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Urban
Construction
In the early days of New China,
the country had only 58 cities, and in 1952 there were only nine
cities with populations over one million each. Since 1978, China??s
urbanization has been speeded up. The number of cities increased
from 193 in 1979 to 668 in 1999. Among these cities there are 37
extra-large ones with populations above one million; 48 large cities
with populations between 500,000 and one million; 205 medium-sized
cities with populations between 200,000 and 500,000; and 378 small
cities with populations less than 200,000. The number of medium-sized
cities has increased fairly rapidly, and that of small cities has
grown the most rapidly. In the eastern coastal areas, city groups
(belts) with extra-large cities as the centers have been formed,
such as the Bohai Bay, Yangtze River Delta and Pearl River Delta
urbanized areas. The policies of reform and opening to the outside
world have greatly strengthened the cities?? comprehensive strength.
Between 1988 and 1996, the urban GDP grew by 18 percent on average
annually, with the cities?? centering status and role becoming more
and more prominent.
Since 1979, the Chinese government
has invested heavily in the construction of urban infrastructure
facilities, including public utilities, parks and other green areas,
urban roads, public communications, water- and gas-supply facilities,
and treatment of urban garbage. In 1999, the water supplied totaled
46.75 billion cubic meters in the Chinese cities; the length of
the urban roads, 151.000 km; and the total amount of gas and natural
gas supplied came to 2.121 million cubic meters.
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The
newly-built Shanghai Nanpu Bridge.
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Since
economic reform and opening up, large areas of resident houses have
been built throughout the country to meet the needs of the people.
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