Postcard from China:

Learning the meaning of ‘big.’

As part of The Chronicle’s coverage of the Warriors’ trip to China, beat writer Connor Letourneau is posting accounts of what he observes.

SHANGHAI — The U.S. is built on a bigger-is-better mantra.

Until it was removed from menus in 2004, the supersize option at McDonald’s played into Americans’ gluttonous tendencies. The real estate market thrives on the need to have the bigger, better house. If people weren’t so intent on having the hugest, most garish car, the Hummer would still be used only in the Army.

After only 24 hours in Shanghai, I’m rethinking all I once thought about size and scale.

The sheer magnitude of this city in eastern China — from its bustling population of more than 24 million (three times that of New York City) to its skyline filled with gleaming towers of metal — overwhelms the senses.

Early Friday morning local time, shortly after arriving in Shanghai, I stepped into the elevator at the Ritz-Carlton and was flabbergasted to see the hotel had roughly 60 floors. When I ventured into a neighboring mall around noon for lunch, I spent about 30 minutes picking a restaurant — there were too many options.

Finally, once I grabbed my food to go, I got lost trying to find the exit. Apparently sensing my confusion, a middleaged woman walked me down a long, winding corridor. Greeting me outside was the Shanghai Tower, which at 2,073 feet is the second-tallest building in the world.

At dinner, one of the public relations staffers for NBA China put things into context: The Chinese consider any city with less than 10 million people second-rate, she said.

By that measure, of course, nowhere in the U.S. measures up.