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China is big. You just won't believe how vastly, hugely, mind-bogglingly big it is. I mean, you may think it's a long way down the road to the chemist's, but th
by lvturner 6y ago
China is big. You just won't believe how vastly, hugely, mind-bogglingly big it is. I mean, you may think it's a long way down the road to the chemist's, but that's just peanuts to China.
Butchering of Douglas Adams' work aside, it's true, having taken a train a few times across bits of mainland China - it just. does. not. stop. and you can witness constant construction too.
- thaumasiotes 6y ago> China is big. You just won't believe how vastly, hugely, mind-bogglingly big it is. China is almost exactly the same size as the United States.
- smcgaw 6y agoThere's probably more than a few of us on HN from smaller countries who would also find the size of the US mind-boggling.
- kaybe 6y agoEspecially us from higher latitudes whose worldview is influenced by the Mercator projection.
- arethuza 6y agoA useful link that helps with that problem: https://thetruesize.com/#?borders=1~!MTYxNDU5OTQ.MzgwMzc5Mg*MzU0NzE2NTA(MjAyMDQ3OA~!CONTIGUOUS_US*MTAwMjQwNzU.MjUwMjM1MTc(MTc1)MA~!IN*NTI2NDA1MQ.Nzg2MzQyMQ)MQ~!CN*OTkyMTY5Nw.NzMxNDcwNQ(MjI1)Mg https://thetruesize.com/#?borders=1~!MTYxNDU5OTQ.MzgwMzc5Mg*...
- hombre_fatal 6y agoGreat site. Never realized Greenland fits inside the USA. Dragging a country to/from the poles really establishes how ridiculous the projection is.
- thaumasiotes 6y ago> Dragging a country to/from the poles really establishes how ridiculous the projection is. I mean, the pole is an infinitesimal point that _any_ rectangular projection must expand to the size of the equator.
- arethuza 6y agoI don't think it's fair to say it is ridiculous - it has pros and cons - with the distortion of areas towards the poles definitely being one of the latter https://connectusfund.org/13-major-pros-and-cons-of-mercator-projection https://connectusfund.org/13-major-pros-and-cons-of-mercator...
- lvturner 6y agoI was not just referring to China's acreage. China is also very big vertically - and this vertical building is not just limited to a handful of cities. Being originally from Scotland, almost every large country or city is mind-blowingly big as far as I'm concerned :)
- arethuza 6y agoBeing in Scotland I see that as a feature not a bug ;-)
- Ekaros 6y agoIt is quite eye opening when you hear of name of some "smaller" Chinese city you have never heard of and then go look the population only to find it to be in millions.
- yorwba 6y agoAnd there are 113 cities with more than a million inhabitants in China: https://www.visualcapitalist.com/chinas-113-cities-one-million-people-population/ https://www.visualcapitalist.com/chinas-113-cities-one-milli...
- cvhashim 6y agoA friend of mine in college was an international student from China. He was from a city I had never heard of and it boasted a population of 7 million people.
- blueblisters 6y agoUndoubtedly, the United States is huge. But a large chunk of the US (Alaska) is separated from the contiguous landmass. It dilutes the perception of size relative to China.
- blackrock 6y agoThe melting permafrost of Alaska, Canada, and Russia, are about to become prime real estate in the next few centuries.
- blueblisters 6y agoI hear this a lot. Is there any reason why people are not scooping up Canadian wilderness properties right now?
- blackrock 6y agoWell, it’s not going to become valuable for probably another 6 generations. You’ll be long dead by then, but your great great great great ancestors might benefit from it.
- arethuza 6y agoA lot of it is the Canadian Shield - which probably isn't the most desirable property (thankfully): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canadian_Shield https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canadian_Shield
- TMWNN 6y agoBecause climate change isn't going to make the Canadian Shield, and muskeg, any more valuable than it is now. To put another way, if muskeg were worth using, it would have been used a century ago.
- phaemon 6y agoWell, they're going to become vast, mosquito-infested swamps. Whether you regard that as "prime real estate" probably depends if you're an estate agent or not.