[Mercutio]

My friend thinks Chongqing is on course to overtake Shanghai but I disagree. Chongqing's growing fast but Shanghai will be mainland China's world city and the Yangste River Delta will remain far more important as an industrial region than Chongqing/Sichuan (as will the Pearl River Delta). Your thoughts....? :)

[Urban Zombie®]

I doubt it--the chinese government wants Shanghai to be the premier city. That doesn't mean, however that Chongqing won't become a major world city in the future.

[Fabb]

I bet that Chongquing will be to Shanghai what Chicago is to NY. Big, efficient, but less international.

[Jonas]

I can't come up with any realistic resons WHY and HOW Chongqing could become more important than Shanghai. I think this is impossible unless the Chinese government itself would suddenly abandon Shnghai and start boosting Chongqing. Anyway this is not going to happen.

[macpolo]

im from chongqing
still i will say "impossible!!!"

but chongqing got a nice view aussi
http://files.photojerk.com/macpolo/AMAZING/67.jpg


skyline
http://www.skyscrapers.cn/forum/attachments/48_70169_3979e2b5b630969_BXnlNz5l6eFB.jpg

jw marriott ifc 377m 77f under constraction
http://www.skyscrapers.cn/forum/attachments/showimgsdfsdxx_xbkEUSEmj8kZ.jpg

[hkskyline]

Chongqing is too far in the interior and away from the key maritime trade routes to overtake Shanghai. Foreign investors are now concentrated along the east coast and are only starting to venture further west inland.

[Ronin]

Have you forgotten about Canton?

[wlyyl]

Have you forgotten about Canton?
no way canton' gona overtake shanghai, its just impossible
starting from late 1800s to early-mid 1900s, shanghai was already the no. 1 metropolis in asia

[hkskyline]

Guangzhou was a major port for Western trade, but they were overshadowed by Hong Kong when the British set up a colony there. Even now, Hong Kong is the key city in the delta, but Guangzhou is still a major city in the region.

[Ronin]

Well, I meant that Canton is steady number 2 after Shanghai. Chungking is number 3.

[superchan7]

Labour and property costs in Shanghai have pushed investment further inland. While Shanghai will continue to grow and mature, it will no longer be "the" place that all investment & capital will go.

[jiaodagongjian]

every one has the opportunity

[ed7777]

Remember Beijing has the second highest GDP after Shanghai, and don't forget about the Olympic games in 2008 which can boom up the economy again.

[dimondpark]

I dont know but it seems every city there is just massive.

[FlyersFan118]

Well, unless Shanghai gets "New Orleaned" by a major hurricane , I don't see anyone overtaking Shanghai. Ever.

[wlyyl]

Well, I meant that Canton is steady number 2 after Shanghai. Chungking is number 3.

no way buddy, shanghai is no.1 (n' it will prob take over tokyo in the future, remember, shanghai was the biggest n' the most prospers city in the far east durin the kuomintang time) , beijing is rit after it, then shenzhen, and canton, n' it looks like tianjin might be the 5th 1 (or in the future, take over shenzhen)
if we include hk, macau n' taiwan, then it'll be hk, shanghai, taipei, beijing, etc...

[PaSkyX]

Chongqing will probably end up #3 or so. Shanghai will be #1 unless global warming catches up with it (though hopefully they'll build a dam around the city in that case or something). Shanghai is just too massive - it's already at ~20,000,000 people.

[1ajs]

ehhem china has somthing like a billion plp............ so anything is posible..............

[Bergenser]

1. Shanghai
2. Guangzhou
3. Chongqing

[mewonlottery]

it's not about who overtakes whom. it's all about who contributes more than whom.

[R@ptor]

1. Shanghai
2. Beijing
3. Guangzhou
4. Chongqing
5. Shenzhen

The Yangtse River Delta and the Pearl River Delta will be China's two major business centers for the foreseeable future. Plus Nanjing, Xi'an and Chengdu will probably be good for some surprises. Chongqing is too far inland to be ever the No.1. It doesn't even have an Intl' Airport.

[PaSkyX]

Shanghai already has 5 metro lines, and it has goals of 21. Shanghai's really gearing up to be one of the biggest cities in the world, so I feel like Chongqing would have quite a way to go to catch up.

[Ronin]

In all fairness, what does it really mean to be the largest city? All it really represents is a stretching out of the boundaries, and lumping many prefectures together. If other cities around the world wanted to rezone their territories, practically any place could become the "World's Largest City."

[wlyyl]

In all fairness, what does it really mean to be the largest city? All it really represents is a stretching out of the boundaries, and lumping many prefectures together. If other cities around the world wanted to rezone their territories, practically any place could become the "World's Largest City."

the prob is, most places don't have that much population. I dont think the whole ontario's population is even half of that of chongqing or shanghai. So if toronto wants to become the largest city in the world, it would have to draw all the canadians into the GTA area or rezone the GTA border to cover the whole area of Canada. :cool:

[Fabb]

http://files.photojerk.com/macpolo/CQCBD/200681008.jpg

http://files.photojerk.com/macpolo/CQCBD/20069191562652121.jpg

@macpolo : why don't you create the official Chongqing thread in the City Compilation section ?

I'd be a big fan for sure...

[Shanghai_Fan]

^^ Great idea!!! CQ is my second favourite city in the world. You'd never find out which is my favourite one :D

[macpolo]

http://files.photojerk.com/macpolo/CQCBD/200681008.jpg

http://files.photojerk.com/macpolo/CQCBD/20069191562652121.jpg

@macpolo : why don't you create the official Chongqing thread in the City Compilation section ?

I'd be a big fan for sure...

im so sorry
i was really busy last month
but now im too farway from china ,have to take some now pic of my own

maybe u can check this one
chongqing uc thread
http://forum.xinhuanet.com/detail.jsp?id=35054981&pg=1

chongqing magic mountain
http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=402373



http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=381842

[Ronin]

Wow, nice pics! That location actually looks a like like Pittsburgh, PA, which is on the fork of riverbanks just like that.

[westsider]

beautiful city

[alexcan]

never thought it gonna happen.
Chongqing is Chongqing, still has lots to do.

[ghost156]

impossible

[superchan7]

Not in the near future. CQ is plagued with pollution, poverty and other social/environmental problems. Economic development in western China is still just beginning, but I hope one day all the major cities in China will do well. The government has a lot of hard work to do.

[ReNik]

http://www.hinduonnet.com/fline/images/20070713000605702.jpg

Could somebody please post some good Chongqing pictures

[ReNik]

I could find a few

http://img254.imageshack.us/img254/1613/258462878ad3b7b798eoca9.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
Lorenz_L gallery

http://img508.imageshack.us/img508/6097/300004270f294a44606oik0.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
Marutina gallery

http://img338.imageshack.us/img338/6438/44053441596f8437d46oti4.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
r5d4 gallery

[wlyyl]

lol i dun think so

[MolsonExport]

When does it start making sense to consider the Pearl delta region (with HK, Shenzhen, Guangzhou, and a host of other cities) as one super urban region; the largest such area in the world?

[Shanghai_Fan]

1. Shanghai
2. Beijing
3. Guangzhou
4. Chongqing
5. Shenzhen

The Yangtse River Delta and the Pearl River Delta will be China's two major business centers for the foreseeable future. Plus Nanjing, Xi'an and Chengdu will probably be good for some surprises. Chongqing is too far inland to be ever the No.1. It doesn't even have an Intl' Airport.

Xi'an and Chengdu haven't any chance to become a first tier city. Shenyang is becoming a major economic center as the financial, industrial (and skyscraper :D) hub of North East China. Same for Wuhan about Mid-West region, but they both lag far behind Chongqing. Chongqing is booming like crazy, only Tianjin is registering a similar growth.

On the other hand, Hangzhou and Suzhou tend to be largely underrated due to its little population in comparison with main cities. Suzhou's GDP is surpassing Shenzhen's by 2008, becoming China's fourth city by GDP only after Shanghai, Beijing and Guangzhou. In fact, Suzhou is China's fastest-growing big city, above 17%. However, since Suzhou isn't too large, it will be surpassed again in a long term.

My ranking today would be
1-Shanghai
2-Beijing
3-Guangzhou
4-Shenzhen
5-Tianjin
6-Suzhou
7-Hangzhou
8-Nanjing

Mid-term (say 2010-2015)
1-Shanghai
2-Beijing
3-Guangzhou
4-Suzhou
5-Tianjin
6-Shenzhen
7-Chongqing
8-Shenyang

Long term:

1-Shanghai
2-Chongqing
3-Beijing
4-Tianjin
5-Shenyang
6-Shenzhen
7-Guangzhou
8-Wuhan

Anyway, it is too difficult making this kind of forecasts. Who knows, maybe in some years the central government decides that is it a good idea boosting say Qingdao to become a global city and it starts growing like crazy to become another Shenzhen. The gov has a lot of power to make this. Now they are giving CQ, SY and TJ full priority as it happened to Shanghai and Shenzhen in the past. However, the coastal cities are quite developed, they will boost inner cities in the coming decades, that's why I think that Chongqing, Wuhan and Shenyang will emerge as new monsters.

[wobudongyingyu]

基本上不可能,内陆经济不可能与沿海经济相比

[jiaodagongjian]

基本上不可能,内陆经济不可能与沿海经济相比


China is an export-oriented economy.

Though the cities along the shoreline, such as shanghai, shenzhen, guangzhou, suzhou, etc. can developed their industry.

But with the structural transformation of the huge economy by the rising of the Renminbi, the inland may take the pursuant and leap-forward development.

[JDRCRASH]

基本上不可能,内陆经济不可能与沿海经济相比

:sly:..........:haha:
I need to get used to learning Chinese one day. :doh:
With more immigrants coming to the U.S. from China, it will probably be very helpful, especially if more and more of you guys can afford to come here.:yes:

[zerocalx]

In my view...

Shanghai = NYC
Shenzhen = LA
Chongqing = Chicago
Beijing = ? (maybe Philadelphia?)

Whoever had that analogy was spot on. Chicago prospered as a central transportation hub for the cattle industry, and while Chongqing might not be handling a lot of cattle, it's central location and favoritism by the government should give it an edge. I'm anxious to go visit it soon!

It will interesting to see what competition with Chengdu will do to Chongqing. Chongqing is favored more by the central gov't, but I know, for example, that the US consulate is in Chengdu and not Chongqing.

However, my top 5 for the near and distant future would be:

1. Shanghai
2. Beijing
3. Shenzhen
4. Chongqing
5. *drum roll* Zhengzhou OR Fuzhou

Zhengzhou, while not much to look at today, is capital of the most populous province and China and shouldn't be overlooked. Furthermore, I read in The Economist this week that China has every intention of building a highway linking Fuzhou with Taipei by 2030. Now I know this sounds ridiculous (and it probably is), but if by some freak accident it does occur, Fuzhou will become huge. A 100km bridge or tunnel will be a hell of an engineering project though, so I'm sure any developers in the region will have ample time to plan.

If the gov't chooses to merge Hong Kong with Shenzhen (as they have mentioned in the past), it will definitely give Shanghai a run for its money. I think this would be a really good idea actually, as it would make them both very competitive.

[antinimby]

You can't build a bridge to Taipei if Taiwan doesn't go along. :haha:

[chongqing]

1. Shanghai
2. Beijing
3. Guangzhou
4. Chongqing
5. Shenzhen

The Yangtse River Delta and the Pearl River Delta will be China's two major business centers for the foreseeable future. Plus Nanjing, Xi'an and Chengdu will probably be good for some surprises. Chongqing is too far inland to be ever the No.1. It doesn't even have an Intl' Airport.

What? Let's me tell you ,The Chongqing JiangBei international airport in recent years the passenger as well as the freight transportation volume of goods handled was increasing unceasingly, now already entered Chinese Airport first ten.Chongqing for the past ten years develops rapidly, simultaneously and the domestic international numerous city has the very good cooperation, I thought mainland China five year later the urban place should be:
1.Shanghai

http://www.tvtour.com.cn/tour/sheying_sy/img10/052610.jpg

2.Guangzhou

http://mw2.google.com/mw-panoramio/photos/medium/8254865.jpg

3.Beijing

http://www.chuanpiao.cn/Files/BeyondPic/2006-7/8/20050923161625686.jpg

4.Chongqing

http://www.panoramio.com/photos/original/11139501.jpg

http://static4.bareka.com/photos/medium/11140423.jpg

5.Shengzhen

http://www.6m9m.com/images/UploadFile/200510255427169.jpg

[KUMSHA]

That's imposebal, Shang hai has HUGE HUGE HUGE numbers of skyscrapers, rank the first on the world, Chong qin is also VERY good ,just like New York,

[KUMSHA]

Your view is totoly wrong! my friend!! if you are only talking about the skyscrapers or tall budlings, ---Shanghai=USA---, I'm not joking, this is ture, i suggest you to go to China to have look, you will be shorked!

[Tony]

Shorking!

[JDRCRASH]

No way. Shanghai is basically a sea of high-rises.

[Spocket]

All of China is a sea of shorking highrises.
I'm not sure what city exists in this country that isn't wall to wall highrises (or , at the very least , midrises) Even the country side is being turned into highrise heaven (build a tower instead of a village)

[Hot Rod]

Currently:

1) Shanghai
2) Beijing
3) Hong Kong
4) Guangzhou
5) Shenzhen
6) Chongqing

In 5 years:

1) Shanghai
2) Beijing
3) Hong Kong
4) Chongqing
5) Guangzhou

in 10 years:

1) Shanghai
2) Chongqing
3) Hong Kong
4) Beijing
5) Tianjin

in 20+ years? who knows if Chongqing will beat Shanghai. But I think it is very safe to say that Chongqing will always be a top 5 Chinese city, starting a few years from now once current development/construction matures and new ones come online. I think today it is just below the top 5 mark.

I can totally see Chongqing and Shanghai battling it out for the #1 and #2 spot - totally ala New York and Chicago. This mostly because China has many coastal cities that 'steal' away Shanghai's undisputed International Finance/trade thunder a bit.

Can you imagine if Shanghai didn't have Shenzhen or Hong Kong or Guangzhou or a host of other big coastal port cities to compete with (similar to New York's dominance in America)? Having these other players tempers Shanghai a bit, allowing Chongqing to catch up significantly with it's more domestic agenda.

I totally see Shanghai running the International agenda for China, with Chongqing being the undisputed Domestic agenda leader - again, ala New York and Chicago, or Tokyo vs. Osaka. Definitely love seeing the city grow and mature into a tastefully done MONSTER. ......

Chongqing does have an international airport, btw. It may not be too big now, but there are plans for it. I think it will really take off bigtime once transit options to Jiangbei International Airport improve (like the new subway).

[antinimby]

The only one that stands out architecturally is Shanghai. Most other Chinese cities all look alike for the most part.

If there were no labels for each picture, most people can't tell which cities they are except for Shanghai.

Of course, the people that are familiar with or live in them will know but I'm talking about outsiders that don't follow skyscraper development.

[llamaorama]

I think Chonqing's location in that river gorge is pretty iconic and incredible though.

[giallo]

Currently:

1) Shanghai
2) Beijing
3) Hong Kong
4) Guangzhou
5) Shenzhen
6) Chongqing

HK is smaller than all of these cities at 7 million people. I can't see HK ever having a larger population than BJ, GZ, SZ or CQ. It doesn't have enough land to expand which will make it an even more costly place to build/live, plus the other cities have been experiencing explosive growth for years now.

CQ is a beast. Its definitely larger than BJ by population. Hell, to me it even felt larger than SH. The reason we keep hearing BJ as China's second largest city is because BJ doesn't like to come in second, much less third. At some point in the future, BJ will have to concede and let CQ take the second spot.

Currently, the list would be:

1)SH
2)CQ (excluding the 10 million in the countryside and bordering counties, CQ still sits at close to 20 million people)
3)BJ
4)GZ
5)SZ
6) Either Tianjin or Chengdu (a massive city of 12 million people about 2 hours from Chongqing. It's the capital of Sichuan province and growing like crazy. I could see Chengdu firmly in the top five within the next decade.

[phoenixboi08]

Wait, doesn't HK acutally stretch BEYOND the valley?

[llamaorama]

The funny this is looking at Chongqing in Google Earth the main city's footprint doesn't seem to be that large in terms of area. Clearly its super-dense, but besides that, you'd still expect to see a much larger metropolitan expanse.

Where are the boundaries drawn, I suppose its surrounding area must be equally dense with many people living in one house on those plots of rural land?

[debbymiao]

Chongqing really developed so fast. It was called little Hongkong in China. And famous for too many beauties.

[debbymiao]

Glad to know that.

HK is smaller than all of these cities at 7 million people. I can't see HK ever having a larger population than BJ, GZ, SZ or CQ. It doesn't have enough land to expand which will make it an even more costly place to build/live, plus the other cities have been experiencing explosive growth for years now.

CQ is a beast. Its definitely larger than BJ by population. Hell, to me it even felt larger than SH. The reason we keep hearing BJ as China's second largest city is because BJ doesn't like to come in second, much less third. At some point in the future, BJ will have to concede and let CQ take the second spot.

Currently, the list would be:

1)SH
2)CQ (excluding the 10 million in the countryside and bordering counties, CQ still sits at close to 20 million people)
3)BJ
4)GZ
5)SZ
6) Either Tianjin or Chengdu (a massive city of 12 million people about 2 hours from Chongqing. It's the capital of Sichuan province and growing like crazy. I could see Chengdu firmly in the top five within the next decade.