Originally Posted by
Swanhunter
PEK for history and a peek into the modern China. Tokyo is one of the worlds truly great cities and while big the Yamanote line allows you access to a lot of the City easily.
Shanghai OTOH I find just a bit dull. Perhaps I am coloured by having spent 3.5 weeks of this year but frankly I am a bored of the place.
As someone who spends half of my time in each city, allow me to provide the downlow:
-BJ is FAR better suited for tourist activities
-BJ people are cooler (both those that are from there, and those that move there for work)
-SH has better food, taxi drivers (though, many are insane), and air quality (which is still far worse than you are used to)
While it's hard to throw Tokyo into the mix of this comparison, I must state that I really like China (biased, for sure, because I live and work here).
In light of the fact that my girlfriend is from Japan, I am down with the scene there, as well, but honestly believe that China is more interesting.
If I were the OP, I'd do Shanghai on the outbound, and Beijing on the inbound.