Why China's Gigantic Cities Are Just Too Small

[dc_denizen]

During the last 30 years, China has had plenty of money thrown at it as its opened itself to the international financial system, and this money seems to have been used prudently for the most part to build cities and infrastructure instead of to buy back shares and build particleboard houses in cornfields. It's a bit rich to see any American criticizing China's urban planning.

The US has much more wealth than China, it's just diffused in a way across people and actors in the economy and thus harder to marshal for the purpose of national projects. Plus, you have the legal impediments to things like bullet trains and massive dams.

But the country does seem to be a case of private squalor, public (or Party) wealth. Anybody can build a prestige skyscraper (or 1000, see Dubai) using the proceeds from globalization (=the crushing labor of the masses, millions of people working menial jobs for the Samsungs and Apples of the world or in steel mills, coal plants etc) sucked into the party's coffers, without caring a whit for the economic return.

Although maybe that's how it has to be with such a too-gigantic population that will have such enormous and possibly unsustainable demands on commodities, food resources etc that central planning is a necessity.

[photoLith]

Originally Posted by chris08876

Be sure to take lots of photos for us here and tell us how it is.

And I agree. Gigantic, bustling cities are the way to go.

Quick question, how long did it take you to become a citizen or are you traveling/moving on an extended workers visa?

Moving there to teach English, hopefully indefinitely. And i will be posting plenty of photos, check out my signature it's where I post tons of stuff daily. I used to live in Beijing for a brief period of time in 2007. It was freaking amazing and I miss it like nothing else.

[The Chemist]

Originally Posted by photoLith

Ill be moving to Beijing here come February, I need a gigantic bustling city to feel alive, love Chinese cities.

Make sure you bring a mask and some filters. Beijing's air is pretty atrocious in the winter.

Having lived through a couple of days last year of Beijing-quality air here in Shanghai, I could never live up there.

[photoLith]

It's like Pittsburgh style pollution from the 1950s.

[MolsonExport]

Originally Posted by photoLith

Ill be moving to Beijing here come February, I need a gigantic bustling city to feel alive, love Chinese cities.

We expect many photothreads. You will miss cherished places like this:

dixieoutfitters.com

[photoLith]

I'm sure china has it's own brand of crazy conservatives though. And yes I'll miss Dixie outfitters in Branson for sure.

[dc_denizen]

sounds like it will be a fun experience. looking forward to the pics!

[giallo]

Originally Posted by photoLith

Ill be moving to Beijing here come February, I need a gigantic bustling city to feel alive, love Chinese cities.

Congrats, man! Once China pulls you in........

Let me know when you'll be in my neck of the woods, and I'll show you around Shanghai. It'll be fun to shoot together.

As for the article, it's true - Shanghai can feel downright quaint in certain neighbourhoods - mine being a perfect example; the Former French Concession (FFC). After midnight, side streets like Nanchang Rd, Xiangyang Rd and Ruijin Rd. become empty. You feel like you could be in some small European village (no hyperbole!) thanks to the rather low density (for a Chinese megacity), narrow streets and massive amount of 4-6 story turn-of-the-century architecture. Riding your bike around at night is an amazing experience. You seriously feel like you've been transported to another country. It's what makes the FFC one of the coolest neighbourhood in the country. There's nothing else like it.

[JManc]

Originally Posted by photoLith

Ill be moving to Beijing here come February, I need a gigantic bustling city to feel alive, love Chinese cities.

bitch, you better have a couch for me to crash on.

[MolsonExport]

I loved the French Quarter by day and night. China's big cities are unforgettable.

[Ant131531]

I personally did not like Beijing. A lot of the city is very auto oriented. I like Shanghai and Hong Kong a lot more.

[dc_denizen]

Originally Posted by Ant131531

I personally did not like Beijing. A lot of the city is very auto oriented. I like Shanghai and Hong Kong a lot more.

Within all of our memories, that city was completely bike-oriented. Pretty incredible change.

[lakegz]

Originally Posted by Ant131531

I personally did not like Beijing. A lot of the city is very auto oriented. I like Shanghai and Hong Kong a lot more.

Agree. To reverse quote my old architecture history professor, I would really say that Beijing is urban but not even close to urbane.

[mthd]

Originally Posted by chris08876

China is on its way to becoming what the U.S. should be like in the 21st century when it comes to urbanity. A role model for success when it comes to cities. The rise of China should be a lesson to the West of how things are done in the 21st Century when it comes to creating an urban paradise. Sure they have their issues, what country doesn't, but they are on their way to stardom.

I agree. American urban planners should take a lesson from the Chinese. I too want to visit badly. I've been to Europe so many times (more than 30) that I can say that it is overrated. China is where its at!

have you actually been to china and spent time in these cities? the "modern" parts of them are soul-less, autoeccentric, polluted, privatized, and the antithesis of what good urban planning strives for. the only positive thing is that they are building lots of mass transit. and everyone who can afford it drives or has a driver because it's so incredibly unpleasant to walk to and from the stations.

seriously. tall buildings and trains do not make for a good city. they're a part of many great cities, but those great cities have a lot of other characteristics that unfortunately "modern" chinese planning has ignored or purposefully done away with.

[Shawn]

Originally Posted by mthd

have you actually been to china and spent time in these cities? the "modern" parts of them are soul-less, autoeccentric, polluted, privatized, and the antithesis of what good urban planning strives for. the only positive thing is that they are building lots of mass transit. and everyone who can afford it drives or has a driver because it's so incredibly unpleasant to walk to and from the stations.

seriously. tall buildings and trains do not make for a good city. they're a part of many great cities, but those great cities have a lot of other characteristics that unfortunately "modern" chinese planning has ignored or purposefully done away with.

Totally agreed on all points. Just spent three days in Beijing for work and hated every minute of it. Most of Modern China I've experienced in Shanghai, Beijing, and Shenzhen is depressing as all hell. It's the old stuff, in Shanghai and Kowloon specifically, that rocks. You guys who live and lived in the French Concession chose an awesome place to roost.

Modern China is repeating many of the Tower in the Park mistakes American cities made and still make, just scaled up to levels we cannot dream of implementing in the US. Points for all the subway investment, but it's not stopping millions of additional Chinese from being added to the roadways every year.

Because riding a subway in Beijing is among the most unfun things a person can be forced into. If I had to live there, I'd pay for a driver too. Not like Tokyo transit experiences at all.

[M II A II R II K]

What Happens When You Introduce Airport-Style Security to the World's Busiest Subway

Read More: http://www.citylab.com/commute/2014/...subway/371609/

Beijing’s beleaguered commuters already have to deal overcrowded public transportation, massive traffic jams and air so dirty that biking to work is often not an option. This week brought a new woe: airport-style security at some subway stations, which created massive lines and long waits to get on trains in the first place.

- Even a small malfunction, like a temporary signal failure, can lead to huge crowds on subway platforms. --- “The usual subway security check no longer involves just ‘putting your bags through’ [an X-ray scanner] as commuters now have to be checked as though they are going through airport customs,” The Nanfang Insider reported. Nine stations have instituted the new checks, which according to Beijing police “should not take more than 30 minutes.”

.....

[giallo]

I really like Beijing, but man, you have to put up with a lot there in comparison to Shanghai.

We've had baggage scanners for around two years here, and the people that work them are mostly disinterested in what you're carrying....if they're even awake.