Though, being in China I need to be careful about how I phrase things but I will say this. Shanghai as a city is very much like New York and very free market capitalist. I'm seriously considering remaining here for awhile.
One major difference: Not just anybody in the country can go there. If you are a Chinese citizen, you must have the appropriate stamp in your internal passport to be allowed into the city.
There's no such thing like“internal passport" and you don't need any special permit to enter another city except for Hong Kong.
OK, I will admit that it was 15 years ago, but if there is no internal passport, then what was the little book people were showing the police that came through the train before the last stop in advance of Shenzhen? Particularly interesting since the foreigners, there were 2 of us on the train, were not asked to show anything.
If it is so wonderful, then why do you need to careful how you phrase things?