First, I come from China, I am a software engineer and I have 13 years working experience.
This Article I want to talking about 2 cities which I liked very much, Chengdu and Los Angeles, I have lived in Chengdu for 5+ years from 2009 to 2015, yes I had a job in Chengdu and also bought a apartment here. after that I went to Los Angeles , I guess I will continue stay in LA in next 2-3 years, actually I don't have plan after 3 years, let's go and see:).
I having a summer break in China now, about 2 month, for some reason I have to( Visa problem), you know I haven't went to China for 2+ years, Chengdu gave a big impression when I arrived in Chengdu 2 month ago.
infrastructure
Chengdu : during the way to my apartment , I found that a lot of new skyscrapers , also a lot of new road, I asked taxi driver a lot of questions, like where is it? what's that building? looks I am a traveler who is the first time come to Chengdu.
LA : I don't think LA Changed a lot during last 5 years, I have watched a old movie which talking about 80's LA, in the movie I found that most of area is the same as now.
Share Economy
Chengdu : I noticed there are a lot of same kind of bike in the roadside , also found that a lot of people riding the same kind of bike, yes this is Sharing bike. I didn't saw it 3 years ago, some people told me , there are more that ten million sharing bikes in China , amazing !
using Sharing bike it's very simple, use wechat to scan, you can unlock that bike in 3 seconds, and you don't need pay cash, I will tell you wechat pay in next section, trust me this kind of bike is everywhere , it's very convenient when you get off from Bus or Subway , and ridding that to go to apartment, solving the last mile problem perfectly.
LA: I have seen similar in LA in somewhere, it's not popular at all. 2 main reasons.
1. it's very few of them
2. it's not convenient to pay it
No Cash Pay
Chengdu: 3 years ago, I didn't use WeChat pay or Ali pay very often, 1-3 times in one year, I guess, now , trust me you don't need bring any cash any card when you go out , you can use your phone to pay everything, in any restaurant, taxi, airport ,train. supermarket, even a very small grocery in countryside , and even a beg ， you can pay him by your phone.
LA: apple pay seems not very popular , most of people still using credit card.