A few weeks ago we happened to get into a discussion about the geographical counterparts of China's 1st tier cities on the North American and European continent. We learned that our mental map of the world is very much shaped by the climatic experiences from the places we hail from, and do generally not reflect the physical reality.
Who would have thought that London (51º), Hamburg (53º), Berlin (52º) or even Vienna (48º) are much more northern than Harbin (47º)? I only remember from my time in Qiqihar that the province of Heilongjiang is mostly at the same latitude as Austria. I was quite surprised to learn that Beijing shares its latitude with Ankara and Philadelphia (39º), and that Shanghai does so with Cairo, Las Palmas de Tenerife and Houston (31º). Guangzhou and Hong Kong on the other hand are close to the Tropic of Cancer (23º) like Havana, Honolulu, Mexico City, Calcutta and Muscat. Not a single European country can be found in these deep southern latitudes on the Northern hemisphere.
Who would have thought that London (51º), Hamburg (53º), Berlin (52º) or even Vienna (48º) are much more northern than Harbin (47º)? I only remember from my time in Qiqihar that the province of Heilongjiang is mostly at the same latitude as Austria. I was quite surprised to learn that Beijing shares its latitude with Ankara and Philadelphia (39º), and that Shanghai does so with Cairo, Las Palmas de Tenerife and Houston (31º). Guangzhou and Hong Kong on the other hand are close to the Tropic of Cancer (23º) like Havana, Honolulu, Mexico City, Calcutta and Muscat. Not a single European country can be found in these deep southern latitudes on the Northern hemisphere.
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