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CHONGQING – 32 million inhabitants covering an area greater than Austria

The largest city in the world

The Chinese metropolis, nestling the Yangtze River at the confluence of one of its major tributaries, is now the largest city in the world and continues to expand daily. Every day, 1,800 new motor vehicles are being registered and thousands from the provinces come to seek work in this hilly, sprawling, heavily polluted mega-city. It is still hard to believe that less than 15 years ago, the city had less than 5 million registered residents. The friendly ‘pandas’ in the local zoo, renowned for their breeding successes, can hardly believe their bamboo sprouts!
China’s continued economic expansion and the flooding of the Yangtze River Basin, whilst hotly disputed by civil activists, has led to an improvement in the economic prospects especially for many of the younger upwardly mobile Chinese, as well as creating huge amounts of cheap electricity.
As part of the government’s relocation plans, 1.3 million people needed to be re-housed away from the river level which, in a series of phased flooding operations, has now risen to almost 175 meters above its original course. The majority of those relocated have received government supplied accommodation with their utilities free-of-charge. Amongst, the less fortunate are some 170,000 former Yangtze dwellers who could not be physically re- located within their own region, but have been immigrated to the area in and around Shanghai. Away from their traditional roots in a region that is considerably more expensive than their homeland, this group belongs to the ‘losers’ of the 5-Lock Dam Project.
Economic change and the opportunity for enterprising workers  to market some 80% of their own produce on the ‘free-market’ is creating a new generation of middle-class Chinese with higher disposable incomes and vastly differing tastes to their parents.Whatever the political connotations, China is undoubtedly on the move.
The opportunity to stage the Summer Olympics in Beijing gave the Chinese the chance not only to show the world how creative they can be.  But also has infused the nation with enormous pride. People who had not visited Beijing during the last two years were amazed at the transition which has taken place, especially in and around the city center.

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