I'll be the first to concede that Beijing isn't the most livable city in China. It's a big, crowded metropolis, with ever-worsening traffic, unacceptably high levels of air pollution, and prolonged freezing cold winters and stifling hot summers. Yet despite all that, it's hands-down China's best city for expats.

To start with, Beijing provides foreign residents with excellent windows into both China's ancient past and rapid and amazing ongoing modernization. Save for Xi'an, no other Chinese city matches the capital's collection of really old and physically intact historic landmarks. And China's economic dynamism can be readily grasped during a quick stroll through the forest of high-rises.

By contrast, Shanghai is all about modern China. With the exception of the Yu Gardens, the city lacks distinctly Chinese historical landmarks. I love walking along the Bund, with its great art-deco style buildings, but these structures are distinctly Western, not Chinese.