A former farmer walks in a “replacement housing block” in Hebei province, just outside Beijing, built for people like him who has lost their farmland to a new phase of state-driven urbanisation. Because of the speed of the construction roll-out across China, here the grass has not even tuned green before residents are moved in.
Each block is named after the village that they replace. Former neighbors once again live next to each other.
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.