Just to be that guy, Chungking / Chongqing is another major city long known in the West. After government reorganization it is technically the most populous city on Earth within city limits. The city limits are, however, over 80,000 square kilometers. That's a "city" larger than 12 of the 50 states in the U.S.A. and more than 40% of the nations in the world. Maine and Austria are the closest in size, respectively.
I'd back this idea. Chongqing was even a temporary capital during the Japanese invasion, so it certainly seems to be a better candidate than Haikou for inclusion in this quiz.
Very good list. A lot of people don't think Haikou is significant enough to merit the top-20. I agree, but Shangri-La is clearly the one that most deserves to drop out, unless you have a fetish for bad novels. (The city was renamed after the book in 2001). Changsha, Yan'an, Chongqing, and Kashgar might be replacements.
Kind of agree, even though Shangri-La could be guessed by someone whom had never heard of the city before so that's probably a plus to QM. But you could add Chengdu, Ningbo, Luoyang, Xiamen, Anyang, Kaifeng, or several others with cultural/historical significance.
The front picture for the quiz is a Korean royal palace called Gyeongbokgung, which is in the center of Seoul and is totally irrelevant to this quiz. I suggest you change it.
Yeah, the picture used in the quiz headline is of Gyeongbokgung Palace in Seoul, which is an egregious shame because there is a lot of beautiful historic architecture in all of the listed Chinese cities
(I'm a geography nerd like most of you here but I never found this city in quizzes alike)
Just as informative as
A pointless haiku
Every time I take a quiz involving Chinese cities, I forget about Chengdu. Then when the quiz is over, I see the answers and think, "Ah, Chengdu!".
It's a massive city with a long history and yet. . .my brain refuses to remember it.
My apologies to the residents of Chengdu but my subconscious clearly refuses to believe you exist.
Shangri-La renamed recently to attract tourists, so it was the only one that slipped my mind.
Only because of poems
Wait...I mean Haiku