Bilbao vs Qingdao

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Bilbao (, also US: , Spanish: [bilˈβao]; Basque: Bilbo [bilβo]) is a city in northern Spain, the largest city in the province of Biscay and in the Basque Country as a whole. It is also the largest city proper in northern Spain. Bilbao is the tenth largest city in Spain, with a population of 345,141 as of 2015. The Bilbao metropolitan area has 1,037,847 inhabitants, making it one of the most populous metropolitan areas in northern Spain; with a population of 875,552 the comarca of Greater Bilbao is the fifth-largest urban area in Spain. Bilbao is also the main urban area in what is defined as the Greater Basque region. Bilbao is situated in the north-central part of Spain, some 16 kilometres (10 mi) south of the Bay of Biscay, where the economic social development is located, where the estuary of Bilbao is formed. Its main urban core is surrounded by two small mountain ranges with an average elevation of 400 metres (1,300 ft). Its climate is shaped by the Bay of Biscay low-pressure systems and mild air, moderating summer temperatures by Iberian standards, with low sunshine and high rainfall. The annual temperature range is low for its latitude. After its foundation in the early 14th century by Diego López V de Haro, head of the powerful Haro family, Bilbao was a commercial hub of the Basque Country that enjoyed significant importance in Green Spain. This was due to its port activity based on the export of iron extracted from the Biscayan quarries. Throughout the nineteenth century and the beginning of the twentieth, Bilbao experienced heavy industrialisation, making it the centre of the second-most industrialised region of Spain, behind Barcelona.

At the same time an extraordinary population explosion prompted the annexation of several adjacent municipalities. Nowadays, Bilbao is a vigorous service city that is experiencing an ongoing social, economic, and aesthetic revitalisation process, started by the iconic Bilbao Guggenheim Museum, and continued by infrastructure investments, such as the airport terminal, the rapid transit system, the tram line, the Azkuna Zentroa, and the currently under development Abandoibarra and Zorrozaurre renewal projects.Bilbao is also home to football club Athletic Club de Bilbao, a significant symbol for Basque nationalism due to its promotion of only Basque players and being one of the most successful clubs in Spanish football history. On 19 May 2010, the city of Bilbao was recognised with the Lee Kuan Yew World City Prize, awarded by the city state of Singapore, in collaboration with the Swedish Nobel Academy. Considered the Nobel Prize for urbanism, it was handed out on 29 June 2010. On 7 January 2013, its mayor, Iñaki Azkuna, received the 2012 World Mayor Prize awarded every two years by the British foundation The City Mayors Foundation, in recognition of the urban transformation experienced by the Biscayan capital since the 1990s. On 8 November 2017, Bilbao was chosen the Best European City 2018 at The Urbanism Awards 2018, awarded by the international organisation The Academy of Urbanism.

Source: Wikipedia

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Qingdao ([tɕʰíŋtàu]; also spelled Tsingtao; Chinese: 青岛) is a major sub-provincial city in eastern Shandong province, China. Located on the western shore of Yellow Sea coast, Qingdao is a major nodal city on the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road arm of the Belt and Road Initiative that connects East Asia with Europe, and has the highest GDP of any city in the province. It had jurisdiction over seven districts and three county-level cities till 2019, and as of 2014 had a population of 9,046,200 with an urban population of 6,188,100. Lying across the Shandong Peninsula and looking out to the Yellow Sea to its south, it borders the prefectural cities of Yantai to the northeast, Weifang to the west and Rizhao to the southwest. Qingdao is a major seaport, naval base and industrial centre. The world's longest sea bridge, the Jiaozhou Bay Bridge, links the main urban area of Qingdao with Huangdao district, straddling the Jiaozhou Bay sea areas. It is also the site of the Tsingtao Brewery, the second largest brewery in China.In 2020, Qingdao ranked 47th in the Global Financial Centres Index published by the Z/Yen Group and China Development Institute, the other Chinese cities on the list being Shanghai, Hong Kong, Beijing, Shenzhen, Guangzhou, Chengdu, Nanjing, Xi'an, Tianjin, Hangzhou, Dalian, and Wuhan.

In 2007, Qingdao was named as one of China's top ten cities by the Chinese Cities Brand Value Report, which was released at the 2007 Beijing Summit of China Cities Forum. In 2009, Qingdao was named China's most livable city by the Chinese Institute of City Competitiveness. In 2018, Qingdao held the Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit. In 2020, Qingdao was rated as a Gamma + level global city by the Globalization and World Cities Research Network.Qingdao is also one of a major city in the world by scientific research as tracked by the Nature Index according to the Nature Index 2020 Science Cities. The city is home to several notable universities, including the Ocean University of China, one of China's prestigious universities as a member of Project 985, and China University of Petroleum (East China), a member of the Project 211.

Source: Wikipedia