ENROUTE TV   ENROUTE FM   MEDIA KIT   AIR CANADA   LINKS   WRITERS'   GUIDELINES	SAN FRANCISCO vs SHANGHAI Text: SHAWN BLORE Illustration: VIRGINE EGGER 1. Soft Drink/Beer Ratio If you're going to San Francisco, make sure you put a paper bag on your beer (no imbibing in public). But a Miller Lite costs only $1.25, close to a 75-cent Coke. In Shanghai, a Tsingtao is 3 renminbi, slightly more than a 2.5-renminbi Can Mouth, Can Happy (one translation of Coca-Cola's Chinese name). Even better, public drinking is one thing the People's government allows. In a perfect world, 1:1 or a score of 100; anything lower is sobering. San Francisco 55.0 Shanghai 88.3 FORMULA > 2. Carbohydrate Comparison Dating from the gold-rush days, the City by the Bay's round, crusty but bland sourdough loaf received extra points for a tasty variation: top sliced off, centre scooped out and filled with steaming, slightly fattening (10 g/serving) clam chowder. The Shanghai carb of choice is the bao zhi, a not especially tasty nor fattening (6 g/serving) roadside dough ball filled with pork, vegetable or sweet red bean. A Parisian croissant is a baseline 100; other carbs must rise to the challenge. San Francisco 77.0 Shanghai 50.0 FORMULA > 3. Babe and Hunk Index Downtown office drones beat the hippie Haight-Ashbury hunks and babes in San Francisco. Unsurprisingly, there was a huge hunk count at Harvey Milk Plaza in the Castro district. Babes (or females of any description) were largely absent there. Shanghai's citizens were sampled at four temples of communist commerce. Even in these major shopping areas, the stylish were few and far between. Summed average of stylish head turners in a crowd of 100. San Francisco 50.3 Shanghai 39.6 FORMULA > 4. Street Life Indicator Stomping grounds of both Dirty Harry and Nash Bridges, the streets of San Francisco have hotdog stands and coffee carts, watches and hippie jewelry, kids playing sax, watercolours and abstracts and bums with placards. No clothing - in California, who needs it? Shanghai streets are much more orderly: Clothing and consumables are available, but no buskers, beggars or culture - that would be revolutionary. Percentage of goods and attractions available on a busy street or square. San Francisco 86.0 Shanghai 57.0 FORMULA > 5. Public Order Index On the left coast, about 17 sourdoughs per 100 cross against the light - more than in any other North American city sampled so far. Yet a taxi trip from Nob Hill to the Castro was the fastest in North America (2.12 minutes/km). Compare that with the abysmally slow pace (6.96 minutes/km) in Shanghai. Pity the poor taxi drivers: Shanghai-ites score competitively on jaywalking (31.2), second only to Amsterdam. Average number of jaywalkers in a crowd of 200 people (low score, low fun factor). San Francisco 15.5 Shanghai 24.3 FORMULA > Conclusion: San Fran wins this Pacific Rim bout by TKO only, with two of five rounds going to Shanghai. San Francisco 283.8 Shanghai 259.2 ----- STANDINGS: Rio 383.3 Rome 380.3 Paris 353.5 Mexico 346.1 Amsterdam 343.2 Buenos Aires 331.8 Zurich 325.8 Berlin 325.3 London 294.1 Mumbai 289.5 San Francisco 283.8 Tokyo 283.8 Hong Kong 281.5 Moscow 277.9 Shanghai 259.2 New York 255.1 Toronto 249.1 Washington 242.0 Montréal 233.9 Los Angeles 220.6 Vancouver 213.1 Chicago 197.1 Next Match : St. Petersburg vs. Havana – exclusively at enroutemag.com in December 2004. Watch for a Civilization Index finale in January 2005. [ ] St. Petersburg vs Havana Rome vs Buenos Aires Washington vs Moscow Mexico vs Tokyo London vs Mumbai Chicago vs Berlin San Francisco vs Shanghai Toronto vs Zurich Hong Kong vs Vancouver Montreal vs Amsterdam New York vs Paris Los Angeles vs Rio de Janeiro STANDINGS Top   |   Home
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