Shadowing Practice: Shanghai — China’s Largest and Richest City - Learn English Speaking with Video
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hey guys and welcome to cool vision in this video we're gonna visit
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Shanghai welcome to Shanghai guys this is the third most populous city in the world
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and the most populous city in China with a population of
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26 million shanhai is located on China's central coast bounded to
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the east by the East China Sea on the southern estuary
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of the Yanxi River with the Huangpu River flowing through it the The city's area is 6341 square kilometers,
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so it's almost three times larger than Moscow and four times larger than London.
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Today it's the business capital of China with a GDP of 670 billion dollars, the highest among Chinese cities,
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and it also has the world's busiest container port, the Port of Shanghai.
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So, let's explore the city, meet locals, try delicious food
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and find out why some girls wouldn't go on a date with you if you're not from 310 area.
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if you arrive at shanghai pudon international airport
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you can take a maglev train directly to the city the maglev train thank you very much wow stepping inside
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it's a magnetic levitation train
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which means it floats on magnets prior to may 2021 the cruising speed was an astonishing 431 kilometers per hour
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but now unfortunately they slowed it down to 300 kilometers an hour
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which still pretty impressive it costs 50 renminbi
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and takes eight minutes from the airport to the city very convenient
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and entertaining the most popular area in the city is the
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city's historic waterfront area the bund also known as waitan
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and actually the bund from mandarin means embankment there's
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so much western influence there's even a charging bull just like the one on wall street in new york
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Grab him by the horns
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Once the financial heart of the city
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Today the Bund is home to high -end restaurants and hotels
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And the number of 1920s era buildings
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Including the Art Deco Peace Hotel Completed in 1929
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Another famous building is the neoclassical HSBC building
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And it served as the branch of HSBC
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Which actually stands for Hong Kong Shanghai Banking Corporation Other famous
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buildings include the Customs House Chartered Bank building the north china daily news building
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and so many more most of these buildings were built in the 19th
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and the early 20th century by european powers as you can tell there is a significant european influence why is
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that foreign powers mostly britain had been illegally exported in opium
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from india to china since the 18th century china wanted to stop the opium trade
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because it was bringing nothing but social
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and economic problems to the country like the widespread predication
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but China lost the Opium Wars and was forced to open dozens of cities to Western traders.
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Thus Shanghai from 1860s to the 1930s was basically split into a Chinese half and the European style
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Western half, a rich and powerful center of the foreign establishment, operating as a legally protected treaty port.
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The Huanpu River divides the metropolis into two parts Hudong that is the east side and Pushi that is the west side.
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There are three ways to cross the river.
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The first one is to take a ferry.
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The second one is to go by car or a bus.
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And the last one is taking the Bund Sightseeing Tunnel.
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Of course, this one is mostly for tourists and it costs 50 renminbi one way.
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On the opposite side from the Bund, you will find Lujiazue.
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It's a peninsula formed by a bend of the river that was nothing but villages and warehouses some 30 years ago.
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But since the 1990s, Lujiazue was turned into the new financial district of Shanghai, thanks to the economic reforms initiated by leader Dan Xiaoping.
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Today they call it the Chinese Wall Street.
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500 ,000 people work in Lujiazue with an average age of 29 and a half years, 70 % of whom have a master's degree or higher.
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Today Lujiazue is Shanghai's glitzy financial district, home to the Shanghai Stock Exchange, first free trade zone in mainland
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China, Shanghai Aquarium, fancy malls, stylish bars with panoramic views, and a cluster of super tall futuristic skyscrapers like
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The pink rocket -like
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Oriental Pearl TV Tower.
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This tower has 15 observatory levels.
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There's also a revolving restaurant at the 267 meters level.
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Another super tall skyscraper is the Jin Mawa Tower, 420 meters tall.
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The Shanghai World Financial Center, 492 meters, nicknamed the bottle opener because it kind of looks like a bottle opener.
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and finally shanghai tower this is the tallest building in china
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and the third tallest in the world 632 meters i decided to visit the observation deck at shanghai tower obviously
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which offers spectacular views across the city besides being the tallest
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building in china shanghai tower also has the world's fastest elevator
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which used to travel at the speed of 20 .5 meters per second
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but now they had to slow it down to 10 meters per second
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because some people would literally bleed from the nose by the time they reached the top
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outside i saw some guys with a drone
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and i wanted to talk to them line a drone in
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shanghai is impossible without a license can i ask you what you guys do
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so now we are do the building inspection
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so you can see the pilot and the pilot turned out they're a drone inspection company.
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They hooked me up with some amazing shots in exchange for some Renmin B.
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The city is huge.
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Luckily, Shanghai Metro is also very huge.
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It is the longest subway system in the world.
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508 stations, 826 kilometers in length.
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It's twice the length of New York City subway.
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Subways are just so clean, so nice you guys believe we're inside the subway
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but it's very easy to use and the trains are always on time look see the train is coming
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and in 12 seconds the doors will open 4 3 1 yes
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and the door is open you can buy a travel card
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and top it up or better yet set up an alipay account
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and pay with your phone by scanning a QR code
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so convenient also Alipay will help you use the local uber called Didi
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which is much cheaper than conventional taxis
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if you're choosing a hotel I think anything online too is a great choice
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this line goes straight through the city and it's easy to get everywhere you hear it cool vision is in town downtown
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Shanghai Wukong Road you want me to come here now
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Now, let's meet my friends, Henry and Kunal.
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Henry is a local guy and Kunal is from India, but he's worked in Shanghai for seven years now.
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Both have lived in the US and both now work for Nike.
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Henry wanted to take us around his favorite places in the city and we started with the former French concession.
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What is the French concession?
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In the 1800s, after a prolonged struggle with imperialist powers, China was forced to allow foreigners to take possession of designated areas in Shanghai, called concessions.
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The French concession existed between 1849 to 1946 and consisted of upscale residential
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and retail districts and was also the center of Catholicism.
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Today, the French concession is an area that is popular with tourists and expats,
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and you can wander around for hours without feeling like you're in an unbustling Asian metropolis.
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Wukan Road has the highest density of historic villas.
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So this is the Wukong building.
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It was originally built in 1924, so exactly 100 years from now, yeah.
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Used to be called the Normandy apartment, when that time, like I mentioned, there's a lot of foreigners, people from France, British, they come here,
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and then they used to be lived here.
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Henry wanted us to try some local delicacies, and we had a fantastic lunch at the Rose Restaurant.
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One thing you have to know about Shanghainese cuisine is that it's sweet.
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Wow, the chandelier is so impressive.
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Wow, look at that.
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I'm going to the first floor.
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Oh, it's a busy place.
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The first dish in sweet and sour pork.
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You'll find it tastes very similar to sweet and sour chicken in the U .S.
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And this one is a reddish, but they make it in a very, very complicated way
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so chicken sauce bai yebao kind of like a tofu
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but it makes the vegetables and this tofu stick together
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so also the one i really like i really like yeah
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and the president beef to be honest my also my first time trying
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this i don't know why they call the president b
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but we'll try and see how
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and the shrimp with crab meat also another very classical shanghai cuisine
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so almost every every present company i would recommend
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and you will find the latest thing
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and the last one i would like to introduce this one i believe originally from Suzhou
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but Suzhou is very close to Shanghai so that's why it also makes part of the Shanghai dish the squirrel
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mandarin fish songfu guiyuan chinese but why most foreigners like this is
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because they make it boneless most fish in china cooked are with some original fish head fish bones
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but this one no so you don't need to worry about
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that all you need to do is just to cut it
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and then have a very good taste so this is for love okay thank you the check came to over 200
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yes shanghai can be pretty expensive henry and kunal told me a lot about the local realities
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apparently when you try to invite a girl on a date she will ask you
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if your area code is 310 the first three digits of the ID number for people born in Shanghai.
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If you're not Shanghainese, the remaining Shanghainese will not accept you, especially in terms of.. for finding a partner.
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Finding a partner, but we could be friends, bring colleagues, that's all fine.
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Other things are fine, but like finding a partner?
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They start to ask you this question first.
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Are you 310, do you own a house, something like that?
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If no, we don't need to go out even for a date.
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She'll mention, if you're not 310, don't contact me.
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Speaking of girls.
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And are you guys students?
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Yeah.
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What did you guys study?
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Dance major.
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All of you?
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Yeah.
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Oh, cool.
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Very nice, very nice.
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And tell me, what do you like about Shanghai?
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The environment makes you feel relaxed.
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So since you've learned to dance, can you show something?
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Shanghai needs move fast and stay caffeinated the city reportedly has more coffee shops than London New York or Tokyo.
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Shanghai is now home to over 8 ,000 coffee shops so we had to have some local coffee.
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The place we went to was called Into the Forest
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and they had amazing coffee and what surprised me is that they had edible cups.
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You can drink the coffee and eat the cup afterwards.
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No waste.
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Have you guys ever seen edible This one?
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Wow, are you that hungry?
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It tastes like a cookie, like a biscuit or something.
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Then we decided to go cycling around the neighborhood.
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For locals, it's extremely affordable because you can get a monthly subscription for $3.
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Hello, hello, that's you.
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All right, I'm following you, okay?
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It's so enjoyable, just cycle or walk along the tree -lined streets with an array of bars, cafes, restaurants and boutiques.
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Feel the real character of Shanghai, and it becomes clear why this is seen as the most livable city in China.
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I'm riding a bicycle in downtown
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Shanghai, and that's the best means of transportation you can find, you know.
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No traffic jam, go from one place to another, and it's very, very affordable.
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After that, we took a taxi to another trendy neighborhood, and I got a chance to talk to the taxi driver, with Henry being my translator.
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Let's interview him.
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Yeah, absolutely.
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What does he like about Shanghai?
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What do you like about Shanghai?
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What do you like about Shanghai?
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What do you like?
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How much money can you make as a taxi driver?
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You can't make too much money, but the expensive is really high.
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6 ,000, 7 ,000, 8 ,000.
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Does he want to live in Shanghai forever or he wants to move somewhere else?
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We can only live here in Shanghai, right?
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If we leave here, we'll be back home.
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Yeah, he's joking, kind of joking about his age.
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He said he's already old enough to move around.
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That's why maybe probably just stay in Shanghai.
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Okay, wonderful.
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Wonderful.
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And the neighborhood we've come to is called Xin Tian Di.
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So you guys see the Starbucks is in Shikumin, which is a traditional house for Shanghai.
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It's traditional Shanghai architecture from the 19th century, and it's like a stone buildings, and you will see them in many parts of the city.
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Unfortunately, many of them have been demolished over the years, but some of them are still preserved as part of the cultural heritage,
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and they're so wonderful.
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Once this area used to be a block of old Shikumin buildings.
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What is a Shikumin?
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Loosely translated, it means a stone gate.
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So this is what they call Shikumens, right?
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Yeah.
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It's a good representation of the 19th century architecture that was so ubiquitous in Shanghai back then.
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All these narrow alleys and it's so fun exploring them.
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These Shikumin houses began appearing in Shanghai's British concession in the 1850s and 60s.
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But now this neighborhood has been turned into one of Shanghai's most fashionable areas filled with restaurants, shops and bars.
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This place is popular at night because there are plenty of bars and young people love to hang out, right?
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Oh, I see it's lots of fun already starting.
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Surprisingly, this area is also the birthplace of Chinese Communist Party.
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How ironic that one of China's most important communist sites is located alongside one of its most expensive shopping and eating areas.
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There's even a name confusion.
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If you look at the name of the subway station, it has a double name.
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We visited the site of the first
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National Congress of the Communist Party of China.
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It's a small museum located where the people who started the Chinese Communist Party first met to plan its creation.
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You'll learn about the Chinese history and Revolutionary Age and the modern PRC.
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As a Russian, I was surprised to find so many documents in Russian language.
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That's because the Bolshevik revolution in Russia played a huge part in spreading communist ideas in China.
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Nice museum, biased of course, but those who can read between the lines will find it interesting.
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Speaking of interesting...
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Okay guys, I'm in Moscow all of a sudden.
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But no, I'm still in Shanghai and this building is called Shanghai Exhibition Center.
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And it's built in the Stalinist neo -classical style
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and it was completed in 1955 to commemorate the friendship between the Soviet Union
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and the Communist China and in the background you see all those skyscrapers
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and they look like Moscow City
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so lots of resemblances I bet I can trick some people into thinking
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I'm in Moscow most architecture in Shanghai is very modern that's
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because buildings have a 40
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or 70 year lease from the government most of the times they will not renew the lease and build something new instead.
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If you need a break from all the hustle and bustle of the city, I have an incredibly peaceful and beautiful place for you.
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It's called Yu Garden.
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Welcome to the Garden of Happiness.
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It was built all the way in 1559 during the Ming Dynasty.
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Yu Garden reflects Jingen Garden architecture.
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It was built by Pan Yunduan, a government officer who built it for his father as he was approaching old age.
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This garden has over 40 scenic spots, including pavilions, rock formations and ponds.
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A centerpiece is the exquisite jade rock, a porous five -ton boulder.
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When you step out of the garden, you'll find yourself in a bustling marketplace set, Yuyuan Bazaar, in an old neighborhood with traditional architecture and shops,
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selling everything from dumplings to Chinese souvenirs.
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It's always super crowded.
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The city has many other beautiful parks like
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Shanghai Botanical Garden.
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It's the biggest municipal botanical garden in China.
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I don't know about you guys, but I love visiting botanical gardens because they show you the variety of the vegetation that's specific to this area,
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and this one has really good reviews.
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It has a large collection of thousands of plants, including some rare species.
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it was almost empty on that day because it was 37 outside so yeah
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these cicadas are so loud and i'm actually look at me i'm sweating because it's 37 outside okay
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century park is another wonderful park it's the largest park of the city i was staying at dorset
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Shanghai Hotel, and this is the view that I had from my room.
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Pretty good.
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Century Park is great for jogging or walking.
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You will find people doing Taiji in the morning.
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There's also a great track around five kilometers, which goes around the park, and it's busy with runners and joggers at all times of the day.
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another cool park is people's square park
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but what makes it really unique is the marriage market yes a marriage market parents
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sometimes even grandparents who have the anxiety of their unmarried offspring come here to trade information on their children
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and find a perfect match they come here to kind of advertise
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and find a partner for their kids and they advertise their children by state
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and which college they went to their height their age
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and you know just basic information about them and
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if the other party is interested that's how they match
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and maybe form families
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it never hurts to learn a little bit of
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mandarin people square is the largest square in the city
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and it's close to the park it's surrounded by buildings like the shanghai municipal government the shanghai museum
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and many others in the past
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it used to be a horse racing course the main shopping
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district of shanghai is the east nanjin road nanjin donlu in chinese
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so this place is like the commercial center of shanghai so many stores
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shopping malls everything
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and it's always crowded it is the world's longest shopping district around I'm 5 .5 kilometers long
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and it attracts over 1 million visitors a day.
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It's a street filled with shops, eateries, and lovely restaurants tucked away from above the street level.
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Hello guys!
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Hello guys!
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What's your name?
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My name is Xu Wenying and...
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My name is Tiki!
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Okay, my English name is Eva, and she's my girlfriend.
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I'm studying in Tongji University, and my major is aircraft manufacturing engineering.
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So you know what to...
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That's impressive.
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So it's very hard.
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Maybe I'm not that smart, and it's very hard for me.
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That's really impressive.
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What are you doing?
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Comedy comedy comedy comedy yeah oh it's very interesting i what do you want to do when you graduate
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i can uh i don't think
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that kind of uh question right very clearly now okay
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so you'll see later
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okay how do you
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say okay I'll improve my Chinese if you want to shop with some jewelry,
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clothing or electronic gadgets.
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That's the place to be.
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You'll find all the major designers and manufacturers.
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This road leads to the Bund, so expect a wave of other people to accompany you,
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but don't worry there are police officers to direct pedestrian traffic.
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In a situation like this you have to regulate traffic because otherwise these cars would have no chance.
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See that crowd and this is my crowd, okay?
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We're going in different directions.
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See that crowd is going this way, we're going this way.
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West Nanjing Road is different it's not so crowded
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and it's more upscale with luxe residential high -rises and trendy nightlife it's like
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North Michigan Avenue in Chicago or the Fifth Avenue in New York City
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Henry and I went to a popular local restaurant let's see what we had for dinner
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if you see the QR code it's on every table
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and yeah just say scan
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and I open my WeChat you see this picture you like this food you just click this button
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and then it's on the way these are shall also also a very famous traditional like
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Shanghai style food so there's a soup inside it, pork and a soup inside it you notice very full
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so there's soup inside
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it we dip a little bit of vinegar to suck the soup yeah yeah yeah yeah
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you see the soup is coming outside so
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but sometimes if you don't be careful it might be like yeah too hot to eat so yeah
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this is the chicken feet Chicken feet?
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Wow!
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In my country, we don't really eat them.
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Why not?
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Very nice.
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Very juicy.
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Yeah.
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This is in Chinese called chong fun.
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Cuttlefish and urchin, okay?
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Let's add some vinegar.
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Sure.
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that's rich rich flavor very good seafood we stir it first just to make sure everybody gets a fair piece
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and yeah when kids are sick parents will ask you to eat congee they
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so it's like yeah it's like a healthy way to get some food and energy so this one's called mando
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pomelo sago and it originates from Hong Kong
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it's excellent it feels so fresh like I'm eating real fruit
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so in US
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when I would study abroad notice people love to hang out have parties make some noise
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but here you know in China
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or in Shanghai you know working the night like here people
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love to just sit here together order some delicacy delicious food
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and also very important I have a tea to chat
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and to talk
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and although now it's almost 8 p .m here in a working day as you can see there are still
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so many people in this restaurant.
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Maybe people have just already finished their dinner
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but they just love to sit here have some tea chat and this makes people feel relaxing.
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And you can sit here for like a long time.
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Yeah, as long as there's tea.
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Two or three hours, right?
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Yeah, yeah, yeah.
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Quite normal.
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After this wonderful dinner we decided to go for a walk and enjoy this beautiful
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evening
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when the sun sets
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it's the perfect time to go on a river cruise on Juan Pu.
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You can take a fancy cruise with a dinner like this dragon ship
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or just go for a basic one for 150 renminbi.
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To get to the upper deck and get a better view is another 100 renminbi.
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This has got to be one of the most impressive skylines I've ever seen.
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It's incredible.
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On one side you see the modern skyscrapers of the judgeway and on the other the historical,
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neoclassical, and art deco buildings from the 1920s. So captivating!
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All right, back to the bond.
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Wow, just look at the cards.
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No wonder Shanghai is the wealthiest city in China.
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See this coffee shop?
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Luckin Coffee is a Chinese coffee company that was founded in 2017.
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It now manages over 9 ,300 stores, and it surpassed
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Starbucks by the number of stores in China.
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The band is so busy, I've never seen crowds like that.
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That's what happens when you find yourself in a city of 26 million people.
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I decided to visit one of the local restaurants.
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I got some spicy beef.
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I got some spicy beef.
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Flum juice.
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It's very sour, very fresh.
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I love it.
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And I did not expect this.
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I ordered just a sour and spicy soup, but they brought me a whole bucket.
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There's no way I can finish that.
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This portion is huge.
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If you get the impression that there's too much food in this video, you gotta understand that life revolves around food in China.
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They even say, have you eaten, instead of, how are you?
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There are
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so many showrooms of local car manufacturers some cars look super super modern of course
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they're all electric by the way it pays to have an electric car in Shanghai
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you pay nothing for a green license plate but for a regular one
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that is a blue plate it's somewhere between fifteen to twenty thousand dollars just for the plate did you know
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that Chenhainese dialect is unique from Mandarin Chinese let's ask
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Henry so Henry I have a question I've heard that people in Shanghai have a specific accent.
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Is that true?
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Kind of.
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Some people can just judge where you're from by hearing to your accent.
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So that's amazing.
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Yeah.
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Can you give me a couple of examples how it's different from, say, the language in Beijing?
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Beijing is like an R.
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Let me try my best, okay?
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Kind of, kind of.
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Even we call some same thing with a different name.
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So like a grandpa, They say it's 老老, 老爷, but here we say 外公 ,外婆, so that's kind of different.
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What about Cantonese?
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You speak Cantonese?
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You understand Cantonese?
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Not really.
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Not really.
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Yeah, but they also have some accent.
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I can sometimes tell.
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Thank you.
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If you have enough time, you can take a trip to Jujiajio, Asian town.
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Heads up, it's pretty far away.
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It took me one hour and 40 minutes by subway.
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If you go by Diddy, it's going to take you about an hour.
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We are in Zhuzaijou, and it's a small town on the outskirts of Shanghai.
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It's very beautiful, so picturesque.
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It has a lot of waterways and 36 stone bridges, and you can get a boat ride to enjoy a fantastic evening on the water.
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Of course, it's a tourist town.
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There's lots of restaurants, cafes, and whatnot.
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It's a nice, chill place.
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No traffic, no motorcycles, then you can spend half a day trying local food and taking pictures.
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I guess you can call it the Venice of Shanghai, but I felt like it was a little bit touristy and overcrowded.
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I can only imagine what it's going to be like during the weekend.
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Unfortunately the staff at many boat places did not speak English and were not very helpful or friendly.
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Got off work.
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Any other place?
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No?
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Shanghai is not short in museums but if you have to choose one go for a Shanghai museum.
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It has a comprehensive collection of Chinese artifacts from the ancient times to the modern times
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but there's a trick even though no ticket is required you got to book it in advance
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and you got to have a reservation which i don't
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and i only have two days left in shanghai
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and everything's been booked so i went to shanghai natural history museum instead it's a great museum
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but it was crazy crowded though
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which i think is often the case in china i particularly enjoy dinosaurs
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and many animals of the past especially the gigantic extinct animals
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can you imagine a bear of this size like this monster bear
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or the sable -toothed tiger now that's a good kitty of course you cannot visit
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Shanghai without visiting its wonderful temples like
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Jade Buddha temple it was founded in 1882 with two
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Jade Buddha statues imported from Myanmar by sea the temple now also contains a much larger reclining
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Buddha made of marble donated from Singapore Another famous temple is Jing 'an Temple.
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It's located on West Nanjing Road amongst flashy malls and residential buildings.
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And this is the famous Jing 'an Temple.
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And the original one was built in 247 A .D.
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But back then it was located near Suzhou Creek and in 1216 it was relocated to its current place.
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Another famous temple is Lunhua Temple.
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First built in 242 AD, it is the oldest temple in Shanghai and has a long history of over 1 ,700 years.
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It has a lot of unique architectural features of that time like the pointed rooftops and pagodas.
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The central attraction of the temple is of course the six -tiered pagoda, which rises above the surrounding buildings.
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A great place to see
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China meet in Western culture is the National Cathedral Church of China.
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It has double spires and is designed in the neo -gothic style and it was built between 1906 and 1910.
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The church building was heavily damaged in 1966 at the opening of the Cultural Revolution.
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Red guards from Beijing vandalized the cathedral tearing down the spires in the ceiling.
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If you decide to travel within the country, best go by train.
447
You can come to Shanghai Honchao Railway Station and take a fast speed train to Beijing.
448
It only takes 4 hours and 30 minutes to cover 1100 kilometers.
449
The train travels at 350 kilometers an hour.
450
The China's currency is the renminbi, which means people's money, also known as the yuan.
451
Few people bother with cash these days.
452
Most people use WeChat Pay or Alipay.
453
Like I said, it's a good idea to install those apps in your phone and use services such as Diddy,
454
that is China's Uber, and bike rental apps.
455
You'll find rows of dockless shared bikes on most streets, and they're a great way to get around town.
456
How much money do you have to make to live comfortably in Shanghai?
457
if you ask me 20 000 rmb to the it's it's a minimum thing to live comfortably
458
because the rent would easier run to like 5 000 or more and you need like three four thousand something for
459
food and other expenses if you're not driving if you're driving you need like
460
30 35 yeah so 35 if you're driving
461
if you have a house it goes even higher it also depends on area where you are planning to live.
462
So there are areas like Minghang, Qingpu, those are...
463
Basically, the closer you get to the downtown of Shanghai, the more expensive you need to spend.
464
The city feels incredibly safe.
465
Everybody's so polite and humble.
466
Nobody's eating food or jumping the turnstiles on the subway.
467
But my biggest complaint was the motorcycles riding on sidewalks.
468
That just seems so dangerous.
469
But you know, notice during like downtown some road, they don't have a land specific for bicycles because it's
470
so tight and limited so you see some people have to ride it on the pavement
471
or somewhere else see that's my biggest
472
that's my biggest complaint yeah especially the food delivery guys yes
473
they ride like crazy they ride crazy they can kill
474
you they rush time i'm worried for my safety honestly another way like us
475
sometimes we get a benefit from them because we can order some food
476
and they will deliver it within 30 minutes for you yeah
477
but but i don't like the part they break the rules yeah yeah now let's
478
We talk about stereotypes, right?
479
do chinese people really smoke a lot well some do
480
and some don't
481
but the stereotype about chinese people spitting public is true my taxi drivers never hesitated to spit out of the window
482
i've noticed how many more young people are interested in learning english
483
and practicing in english these days hello hello what are you
484
doing in shanghai um my home is in shanghai oh very nice very nice are you a student
485
you go to school so don't join high school
486
when you graduate in the future what do you want to
487
be what kind of job a lawyer a lawyer okay very nice okay
488
Our English teacher, yeah.
489
Your English is good.
490
Continue learning English.
491
Thank you.
492
Thank you so much.
493
Thank you very much.
494
Hello.
495
What's your name?
496
I'm Bobby.
497
I'm eight years old.
498
I like to eat chocolate.
499
You love chocolate?
500
Yes.
501
Thank you.
502
Thank you.
503
Shanghai is so technologically advanced.
504
I've seen robots delivering food at hotels, robots making ice cream and coffee, and people purchasing drinks from vending machines by scanning their faces.
505
I was visiting in July, and let me tell you, it gets hot in the city.
506
During my stay, it was between 37 and 40 Celsius.
507
Luckily, many places we have to stand in line are air -conditioned.
508
All right, I hope you guys enjoyed this video about Shanghai.
509
Let me know what you think in the comments down below.
510
And my next video is going to be about the capital of China, Beijing.
511
Stay tuned.
512
Thank you.
513
We'll be right back.
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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson
This speaking lesson is built on the video “Shanghai — China’s Largest and Richest City”. This video has 512 sentences and 5365 words to shadow. The speech runs for 37:37. The speaker talks at a steady 143 words per minute, a comfortable pace for shadowing. 82% of the words are among the 3,000 most common in English; the rest is worth studying before you start.
Key vocabulary in this video
15 words from the video worth learning, with pronunciation and meaning:
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| shanghai verb | /ˈʃæŋ.haɪ/ | To force or trick someone to go somewhere or do something against their will or interest, particularly |
| temple noun | /ˈtɛm.pl̩/ | A house of worship dedicated to a polytheistic faith. |
| communist noun | /ˈkɑ.mjə.nɪst/ | An advocate of a society based on the common ownership of property; a proponent of communism. |
| soup noun | /sup/ | Any of various dishes commonly made by combining liquids, such as water or stock, with other ingredients, such as meat and vegetables, that contribute the food… |
| meter noun | /ˈmitəɹ/ | A device that measures things. |
| subway noun | /ˈsʌbˌweɪ/ | An underground railway, especially for mass transit of people in urban areas. |
| impressive adjective | /ɪmˈpɹɛsɪv/ | Making, or tending to make, a positive impression; having power to impress. |
| architecture noun | /ˈɑː.kɪˌtɛk.t͡ʃə/ | The art and science of designing and managing the construction of buildings and other structures, particularly if they are well proportioned and decorated. |
| concession noun | /kənˈsɛʃən/ | The act of conceding. |
| downtown noun | /ˈdaʊ̯nˌtaʊ̯n/ | The main business part of a city or town, usually located at or near its center. |
| taxi noun | /ˈtæksi/ | A vehicle that may be hired for single journeys by members of the public, particularly one with an automated meter to calculate the fare. |
| sour adjective | /ˈsaʊ.ə/ | Tasting of acidity. |
| residential adjective | /ˌrɛzɪˈdɛnʃəl/ | Of or pertaining to a place of personal residence or to a location for such places. |
| beef noun | /bif/ | The meat from cattle or other bovines; especially, that from adults. |
| mall noun | /mɔːl/ | A pedestrianised street, especially a shopping precinct. |
Phrasal verbs you will hear
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| find out verb | To discover, as by asking or investigating. | |
| get around verb | To move to the other side of (something, such as an obstruction) by deviating from a direct course or following a curved path. | |
| get off verb | To move from being on top of (something) to not being on top of it. | |
| go around verb | To move or spread from person to person. | |
| go out verb | To leave, especially a building. | |
| move around verb | To relocate to new homes repeatedly; to not live in any one place for long. | |
| set up verb | /ˌsɛt ˈʌp/ | To make ready for use. |
| stick together verb | To physically combine or join together by adhesion. |
Sentences worth repeating
Short, complete lines from the video that you can reuse in everyday conversation:
- I'm going to the first floor.
- What did you guys study?
- Wow, are you that hungry?
- All right, I'm following you, okay?
- What do you like?
Grammar in this video
The structures the speaker uses most, with the exact words from the video:
| Structure | In the video |
|---|---|
| “Used to” used to + verb — a past habit or state that is no longer true | used to travel · Used to be |
| Conditional sentences if + clause, will/would + verb — a condition and its result | If we leave here, we'll be |
| Present perfect have/has + past participle — a past action that still matters now | have lived · you've learned · we've come |
| Passive voice be + past participle — the focus is on what happens, not who does it | is located · were built · had been illegally exported |
Pronunciation to watch
The speaker uses 68 contractions and reduced forms, such as I'm, don't, you're. Say them the short way, as you hear them.
- The “th” sounds: cathedral /kəˈθiːdɹəl/, clothing /ˈkloʊðɪŋ/, bother /ˈbɑðɚ/
- The “sh” and “zh” sounds: shanghai /ˈʃæŋ.haɪ/, concession /kənˈsɛʃən/, residential /ˌrɛzɪˈdɛnʃəl/, delicious /dɪˈlɪ.ʃəs/, dish /dɪʃ/
- Long words — get the stress right: architecture /ˈɑː.kɪˌtɛk.t͡ʃə/, residential /ˌrɛzɪˈdɛnʃəl/, incredibly /ɪŋˈkɹɛdɪbli/, municipal /mjuˈnɪsɪpəl/, affordable /əˈfɔɹ.də.bəl/
How to practise with this video
- Listen to the whole video once without speaking and note the words you do not know.
- Shadow it sentence by sentence at normal speed, repeating each one until your rhythm matches the speaker.
- Record yourself and compare with the original, paying attention to words like shanghai, temple, communist.
What is the Shadowing Technique?
Shadowing is a science-backed language learning technique originally developed for professional interpreter training and popularized by polyglot Dr. Alexander Arguelles. The method is simple but powerful: you listen to native English audio and immediately repeat it out loud — like a shadow following the speaker with just a 1–2 second delay. Unlike passive listening or grammar drills, shadowing forces your brain and mouth muscles to simultaneously process and reproduce real speech patterns. Research shows it significantly improves pronunciation accuracy, intonation, rhythm, connected speech, listening comprehension, and speaking fluency — making it one of the most effective methods for IELTS Speaking preparation and real-world English communication.