Shanghai took the top spot in the 2009 and 2012 Program for International Student Asses**ent (PISA), a world-wide study of academic performance of 15-year-old students conducted by the OECD. Shanghai students, including migrant children, scored highest in every aspect (math, reading and science) in the world. The study concludes that public-funded schools in Shanghai have the highest educational quality in the world.

Shanghai is the first city in the country to implement 9-year mandatory education. Shanghai has more than 930 kindergartens, 1,200 primary and 850 middle schools. Over 760,000 middle schools students and 871,000 primary school students are taught by 76,000 and 64,000 teaching staff respectively. Shanghai is also a major center of higher education in China with over 30 universities and colleges.

From 2000 to 2010, the percentage of city residents with at least some college education nearly doubled from 16.8% to 31.5%. About 22.2% have some high school education and 31% had reached middle school.

Public transport

Shanghai has an extensive public transport system, largely based on metros, buses and taxis. Payment of all these public transportation tools can be made by using the Shanghai Public Transportation Card. As of 2014, there are 14 metro lines (excluding the Shanghai Maglev Train and Jinshan Railway), 329 stati*** and 538 km (334 mi) of tracks in operation, making it the longest network in the world.

Beijing is an important transport hub in North China with five ring roads, nine expressways, eleven National Highways, nine conventional railways, and two high-speed railways converging on the city. The Beijing Subway, which began operating in 1969, now has 17 lines, 227 stati***, and 456 km (283 mi) of track and is the third longest subway system in the world and first in annual ridership with 3.21 billion rides delivered in 2013. There are nearly 1,000 public bus and trolleybus lines in the city, including four bus rapid transit lines.

Roads

Shanghai is a major hub of China's expressway network. In the city center, there are several elevated expressways to lessen traffic pressure on surface streets, but traffic in and around Shanghai is often heavy and traffic jams are commonplace during rush hour. There are bicycle lanes separate from car traffic on many surface streets, but bicycles and motorcycles are banned from most main roads including the elevated expressways.

Beijing is connected by road links to all parts of China as part of the National Trunk Road Network. Nine expressways of China serve Beijing, as do eleven China National Highways. Beijing's urban transport is dependent upon the five "ring roads" that concentrically surround the city, with the Forbidden City area marked as the geographical center for the ring roads. Traffic jams are a major concern. Even outside of rush hour, several roads still remain clogged with traffic.

Railway

Shanghai has four major railway stati***: Shanghai Railway Station, Shanghai South Railway Station, Shanghai West Railway Station, and Shanghai Hongqiao Railway Station. Three are connected to the metro network and serve as hubs in the railway network of China.

Beijing serves as a large rail hub in China's railway network. Ten conventional rail lines radiate from the city. Beijing also has three high-speed rail lines: the Beijing-Tianjin Intercity Railway, the Beijing-Shanghai High-Speed Railway, and the Beijing–Guangzhou High-Speed Railway. The city's main railway stati*** are the Beijing Railway Station, the Beijing West Railway Station, the Beijing South Railway Station, and Beijing North Railway Station. Smaller stati*** in the city including Beijing East Railway Station and Qinghuayuan Railway Station.

Air Travel

Shanghai is one of the leading air transport gateways in Asia. The city has two commercial airports: Shanghai Pudong International Airport and Shanghai Hongqiao International Airport. Pudong Airport is the main international airport, while Hongqiao Airport mainly operates domestic flights with limited short-haul international flights.

Beijing's primary airport is the Beijing Capital International Airport (IATA: PEK) about 20 kilometres (12 mi) northeast of the city center. The airport is the second busiest airport in the world. After renovati*** for the 2008 Olympics, the airport now boasts three terminals, with Terminal 3 being one of the largest in the world.

Architecture

Shanghai has a rich collection of buildings and structures of various architectural styles. The Bund, located by the bank of the Huangpu River, contains a rich collection of early 20th-century architecture, ranging in style from neoclassical HSBC Building to the art deco Sassoon House. In recent years, a large number of architecturally distinctive and even eccentric buildings have sprung up throughout Shanghai. Notable examples of contemporary architecture include the Shanghai Museum, Shanghai Grand Theatre in the People's Square precinct and Shanghai Oriental Art Center. Despite rampant redevelopment, the old city still retains some buildings of a traditional style, such as the Yuyuan Garden, an elaborate traditional garden in the Jiangnan style. The city also has some examples of Soviet neoclassical architecture. The Pudong district of Shanghai displays a wide range of skyscrapers, many of which rank among the tallest in the world.

Three styles of architecture are predominant in urban Beijing. First, there is the traditional architecture of imperial China. Next, there is what is sometimes referred to as the "Sino-Sov" style, with structures tending to be boxy and sometimes poorly c***tructed, which were built between the 1950s and the 1970s. Finally, there are much more modern architectural forms, most noticeably in the area of the Beijing CBD and Beijing Financial Street. Beijing is famous for its siheyuans, a type of residence where a common courtyard is shared by the surrounding buildings.

Places of Interest

Beyond the Bund and Oriental Pearl Tower cityscapes there are a huge range of museums, colonial architecture, religious buildings, theatres, gardens, parks and shopping areas. The Old City is the original Chinese city going back about 1000 years. The International Settlement was built North and West of the Old City, starting in the 1840s. In colonial-period Western books, "Shanghai" means that settlement. T The Bund is the riverside avenue that was the center of 19th century Shanghai. Nanjing Road was the main street of the old British Concession; today it is a major upmarket shopping street. Other major sights are in the former French Concession. Jing'an Temple, Longhau Temple, St. Ignatius Cathedral, Temple of the Town God, Jade Buddha Temple and the Large church on the East side of People's Square in the old British district are some religious sites to be seen.

At the historical heart of Beijing lies the Forbidden City, the enormous palace compound that was the home of the emperors of the Ming and Qing dynasties; the Forbidden City hosts the Palace Museum, which contains imperial collecti*** of Chinese art. Surrounding the Forbidden City are several former imperial gardens, parks and scenic areas, notably Beihai, Shichahai, Zhongnanhai, Jingshan and Zhongshan. From Tiananmen Square, right across from the Forbidden City, there are several notable sites, such as the Tiananmen, Qianmen, the Great Hall of the People, the National Museum of China, the Monument to the People's Heroes, and the Mausoleum of Mao Zedong. The Summer Palace and the Old Summer Palace both lie at the western part of the city; the former, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Among the best known religious sites in the city is the Temple of Heaven (Tiantan), located in southeastern Beijing, also a UNESCO World Heritage Site, as well as the Temple of Earth, the Temple of the Sun and the Temple of the Moon. Other well-known temple sites include the Dongyue Temple, Tanzhe Temple, Miaoying Temple, White Cloud Temple, Yonghe Temple, Fayuan Temple, Wanshou Temple and Big Bell Temple. The city also has its own Confucius Temple, and a Guozijian or Imperial Academy. The Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception, built in 1605, is the oldest Catholic church in Beijing. The Niujie Mosque is the oldest mosque in Beijing, with a history stretching back over a thousand years. Located at the outskirts of urban Beijing, but within its municipality are the Thirteen Tombs of the Ming Dynasty, the lavish and elaborate burial sites of thirteen Ming emperors, which have been designated as part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Parks and resorts

By the year 2012, the city has been operating 157 parks, with 138 of them free of charge. Some of the parks, aside from offering a green public space to the local, become popular tourist attracti*** due to their unique location, history or architecture. These include People's Square park, Fuxing Park, Zhongshan Park, Shanghai Botanical Garden, Xujiahui Park, People's Square Park, Gongqing Forest Park, Fuxing Park, Zhongshan Park, Lu Xun Park, Century Park, and Jing'an Park.

The Shanghai Disney Resort Project is planned to be operational by 2016. It is a $4.4 billion theme park and resort in Pudong, which will have a castle that will be the biggest among Disney's resorts.

The Forbidden City and the Temple of Heaven have their own parks. Other parks are scattered around Beijing. Some of the best are Zhongshan in Xicheng District, Beihai Park in Xicheng District, Chaoyang Park in Chaoyang District and Ritan Park in Chaoyang District. The Beijing Zoo in Xicheng District is famous for its traditional landscaping and giant pandas.

Environmental protection

Public awareness of the environment is growing, and the city is investing in a number of environmental protection projects.

The government regularly uses cloud-seeding measures to increase the likelihood of rain showers in the region to clear the air prior to large events as well as to combat drought conditi*** in the area.

Air pollution

Air pollution in Shanghai is low compared to other Chinese cities, but still substantial by world standards. During the December 2013 Eastern China **og, air pollution rates reached between 23 and 31 times the international standard.

Beijing has a high level of air pollution. The Beijing Environmental Protection Bureau (BJEPB) monitor and tracks levels of air pollution. Beijing became the first city in China to require the Chinese equivalent to the Euro 4 emission standard.

Language

Most Shanghai residents speak Wu Chinese. Many migrants from other areas of China that come to Shanghai for work speak Mandarin. A ‘local tongue’ has developed that includes a significant number of terms borrowed from European languages.

People native to urban Beijing speak the Beijing dialect, which belongs to the Mandarin subdivision of spoken Chinese. Rural areas of Beijing Municipality have their own dialects akin to those of Hebei province, which surrounds Beijing Municipality.

Museums

Shanghai boasts several museums of regional and national importance, such as the Shanghai Museum of art and history, Shanghai Art Museum, Shanghai Natural History Museum, and the Rockbund Art Museum. In addition, there is a variety of **aller, specialist museums.

There are 144 museums and galleries (as of June 2008) in the city. In addition to the Palace Museum in the Forbidden City and the National Museum of China, other major museums include the National Art Museum of China, the Capital Museum, the Beijing Art Museum, the Military Museum of the Chinese People's Revolution, the Geological Museum of China, the Beijing Museum of Natural History and the Paleozoological Museum of China.

Art and Culture

The "Shanghai School" was an important Chinese school of traditional arts during the Qing Dynasty and the twentieth century. Under the masters from this school, traditional Chinese art developed into the modern style of "Chinese painting". The best known figures from this school include Qi Baishi, Ren Xiong, Ren Bonian, Zhao Zhiqian, Wu Changshuo, Sha Menghai, Pan Tianshou, Fu Baoshi, Xie Zhiliu, He Tianjian, and Wang Zhen. Besides literature, Shanghai was also the birthplace of Chinese cinema and theater. China's first short film, The Difficult Couple (难夫难妻, Nanfu Nanqi, 1913), and the country's first fictional feature film, An Orphan Rescues His Grandfather (孤儿救祖记, Gu'er Jiu Zuji, 1923) were both produced in Shanghai. Shanghainese cultural artifacts include the cheongsam, a modernization of the traditional Manchurian qipao. In recent times Shanghai has established its own fashion week called Shanghai Fashion Week. It is held twice every year in October and April.

Beijing or Peking opera (京剧, Jīngjù) is a traditional form of Chinese theater well known throughout the nation. Commonly lauded as one of the highest achievements of Chinese culture, Beijing opera is performed through a combination of song, spoken dialogue, and codified action sequences involving gestures, movement, fighting and acrobatics. Beijing cuisine is the local style of cooking. Peking Roast Duck is perhaps the best known dish. Teahouses are common in Beijing. The cloisonné (or Jingtailan, literally "Blue of Jingtai") metalworking technique and tradition is a Beijing art specialty, and is one of the most revered traditional crafts in China. Beijing's lacquerware is also well known for its sophisticated and intrinsic patterns and images carved into its surface, and the various decoration techniques of lacquer include "carved lacquer" and "engraved gold". Younger residents of Beijing have become more attracted to the nightlife, which has flourished in recent decades, breaking prior cultural traditi*** that had practically restricted it to the upper class.

Sports

Shanghai is home to several professional soccer teams, including Shanghai Shenhua of the Chinese Super League, one of the China's most popular and successful. Other Chinese Super League teams currently based in Shanghai include Shanghai Dongya and Shanghai Shenxin. China's top tier The Shanghai Sharks of the Chinese Basketball Association developed Yao Ming before he entered the NBA. Shanghai also has an ice hockey team, China Dragon, and a baseball team, the Shanghai Golden Eagles, which plays in the China Baseball League. Beginning in 2004, Shanghai started hosting the Chinese Grand Prix, one round of the Formula One World Champi***hip. Shanghai also holds the Shanghai Masters tennis tournament which is part of ATP World Tour Masters 1000, and the BMW Masters and WGC-HSBC Champi*** golf tournaments. Shanghai Cricket Club is a cricket club based in Shanghai.

Beijing has hosted numerous international and national sporting events, the most notable was the 2008 Summer Olympic and Paralympic Games. Other multi-sport international events held in Beijing include the 2001 Universiade and the 1990 Asian Games. Single-sport international competiti*** include the Beijing Marathon, China Open of Tennis, ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating Cup of China, WPBSA China Open for Snooker, International Cycling Union Tour of Beijing, 1961 World Table Tennis Champi***hips, 1987 IBF Badminton World Champi***hips, the 2004 AFC Asian Cup (football), and 2009 Barclays Asia Trophy (football). Beijing will host the 2015 IAAF World Champi***hips in Athletics.