Cities of China

Introducing the cities of China through personal reminiscences, interesting facts, and a time-lapse video.

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Tianjin!

A city in the shadow of Beijing—but well worth a visit.

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Guangzhou!

Guangzhou is worth a visit because it offers glimpses of not only China’s past and present, but its future as well.

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Shanghai!

The story of Christianity in China and the story of Shanghai are inextricably linked.

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Shenyang!

Shenyang—the largest city in Dongbei (东北) and well worth a visit. 

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Suzhou!

Suzhou—the Venice of the East!

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Beijing!

So which is it? Beijing or Peking? Yes!

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Cities on the Silk Road

A look at the cities of the ancient Silk Road today—the cities of the "One Belt, One Road initiative.

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Urbanization Visualized

We talk a lot about the massive urbanization that has taken place in China since the 1980s but what does it look like?

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Urumqi!

I have been to Urumqi, the capital of the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region twice. The first time was in 1992; a teammate and I took the train. Back then it was a journey that took two days and three nights; today the fastest train makes the journey in 30 hours. On my second visit to Urumqi (in 2004) I also travelled by train, but from the southern Xinjiang city of Kashgar. That was a 24-hour run along the edge of the Taklimakan Desert.

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Qingdao!

One of the striking things about the coastal city of Qingdao is the surviving European feel of much of the older sections of town. Qingdao was a German colony from 1898 to 1914, and unlike most other cities that had once been under colonial rule, the old European zone was not razed.