Why Indians Cities Like New Delhi Mumbai So Much Better Than Chinese Cities Like Beijing Shanghai

Which city is most crowded: Mumbai, New Delhi, Beijing, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Tokyo, Lagos, or Mexico City?

It all really depends on which list you end up looking at, and this, again, would depend on how they define and measure the density of the cities' population.If you go by Forbes' The World Densest Cities" in 2013, then the first on the list is not Delhi, but Dhaka.  Mumbai is number 2, followed by Karachi, Manila, Lagos, Kolkata, Delhi, Seoul, Mexico City, and Tehran.  Note that none of the Chinese or Japanese cities made the top 10 list. An International Business article from 2015 confirms that Dhaka and Mumbai are among the top 3 densest cities in the world.  But instead of Karachi, Hyderabad of Pakistan has emerged as the second densest world city on their list, followed by a few unexpected cities of India---Kalyan, Vijayawada, Malegaon and Aligarh as part of the top 10 list. Delhi and Kolkata both didn't make their list, though Hong Kong and Macau somehow crept up to top ten, which is most surprising.   (Now I understand why the Hong Kongers are constantly moaning about the incoming Mainland tourists and settlers.)Frankly, I'm really surprised by the list of International Business, especially with the inclusion of all these Indian cities that I've never heard of before.  Here are the links to the lists of top densest cities: No. 1: Dhaka, Bangladesh - In Photos: The World's Densest Megacities UN World Population Day 2015: These are the 10 most densely populated cities on the planet List of cities proper by population

Why are there no Indian cities as rich as Chinese ones like Hong Kong, Shanghai, or Beijing? Why doesn't India focus on developing one advanced small economy first and then spread its personel to other regions?

Highly recommend Huang Yukon, a Chinese-American former retired World bank executive’s talk on Debunking the Chinese myths on YouTube.His ideas are as follow:The key difference for China, compared to a democratic country like India, is Deng Xiaopeng’s intentional heavy resources allocations to all the SEZs or other key cities for development while purposely “ignore” or putting less emphasis on budget allocations to other provinces in order to facilitate the SEZs development. He argued that this was impossible for a democratic country to achieve, let alone the fact that there were hundreds of SEZs in India waiting for resources allocations.The changes of performance indicators/ requirement for the mayor/head of the governments by linking their responsible cities/regions/provinces economic performances to their own career prospects. And later on, performance indicators also including level of developing or utilizing/ producing green technology, level of development of certain key industry or technologies etc. The government heads of states and cities in a democratic setting will be elected by people instead of based on the above mentioned performances.I was still little during the late 80s to 90s. During that developing stage, I recalled vaguely that there were checkpoints (not sure if I should call them Custom office) in and out of the SEZs by limiting migrants into the areas ( to avoid overcrowding the cities and in the end becoming uncontrollable slums). (Note: Unfortunately I am not familiar with how the mechanism worked, eg. like how migrant security were checked or prevented from entering the cities etc, and somehow I couldn’t find someone who could answer this question either.)In my opinion, Chinese government is very capable of building up the infrastructures connecting both within cities and connecting + expanding their physical areas by incorporating neighbouring villages or small towns and suburban areas (like Shenzhen from a fishing villiages with thousands of population to 12+ million). If one visits 2nd tier Chinese Cities like Wuhan, Qingdao, Xiamen, Xi’an, Dalian etc. They are as developed as other major cities in Asia.

Are the big cities in China more developed than the Indian ones?

Comparing the big cities in China to the ones in India is like comparing a western European country to a sub Sahara african country. Let’s see, here’s a picture of Shanghai, the biggest city in China:Shanghai again from another angle:Now here’s a picture of Bombay, the biggest city in India:ok, Bombay does have some high rises but those look like the ones in 1990s in China:Now, let’s compare the capital city of China and India: Here’s a picture of Beijing’s CBD:Now here’s a picture of Delhi:Now let’s compare the “silicon valley” or high tech center of China and India. Here’s a picture of Shenzhen, which was a fishing village about 40 years ago.Shenzhen again from another angleBy the way this is what Shenzhen looked like 40 years ago:Bangalore, the high tech city in India:Another angle of Bangaloreget it?Last, I felt it’s unjustified if you just compare the best areas of the cities. The living standards of the poor can really tell you the whole story. How does the poor live actually says a lot about what kind of country it is. Does the government care for the poor? I grew up in a middle class neighborhood but I see how the poor lived. I heard their cries, and I believe I’m always one of them.Here’s a picture of Mumbai(Bombay)’s slumHere’s a picture of the poor neighborhoods in ShanghaiAs you can see, not much better than Indian slums but at least the street is clean.

Will Mumbai and Delhi be able to become cities like Hong Kong by 2030?

Its a dream. Dreams hardly come true. If you have ever been to Hong Kong you will realise how we will never be like them.I never heard a single horn while I stayed there for a week. Everybody stayed in there lanes. Even if they were stuck behind a slower car, they never changed their lanes.Even during heavy rainfall there wasn't a single place anywhere where there was waterlogging. The roads were wet but absolutely zero puddles on the road and zero blocked drains or sewages. Even at the places where there was construction going on, there was not a sign of dust. Not only India lags in terms of infrastructure, but we also lag in terms of discipline. Infrastructure can be improved by paying money but the same can't be said for discipline. Also Delhi and Mumbai have much higher population density than Hong Kong. That makes making these cities world class even more tough. But I haven't completely lost hope. As my parents would have never dreamt of Delhi having a  Metro system maybe the same could happen with us. Maybe by the time the next generation comes, we would develop our country a lot faster than what we have.

Is Shanghai still a developing city or a developed city?

Most of us, (especially expats) when we talk of Shanghai, are usually talking about the west side of Shanghai (Puxi). It’s the “center” where all the scenes happen. Now the other East side (Pudong) looks shiny and bright but that’s because it is right across from the river on the Bund which is a Shanghai main attraction spot. It is majorly a business district there, but seriously, no one stays there for things like live music, drinking, etc. . Shanghai is a huge place and continues to develop and re-develop areas that expand outside of the central districts. And things change fast here. In ways things are developed but for Shanghai, nothing is ever a finished product. They will re-invent places like there is no tomorrow. That’s my two cents. I’ve lived here for 7 years, and for the last four, cash has become a thing of the past. We all use Wechat or Alipay to buy everything. Even the street beggars have QR codes to scan. That should tell you enough.