Chinese demographic and economic policies on display.
Howard French reports in the New York Times on the purposeful growth of on of China's large cities.Big, Gritty Chongqing, City of 12 Million, Is China’s Model for Future
"Stand in the right spot in this gigantic city and hills draped with apartment complexes can remind you of Hong Kong, the density of habitation will recall Tokyo and the river-spanning brawn, replete with an immense new structure over the Yangtze that echoes the Brooklyn Bridge, might recall New York...
"[T]he swift rise of Chongqing represents a new departure: a major push by Beijing to spread the fruits of China’s economic boom to the country’s vast interior, home to three Chinese in four.
"A consensus has emerged among Beijing’s leadership that the way to ease poverty in the interior is to encourage people by the tens of millions to abandon the land for the cities...
"In 1978, a mere 18 percent of Chinese lived in cities and towns. By 2010, the authorities estimate that 50 percent will...
"The city’s economic growth is drawing about 200,000 new residents a year...
"They are also expanding the city limits... under a scheme the city calls the “one-hour economy circle.” Under the plan... the city wants to move two million rural residents into newly urbanized areas within an hour’s driving distance from the city center...
"As an inducement the city is enticing landholders to surrender their claims on their rural plots in exchange for prized urban residency permits that offer not only legal residence in a city, but also access to social services and benefits unavailable in rural areas...
"As with anything on this scale, the process has been full of hiccups, gigantic hiccups in some cases, all of which are on display almost every day here. One of the most obvious problems is the environment.
"Even in a country full of grimly polluted places, Chongqing... bears special mention. A haze hangs in the air even on good days, and for much of the rest of the year the city’s skyline simply disappears at any distance...
"But if the creation of giant new cities like this was intended to alleviate the poverty of rural migrants, the results so far have been mixed. Many thousands of people arrive here chasing a dream they seem unlikely ever to catch.
"Those Chongqing newcomers can be seen in droves, trudging through the city’s streets with lengths of stout bamboo looking for casual work as old-fashioned porters. Others are drawn by the lure of regular work in the booming construction industry, but the supply of laborers far outstrips the demand..."
posted by Ken Wedding @ 6:51 AM
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