Shanghai

31.2304°N, 121.4737°E.

Largest city in the world by population in many years and largest container port on Earth. Founded as a fishing town in the 11th century; Shanghai's modern history begins with the Treaty of Nanking (1842) which forced the opening of five Chinese ports to British trade. International concessions (British, French, American/Japanese) created a hybrid colonial city through the early 20th century; the Bund waterfront preserves 26 buildings from this period in styles ranging from neoclassical to Art Deco. The city's population grew from 11 million in 1990 to over 24 million in 2024. Pudong, the eastern bank of the Huangpu River, was farmland in 1990; it now contains the world's largest cluster of supertall skyscrapers including the 632-metre Shanghai Tower (2nd-tallest building on Earth, 2015). The tower's exterior twists 120° from base to top to deflect typhoon-force winds.

A fishing village forced open by an opium war became a port that handles more containers than any other on Earth — and built a 632-metre tower on rice fields that were still farmland in 1990.