Shanghai Population Swells to 20 Million

[Inspire]

Shanghai Population Swells to 20 Million

By ELAINE KURTENBACH, Associated Press Writer

SHANGHAI, China - China's biggest city has gotten even bigger.



Shanghai's population has surged to more than 20 million people, soaring by 3 million over the past year amid a flood of job seekers from other parts of China, the city government said Friday.


The influx of people into what already was one of the world's most crowded cities has left roads and subways jammed. Housing prices have soared.


The shift has been hastened by a loosening of restrictions that require Chinese to get official permission to move from one place to another. Until recently, the rules made it nearly impossible for rural people to move into cities.


Shanghai is a magnet for job seekers, with China's highest annual incomes at an average of about $5,000 per person and economic growth even higher than the national figure of about 8 percent a year.


Out of Shanghai's total population, only 13.5 million people are considered permanent residents of the city, a city government spokesman said.


Another 4 million people live in Shanghai permanently but are not officially registered here, said the spokesman, who would give only his surname, Chen. Some 3 million more are part of the "floating population" ?the army of tens of millions of rural migrants who have left the countryside to seek work in the cities.


Mayor Han Zheng, speaking at a conference of Asian leaders, said creating new jobs for the swelling population was the top priority for China's business capital, the state-run newspaper Shanghai Daily reported.


More than 400,000 new jobs were created in Shanghai this year, the newspaper said. It said the city suffered job losses as state firms cut 300,000 jobs amid wrenching economic reforms.


Officially, Shanghai's unemployment rate is 5 percent, or more than 300,000 people, the newspaper said. But it noted that this figure doesn't include many laid-off workers and those not actively seeking work.


Han, the mayor, was quoted as saying the city plans to take steps to rein in soaring real estate prices and create more affordable housing.


Although the Shanghai skyline is a forest of new high-rises, many are priced far beyond the reach of most residents.


Other major Chinese cities also have experienced similar stunning growth as farm dwellers look for work in cities.


China's second-biggest city is Chongqing in the southwest, with more than 15 million people in its urban areas.


The national capital, Beijing, has more than 14 million people.

[mthq]

wow good for Shanghai

but 20 million people on land that is not able to support many highrises will be interesting none the less..

^while a big fuss was made recently about sinking buildings, it's not a widespread phenomenon throughout SH and will have no effect on the population explosion.

I'm sure it's actually way over 20m already and has been so for years. But the growth has indeed picked up to lightening pace and the government more inclined to count realistically.

And with the Central Government calling for 500 million Chinese to move to urban areas over the next (was it 10 or 20?) years, it will only continue increase astronomically.

Good luck to the mainland cities.

[PHLguy]

for a city thats banned most skyscrapers...there screwed

^There has been no highrise "ban" in SH nor will there be.

As I already stated, the geologic problems there are neither widespread nor insurmountable. Much ado about nothing.

[Chi-town]

I would assume construction will just have to move further from the river, where the land is less sediment-based and more stable.

I'm no geologist (besides one semester course just for the hell of it), but that seems intuitive. Or I may just be blowing smoke out of my ass, who knows...

I don't have a geologic map but you're correct Chi-town. SH has areas built on drained marsh as it is a river delta city. Most of the fuss concerns Pudong, which while central is still a small portion of the city at large. And even with the problems being studied there is not yet a consensus on what they might mean for the future. Thus far I tend to believe the worst case scenario would mean restrictions on mass (and thus height) in only a few, small areas. And even then there are engineering solutions to overcome it for buildings already in place. Most of SH is not affected though.

Kelvin could explain this much better.

[dimondpark]

3 Million in one year?

That seems highly suspect-even for China.

[PHLguy]

Originally Posted by Enzo

^There has been no highrise "ban" in SH nor will there be.

As I already stated, the geologic problems there are neither widespread nor insurmountable. Much ado about nothing.

then y are so many ppl saying that NBT SWFC and X tower are all down the crapper

[Chi-town]

Originally Posted by dimondpark

3 Million in one year?

That seems highly suspect-even for China.

If I had to guess, I'd say that some of those people actually moved to Shanghai in the last year, and the rest of them moved there before but are just being counted for the first time.

As mentioned, they're trying to do a better job of getting accurate counts now.

Is this just for the city or the metro area? Chinese cities don't tend to have suburbs like North American ones do but nearby satellites still add up.

This is another key example of why China as a whole is still far from being a fully developed country, as harnessing the gap between the rural and urban population (and preventing them from moving in) is difficult.

I'm also surprised that Chongqing is actually larger than Beijing now.

[alex1]

3 mil new people is like an 18% growth rate.

scary stuff.

Originally Posted by ech1368

for a city thats banned most skyscrapers...there screwed

no way!

here's the blueprint of development of Pudong/North Bund





and currently there are countless highrise U/C in Shanghai

you may turn to our forumer lester for more info.

[Shannon2]

Tokyo has few buildings over 12 stories yet it is the biggest city in the world with over 30 million people. Same basically goes for many other mega cities from Mexo City to Seoul. Besides, the highrises that are problematic in Shanghai are large ones like those in Pudong with over 60+ stories, not the 15-30 story highrises that would more likely be built in the city on a large scale.

Shanghai's geography is similar to London's in that it is at the mouth of a river and can expand in all 4 directions. The cities that have the most severe problems with growth are ones like San Francisco or Hong Kong where geography hems in growth. Thats not the case with Shanghai. The sky is the limit for Shanghai's population growth (figuratively not literally).

[mewonlottery]

no a good news for Shanghai