If Beijing is Jack, Shanghai is the Beanstalk

I thought Beijing was big.  Obviously I had not been to Shanghai.  And while the population difference is not altogether that large of a gap (Beijing: 19 million, Shanghai: 23 million - as of 2010), the amount of people on the streets is incomparable to that of Beijing.  Shanghai is more compact, more western-oriented, and yet... more French?  Many of the buildings have a parisian-like architecture to them that might be in part due to the Shanghai French Concession back before 1946.  Either way, the one thing that struck me about Shanghai much more than it did in Beijing was its HEIGHT!  I have yet to find a building that is 3 stories or less.
This is what I expected China to be like - stuck halfway between old-school traditional pagodas and its western counterpart.  The amount of skyscrapers are insane.  It's easy to get lost here, not because of the streets or the amount of people or the scooters that will run you over if you don't move, but because you can't see where you're going.  The buildings are so tall in order to accommodate the vast amount of people that they had to re-organize the city (according to the Urban Planning Museum) and hence: The Bund.
Definitely a one-of-a-kind place that no other city can rival in terms of originality in building structure, that's for sure.  The outside of the buildings are so beat down and worn out that you would never dream of setting foot inside to live there, much less even think about robbing the place.  But the insides are extremely well-done!  Tonight is Japanese food (sushi......!) followed by the exploration of the city at night.  This is going to be epic.