Southwest China’s largest metropolis is the country’s greenest big city. With a
population of nearly 21 million, it exemplifies Beijing’s quest to modernize the country’s vast
interior and is the lynchpin of an emerging mega-region. This is Chengdu, the park city.
Scenic mountains ring the fertile basin of Sichuan province, a land known for its
agricultural abundance and famous cuisine of chili-infused sauces and spicy hot pot.
Its capital has been continuously inhabited for more than 3,000 years,
the only major city in China to have an unchanged name and location throughout the imperial,
republican, and communist eras–a history that remains remarkably well preserved.
In the second century BC, Chengdu was one of Earth’s largest civilizations, with 350,000
inhabitants. In the 11th century, the world’s first widely used paper money was created here.
Unfortunately, things turned bleak in the 1500s when its residents were nearly all
destroyed by a Mongol invasion. For decades afterward,
Chengdu remained so sparsely populated that wild tigers freely roamed its streets.
But Sichuan was far too fertile a land to remain without a major city for long,
and soon developments in farming and new trading opportunities with the western hemisphere drew
millions of immigrants from provinces near and far to cultivate its new cash crop: tobacco.
During the Chinese Civil War in 1949, Chengdu was the last stronghold in the country for the
forces of Chiang Kai-shek’s Republic of China before their evacuation to Taiwan.
In spite of its short-lived status as the capital, the city attracted loyal business people, workers,
and academics–an influx of talent that founded many of the industries and institutions that
continue to make Chengdu the premiere cultural and economic center of Southwest China.
In the year 2000, Beijing launched the “Open Up The West Program” to encourage immigration
from its wealthy coastal regions and spread prosperity to its 12 poorest areas in the
west. As an established metropolis, Chengdu has been a major winner under the policy.
Its population has doubled over the last 25 years while becoming one of China’s most dynamic cities.
Between 2010 and 2022 105 highrises over 100 meters were completed, catapulting it to 12th
on the list of the world’s tallest metropolises. But high-density construction is happening all
across China. What’s special about Chengdu is the amount of land local officials have set aside for
parks, paths, and athletic facilities, an effort to make it as livable as possible.
President Xi has officially designated it China’s Park City Demonstration Area.
Municipal leaders even brought in experts from the United Nations to better understand
how ecological development can solve some of Chengdu’s most pressing challenges.
One ultimate goal is to create the world’s largest continuous network of
paths by 2050 by reserving 500 meters on either side of its largest ring highway,
a project that will eventually produce 188 square kilometers of parks.
Instead of allowing vehicles to dominate,
whenever land was cleared for a new highway or overpass, a little extra space was set aside
for parks and paths, making it easier, more enjoyable, and safer to bike or walk.
They’ve also covered much of the concrete supporting their transportation
infrastructure in ivy; designed more appealing bridges; and cleaned up their waterways.
But Chengdu hasn't gotten everything right. A downside to China’s build-first
ask-questions-later approach is that some businesspeople completely lose their minds
to greed. Chengdu may be home to the worst example of excess in the world:
billionaire Deng Hong’s 18 million square foot New Century Global Center, the largest
building by floor area in human history. It has two malls, a waterpark with a 150-meter
horizon simulating screen; plus many offices,
conference rooms, a university complex, an olympic-size skating rink, Imax cinemas, a Mediterranean village, and a 1,000-room hotel.
On the eve of its grand opening event in 2013, Deng was arrested on corruption charges
in an investigation that also ensnared 50 local government officials. How such a grossly excessive
building rose in a city that a decade later is being hailed as China’s parkland utopia speaks
to the many competing visions of prosperity being pursued across the People’s Republic.
One vision that has been constant is China’s push to connect its many population centers–to make
travel between them more efficient and supply chains more integrated. First, it happened all
along the coast: most notably by blending the national capital with Tianjin on Bohai Bay;
by joining the cities surrounding Shanghai on the Yangtze River delta;
and in the south by melting three megacities - plus China’s newest addition,
Hong Kong and its seven million citizens - into one megaregion.
Simultaneously, it undertook a nationwide airport, highway, and high-speed rail building boom,
successfully connecting these regions with every other city and town in central and eastern China.
The grand plan now for Chengdu is to unite it with the other megacity in the basin, Chongqing. From
a higher altitude, satellite photos show the land between the two cities as rural and undeveloped,
but as we zoom in and updated images appear, highways, tunnels, and more pop up all over,
including Tianfu airport that was just completed in 2021 and is set to become one of China’s
busiest. There’s already one high-speed rail line that makes the 190-mile trip between the
two cities in about an hour, and a second line is under construction that will take even less time.
But the region's growth appears to be hitting the limit of what its natural resources can
support. Its air, hemmed in by mountains is full of particulates–a consequence of its many
machines and cars. The good news is that most of these motors will soon be electric. The bad
news is that 80% of its electricity is supplied by dammed rivers–an overreliance on hydroelectricity
that was exposed last summer when drought and scorching temperatures dropped water levels so
low that Sichuan province’s power output was cut in half just as everyone’s air conditioners and
fridges were kicking on. The crisis resulted in officials shutting off power to many homes
and 16,000 industrial sites–for days at a time, including a 10 day work stoppage that cut off
the supply of parts vital for the manufacture of Teslas in Shanghai. With rivers to the west and
south of the city tapped out, and Chengdu rapidly sprawling to the east, officials need to quickly
diversify the electricity supply sooner rather than later. If not prolonged blackouts could hit
during the first summer that international visitors have had to explore the new and
improved megacity since the pandemic shut all of China down to the outside world three years ago.
Indeed, Chengdu hopes you come for its famous pandas, stay to enjoy its many parks,
and leave impressed with many ideas for how to improve wherever you come from.
Thanks for watching. Last time I explored Buenos
Aires and next time I’m profiling Manilla, the Philippines megacity.