Do You Know About China’s Mega-Cities?

Shenzhen, China. By HelloRF Zcool @ Shutterstock.com

Jeffrey Towson and Jonathan Woetzel, two Peking University professors and China experts, have written the breakthrough book “The One Hour China Book.” It’s a must-read foundation tool on China.

Jeffrey and Jonathan kick off the fast-paced read by explaining to readers:

China is currently witnessing the largest migration in human history. Hundreds of millions of people are flooding from the countryside into the cities. And while over 300 million people have already migrated in the past 30 years McKinsey predicts there are another 350 million yet on the way.

This urbanization phenomenon is adding an average of 18.5 million people to the cities every year. That is equivalent to adding the population of the Netherlands to China’s cities annually (written in 2013).

We can today count 160 Chinese cities with over one million people. In comparison Europe has 35. And McKinsey predicts this number will increase to about 220 by 2025. China currently has 14 cities with over 5 million people-and this will increase to 23 by 2025.

We are seeing the emergence of mega-cities. These cities, usually several cities linked closely together, contain 30-40 million people each. And many will reach 50-60 million people each.

Shenzhen is by any definition, a world class, first tier city. Located just across the border from Hong Kong, it has several modern business districts, great parks, more than 10 million people and a subway system that has grown from nothing to very large in about 10 years.