China's visa requirements for visitors from Southeast and East Asia also lowered Shanghai's chances.

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Shanghai's East China University of Politics and Law says that male students must be at least 1.70 metres in height and females 1.60 metres.

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"The migrant workers of this generation are so different from earlier generations, " says Li Guorui, a psychology professor at East China Normal University in Shanghai.

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The Department of City Planning report even cites conversion to hotels and condos as one of the drags on the ability of Midtown East to compete with the likes of Shanghai and Hong Kong.

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Herman Dicker's Wanderers and Settlers in the Far East details three distinct periods of Jewish immigration to Shanghai.

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The tremors were felt as far away as Shanghai and Hangzhou on the mainland's east coast.

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And East is Beijing and the new skyline being erected in Shanghai.

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"But Shanghai has always been known as the 'Paris of the East' and, even before that, the city was important in terms of trade, " he said.

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Wednesday, the Chinese Academy of Sciences said the H7N9 virus probably came from migratory birds from East Asia that mixed with domestic fowl in China's Yangtze River delta region around Shanghai.

CNN: WHO reports 5 new bird flu cases in China; total now 49

China has confirmed two fresh cases of bird flu in Shanghai, as it attempts to contain the latest outbreak of the virus in the east of the country.

BBC: China closes Nanjing market over H7N9 bird flu