How China's tier 5 or tier 6 cities look like?

[AndrewJin]

Second tier City Kunming (Mand. pronunciation [kʰwə́n.mǐŋ]; Chinese: 昆明; pinyin: Kūnmíng) is the capital of and largest city in Yunnan Province, Southwest China.
http://720yun.com/t/0f626wOdqcw?pano_id=138989

It's tier 3.
I don't think we should discuss provincial capitals which are tier 2-3 except for tier-one Guangzhou.

 

[terranMarine]

goodness, even tier 5-6 cities can be counted as quite developed when judging those villages at first glimpse
Development in China is always full of surprises, this is something i can expect from the world economic engine and as Asia's Big Boss.

 

[GS Zhou]

goodness, even tier 5-6 cities can be counted as quite developed when judging those villages at first glimpse
Development in China is always full of surprises, this is something i can expect from the world economic engine and as Asia's Big Boss.

Before I open up this one, there was a hot thread on the "China & Far East" section, which saying China is a poor country. We've seen many Indian friends rushing into that thread, comparing China & US by nominal GDP, or comparing India & China by PPP GDP, etc.

But after I open up this thread, the discussion on that thread comes to a sudden stop. Haha.

A real picture is better than a thousand words.

 

[Dungeness]

Sorry for the post..but look at our 2 million plus city Visakhapatnam...

Sorry, but are we supposed to be impressed?

 

[Kai Liu]

Sorry, but are we supposed to be impressed?

Probably not for a capital and largest city of a state.. Considering the level of urbanization, the Chinese counterpart to this city should at least be a city like this (and we have at least 50 such cities):
Fuzhou http://720yun.com/t/e2728mivjta?pano_id=55273
or this Nanchang http://720yun.com/t/b702a9puwnv?pano_id=1436849

 

[AndrewJin]

[媒体=的YouTube] JxrWeN9h_Es [/媒体]

Great series of traveling in rural China, subscribed!
Those are the indians we welcome here.
Experience yourself with your hearts and your eyes!

Actually from these videos we can explain the differences between towns, county towns, county-level cities, prefecture-level cities.....
I'll give a try....

They started from Mojiang Hani Autonomous County's main town, then drove on G5811 expressway all the way to
the provincial capital city of Kunming, a tier 3 city.

 

[ashok mourya]

Probably not for a capital and largest city of a state.. Considering the level of urbanization, the Chinese counterpart to this city should at least be a city like this (and we have at least 50 such cities):
Fuzhou http://720yun.com/t/e2728mivjta?pano_id=55273
or this Nanchang http://720yun.com/t/b702a9puwnv?pano_id=1436849

Just a word..wow

 

[AndrewJin]

Sorry for the post..but look at our 2 million plus city Visakhapatnam...

feel like a county town here in Western China, but infra is a little bit 1980s style

Best wishes for Indian cities, big room

Probably not for a capital and largest city of a state.. Considering the level of urbanization, the Chinese counterpart to this city should at least be a city like this (and we have at least 50 such cities):
Fuzhou http://720yun.com/t/e2728mivjta?pano_id=55273
or this Nanchang http://720yun.com/t/b702a9puwnv?pano_id=1436849

I don't think Nanchang and Fuzhou, China's 2-3 tier cities are topics in this thread!
In most ranks, they are tier3.
Local people there brag they are tier2 though.

Great series of traveling in rural China, subscribed!
Those are the indians we welcome here.
Experience yourself with your hearts and your eyes!

Actually from these videos we can explain the differences between towns, county towns, county-level cities, prefecture-level cities.....
I'll give a try....

They started from Mojiang Hani Autonomous County's main town, then drove on G5811 expressway all the way to
the provincial capital city of Kunming, a tier 3 city.

View attachment 424512

Another interesting one.

They started from Jinghong, a county-level city,
drove on rural roads through the outskirts of Pu'er City, a prefecture-level city @13:00
at least, again via rural roads to Mojiang Hani Autonomous County.

 

[Kai Liu]

Just found out Visakhapatnam is the 17th largest city in India in terms of population, it should be comparable with the tier 2 city like Hangzhou in China (the cities shown in my early post are considered tier 3 cities). Of course this city has its charm in some sense, but the level of development is obviously at some early stage.
http://www.nriol.com/india-statistics/biggest-cities-india.asp

 

[shadows888]

Sorry for the post..but look at our 2 million plus city Visakhapatnam...

go make a thread in the south asia section on indian less known cities. i'm sure you get some interest.

 

[AndrewJin]

Just found out Visakhapatnam is the 17th largest city in India in terms of population, it should be comparable with the tier 2 city in China. Of course this city has its charm in some sense, but the level of development is obviously at some early stage.
http://www.nriol.com/india-statistics/biggest-cities-india.asp

That city reminds me of Weihai City in Shandong Province.
I love smaller coastal cities in China!

Or
Dongying City

Let's back to the topics on China's smaller cities shall we?

 

[Cybernetics]

Before I open up this one, there was a hot thread on the "China & Far East" section, which saying China is a poor country. We've seen many Indian friends rushing into that thread, comparing China & US by nominal GDP, or comparing India & China by PPP GDP, etc.

But after I open up this thread, the discussion on that thread comes to a sudden stop. Haha.

A real picture is better than a thousand words.

Great thread, a picture is worth a thousand words! I thoroughly enjoyed seeing the progress China has made over the years, knowing how it was a decade or two ago, its truly incredible. The difference between developed nations and underdeveloped nations is that in developed nations even the small cities/towns can enjoy comparable services as the major ones. China is heading in the right direction.

People that talk about China's upcoming economic collapse definitely haven't been to China or have a deep understanding of the country. To people that have been to China and have some understanding of the country they will find these notions to be quite hilarious and will see it as either ignorance or agenda driven. Its not to say China wont face economic difficulties in the future (might face real estate cool down and manufacturing closures), there are recession(s) in China in every business cycle but they are regionally contained(ie. dongguan, dongbei) and in different sectors (ie. steel, textiles), then they reform and recover. Plenty of older industries will close down and some low-end manufacturing will go overseas, particular media outlets will portray it as China losing its competitiveness when in fact the opposite is occurring, China will be competing in higher end industries. Foreign critics often mis-diagnose the situation due to their lack of understanding, bias, and or agenda. The ones that foolishly believe such reports will be baffled when few short years later China is dominating global markets in strategic industries, these people will believe what they want to believe and are not serious about understanding China but for people who are against ignorance and seek truth its better to avoid such sensationalism. Some people even think Chinese people are living in total tyranny and are hateful of others, and then surprised to see Indian travellers freely travelling in China and Chinese being so nice, I wonder what kind of propaganda they have been fed?

To some that are wondering why Chinese people seem like they don't like to criticise the Chinese government/CCP or admit its wrong doings, its because they don't want to do it in front of ill-intended outsiders (its obvious who harbours such feelings, no need to pretend). Internally the debate about reform and development is intense and many old mistakes have been admitted but its always about the issues not about revolution, not dwelling on past events when they are busy building a brighter future. Some people/countries look at China's development in wonderment and wish for their own country to enjoy such an environment which is respectable and I empathise with that. But they need to realise with anything comes a cost, nothing is free, are they willing to pay the real cost? Chinese people certainly have and the vast majority think the price was worth it, they saved immensely, focused on getting the best education, worked hard and tirelessly, sacrificed their own well being for their children and parents, etc. Its a difficult road to walk and few will understand its struggles. China's development was not despite of the CCP but it was a central factor in China's development. Some seemingly draconian policies provided China the necessary environment for growth, yes even the ones that are widely criticised (ie, one child policy, intense education, executions of criminals, suppression of NGOs), it is an uncomfortable truth for some but it was worth it. As China develops further, draconian policies will lessen but some will remain to preserve the goose that laid the golden egg. Chinese people will only discuss openly with people who have sincerity.

As whole the country is still moving forward at breakneck speed and will do so for years to come. Please post more beautiful small cities!

 

[AndrewJin]

goodness, even tier 5-6 cities can be counted as quite developed when judging those villages at first glimpse
Development in China is always full of surprises, this is something i can expect from the world economic engine and as Asia's Big Boss.

There will be a long journey for these smaller cities and non-tier county towns and townships.
Like I have said, urbanisation in China is happening in all-levels.
Many people just look at urbanisation of China's tier 1-2 cities.
Totally biased and ignorant....
Most Chinese live in tier3-5 cities.

Give them another 1-2 decades!
Build trams (suggested by @Götterdämmerung), BRT, light rails.
Provide civil services to every single town and village
Establish small economic zones and innovation parks

Another basic goal:
connect EVERY county with controlled-access expressways (except remote counties with just thousands of people)
connect MOST prefecture-level city with high-speed railways

There are TOO many things to be done.
What we have achieved is a long long away from our expectation of this nation.

Liuzhou

For this Liuzhou City of 1.5 million people in Western China, so many things can be done...
Their technology university needs new campus...
Their planned huge parks are still on the paper...(@Götterdämmerung might disagree)
Their planned metro system has not been finished.....
Their planned HSRs to Guangzhou has not started construction
Their new railway station's construction speed is slower than expected.....

I just feel bad for Liuzhou.
I am not saying Liuzhou is bad, just cities around Liuzhou work harder...
The formal capital of Guangxi Province, is now nowhere to be seen among China's top50.
（86th economy wise)

 

[ohmrlobalobayeh]

@AndrewJin

Can u post some development news of 信阳市 in Henan? Would be interested to know cos that's the original place where the people of today's 莆田市 in fujian came from during the Southward migration occuring during the Tang dynasty.

 

[AndrewJin]

Probably not for a capital and largest city of a state.. Considering the level of urbanization, the Chinese counterpart to this city should at least be a city like this (and we have at least 50 such cities):
Fuzhou http://720yun.com/t/e2728mivjta?pano_id=55273
or this Nanchang http://720yun.com/t/b702a9puwnv?pano_id=1436849

I won't be surprised by Fuzhou....
But Nanchang literally surprises me.
Last time I went to Nanchang was in high school.
I went there for a 自主招生考试 for a uni in Shanghai.
That was really a crappy provincial capital in my opinion.
Well, Wuhan, my hometown was as bad as Nanchang at that time....

Central China's development is really fast.
But our counties should be stronger.....
Big cities here are good enough.