A former farmer plays with her granddaughter in a “replacement housing block” in Hebei province, just outside Beijing, built for people like her who has lost their farmland to a new phase of state-driven urbanisation. Because of the speed of the construction roll-out across China, they follow mostly the same blueprint.
For generations, Chinese farmers picked vegetables on family plots in China, a mainly agrarian society right up until the 20th century.
Faced with slowing exports, Communist leaders are pushing ahead with a historic plan to move 100 million rural residents into towns and cities by 2020 to create a new middle class and boost demand.