China becomes an urban nation at breakneck speed

[beijingwalker]

China becomes an urban nation at breakneck speed
Tania Branigan in Guiyang
guardian.co.uk, Sunday 2 October 2011 16.00 BST

This is the year China finally became an urban nation. In April the census revealed that 49.7% of its 1.34bn population was living in cities, compared with around a fifth as economic reforms got off the ground in 1982. By now, China's urbanites outnumber their country cousins. "The process they have been going through over three decades took four or five decades in Japan and [South] Korea and 100 years in the west,"says Edward Leman, whose Chreon consultancy has advised numerous Chinese cities on development.

It is not only the extraordinary speed that is "unprecedented and unparalleled", says Prof Paul James of the Global Cities Institute at RMIT University in Melbourne. "It represents the most managed process of urbanisation in human history. The state is involved in every way. It manages the building of new cities. It regulates the housing of internally displaced people. It responds actively and sometimes oppressively to new waves of squatters."

The new five-year plan pushes urbanisation even further, as the government seeks to raise living standards and promote development in the poorer central and western regions. A hard landing for the economy could slow this process – local government debt is a particular worry – but will not stop it.

By 2025, one study suggests, 350 million more people will have moved to cities; more than the population of the US. Five years later the urban population will top 1 billion. There will be 221 cities with more than 1 million inhabitants; Europe currently has 35. The number of new skyscrapers could equate to 10 New York cities. The impact will be felt worldwide: in prices for commodities such as steel and copper, and in greenhouse gas emissions.

Li Keqiang – the vice-premier expected to become prime minister in 2012 – has argued that urbanisation should be the "strategic focus" of expanding domestic demand. China needs to restructure its economy, moving away from exports and investment towards domestic consumption. In the short-term urbanisation creates demand for infrastructure and property; in the longer run, urbanites consume vastly more than rural dwellers.

Han Jun, deputy director with the state council's development research centre – a top government thinktank – has predicted that the process will boost domestic demand by 30trn yuan (£3trn) by 2030.

 

[T90TankGuy]

good going . going forward is the only way . its and Asian century .

 

[beijingwalker]

My favorite,the best city skyline in the world.HongKong

 

[beijingwalker]

Shanghai city skyline

 

[beijingwalker]

Guangzhou city

 

[Huan]

I need a wide-screen wallpaper of one of these nice cities. Preferably, 1440 x 900 resolution or its equivalent ratio of that.

 

[beijingwalker]

City: # of buildings 100 metres or more---Combined Heights in metres [2010]

TOP 5
01. Hong Kong: 2,354---333,836
02. New York: 794---109,720
03. Tokyo: 556---73,008
04. Dubai: 403---66,248
05. Shanghai: 430---59,958

TOP 10
06. Bangkok: 355---48,737
07. Chicago: 341---48,441
08. Ghuangzhou: 295---42,865
09. Seoul: 282---39,308
10. Kuala Lumpur: 244---34,035

TOP 15
11. Singapore: 238---33,735
12. Shenzhen: 235---33,435
13. Chongqing: 226---31,475
14. Toronto: 216---27,867
15. Panama City: 185---27,478

TOP 20
16. Manila: 186---26,307
17. Jakarta: 170---23,674
18. Sao Paulo: 194---22,794
19. Osaka: 172---22,754
20. Beijing: 172---22,192

TOP 25
21. Macau: 131---19,597
22. Moscow: 132---18,504
23. Tianjin: 131---18,259
24. Nanjing: 110---16,784
25. Mumbai: 118---16,331

TOP 30
26. Miami: 137---18,385
27. Buenos Aires: 122---15,254
28. Sydney: 102---13,933
29. Mexico City: 114---13,862
30. Dalian: 93---12,803

TOP 35
31. Houston: 86---12,614
32. Doha: 78---12,254
33. Istanbul: 90---11,897
34. Honolulu: 104---11,855
35. San Francisco: 88---11,582

TOP 40
36. Wuhan: 79---11,236
37. Busan: 64---10,556
38. Shenyang: 76---10,479
39. Atlanta: 73---10,471
40. Chengdu: 81---10,453

TOP 45
41. Los Angeles: 70---10,062
42. Melbourne: 69---9,868
43. Paris: 78---9,558
44. Qingdao: 68---9,404
45. Rio de Janeiro: 73: 8,867

TOP 50
46. Xiamen: 66---8,584
47. Hangzhou: 62---8,463
48. Las Vegas: 59: 8,241
49. Dallas: 53---7,879
50. Tel Aviv: 59---7,679


Cities in Asia (28)
Cities in America (16)
Cities in the Rest of the World (6)

 

[beijingwalker]

Chinese city Chongqing

 

[Huan]

Omg, the visuals of these cities is overwhelming me here in America. Can't take much more of this........Gahhhhh!!!!!!

 

[beijingwalker]

Chinese city Shenzhen skyline

 

[Viva_Viet]

It seems that many building in China are empty bcz no one buy or hire it, that why ,china real estate bubble is very dangerous now.

A buying frenzy for the apartments has fizzled, and sales have slowed to a crawl. More than 100 units sit unsold.

“When we first opened, we were selling everything immediately,” said one young sales agent, who would give only her family name, Wang. “Now we are selling six or seven units a month. But it’s really better than houses selling outside the Fifth Ring,” she said, referring to an area about 10 kilometres from the city centre. “Houses there are so inconvenient, they aren’t selling at all.’’

In Shanghai this week, a firestorm of protest erupted when developers offered discounts of as much as 40 per cent on new unsold apartments. Several hundred buyers, who had plunked down cash for the full price, were furious that their investments had lost so much value before they even received the keys.

Increasingly common stories of slow sales and discounted property are raising fears of a deeper and, many say, overdue correction in the Chinese property market.

Chinese authorities, alarmed by soaring prices and increasing numbers of speculators, have placed limits on who can buy property and on how many homes a person can own. Bank lending has been tightened to limit developers’ ability to undertake new projects and a new emphasis has been placed on the construction of low-cost housing.

The measures appear to be working: National Statistics Bureau numbers released this month showed that housing-price inflation cooled in 59 of 70 cities tracked in September, compared with a year earlier. Property prices in so-called first-tier cities, including Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen and Guangzhou, were flat month-over-month. Shanghai’s housing authority this week showed overall property sales volume fell 13 per cent year-over-year, to a six-year low.

The country’s largest developer, China Vanke, has also warned that prices have begun a downward spiral.

“We can see a trend of declining sales, especially in the major cities,” executive vice-president Shirley Xiao said during a conference call with investors this week, following news that the company’s property sales revenue fell 12 per cent in September. “Prices have begun to decline little by little, so we think even buyers who are able to buy will choose to wait because they’re targeting even lower price cuts.”

China’s lofty property prices are far beyond the reach of many citizens, and have prompted widespread talk of an unsustainable bubble.

At Beijing’s 800-unit Tun San Li project, which started sales in 2009 and is set to open next June, a small one-bedroom apartment runs about $400,000, and larger dwellings cost more than double that.

In comparison, a typical Chinese middle manager, teacher or government official usually earns less than $1,000 a month.

The fate of the property market is a concern for rising middle-class Chinese families. Owning a home – or two or three – is seen as the most secure way to invest savings when stock markets are notoriously volatile, and a way to help only sons secure a mate in a society where 118 boys are now born for every 100 girls.

The Shanghai protests sparked a great deal of discussion – not all of it sympathetic – on Chinese Web portals. There have been other reports of developers giving deep discounts in outlying areas of Beijing as well as Shanghai (and, in at least one case, they were pressured into giving rebates to earlier buyers).

“I heard of what happened in Shanghai. Such things have also happened in Beijing as well. The developments in real estate regulation have brought prices down severely and earned the dissatisfaction of homeowners. They have been protesting to the developers. It has been like this since August,” said Zhang Dawei, an analyst with Centaline, a major Chinese real estate sales company.

Chinese housing bubble fears grow - The Globe and Mail

 

[Infiltrator]

I'd like to visit Hong Kong and Shanghai in the future to take in their breathtaking skylines and urbanization. Definitely two of the top places I'd like to visit in East Asia.

 

[crimemaster_gogo]

My favorite,the best city skyline in the world.HongKong

they are enough to make any non-chinese jealous. absolutely admirable
.
. waiting for Mumbai tower to complete

 

[Huan]

Infrastructure that is very worth investing in for the future of China. ^^ Much better than overseas military adventures and wars.

Maybe China will be the "Coruscant" of Asia or the entire globe.

 

[beijingwalker]

My hometown Beijing,though not near to other Chinese mega skyline cities,still the Capital of China.