> until the 20th century, with Beijing* as the primary exception, big cities were in Western Asia, North Africa, and Europe > Why did rice-growing areas have vi

> until the 20th century, with Beijing* as the primary exception, big cities were in Western Asia, North Africa, and Europe > Why did rice-growing areas have villages while wheat areas developed cities? I'm sorry but that's simply untrue. There were lots of cities in premodern China. Urbanization probably got started earlier in the Near East, which is why you get early large cities there, but even in the list you link to, from ca. 1000 BC on there are basically always one or more Chinese cities in the list: Haojing, Luoyan, Xiadu, Chang'an/Xian, Nanjing, Kaifeng, Hangzou, .... (And this is ignoring other large cities that were never the largest like Guangzhou.) (Beijing doesn't become really significant until the Mongol Yuan dynasty makes it their capital in the 13th Century.)