It's a difficult question to answer.
People often ask the author, how many first-tier cities is Bangkok in China?Jakarta and Manila are counted as first-tier cities in China?
In fact, there is no official ranking of cities in China, and most of them are ranked by commercial organizations. Except for the first-tier cities, which are not disputed, it seems that no one can say which cities are considered second-tier. I've seen a lot of rankings, and some of them actually include Lanzhou in the second tier. There is even a list, in the second-tier Weifang and Zibo, if so divided, then China is estimated to have hundreds of second-tier cities.
The author believes that there is no dispute that Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen belong to the first line. There are up to seven second-tier cities, namely Chengdu, Hangzhou, Chongqing, Nanjing, Tianjin, Wuhan and Suzhou. Because city rankings are simple, the most critical data is population and production value. In terms of output value, these 11 cities are among the top 11 in China's GDP list. The twelfth place Ningbo is 100 billion away from Tianjin. In terms of population, Nanjing has a small permanent population, but Xi'an and Zhengzhou, which have a larger population, are far from Tianjin in terms of economic scale. With that basic criterion in mind, let's talk about today's topic, Manila.
Economy
Manila's economy will be around $200 billion in 2023, accounting for half of the Philippines' national GDP of $394.1 billion. This total can be ranked around 66th in the world. In China, it is roughly ranked between Ningbo and Qingdao, that is, 12 to 13. And Bangkok, which everyone is concerned about, is 252 billion US dollars, roughly ranking between Chengdu and Wuhan. At $515 billion, Singapore is roughly between Beijing and Shenzhen. Jakarta is 308 billion, roughly ranking between Suzhou and Chengdu.
The visual rankings are as follows;
BeijingSingapore, Shenzhen, Chongqing, Guangzhou, Suzhou,JakartaChengduBangkok, Wuhan, Hangzhou, Nanjing, Tianjin, Ningbo,Manila, Qingdao
While the numbers are okay, sensorially, the majority of Manilans are poorer. For example, if a visitor buys a bottle of Coke in Manila, it's best to drink it in the store, and if you take it out, you're likely to be surrounded by a group of kids and have no way to move unless you hand over the Coke. This situation does not occur in any first-tier cities in China, but in Manila, the Coke in the hands of the child in the picture below is mine.
Culture
Despite its poverty, Manila has a lot to offer compared to China's second-tier cities, such as the abundance of arts and performances. But this is not easy to measure. Let's compare it with an education that is easy to quantify.
Four universities in Manila are in the QS World Top 1500. They are the University of the Philippines, the Ateneo de Manué de Manuel University, the University of De La Salle, and the University of Santo Thomas.
Among them, the University of the Philippines ranked 402, followed by South China University of Technology (26) and Xiamen University (24) in the same ranking of 392. Down are University of Science and Technology Beijing (ranked 436) (35) and Central South University (ranked 452) (23). On the whole, the University of the Philippines is a midstream 985 university level, which can be roughly ranked around 24-28 in China.
Ateneo de Neneo University is ranked 563, followed by Chinese Renmin University (18) ranked 556 and Chongqing University (34) ranked 561. Down are Shenzhen University (595) (68) and Nanjing University of Science and Technology (600) (36). On the whole, Ateneo de Manaine University is a downstream 985 level, which can be roughly ranked around 32-36 in China.
De La Salle University is ranked 681-690, followed by Zhengzhou University (ranked 621-630) (46) and Jinan University (ranked 631-640) (ranked 50). Down are East China University of Science and Technology (ranked 681-690) (44) and Soochow University (ranked 681-690) (ranked 40). On the whole, De La Salle University is a midstream 211 level, which can be roughly ranked around 40-50 in China.
St. Thomas ranked 801-850, followed by China University of Geosciences (59) and Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics (37). Down are Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications 57 and Huazhong Agricultural University 42, which belong to the 851-900 range. On the whole, the University of Santo Tomas is a midstream slightly lower 211 level, placed in China, roughly ranked around 45-55.
Note 1: The University of the Philippines and Ateneo de Manila are headquartered in Quezon, but have campuses in Manila.
Note 2: The following figures are the rankings of Chinese universities.
After taking the median value, the ranking is referenced:
Manila has:
University of the Philippines 26, Ateneo de Manaly University 34,
De La Salle University 45, University of Santo Tomas 50
In China's second-tier cities:
Chengdu: Sichuan University 12, University of Electronic Science and Technology 28
Hangzhou: Zhejiang University 3, Zhejiang Industry 70, Hangzhou Electronic Science and Technology 91
Chongqing: Chongqing University 34, Southwest University 72
Nanjing: Nanjing University 6, Southeast University 15, Nanjing Institute of Technology 36, Nanjing Aeronautics and Astronautics 37, Nanjing Agriculture 51, China Mining 56, Nanjing Normal 58, Hohai University 61, Nanjing Industry 85, Nanjing Post and Telecommunications 86, Nanjing Information 90
Tianjin: Nankai University 20, Tianjin University 21
Wuhan: Huazhong Science and Technology 8, Wuhan University 9, Huazhong Normal 47, Wuhan Institute of Technology 54, China Geology 59
Suzhou: Soochow University 40
It can be seen that the number and quality of universities in Manila are roughly at the level of the middle reaches of China's second-tier cities.
life
Manila is a big city, but most of the people live in poor conditions, there are no employment opportunities in the countryside, and they have to come to the big cities to make a living, but the big cities are short of housing, and finally they have to build privately, and the result is that the cities are full of slums.
For example, it rains heavily outside and light rain inside.
But at the same time, there are many pure lands in Manila. If you look around the café casually, you can find that the citizens have a high degree of civilization, no one makes noise, and the garbage on the table will be cleaned up casually, and the door will be closed very lightly.
The most surprising thing for me was the old man who washed my clothes, all of his five children are in Western countries, two in the United States, one in Australia, one in Germany, and one in Sweden, all of whom have lived permanently or become naturalized. After hearing this, I was very curious, because I am the only child in my family, and it is very difficult to send me to study abroad like this, how did you send all five children out?He said that they were divided into classes in high school, and those who were willing to go abroad would enter the class abroad, study without spending a penny, and send money to their families. After graduating from university, I went abroad to work and Xi. It can be seen that this country is not without upward channels, but there are indeed fewer opportunities at home.
The division of several tiers of cities has the hard power of data and the soft power of feeling. Manila: In my opinion, soft power is stronger than hard power. Because it is an island country, it has limited foreign investment, so the city's infrastructure is very average, and public facilities are insufficient. But on the other hand, the city also has good places for leisure and entertainment, and there is no shortage of materials.
Among the Southeast Asian countries, there are two countries with a relatively brief history: the Philippines and Malaysia. During World War II, when the Japanese army retreated into Intramuros Manila, MacArthur ordered the bombardment of it, killing a large number of civilians, and many of Manila's historic buildings were damaged, with only St. Austin's Church surviving.
Manila Cathedral].
1954-1958 reconstruction].
If you work as a doctor or teacher in Manila, you generally live in a larger house because of the large number of bedrooms, and many families run Airbnb. For example, where I live is the home of a teacher. The picture shows the home of a teacher in Legaşpi.
But without a decent job, it's harder to survive. This is the biggest difference between developing and developed countries. That is, the income of manual laborers.
Although the living conditions are poor, the actual living standards of the people are not low. I visited many slum-side markets in Manila and found that the main food of the common people was meat and seafood, and they did not eat vegetables. This is very different from the Thais.
Fish and shrimp are very cheap and fresh.
Because the locals don't like to eat crabs very much, crabs are very cheap, about two or three yuan a piece.
Overall, Manila has a good spiritual life and a good material life, but only if you are in this class.
As for the poor, they also have their own lives, but whether they are good or not, the author will not evaluate. Like a fish drinking water, it knows its own warmth and coldness.
In Manila, you can see many very cheap things, such as 30 yuan a pair of domestic basketball shoes, these products basically meet the needs of the middle and lower class citizens. That is, they are poor, but they are not in need.
Except for Bohol, there are very few Chinese tourists in the Philippines. There are more people engaged in spinach, but this group travels less. During my one-month stay in the Philippines, I met only one Chinese tourist, a Chinese student studying in Singapore.
The author has looked through a lot of registers, and very few people from developing countries travel to the Philippines except for nationals. The only exception is a Mexican.
Manila is a two-faced society that offers different lives to different people. This is also the common situation in many developing countries. Manila may have good economic data and well-informed citizens, but here workers really don't earn money and can barely make ends meet. We can think of it as a second-tier city, but compared to China's second-tier cities, it seems to have no direction and has been drifting with the wind.
One person cheers for the graduate school entrance examination