The economist has come out with the new list for most expensive cities to live in and having not seen this list in a few years, I'm a bit shocked at the results. The last time I checked was in 2005 when my geography professor cited a 2002 or so Economist in which Moscow topped off the list. Not that I plan on moving to any of these top ten cities anytime in the near future, except maybe Tokyo, but it's still interesting to see that Chicago and New York are the two most expensive cities in the United States not even making it into the top 35.
Beijing came in at #57 not surprisingly having moved up a single spot from the previous year. Where Beijing will be a decade from now it seems unlikely to speculate, but it would be a shock if it were to break into the top 35 on the list unless it begins to look more like Shanghai. With the World Expo going to Shanghai starting May 1st and ending October 31st it would seem that Shanghai would be higher on the list for tourists and visitors to China than its capital. If we assume a similar bounce to Beijing's Olympic bounce then Shanghai will most certainly be the place to be this summer, and considering the breeze that comes off the water, it would make for the perfect summer destination. And with the exotic image of its skyline, it could make you feel worlds apart from the rest of China.
Those with spoken Chinese skills should be advised, Shanghai has its own dialect of Chinese which isn't necessarily intelligible to Mandarin.
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