1. Urbanizing a billion people

Urbanization is arguably the most important phenomenon shaping modern China. More than 300 million have moved from the country to cities in the past 30 years, and another 350 million are on the way. China has 160 cities with populations of more than one million, and 14 with more than five million. Increasingly these cities are becoming linked, creating urban areas with 30 million people or more—the size of many European countries. Before long there will be one billion city dwellers in China, placing intense demands on infrastructure such as transportation and public services, as well as critical resources like clean drinking water.

At the same time, urbanization is creating a great deal of wealth. Some 350 million people have moved out of poverty since 1990 in China, with per capita disposable income rising 300 percent during that period. Perhaps the clearest illustration of wealth generation is in real estate, where investment rose to $980 billion in 2011 from just $120 billion in 2003. In fact, by focusing on building basic modern apartments for China’s growing middle class, the country’s leading developer, China Vanke, built some 80,000 apartments in more than 25 cities in 2012—and recorded sales topping 97 billion RMB (about US$16 billion).