For the next three months, I shall be exploring China's brightest city skyline and everything that lies below. Two weeks into my stay, I am already amazed and amused by the differences I see between China's political hub and its commercial heart.

Beijing is all about politics, policies and policing. Shanghai is all about business.

While native Beijingers constantly complain about their city being overtaken by migrant workers at every level, local Shanghainese are more at ease holding their own against invasion from other parts of China, and indeed, the world.