Hong Kong , Singapore , Korea , and Taiwan the “ Asian Four Little Dragons ”. But in the meantime , Shanghai is beginning to stop building this city itself , and became less and less important to China . By then , Hong Kong is a very “ ladylike ” city , but Shanghai is like a sleeping beauty , and it is still thinking about the past and the old memories .
After China ’ s reform and opening , the “ sleeping beauty ” got awakened , and Hong Kong is still showing the wonderfulness of this city to the world . Comparing the new tales of old Shanghai and the old tales of old Shanghai , the new ones seems more interesting , more attractive , more close to the different cultures of the globe . In some ways , I think the new tales are even more exciting than the tales of Hong Kong . For example , everyone in China have heard of Hong Kong Disneyland . But now Shanghai built a bigger one , it is more exciting , therefore the people that would like to visit Hong Kong Disneyland had turned their flight to Shanghai . Hong Kong has less area for citizens to live in , but Shanghai has a lot of space and there are more people moving to Shanghai , therefore I think Shanghai ’ s new tales are more mechanization than the old tales of Shanghai .
If we continue to think like that , the new tales from Shanghai will go beyond the old ones , go beyond the tales from Hong Kong , and soon Hong Kong will be a city that is useless to China . The people in Hong Kong may think we are better than Shanghai in a lot of things , the citizens in Shanghai may think Shanghai is the most amazing city in China , it is all ok to think that way . But this is not a competition between cities , it actually is a good chance to “ see the city in a mirror ”, and learn from mistakes , just like humans do , especially the new tales from old Shanghai …….