Chongqing: the biggest city you've never heard of

Today's Guardian had a great piece by Jonathan Watts on China's city of Chongqing, Invisible city:

Chongqing is the fastest-growing urban centre on the planet. Its population is already bigger than that of Peru or Iraq, with half a million more arriving every year in search of a better life. And yet so frequently is this story repeated in China, that outside the country its name barely registers.

The city's population of 10 million si expecetd to double in the next 13 years.

Every year, 8.5 million Chinese peasants move into cities. ...Nowhere is the staggering urbanisation of ..more evident than in Chongqing. Never heard of it? This is where the pace and scale of urbanisation is probably faster and bigger than anywhere in the world today. This is the Coketown of the early 21st century.

Set in the middle reaches of the Yangtze, this former trading centre and treaty port has long been the economic hub of western China. But after its government was given municipal control of surrounding territory the size of many countries, it has grown and grown, becoming what is now the world's biggest municipality with 31 million residents (more people than Iraq, Peru or Malaysia). The population in its metropolitan areas will double from 10 million to 20 million in the next 13 years.

When the planet's rural-urban balance tips, it is as likely to happen here as anywhere. To get a snapshot, I spent a day with a Channel 4 film crew in this megalopolis - just the sort of day, in fact, when humanity might pass the halfway point on its millennia-long journey out of the countryside.

The article provides 'slices of life' over a 24 hour period, from the porters ('bangbang men') to the builders, new rich, city officials, intellectuals and street kids. Unfortunately, the great photos which accompanied the G2 article aren't featured online.

Jonathan Watts' special news report about Chongqing, Megalopolis, featured on Channel 4 News tonight, and can also be viewed online.

Comments

[China Law Blog]

Chongqing is an amazing city and the Guardian's article on it is fascinating. I also blogged on it.