China’s Chicago, etc.
What do Chongqing, Wuhan, Ningbo, and Dalian have in common? They’re China’s second-tier cities. And they’re booming:
They are attracting more and more tourists as well as investors from home and abroad. These cities are endeavoring to form their own unique character, attempting to evolve into Chinese versions of Chicago, Hawaii or Bangalore.
In an article from the Economist issued on July 28, 2007, titled China’s Chicago, the author writes, “Deep in the heart of China, the hilly riverside city of Chongqing is burning with ambition and wreathed in a shroud of smog. Visitors are astonished by the scale and pace of its growth: shopping malls, expressways and a throng of skyscrapers, including one that looks like the Chrysler building. Work on a US$200m opera house is under way.”
Why now?
All these cities have the same advantages: cheaper labor costs, higher-speed development; more favorable local policies, fresher air and less traffic jams.
Photographs of Dalian by SnoShuu.
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