China’s population distribution is uneven, with most people living in the southeastern half of the country and the northwestern half, which includes provinces and the Yangtze Valley. The most densely populated areas include the Yangtze Valley, Sichuan Basin, North China Plain, Pearl River Delta, and the industrial area around Shenyang. In 2021, the estimated population density of China was around 150.4 people per square kilometer, slightly increasing over the past years.
The eastern half of China has a population density of 152 people per square kilometer, with high-density areas primarily concentrated in the North China Plain, the plains of the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River, the southeastern coast, and the border areas of Sichuan Province and Chongqing Municipality. Population density varies strikingly, with the greatest contrast occurring between the eastern half of China and the lands of the west and northwest. Many places in China are extremely more populated than others due to almost all major cities being coastal.
China has 1.4 billion people living in a country stretching across 3.7 million square miles. However, 94 of China’s population lives in only one half. The North China Plain at the mouth of the Yellow River (Huang He River) has rich farmland and is the most densely populated region in China. Geographically, China is isolated by high food production, making it one of the most densely farmed and populated regions of China.
📹 Why 94% of China Lives East of This Line
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Where does 90% of China’s population live?
China, with 1. 4 billion people living in a 3. 7 million square mile area, has a population density pattern influenced by its large cities. The country’s population density is primarily due to two major rivers flowing west to east, which drain into the Yellow and East China seas. This leads to arable land, food surplus, and rapid population growth, resulting in urbanization. The country’s largest cities are located east of the Heihe-Tengchong line.
How much of China is uninhabited?
This article discusses China’s rapidly growing market-oriented economy and its implications for family planning and population control. The country has experienced a decline in fertility in recent decades, raising questions about the safety of faster population growth and the potential for investment. China’s population policies were adopted in response to the baby boom of the mid-1970s, which led to a large population size that has adversely affected the nation’s survival and development.
The country’s land and natural resources limit its capacity to accommodate more people, with 20. 3 of its population living in harsh natural conditions and many impoverished. Population pressure depletes resources, creates environmental problems, and pressures on grain consumption. Labor surpluses threaten modernization and create conflicts between egalitarianism and efficiency. Unemployment insurance and social security are not yet in place to cushion a shift to a competitive market system.
Success in rural economic reform is tied to absorbing surplus rural labor. A market economy in China is expected to modernize attitudes toward reproduction and smooth the transition to low, stable fertility. However, government population control will still be needed.
Which part of China is densely populated?
China’s population distribution is influenced by its complex natural conditions, with high densities in the Yangtze delta, Pearl River Delta, and Chengdu Plain. These areas are primarily coterminous with alluvial plains for intensive agriculture. The isolated western and frontier regions, larger than any European country, are sparsely populated, with extensive uninhabited areas like the northern part of Tibet, the central Tarim and eastern Junggar basins in Xinjiang, and the barren desert and mountains east of Lop Nur.
In the 1950s, the government recognized the importance of these frontier regions and initiated a drive for former military members and young intellectuals to settle there. New railways and highways have spurred population growth and the development of small mining and industrial towns.
Which geographic portion of China is more populated?
China’s demographic geography is characterized by its eastern coastal provinces, which are more densely populated than the western interior due to historical access to water. The country has a great physical diversity, with fertile lowlands and foothills in the eastern plains and southern coasts, which are the location of most of China’s agricultural output and human population. The southern areas consist of hilly and mountainous terrain, while the west and north are dominated by sunken basins, rolling plateaus, and towering massifs.
The Tibetan Plateau, the highest tableland on earth, contains part of the highest tableland on earth. Traditionally, the Chinese population centered on the Chinese central plain, developing as a country whose center lay in the middle and lower reaches of the Yellow River on the northern plains. The People’s Republic of China has an area of about 9, 600, 000 km2, with the exact land area sometimes challenged by border disputes. The country is either the third or fourth-largest country in the world, slightly larger or smaller than the United States, depending on how the United States is measured.
Is the eastern portion of China densely populated?
China’s eastern region, China Proper, is home to most of its population, which thrives on type C climates, fresh water, and good soils. This climate has led to fertile agricultural lands and an abundance of food for the Chinese population. The North China Plain at the mouth of the Yellow River is the most densely populated region in China.
Northwest of Beijing lies Inner Mongolia and the Gobi Desert, which has arid type B climates and continental type D climates. The northern half of Mongolia is colder with continental type D climates. The highlands in western Mongolia have a section of type H highland climates.
Northeast China, lying north of the Great Wall and encompassing Inner Mongolia, is the vast Mongolian steppe, which includes broad flat grasslands and the Yellow River basin. The region around parts of the Yellow River is excellent agricultural lands, including vast areas of loess terraced for cultivation. Deciduous forests continue to exist in this region despite aggressive clearcutting for agricultural purposes.
The Great Wall of China rests atop hills in this region, highlighting the importance of balancing mineral extraction with the preservation of agricultural land and timber resources.
Is Western Interior China sparsely populated?
China’s population distribution is uneven, with most people living in the southeastern half of the country and the northwestern half, including provinces and autonomous regions like Tibet, Xinjiang, Qinghai, Gansu, and Inner Mongolia, being sparsely populated. This is influenced by the geography of each region, particularly in the Guangdong, Fujian, and Sichuan provinces due to their mountain ranges. The provinces with the largest absolute population size are Guangdong in the south, Shandong in the east, and Henan in Central China.
Urbanization has been a major factor in China’s reshaping over the last four decades, but data often refers to the administrative area of cities or urban units, which may be larger than the contiguous built-up area of that city. This results in a significant difference in population density between the four Chinese municipalities, Beijing, Tianjin, Shanghai, and Chongqing.
Why does China have so many empty apartments?
China is facing a housing shortage and affordability crisis, with years of debt-fueled overbuilding leaving the country with numerous empty homes and ghost cities. A former government official, He Keng, said that the number of vacant residences is so large that a country of 1. 4 billion people is struggling to fill them. Experts give varying estimates of the number of vacant homes, with the most extreme believing it is enough for 3 billion people.
However, he added that 1. 4 billion people probably can’t fill them, referencing the current estimate for China’s entire population. The situation is causing concern for Gen Zers and other young people who may struggle to achieve the American Dream.
What are the most populated parts of China?
As of 2023, China’s five largest cities are Chongqing, Shanghai, Beijing, Chengdu, and Guangzhou. As of 2021, there were 17 megacities with populations over 10 million, including Chongqing, Shanghai, Beijing, Chengdu, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Tianjin, Xi’an, Suzhou, Zhengzhou, Wuhan, Hangzhou, Linyi, Shijiazhuang, Dongguan, Qingdao, and Changsha. These cities have a total permanent population of over 20 million.
Shanghai is China’s most populous urban area, while Chongqing is its largest city proper with the largest permanent population of over 30 million. As of 2020, there were 113 Chinese cities with over 1 million people in urban areas.
How much land in China is habitable?
This article discusses China’s rapidly growing market-oriented economy and its implications for family planning and population control. The country has experienced a decline in fertility in recent decades, raising questions about the safety of faster population growth and the potential for investment. China’s population policies were adopted in response to the baby boom of the mid-1970s, which led to a large population size that has adversely affected the nation’s survival and development.
The country’s land and natural resources limit its capacity to accommodate more people, with 20. 3 of its population living in harsh natural conditions and many impoverished. Population pressure depletes resources, creates environmental problems, and pressures on grain consumption. Labor surpluses threaten modernization and create conflicts between egalitarianism and efficiency. Unemployment insurance and social security are not yet in place to cushion a shift to a competitive market system.
Success in rural economic reform is tied to absorbing surplus rural labor. A market economy in China is expected to modernize attitudes toward reproduction and smooth the transition to low, stable fertility. However, government population control will still be needed.
What is the least populated part of China?
In 2022, Guangdong province had 126. 6 million people, while Tibet had 3. 64 million. China is the world’s most populous country with exceptional economic growth momentum, divided into three regions: Western, Eastern, and Central China. Western China has the highest proportion of minority population and lowest economic output, while Eastern China enjoys high development and international corporations.
Central China lags behind coastal regions. The PRC government has ramped up incentive plans like ‘Rise of Central China’ and ‘China Western Development’ to accelerate these regions’ economic development.
Some provinces, like Jiangxi province, have a population size comparable to Argentina or Spain, while Zhejiang’s GDP exceeded the Netherlands’ output. Shanghai’s municipality reached a level close to the Czech Republic’s. However, China’s economic spur leaves millions of people behind, with the coast-inland disparity being one of the most significant. The poorest province, Heilongjiang, had a per capita income similar to Sri Lanka in 2022.
Why is the east side of China more populated?
The eastern provinces of China are characterised by high population density, which can be attributed to a number of factors, including the presence of fertile land, well-developed transport networks and urban centres that offer a range of employment opportunities and services. In contrast, the western provinces of China are sparsely populated, with a lack of urbanisation and a topography that includes steep slopes and mountainous terrain.
📹 The Densest City on Earth
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0:30 Heihe-Tengchong line/ Hu line 3:17 Geography of China Gobi Desert Taklamakan Desert (Tarin Basin) 8:18 Why control the largely uninhabited West? Tibet Third largest glacier of the world Starting source of many many many important rivers North Western Desert Natural armour of the deserts 10:29 Historical weak spots of China He Xi corridor 14:17 Demographics of China
Fun fact: Yet the west side of China is IMMENSELY important to the other 94%. If was not for this colossal wall, China’s mainland would be completely exposed to military incursions coming from western powers. Plus, the Tibet supplies over 3 billion people with water, being this the biggest liability India has against China. It’s possibly the most important geopolitical region on Earth.
This sort of thing isn’t very unusual. There are plenty of countries whose populations are very unevenly distributed. Russia’s population is concentrated mostly in the West, Australia’s population is concentrated mostly in the South East, Canada’s in the South East, Scandinavia’s in the South, Egypt’s population is concentrated almost entirely along the Nile ext. ext. Edit: The original post said “South West” for Canada this was a typo I corrected it.
It’s very simple. As a Chinese I will tell you that most people prefer to live in the Eastern side for the same reason many Russians prefer to live in European Western Russia rather than Siberia. The climate in the West of China is simply too cold, the terrain is frozen and there are many mountains, making it hard for farming, the land is of little value, I would only ever consider going there for exploring and adventuring.
Reminds me of India which is almost impossible to invade due to the Hindu Kush mountains in the northwest, the Himalayas in the north, and minor hills in the northeast. It was finally invaded in the 13th century via mountain passes in the Hindu Kush mountain range and by Europeans in the 18th century via the oceans. Thus the Indian Subcontinent evolved into a completely different place from the rest of the world. The European civilizations such as the great Roman Empire traded with India via the sea making India extremely rich. Other civilizations traded through mountain passes.
I moved to Shanghai a few years ago, and I was so shocked by the population distribution. I knew it was a large country with a massive population. I didn’t know they basically ALL live in a relatively small part of the east of the nation. When you look at a satellite view of it, it all looks like one massive, nation-sized city
In today’s China, “Han” is really just “generic Chinese”. If you’re not a minority ethnic like Uyghur or Tibetan (need government certified), then you are considered “Han”. If an European or African become a Chinese citizen, his/her state issued ID will say he/she is a Han, regardless whether he/she is white or black. Minority ethnics are granted bonus under some circumstances. For example, they automatically receive bonus score in the GaoKao (college entrance exam). My college roommate was actually a Han, but somehow trick the government that he was adopted by a remote relative, who’s a Khui (another Muslim nationality like Uyghur), so the government certified him as a Khui as well. He felt bad taking advantage of the policy, so he practiced Halal diet for the whole freshman year 😂😂😂
Thank you for a very well made, easy to understand explanation of China’s geography and motivations. But am I the only one to find the narrator’s ever elevating tone of urgency totally exhausting? After five minutes it was almost impossible to keep going. If it wasn’t for the fascinating subject matter and the well written and edited presentation, I wouldn’t have been able to stick with it. It certainly left me hesitant to watch more material from this website.
Eastern China has better land for farming, more water, and a milder climate. This makes it easier for people to live there. Western China is mostly mountains and desert. It is difficult to grow food there and the weather is very extreme. People have been living in Eastern China for thousands of years. This has led to the development of major cities, infrastructure, and economic activity in the region. There are more job opportunities in Eastern China.
Funny to hear about Tengchong (very small city) since I live and work there as one of only 5 foreigners if you don’t count the Burmese. Western Yunnan Province is all high hills and low mountains so it’s limited how many people can live here. Amazing province though. Tropical rainforest in the south to snowcapped mountains and glaciers in the Himalayas to the north. 3 of Asia’s great rivers originate here as well. We even have tigers, bears and elephants, though not many are left.
Most of China’s people live east of what is known as the 15-inch isohyet, which is a line separating areas receiving 15 inches or more of annual precipitation from areas receiving less than 15 inches of yearly precipitation. The 15-inch mark is the minimum amount of yearly precipitation needed for agriculture. The most heavily populated regions of China receive at least 25 inches of rain yearly.
That being said, I saw an aerial photograph of the border between China and either Mongolia or Kazakhstan. (Think it was the latter, but I’m not sure.) It was easy to tell the border because the Mongolain/Kazakhstani side was brown and empty and the Chinese side was green with cultivation. Even though—as this article makes clear—this part of China wasn’t the part where most of the food gets grown, at least SOME of it was arable, and China needs to grow food on ALL their arable land to feed their enormous population. For the record, although there are three other countries, (Russia, Canada, and China) which are bigger in land area, the United States has the most arable land in the world.
Interesting article but I think the narration seemed too “excited” recently. I’d prefer the same style of narration as few years back such as the “ocean is way deeper than you think” article, which I frequently rewatch because the narration exhibits a sense of mystery and gets me hooked throughout the article.
Your comment starting15.40 onwards is bias and baseless. The ethnic minorities in China including Tibetans and Uyghurs are living happily and thriving now. There may be a few extreme Uyghurs and Tibetans instigated by U.S. and the west to create troubles in China. But they failed and the west feel very unhappy. Ask the Americans and the Anglo-Saxons, where are the indigenous people now in their countries? Where are the Red-Indians now?
Just check the colour, green means good environment and climate. Tibet and Qinghai is plateau mountains, Xinjiang (my hometown) covered by desert and mountains with long winter. Similarly, Gansu lakes water resource. The east and south have vast plains with plenty of rivers. In terms of trade, the east has a long coastline and the Yangtze River connects the inland provinces in the south. China’s manufacturing industry is also concentrated here, which provides most of the employment and economic output.
China and India are among the oldest civilizations in the world, therefore there are a lot people living in these countries. It is not reasonable to compare China (or India) to any of the European countries. What is the point to compare China with Monaco? You can only compare China with India or with entire Europe. And because China never went around the world colonizing other continents like Europeans, most Chinese people live in China.
Good speech, but we Chinese have paid really much attention on the protection of the minority peoples. The government of Xinjiang and Tibet area and etc. are mainly consisted by the minority deligates. The central government also have a lot of minority deligates, which was written in Chinese law. Minority people are allowed to go to the universities with lower grades than Han people.On the other hand, we set up meny museums in order to protect minority cultures; and we employ minority teachers to teach their selves’ languages to minority children.
Isn’t true that the majority of the ethnic minorities in China lives in the West of the line. The biggest ethnicity in China, excluding the Han Chinese, are the Hui, the muslim-chinese community, and they lives mainly in the East of the country (and accounts for the majority of the non-han population), from the five biggest groups, only two, Tibetans and Uygurs have their homelands in the West of the line so isn’t true if you put in this way. It’s logical that a great part of these minorities don’t have the national GDP per Capita of the rest of the country, but these regions, for the same reasons for them to be underpopulated, are normally a lot poorer than the coastal regions of the country (that holds the most number of companies and money), even inside de East, regions like Shandong, Zhejiang, the delta of the Pearl River etc, have a higher GDP per Capita than the interior of the country, like Shaanxi, Yunnan. This is not a black and white situation, but the integration of the most western parts of the country are bringing prosperity for these same places, and is important to know that isn’t true saying that this is erasing their cultural identities, we have examples like in Inner Mongolia that the Mongolian Alphabet has being preserved and even today they use it in a daily base, thing that do not occur in the proper Mongolia. Logically, more integrated places has more cultural ties with each other, people and ideas are being linked so it’s a inevitable thing to happen.
Most of them are right, however I would like to point out that the Taklamakan desert is populated by uyghurs, which is mostly an agricultural ethnic group but not nomads. The desert was a great place for agriculture as long as there is a river, such as Tarim River for Taklamakan and Shule, Dang (Sarigalgin), Ejin and Shiyang River for Hexi. Also, the old uyghurs (Huihu or Huihe) and central asians might be nomads but are in alliance with Chinese as they all have the same enemy, the Xiongnu and Turkic khanate from the Gobi desert.
0:46 Being forever suspicious of oversimplified statistics, had to image search china population map. Of course, it’s not really a straight line. But dang, the contrast is pretty stark. If China was a big cookie (biscuit for the Brits), I break it along the that line and save the yummier part for last.
I drove from Shanghai to the furtherest western part of China to do Vlog at Pamir plateau, and vlog entire Xinjiang this year few months ago. The desert there are massive, hot, beside sands at far southwest the lands were somewhat Rocky at far west as altitude rise”pamir plateau”. Many of the ancient dirt/clay/soil that made up the old ancient city town or wall, were knock down to farm land. They don’t have enough good soil to farm land at far west. hence not much ancient wall remains unless the ancient building/wall were made of rocks which left untouched.
Just another Incredible and Informative article as usual. I have had an interest in how Geography shapes the Modern World, but also realizing that in the U.S. and Canada, both countries I am a part of, everything is pretty much just what it is and where it is and we have found some kind of way to both coincide and commerce with it. Even though the north of Canada Yukon and Northwest Territories, Nunavut etc. are preeeeeeeettttty empty in comparison though LOL. They still have a relatively comparable standard of life for the most part throughout though
More than the coastal areas the biggest single most important factor that supports massive population are river Deltas.. The most populous states in India are the states of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar which are landlocked but are massively populated due to the Ganges River Delta and other rivers big and small which makes the plains one of the most fertile in the world and also the most populous states in a given area than anywhere in the world. That’s why Bangladesh is the most densely populated country due to the Bengal river delta which is the biggest in the world!! The soil supports vast agriculture and thereby massive population sizes. That’s why China isn’t so populated in the southeast because of sea but due to massive river deltas of the Yangtze and Yellow river and not the coasts.
15:11 No. Its not because theyre “more important”. You made that up yourself. They tried having different time zones before. People simply didnt like it, and it posed massive synchronisation problems in a country that interlinks much much more than then West. And the time China used is based off Shanxi province, which is geographically centred in the middle of China. So its not thaaat bad.
You’re squeezing 1.4 B people on 3.7 M sq. mi. Now using his numbers, only 43% or roughly 1.59 million sq. mi is being utilized by 94% or 1.32 B Chinese. That is extremely dense. USA–335 M pop. on 3.8 M sq. mi. Just imagine drawing a line from Duluth, MN going south to Port Arthur, TX–approx. 42-45% of USA–1.6 to 1.7 M sq. mi. Now squeeze 335 million Americans on those 1.6 M sq. mi. EAST of that line. It would be like living in Manhattan(NYC) EVERYWHERE!! Yuk! Property values would be triple or quadruple in the US. Better buy your property now before China buys EVERYTHING up.
very interesting article, you did some great research job, I, as a Chinese, have learnt a few things I didn’t know before. Even I have doubt on several points you mention: like Mao’s decision to secure fresh water for China when he sends army to Tibet. I highly doubt he has such vision and knowledges, I think it was probably more for ideological reason
As an Uyghur, this article and map is misleading and inaccurate, to say the least. 1. China only controlled East Turkistan (Tarim Basin) for a very short period before being defeated by Muslim/Turkic army agains Tang (then ruled by one of the non-Han Chinese emperors) in the Battle of Talas in 751. And China (ethnic Han) had never returned control until 1911, for more than a thousand years! Also it was the Manchu not Han who invaded and occupied East Turkistan in 1755-1850 (ruled as a vessel state) and 1877, and the Han just replaced Manchu after Qing was overthrown by Han Chinese in 1911. Han Chinese historically only resided within the 18 provinces (汉地十八省) in the south and southeast of today’s China. 2. You even failed to mention the ongoing Uyghur genocide and modern day concentration camps the Nazi Chinese government has been engaging since late 2016 /early 2017. The question is why now? Why not in 1949 when the Chinese communist fist invaded and started large scale Han immigration to East Turkistan? Why not before 2001? Why in 2017? Why the Chinese in rush to eliminate all non-Chinese population like Uyghurs and Tibetans? 3. Chinese population in East Turkistan by 1949 was only 5% including the invasion army of Guomindang Chinese. Now, the Chinese population is > 50% and Uyghur population has reduced to 40% or less. This is a direct result of Nazi China’s suppression of Uyghurs on their own land since 1949 and systematically relocated poor Han Chinese population from other parts of China proper.
Really stupid analysis – don’t try to create stories to separate east and west of China. Every large country has its own specific demographics, including Canada, USA and Australia. You are effectively saying that it is strange most Aussies live in Melbourne, Sydney & coastal areas while there are mostly Aborigines in central Australia as it’s a desert out there, so nobody has high hopes in the desert? What the heck are you concluding?
Every time I watch a article like this I’m reminded of the earth’s mind-boggling beauty and variety. We’ve seen photos of other celestial bodies (unless you’re a conspiracy theorist who thinks humans haven’t left earth and people are fabricating such photos), and while those photos are amazing just for the fact that they’re photos of places not on earth, they’re almost always grey and bland. We have right here below our feet something that took millions of year to naturally form (or maybe 6 days to some who don’t like science), yet I think we often don’t appreciate just how beautiful the planet is.
You’ll see the same pattern in the United States where the coastal States have the most population while the land-locked States have far fewer people per square mile. Oceans tend to moderate the weather and it is easier to fish than to farm. If you’re hungry today you can fish and eat today. Farming takes a lot longer to grow crops.
It’s actually not correct to say at 14:30 “the vast majority of the remaining 8% of China’s various ethnic minorities live to the west of that line.” Most ethnic minorities in China also live east of the Hu line. The 3 largest ethnic minorities are the Zhuang, who live in southern Guanxi province, the Hui (China’s largest muslim group) who live interspersed among the Han throughout eastern China, and the Manchu, who of course come from Manchuria in the north and straddle the line. Uighurs are the 4th largest minority and Tibetans are the 8th largest. Most minority groups actually live in the south in areas like Guanxi and Yunnan and many have lived among the Han for centuries. The non-Han people west of the Hu line are mostly Uighurs, Tibetans, Mongols, and Kazakhs who are a minority of China’s minority populations. This then throws a bit more complexity into the simplified “China only acts in Han interest” story you’re telling. There are lots of examples on non-Han groups retaining their distinctiveness even within areas the Han have lived for a long time. And the Han vs minority line doesn’t really fall on the Hu line. This doesn’t mean there aren’t concerns about particularly the Uighur’s cultural distinctiveness (Han migration to Tibet is far lower than further north due to the harshness of altitude and anti-PRC sentiment in Tibet often falls along more traditional class lines than necessarily ethnic ones), but that this is a more specific and contingent concern not an inevitable millennia long “Han assimilate everyone” thing.
Han is a combine of all ethnicities once ruled under the Han Dynasty so there are many languages and cultures within the Han. Vietnamese was Han ethnicity too. Once the Qing Empire launched a war against Vietnam, the Vietnamese King Minh Mang said, “We, the Han descendants will not bow to you Qing.”
Wow. I’m really amazed and feel newly enriched with a fresh enthusiasm for, and interest in the topic of this region’s specific geography! I never really knew any of that.+++ I took Chinese History for the entire year in the 9th grade with Dr. Hoaglund Keep, and really enjoyed it. +++ This, all thanks to a stellar youtube website and the great talent of its’ content creators, to whom I say “Good Show, Man! Much respect and appreciation, coming from this guy. (This web comment was composed and posted without the use of Grammarly.)
What truly gets me is, if China’s jonesing for Tibet is due to resources, why not just let Tibet be independent but work with them to build a pipeline or a canal system so both can enjoy that water? Why be a power hungry bully? Sometimes I think a lot of these antics throughout history have been more about muscle flexing and ego than resources. If it wasn’t macho posturing, history would have been full of trade agreements. Just, “Golly! We like some stuff you have. Can we work together and trade?”
Also saying China being racially homogeneous is untrue, because the Han race is actually a social construct, a mixture of hundreds if not thousands of races. It’s like if the Roman empire stands for 2000 years, and all the Gauls, Greeks, Egyptians, etc. all adapted Roman culture and consider themselves Romans, forgot who they originally were. This is how the Han race was formed after Qin Shi Huang conquered all the kingdoms in the region that we call “China” today. He standardized the language and measurements, burned all history books except their own, wiping out the racial and cultural identity of the other kingdoms, and later the “Han” dynasty took its place. The only places that resisted becoming one with the Hans, are the people living on those western wastelands, and two countries called Korea and Vietnam. Even though they’ve been conquered and ruled by China countless times, they never forget their ethnic identity, and would rise up and retake their lands every time the Chinese empire weakened its grip. (Even though in many cases they’d also give up fighting and just pay tribute to China and be subservient. It all depends on the power balance of the region.)
Usage of single time zone = the people there are more important? I don’t know how this logic works out. To my knowledge, the people away from the time zone simply adjust their working time. For example, the people in Xinjiang goes to work at 9am. But on the other hand, it brings huge advantages in terms of the ease of communication, which may actually benefit people away from the time zone more than if they were using their own time zone, for example, easier access to the market. It is a two step process, first China wants and needs a single time zone; second, this time zone is based on Beijing, which naturally contains a large amount of population. Moreover, time zones are already group of timings. Why don’t you claim that the people in the center of one time zone is more important than the people away from the center of the time zone? Based on your logic, not having anyone being non-important means having infinite time zones. 24 seems not enough for this purpose, why not 24*60 time zones? Or 24*3600 time zones? The first 15 minutes of the article is of good quality. But I have seen this so often that articles about China starting with quite objective stuff and near the end, with one or two terrible logic, goes to propaganda.
China’s population is large, but the habitable place is not as large as the map depicts. For example, Xinjiang, Tibet and some mountainous areas in Guizhou, Guangxi, Yunnan Province, and it is precisely a large province that is uninhabited. Although the area of the United States is a little smaller than that of China, it is far more habitable than China, and its population is less than that of China. The pressure of life is bound to be much smaller than that of China.😢
First time I heard the fresh-water angle being put front and centre as the main reason for China wanting to control Tibet. The usual consensus seems to be that China wants to control Tibet because they have only one non-friendly nation near them they consider somewhat equal to themselves, meaning of course India. The often-heard thinking goes ‘If China wouldn’t control Tibet, India surely would’ because Tibet is too ‘weak’ to not come under the influence of one of those powers. And if India controlled Tibet, they could get troops over the Himalaya to the chinese border to strike there, whereas if China controlled Tibet, it may act as a sort of buffer zone buying the Chinese the time to mount an adaequate defense as then the Indians would be presented with the task of attacking into the Himalaya and then crossing a vast, icy, road-less Tibet instead of amassing their troops at a border where they’ve already crossed that natural barrier. So while controlling fresh water supply might be another of a couple of reasons China wants to control Tibet, the big, main, front-and-centre reason seems to be of a rather militaristic, strategical nature and fueled by the deep mistrust between the two by far most populous countries in the world, China and India. Tibet is just an unfortunate plaything in their hands it seems.
There is one big mistake you’re making, and that is assuming that the Han are replacing the culture of ethnicities with their own. The one biggest destroyer of culture is not any ethnic group, it’s Western-style modernization. And why not? Who Doesn’t want running water, electricity, machinery to do the hard work, education, TV, internet and a few extra decades of lifespan? What kid wouldn’t rather be skateboarding than working in the fields? What girl wouldn’t prefer to have choices in life rather than be forcefully married off at the age of 12? You’re left with the fun stuff like the food, music, language, architecture and other cultural elements. It’s the same in say, Japan and South Korea: nobody forced them to live a largely Western-style lifestyle. On the other hand, what happens when places in the Middle East decide to “preserve” their way of life? Everybody accuses them of violation of human rights, and for good reason.
Found out your website today. I am from India. Very informative indeed. I have never seen this topic covered to this extent previously anywhere. Just a thought and a question at the same time – The Gobi Desert expands roughly 36K sq km every decade towards the east of the line. Is this the reason why China has been pursuing agricultural activities through contract farming in Africa and Ukraine? Or could this be also triggered by the fact that vast agricultural land in the eastern coastal area had been converted to industrial parks over many years in the east following Deng Xiaoping’s economic liberalization policies in the late 1970s? P.S. : I have subscribed to your website and look forward to analytical pieces of work going forward. Thank you 🙏.
Beijing suffers from sand storms, and sand dunes are moving down to the south every year. Northern China simply cannot sustain a large population due to ecological reasons such as water scarcity, cold climate, and infertile land. Adding more population to this region would bring long-term and irreversible ecological disasters to these regions. For the sake of planet earth and its well-being, China should consider moving its capital city down to the south!
Fun fact, you show the map by Hu Huanyong and say that Mongolia was a part of China in 1935. That is just wrong. Mongolia became independant in 1911 and they had been a Soviet puppet state since 1924. And it also shows the then country of Tuva as a pary of China that became a Russian protectorate in 1912 and then a Soviet satellite state in 1921.
RLL: “Roughly every decade, the sands of the Gobi desert conquer 1 Taiwan worth of agricultural land from China” Beijing: “Well that can’t be happening, *get the trees!*” Alsso, what the fuck is that bullshit about the timezone and insinuating some Han-supremacist agenda? China set one time zone for national unity reasons (which you are permitted to dislike); plenty of Han live in the western regions, and many minority groups, like Zhuang (largest ethnic minority in China) or Manchu, live in the east.
The reason is because of the North-South Gravity Lineament and the Western side of the Pacific Plate. The NSGL is higher in elevation and has a thicker mantle crust of about 100 KM. The Pacific Plate (the right side of the line) is lower elevation and mantle crust just about 50 KM. That’s why people live on this side of the land compared to the other side.
It’s not true，Every Chinese kids is told that, 56 minority and ethic groups are sisters and brothers, we are family. There are many policies to help the people who living in western CHINA. CHINA always respect minorities groups for many years. 1. They are self-governed, keep their own languages 、 lifestyle、religious belief, have better opportunities to pursue education （will automatically adding scores in University entrance exam etc）etc. 2. It’s certainly a big challenge to improve western area in CHINA, but we will try our best. Have you ever been to CHINA? You should come and visit and then make articles
West China seems like the best of all environments: snowy mountains and deserts which can also be hot and not a green thing to be seen! It’s inviting someone come along and show the world we don’t need nature to survive – it can just be something that’s there and nice to look at instead. ..Well it wouldn’t be the first place to have a civilization in the desert or the snow, but both …maybe!
I’m curious, does anyone have more information about the expansion of development and population growth into western China? I’ve heard about the new Silk road concept initiative. I wonder if this plays a part. We should all look at the resources if anyone wants to share what they know about this! It’s great to connect with what’s happening on your planet.
Interestingly, han Chinese have been playing down their status. They never say China is the China of the Han people. But will say that China is China for the Chinese people. That’s wise. When we talk about something, we should not emphasize who we are. If you do that, you are not really seeing the essence of the problem. And unprofessional research can make things worse.
I see the same pattern in Russia, that expanded it’s borders to the Pacific ocean for safety from nomadic Turkic, Mongol or ralic people, that were invading Kievan Rus for decades. BTW, it’s interesting that Russia nad China had a lot of common stuff through the centuries,, like central authoritarian government, disproportion in population(like in article), or disproportion in wealth beetwen rich cities(like Moscow, Petersburg ) and poor countryside.
Feels racist to describe China as using brutal police tactics when very few countries do not, certainly not any of their strategic adversaries. The crackdown on BLM protestors was absolutely insane, and that’s in response to a minority not wanting to be murdered every day with complete impunity. Imagine what US police would do to an actual threat to security and not a brutalized population who had the audacity to not want to be murdered with no consequences.
Very informative article. The solutions are not too bad if Hans can co exist peacefully with the local cultures. So far western propaganda has attacked China on this policy, but there seem to be no better alternative. I think that China will prevail because it seeks the improvement of all of its citizens lives even if they can’t realize that they are being left behind with dated cultures. Same situation with indigenous people in the America’s, Australia and around the world. They need help.
Interesting indeed, though it makes a lot of sense. BTW, you should really fix your pronunciations of kilometres (pronounced like “nanometres”, not like “thermometers”; a “kilometer” would be a device that measures kills) and route (pronounced identically to “root”; “rout” means something totally different).
The time zone is not about favoring the Han, in fact you’ll find a larger proportion of China’s ethnic minorities actually live in the East. If you use one time zone for business then you use the one where most people live (in the East). Nevertheless, if you go to Xinjiang you will find they use dual time zones – the local one and the national one. In terms of how much diversity will be lost developing the West. Well look at the East there are many ethnic minority groups living there and the Han themselves are extremely diverse with multiple different languages and local cultures in each province. Basically the term Han could be equated with something like the term European – it contains hundreds of sub nations within it. If we compare it to the US as you did at the start then China retains far more diversity. Even most European immigrants have lost their native tongue and now only speak English.
Hello editor! I watched your article introduction throughout the whole process. The content is very rich, but you hardly understand the ancient history of China, let alone the process of national development. Most of the content, or even more, is completely narrative wrong. Internally, China has only ethnic integration, no ethnic conflicts; the real ethnic conflicts come from the invasion of foreign enemies and the division of powers. Thousands of years of China cannot be summed up in a few words; it is more that you have said the opposite; please read the modern history of China, propagate the above incorrect language, and correct it. By the way, don’t listen to his side words. As a historian, I feel sorry for your ignorance! I don’t think your own country understands, where is courage! Feel free to introduce other countries? Before speaking, I suggest you improve the world culture! It seems that you have a lot of nonsense on the Internet for money!
The concept of Han Chinese as presented is incorrect. China had a massive campaign where they “changed” the ethnicity of the many diverse ethnic groups across China from their actual ethnicity to “Han.” Many of these are now referred to as “Han subgroups,” However, up until the 70’s they identified both ethnically and genetically as separate groups. Through a campaign of forced change and severe repercussions for identifying as other than Han, these groups “changed” their ethnicity to fit the preferred overarching Han ethnicity to create the image of a more unified China. The peoples to the west simply were more ethnically/genetically diverse compared to the peoples to the east and frankly, didn’t matter as much for the purposes of the unification campaign at the time. Many of the peoples of the east resisted being recategorized as Han specifically because they similarly to mentioned in the article about the people to the west, they felt their unique ethnic cultures were being sacrificed on the altar of unification. Note, this is not a comment on ethics of such a change, simply a comment on the facts.
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জয় আই অসম ✊🏿💖,জয় আই অসম ✊🏿💖,জয় আই অসম ✊🏿💖,জয় আই অসম ✊🏿💖,জয় আই অসম ✊🏿💖,জয় আই অসম ✊🏿💖,জয় আই অসম ✊🏿💖,জয় আই অসম ✊🏿💖,জয় আই অসম ✊🏿💖,জয় আই অসম ✊🏿💖,জয় আই অসম ✊🏿💖,জয় আই অসম ✊🏿💖,জয় আই অসম ✊🏿💖,জয় আই অসম ✊🏿💖,জয় আই অসম ✊🏿💖,জয় আই অসম ✊🏿💖,জয় আই অসম ✊🏿💖,জয় আই অসম ✊🏿💖,জয় আই অসম ✊🏿💖,জয় আই অসম ✊🏿💖,জয় আই অসম ✊🏿💖,জয় আই অসম ✊🏿💖,জয় আই অসম ✊🏿💖,জয় আই অসম ✊🏿💖,জয় আই অসম ✊🏿💖,জয় আই অসম ✊🏿💖,জয় আই অসম ✊🏿💖,জয় আই অসম ✊🏿💖,জয় আই অসম ✊🏿💖,জয় আই অসম ✊🏿💖,জয় আই অসম ✊🏿💖,জয় আই অসম ✊🏿💖,জয় আই অসম ✊🏿💖,জয় আই অসম ✊🏿💖,জয় আই অসম ✊🏿💖,জয় আই অসম ✊🏿💖,জয় আই অসম ✊🏿💖,জয় আই অসম ✊🏿💖,জয় আই অসম ✊🏿💖,জয় আই অসম ✊🏿💖,জয় আই অসম ✊🏿💖,জয় আই অসম ✊🏿💖,জয় আই অসম ✊🏿💖,জয় আই অসম ✊🏿💖,জয় আই অসম ✊🏿💖,জয় আই অসম ✊🏿💖,জয় আই অসম ✊🏿💖,জয় আই অসম ✊🏿💖,জয় আই অসম ✊🏿💖,জয় আই অসম ✊🏿💖,জয় আই অসম ✊🏿💖,জয় আই অসম ✊🏿💖,জয় আই অসম ✊🏿💖,জয় আই অসম ✊🏿💖,জয় আই অসম ✊🏿💖,জয় আই অসম ✊🏿💖,জয় আই অসম ✊🏿💖,
all thanks to the great himalayan moutain ..because of that we indians and other south aisian countries are safe …. it is like shelter for us, it provides us sufficient rain and it save us from natural disasters … if you see the himalaya range map you will find that india has much advantages because of it … other side china has to faced many problems like drought, and natural disasters
It’s +15 C where I live today and supposed to be -15C tommorow. I live in Canada, and thats not a huge swing as its already April. Those temperature swings are not unusual, easily -40+ C in the winters here and also over +30C in the summers. Thats a easy 70C+ swing and its green as can be here, no desert at all.
There was a belief among futurists that Kowloon would be the model of future cities, densly packed to the point that it almost becomes ungovernable outside of wealthy areas. This is because it was believed that when countries became more prosperous the birth rate would go up. This is why it served as an inspiration for cyberpunk futuristic settings. We now know that the opposite happened.
I am a Hongkonger and I have to say, this is the best documentary about the Kowloon Walled City so far. Even better than local TV website’s in some parts. One of my boss lived there when he was a child. What he told me was quite different than popular belief. Maybe he was lucky, or the City was still in early days. Contrary to impression, he said the neighborhood was peaceful and like to take care of each other.
I’ve been super fascinated with Kowloon Walled City for years, ever since I read it is the densest population on Earth in history, but very little literature in English. Your animation blew me away, and together with the backstory, the culture of this lawless patch of land, I cannot put in words how incredible this article is.
I flew into HK in the late 1980’s and I was STUNNED how close the plane came to buildings adjacent to the flight path. I remember our plane was STILL in the air, close to landing, yet I could see the TV sets in the different apartments ih the buildings adjacent to the runway flight path. I could even sort of see what the residents were perusal on their TV’s as we came into land. THAT”S how tightly packed the whole area was.
I learned about Kowloon walled city from my math teacher in grade 7. We took the population of Kowloon, measured it against its area, came up with a density, and calculated that the entire global population which at the time was 6bn – if crammed into a density of Kowloon, would roughly take up the area of Rhode Island.
Imagine a retro noir story-driven game set in a semi fictional, open world Kowloon walled city which you can enter almost every buildings and rooms. You play as one of a very few private investigators in Kowloon and you have to navigate the city overcramped spaces filled with mysteries and suspense, leading up to some multiple endings depending on your gameplay. So much potential.
I visited here with my dad back in the mid 90s, he took his car to get serviced in a small engine repair shop facing the airport/runway side. They even had remote control helicoptors in the shop, it was just fascinating to see the streets about 2 to 3-people wide, 10 story high deep lanes that couldn’t fit a bicycle, and the Noise of landing/approaching planes would scream and rattle, echo through the streets for minutes after the plane had landed, because it faced the runway. The strange part was that you were so ‘deep’ nestled in, the lanes made the sound much louder than it was outside of the block. I think we had to walk 5 or 6 blocks to get a taxi, as they didn’t want to stop nearby. It was a kind of urban wasteland, nothing at all like what you’d find near the MTR train stations or ‘nice’ but dubious locations, the Dentist/Butchers were probably the nicer businesses you could have chosen, honestly. If we had walked around the block, it probably would have been a lot more jovial, but I never got a sense of it being ‘criminal’, just … layered. Too many people were there, walking past and going places outside/inside at the same time. The piles of woven red/blue striped bags, the large plastic and metal drums near lampposts, waiting to be ‘picked up’, et al. The Smell and ambient heat, was incredible. There also seemed to be a lot of one-chair restaurants, but that’s not always a sign of a real business, Sham Shui Po also had a lot of these ‘friendly’ shops with people silently standing around and checking everyone out while smoking.
As a Hongkonger, I have to say I am astounded by the documentary. I am rather young, so I havent seen the Walled City in its packed form, but I have been to the “ruins” of Kowloon walled city many times. I honestly never knew it was such a packed place with a history like that. Another thing I might want to add is that in Hong Kong, nowadays Kowloon Peninsula is split up in two districts, Yau Tsim Mong District and Kowloon City distict. Even if the walled city wasnt given to UK in the second war, currently, with the current boundaries of ddistricts, the Kowloon Walled City is considered to be in Kowloon City district, which is in Kowloon. So no Kowloon Walled CIty is not in the New Territories. Anyway loved your documentary, thanks!
I remember being a teen in Highschool, we had a foreign exchange student who claimed his grandparents lived there for a long time. He said he was inside only once with his parents, and that the whole place was an insane pile of flammable garbage. I always wondered how it actually was. I couldn’t imagine who fought the small fires or small time thieves.
Despite all the craziness of Kowloon Walled City, it’s really a miracle it ever existed. They just built random stuff on top of and beside and within each other and nothing ever collapsed, set on fire, blew up, or who knows what. Like mail could be delivered to addresses inside. It’s impressive such a thing ever existed.
I know from everything I’ve read and heard that life inside the Kowloon Walled City was rough, unsanitary, uncomfortable, and unhealthy, but I can’t help feel a forbidden desire to travel back in time and experience what it was like. It’s such a unique and intriguing community, the architecture in particular but also just the history of it, seems so cool and alluring.
Back in the day (I’m a HongKonger) Kowloon city was kind of an unspoken failure in our city. We never talked about it but everyone knew what it was about and what it was like. We didn’t teach it at school and not even the parents would want to talk about it. I’m glad people of the west get to know this story as I truly think it was a feat humans would never be able to achieve ever again 😂. I remember asking our teacher what was in the city and he told us it was a crammed isolated waste with very poor governing, it was literally like a place without rules. The teacher told us about how people from the mafia would set their base there just because there wasn’t anyone controlling the city. I was fascinated by those stories but sadly not much concrete information is known of the city. Edit: I see many people in the comments saying the city is cool but you’d be wrong, though there was some kind of “order” the entire city was just a mess
The Kowloon Walled City is one of the most interesting cities to ever exist. No other city was built or grew like it did, with it being more like a single living organism than the separate, independent buildings we usually think of when we think “city”. There’s also the fact that it all came together without any planning of regulation, you think this would result in clashing buildings and chaos, but it all came together neatly in the end.
I was born and lived in Hong Kong up until I was in grade 6. I remember going on a field trip to this park and seeing this model and being fascinated by it; I have a picture of it somewheres; 9 years later I’m pursing a degree in urban planning and just as equally fascinated by it. Thank you for all of your content, your articles are the best
At the beginning of this article I was a little skeptical because I have seen countless other articles on this city that all pretty much explained the same thing about it, showing the same stock footage. But I feel like you added on to those articles a lot, especially with the history. There isn’t much about the earlier days and how it was actually built.
I knew someone who live in Kowloon walled city during his childhood, rather than “lawlessness, chaotic, or hellish condition” he told me that he fondly remember most people in that walled city are kind and helpful, of course everyone knew (including him as a kid) a kindergarten or primary school in the morning become brothel at night and Triads rule the place.
Hongkonger here. This is honestly the best documentary about the Kowloon Walled City I’ve ever seen. This is the first time I truly understand the scale of the city as well as how it came to be in the first place. I live not far from the location of the city, and have only been to the remaining park once when I was little. I was born in 2000, not long after the demolition of the city and the closing of the nearby Kai Tak Airport. I’ve heard from my parents the horrifying yet astonishing scenes from the past. I’ve always felt a disconnection, and this is the first time I truly marvel it and see how they’ve influenced pop culture. Again, thank you so much for making this!
This is an incredibly well made and well researched article. I watched it with my dad who’s knowledgable on subjects of Chinese history and even he learned many new things here. The visuals and storytelling is fantastic paired with the narration and photos and the 3D model to give us a sense of the space. Thank you for taking the time to create this article and to share more about Kowloon walled city
I never looked much into Kowloon city, but the few media depictions I saw always portrait it as a dystopian nightmare – and granted, it probably was that in part. Your article showed me a bit of the other side of the story for the first time, thanks! Also, the new park that stands in its place looks gorgeous!
He mentions Stray (among others), but then says that these Sci-Fi depictions make it scary and miss the community within… but Stray is precisely about the community within. I don’t want to spoil it for those who haven’t played the game, but it’s a beautiful story about love and family, despite the hardships of life within those walls
hearing stories from my father about living here. He said a lot of the news you hear about the walled city is true, but at the same time he spoke about the immense sense of safety and community he felt while growing up there. Something he said he never felt while living in the states. or at least he said he felt a different version of safety and community. He spoke about how the media views the traids negatively, but while living there they felt like big brothers taking care and protecting their own people
I was expecting you to say that it’s only business was crime related organizations stuff, but the fact that you mentioned dentist’s, food processing and other unlicensed business thriving first made me realize how much dystopian movies skewed my perspective XD In the end even in the worst of conditions people are still people and most want to make good honest money. The people that gathered there just needed a chance to grow and it seems that a majority did manage to grow. I hope that they had a good life after they were forced to move out.
The more I learn about Kowloon the more interesting it is. The triads actually did set up an (albeit irregular) waste management system. They would clean up the trash left on the road and between buildings so that paths remained clear. They also had pension of their older members who retired. There was also a ministry held by an American women who helped the drug users in the city, and she even had a deal with the triads than anyone who came to her would be safe, even if they were former gang members. Many workshops created metal and plastic items, people made noodles and spring roll wrappers and they sold for even cheaper than machine made goods- which is how they ended up at fancy restaurants and businesses within the rest of Hong Kong. At the end of Kowloon, people tried to refuse to leave, even putting up tents outside the city hall in Hong Kong.
I was a 16 year old deck boy on my first voyage in a Liverpool based cargo ship in 1959. We were berthed in HK for a few days and one evening I went ashore in Kowloon for a stroll. I ended up walking around in this walled city, completely lost. After a while I tried asking people for directions with no luck no luck. Eventually I found a way out at 4AM by flagging down a rickshaw, and getting back to the ship. It was a very scary experience but I was never threatened physically but got plenty of dirty looks.
I learned about the kowloon walled city when I was in primary school, and it was always depicted as a place of crime and overall negativity. You really changed the perspective of my impression of the city and the people that resided in it. Thank you for bringing this piece of history to more people around the world!
The Kowloon walled city It reminded me of an extremely concentrated favela, favelas are similar styles of social construction, regions of high population density and little state activity, but the reason why they exist is a little different than a geopolitical conflict between two countries, favelas in Brazil are purely existing by state incompetence and lack of an bad administration, The urban composition has led to an escape of poor families to regions that are cheaper to live in and still provide viable access to urban centers, slowly these groups were concentrating on the edges of the big Brazilian cities and forming small communities of “Kowloon’s city”, the government did not care about such incompetence and little by little favelas were formed as communities outside the control and margins of the state and society, unfortunately these regions are moved by gangs like Kowloon walled city, despite the existence of a government, its negligence will not prevent the survival of society as a whole, ignore the existence of this social portion and of its origins is to lose the feeling of being human, of empathy and of believing in a better world. Sometimes people just want to live in peace.
At 14:55 it told the story of Hong Kong. 99 percent of the people came here with nothing, running away from war, searching for new opportunities. Throughout so many years, people fought through poverty, discrimination, and harsh conditions to survive. This mentality is so unique compared to every single place on earth. Go anywhere else and you won’t find anything like this. Even the richest man in Hong Kong came from nothing, survived in WW2, started off as a watch sales at 15 years old, now with an evaluation worth of 38 Billion USD. How’s that for a comeback story. Even when shit hits the fan we always find a way to stand back up. Even today, conditions are so tough but we are still tough as nails. This is my city, my home, and I love being here.
Visiting kowloon in shenmue 2 introduced me to the concept. It was portrayed well as a place of darkness and of light. Many of the people in the tightly packed internal streets of the game were happily living their lives in peace while the main character sought out the dark underbelly of the city. Its always been in the back of my mind knowing that its based on a real place that used to exist. When i played the game as a kid i thought it was a totally seperate plsce, but knowing it was within hong kong (where the bulk of the game takes place) makes alot of sense