I am Shanghai based with projects in both Shanghai as Beijing. B. is more cultural power house of China, S. is economical powerhouse of China. Both cities have (too) much construction sites. Both are booming. OMA is in Beijing heavily represented..... as well as the olympics.

The World Expo is starting here in Shanghai...

I could not choose, still can't ;)

In beijing, going back to shanghai soon. Beijing I think has more going for it architecturally speaking. I went on a site visit for CCTV yesterday and it is biblical, not to mention the olympic site. You really have to see the Bird's nest to believe it.

Problem is that the design work for Olympics in Beijing is already done. Does not mean it is quiet over there of course.

Next big construction site is London for the next Olympics, offices are already recruiting.

I'm researching for the Council for Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat. There's a conference in Shanghai July 9th/10th on super-tall towers, and a paper coming out in the Journal of tall and special buildings (or similar).

For those in China, I'm wondering what differences most struck you about working over there. Not the lifestyle changes, but the process differences: Planning consent, tendering, contractual relationships. Any news from the East?

quite easy to decide shanghai or beijing...

try visit both place in august and u know beijing is like an sauna and shanghai is a steam room.

i personally prefer shanghai, at least there is an ocean nearby to moderate.

i guess design is practical no difference among both place... however for project management, beijing is barrier afer barrier for every bureau u visit. and shanghai is just a few phone calls providing u get the right person calling the right numbers.

Aspect, would that be because of the Lujiazui district in Shanghai being specifically zoned ("Finance & Trade Zone") for non-chinese investment/construction? I haven't heard of anything similar in Beijing.

I agree that the main architecture projects like the Olympic ones are really exciting. But since that would be over soon, I am not sure what's next for the city. In Shanghai there seems to be a lot of commercial and master planning projects and not so much for Beijing I have heard. Though they could be everywhere as well. I guess I am not sure the difference in project types and work environment for both cities. Aspect definitely pointed out very well the difference in terms of project management. I am more likely to move to Beijing so would love to find out more. Thanks a lot.

psyArch> is all politics, shanghai is run by one gang, the shanghai gang. beijing is run by a few gangs. but since ur a foreign designer, it dun matter much to u.

morfo> the Olympic/shanghai expo was consented by the previous minister, after he stepped down, all high end projects had a major cut down... but still there are many to build but in a more modest way which i think is healthier for everyone including the designers.

Sorry this is slightly off topic
MacRoen - Any insight as to what firms are recruiting? Have there already been decisions made as to who is going to do what stadium/venue yet? I tried looking around the olympics 2012 website, but couldn't come up with anything

I am from Hong Kong and I am working in Beijing. Both cities are good places for foreign designers. The projects of beijing or Shanghai design firm are not limited in their own cities. Both cities are strategic locations for design firm located in China and the projects could be in different provinces in China. Its better to choice a suitable design firm rather than a city in long-term. There are huge amount of projects in different parts of China in this rapid urbanisation peroid and opportunities would still exist after 2008( olympic game) and 2010(world expo).

is chinese very important to know when practicing architecture in china? (self employed, with a chinese firm, or with an international firm). can you talk to most people in english?

Dear sashimi46 , if a foreign designer could speak,read and listen Chinese, it would definitely be an advantage to practice architecture in China as the designer could get information in first hand.

However, I know some foreign architect from Russia, Canada etc who do not know Chinese but they could practice very well in China.From my experiences , foreign designer could communciate to most of their colleague in English within an international firm, for a local Chinese firm, I could say that most young designer could communicate in English.

The only barrier I notice is during the presentation session of the design proposal , foreign designer can present in English but most of the professionals of the local authorities would prefer to speak Chinese as it is more easily for them to express their feeback. In these cases, foreign designer may require somebody to interpret.

Generally speaking, language is not a barrier to practice architecture in
China nowadays.

@ Imnop: mostly the biggies: Foster, Edaw. . . etc