Chengdu, China’s New Blueprint MEGACITY

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Southwest China’s largest metropolis and one of its greenest big cities has a population of 21 million. Chengdu exemplifies Beijing’s quest to modernize the country’s vast interior and is the lynchpin of an emerging eco-friendly mega-region in Sichuan province.

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Scenic mountains ring the fertile basin of Sichuan province, a land known for its agricultural abundance and famous cuisine of chili-infused sauces and spicy hot pot. Its capital has been continuously inhabited for more than 3,000 years, the only major city in China to have an unchanged name and location throughout the imperial, republican, and communist eras–a history that remains remarkably well preserved.

In the second century BC, Chengdu was one of Earth’s largest civilizations, with 350,000 inhabitants. In the 11th century, the world’s first widely used paper money was created here. Unfortunately, things turned bleak in the 1500s when its residents were nearly all destroyed by a murderous Mongol invasion. For decades afterward, Chengdu remained so sparsely populated that wild tigers freely roamed its streets.

During the Chinese Civil War in 1949, Chengdu was the last stronghold in the country for the forces of Chiang Kai-shek’s Republic of China before their evacuation to Taiwan. In spite of its short-lived status as the capital, the city attracted loyal business people, workers, and academics–an influx of talent that founded many of the industries and institutions that continue to make Chengdu the premiere cultural and economic center of Southwest China.

In the year 2000, Beijing launched the “Open Up The West Program” to encourage immigration from its wealthy coastal regions and spread prosperity to its 12 poorest areas in the west. As an established metropolis, Chengdu has been a major winner under the policy. Its population has doubled over the last 25 years while becoming one of China’s most dynamic cities. Between 2010 and 2022 105 highrises over 100 meters were completed, catapulting it to 12th on the list of the world’s tallest metropolises. But high-density construction is happening all across China. What’s special about Chengdu is the amount of land local officials have set aside for parks, paths, and athletic facilities, an effort to make it as livable as possible.

President Xi has officially designated it China’s Park City Demonstration Area. Municipal leaders even brought in experts from the United Nations to better understand how ecological development can solve some of Chengdu’s most pressing challenges. One ultimate goal is to create the world’s largest continuous network of paths by 2050 by reserving 500 meters on either side of its largest ring highway, a project that will eventually produce 188 square kilometers of parks.

Chapters:
0:00 Welcome to Chengdu
0:23 Geography of Sichuan province
0:54 History of Chengdu
2:00 Chengdu's emergence
2:39 Becoming a megacity
3:20 World's largest network of paths
4:02 World's Largest Building: New Century Global Center
5:10 China's emerging megaregions
5:55 The emerging Chengdu-Chongqing megaregion
6:37 Dirty air
6:54 Water, drought, and electricity crisis

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I lived in Chengdu, Shenzhen, Guangzhou, and New York before. Among these cities, I still think that Chengdu has the best subway. It's new, clean, fast, and convenient. I have to mention that most of the skyscrapers shown in the video are located in a new area build in the recent decade, Tianfu New Area. In 2010, that place had no skyscrapers but farm lands. Such change is quite amazing. I believe Chengdu will be as well-known as Shanghai by more people in the world in ten years.

junruibeto
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I visited Chengdu during 25-28 April 2023, what an amazing park city. It is very livable, filled with very friendly people and amazing architecture.

Sheingida
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The speed and size in which China has done things over the last 30 years is astounding.
21 Million people in that city and only 25 million in all
Of Australia, and Chengdu is just one of a dozen cities like that

blacckarat
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I've had the opportunity to travel to Chengdu two times to visit a friend who was living there temporarily. Everything about the city was beautiful and clean. And the improvement in the air quality was astounding between my trip in 2017 and my trip in 2019. I hope to be able to visit again someday.

johnvance
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This is my hometown city, the last time I went back home is early 2020, now at March 2023 I‘m home again, the most dramatic changing that I noticed during the last 3 years is how much green area that has been increased

wangzili
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More than 600 million people brought out of poverty. Hard to argue with that type of success.

cartalkers
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I love all major Chinese cities for their traditional and modern architecture with amazing greenery.

HKChineseCanadian
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Literally have never even heard of this city before, and it seems so awesome! Once china normalizes again it will be one of the cities I would like to travel to in China!

hamelconsultancyllc
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I been living here since 2016. It's a brilliant city.
When i first arrived, i missed green. I missed trees, grass, flowers. Everything was so grey. Now going outside, it's green absolutely everywhere. The amount of parks and trees around is amazing.
You should also look into Chengdu's planned "Future City". It will be incredible once it is complete.

colinboiTM
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I'm from Chengdu and Chengdu is developing so rapidly. I'm so lucky to see a video about my hometown on YouTube.

我爱你-be
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The fact that Chengdu has almost (4 mil short) the same population as the entire Australian continent is kinda astounding lol. But somehow the province doesn't feel too crowded and is still filled with so much greenery!

rabbitazteca
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I know much about Chengdu by this video. Thank you for sharing great work. 👍🏻👏🏻

seoulavi
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Chengdu Metro is one of the best metro systems in the world, i really like it.

greentraveler
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I have visited the New Century Global Center a few times if only to just walk around inside it in awe. It's like what I imagine a human colony on another planet might be like in the distant future. It probably has its own weather. It's worth seeing if you're in Chengdu.

Fomites
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Fantastic! These are some of my favourite videos on YouTube!

KillerTacos
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Please do a video on Bogota and Lima. Great video btw! Love what you do!

emiliopadilla
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I hope to one day move to China and start a life there. I just wanna live in a country that makes sense.

ramsesfarias
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American here. Chengdu is an amazing city

burningknuckle
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traditional and modern architecture plus amazing food and greenery everywhere, china has such beautiful cities. Really hope i can visit them all as soon as possible, also the culture is amazing

peaceminus
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Great video, brilliant visuals. Everytime I don't look at China for a while then look back I see the future staring back at me and wonder at how parochial and backwards UK cities are in comparison to the scale of Chinese cities now. You realise fast that only a strong EU could hope to compete with such a behemoth, not only to stay afloat but also to improve the citizens of their old countries too. It's not a panacea by any stretch, but man are they doing some development right, and rapidly. We seriously need to catch up.

LeHosko