No, Shanghai is significantly bigger than Shenzhen in both population and land area, with Shanghai having over 24 million people and a much larger surface area, while Shenzhen has around 18 million people but is known as a high-tech powerhouse, though Shenzhen is rapidly growing. Shanghai is generally China's largest city by population, but Shenzhen is one of China's four key megacities, often rivaling Shanghai and Beijing in economic significance.
With a population of 17.5 million in 2020, Shenzhen is the third-most-populous city by urban population in China after Shanghai and Beijing. The Port of Shenzhen is the world's fourth-busiest container port.
As of 2023, the five largest cities in China by population are Chongqing (31.91 million), Shanghai (24.87 million), Beijing (21.86 million), Chengdu (21.403 million) and Guangzhou (18.827 million).
The report, released by Hurun Report on Monday, lists 3,279 billionaires, with Tesla CEO Elon Musk ranked the wealthiest. China is still the world capital for billionaires, with 814, closely followed by the US with 800. In China, Beijing, Shanghai and Shenzhen are the top three cities for billionaires.
China's Top Scenic Cities
The 16 best places for expats to live in China are Hangzhou, Shanghai, Beijing, Shenzhen, Chengdu, Xi'an, Qingdao, Kunming, Tianjin, Nanjing, and Fuzhou. Read on to learn about what each city has to offer, where it is located, how big it is, and some brief pros and cons about it.
About 90% (actually closer to 94%) of China's population lives in the eastern half of the country, east of the Heihe–Tengchong Line, in fertile plains and coastal regions with major cities, while the vast, mountainous, desert-filled western half holds only about 6% of the people due to harsh conditions unsuitable for large-scale farming and settlement.
Shenzhen has cheaper cost of living, people are more down to earth, the food's better. Nature (as it exists in China, think “nice city park” and not “national park”) is easier to get to. Hong Kong is very easy to get to and has all the international amenities of Shanghai plus some.
Below are five of the most iconic China beautiful places that deserve a spot on your travel bucket list.
For Shanghai to Shenzhen train, it takes around 13h 31m on average.
The GBA's population stands at 86 million, 11 times that of Hong Kong's 7.5 million. Shenzhen's population is around 17.8 million.
The largest city in the world is Tokyo, Japan, with a total population of 37 million people.
Shenzhen's Muslim community—now estimated at over 150 000—has flourished in lockstep with a city that has morphed, in barely four decades, from a coastal fishing village to a tech-driven metropolis.
The largest ethnic groups: The Han and Zhuang
Han Chinese represent more than 90% of China's population and roughly 20% of the world's population, around 1.1 billion people. Han Chinese derive from the Han Dynasty, which ruled for 400 years, making it the longest-ruling empire in China's history.
As of late 2025/early 2026, India has surpassed China to become the world's most populous country, with both nations having populations exceeding 1.4 billion people, followed by the United States, Indonesia, and Pakistan.
Shanghai has the highest density of English speakers in China, thanks to its: Role as a global financial hub. Expat communities.
Featured towns | China's most beautiful 20 breathable small towns
Hangzhou Appraised as the Safest City in China -- china.org.cn. Hangzhou tops the list in an investigation on "safety index" among 37 cities in China , including Hong Kong and Macao . The information was announced by the Hangzhou Municipal Public Security Bureau in a news release held last Friday.
Ranking as the top tourist hub in China, Beijing is most famous for its splendours dating back from the Ming-Qing dynasty, which is also the most thriving days of the city in the past.
Harbin, where I grew up, is in northeast China. Winter temperatures regularly dip to -30°C and in January even the warmest days rarely go above -10°C. With about 6 million residents today, Harbin is easily the largest city in the world to experience such consistent cold.
Despite English being taught in the Chinese school system for many years, few Chinese could be considered fluent in English. There are hundreds of millions of people in China studying English, but less than 1% of people from Chinese mainland are conversational, according to some estimates.