138 ms·

China's urban population is over 740 million[1]. For perspective the USA is almost 260 million[2]. I don't think your assumption holds up in the modern world. M

China's urban population is over 740 million[1]. For perspective the USA is almost 260 million[2]. I don't think your assumption holds up in the modern world. Maybe 20 years ago. https://www.quandl.com/data/WORLDBANK/CHN_SP_URB_TOTL-China-Urban-population https://www.quandl.com/data/WORLDBANK/CHN_SP_URB_TOTL-China-... https://www.quandl.com/data/WORLDBANK/USA_SP_URB_TOTL-United-States-Urban-population https://www.quandl.com/data/WORLDBANK/USA_SP_URB_TOTL-United...

ekianjo 10y ago
thats still half of China's population. Thats basically still a country in transition from a rural era to an industrial one. In any developed country the percentage of folks living in cities is way higher. Census in 2000 in the US reported 79% of Americans living in Urban Areas. It is surely even higher now.
- mhotchen 10y ago
  It's still wrong to call a country with over half its population in cities "rural at its core". It isn't transitioning from a 'rural era' either. It's more urbanized than Slovakia, Romania, Slovenia, and several other developed countries[1]. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Urbanization_by_country https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Urbanization_by_country
  - ekianjo 10y ago
    Even your Wikipedia link confirms what I said earlier. China is the bottom half for urbanization globally. Morocco is more urbanized than China, and I've never heard of anyone describing Morocco as an urbanized country. So this is really your bias at work. I have travelled in China several times and as soon as you go outside of the large cities, you'll see great poverty and rural life everywhere. It's changing, but it will take time to move hundred of millions of people to the cities.
    - mhotchen 10y ago
      It doesn't confirm that China is 'rural at its core' at all. When more than half the world lives in urban centers then being in the bottom half doesn't mean anything. If over half a country lives in urban centers then you simply can't call the country 'rural at its core'. It has a massive rural population, but it isn't 'rural at its core'. To make an edit: I think we're arguing over semantics of terms at this point. I don't think we're actually disagreeing about anything important. I never asked for China to be called urbanized (although I would use that term if forced to use one or the other), just that calling it 'rural at its core' doesn't hold up anymore. If you still think that statement holds true, then I'm sorry that we're going to have different definitions of that term.

ekianjo 10y ago

thats still half of China's population. Thats basically still a country in transition from a rural era to an industrial one. In any developed country the percentage of folks living in cities is way higher. Census in 2000 in the US reported 79% of Americans living in Urban Areas. It is surely even higher now.

mhotchen 10y ago
It's still wrong to call a country with over half its population in cities "rural at its core". It isn't transitioning from a 'rural era' either. It's more urbanized than Slovakia, Romania, Slovenia, and several other developed countries[1]. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Urbanization_by_country https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Urbanization_by_country
- ekianjo 10y ago
  Even your Wikipedia link confirms what I said earlier. China is the bottom half for urbanization globally. Morocco is more urbanized than China, and I've never heard of anyone describing Morocco as an urbanized country. So this is really your bias at work. I have travelled in China several times and as soon as you go outside of the large cities, you'll see great poverty and rural life everywhere. It's changing, but it will take time to move hundred of millions of people to the cities.
  - mhotchen 10y ago
    It doesn't confirm that China is 'rural at its core' at all. When more than half the world lives in urban centers then being in the bottom half doesn't mean anything. If over half a country lives in urban centers then you simply can't call the country 'rural at its core'. It has a massive rural population, but it isn't 'rural at its core'. To make an edit: I think we're arguing over semantics of terms at this point. I don't think we're actually disagreeing about anything important. I never asked for China to be called urbanized (although I would use that term if forced to use one or the other), just that calling it 'rural at its core' doesn't hold up anymore. If you still think that statement holds true, then I'm sorry that we're going to have different definitions of that term.