Thanks so much for the very thoughtful replies, folks. I guess the one factor I did not mention is that what partly attracted me to thinking about Shanghai is specifically the hotel there, the skyscraper Park Hyatt. This is a special birthday trip (with an age ending in "0") for my wife, so the wow factor of being 80+ stories high is appealing even though I realize the PH is in a relatively boring part of town. That, plus the greater chance of a typhoon disrupting the start of this around-the-world trip if we're in Taipei still has me thinking about Shanghai.

Anyway, any more input is always appreciated. Thanks again!