An overview of a flagship low-income housing, where China is pushing ahead with its history-making plan to move rural residents into towns and cities.
Newly resettled farmers are mixed with migrant workers and students in this project in one of the fastest-growing and biggest cities on earth, with a population of 29 million.
Moving farmers to urban areas is touted as a way of changing China’s economic structure, with growth based on domestic demand for products instead of exporting them. In theory, new urbanites mean vast new opportunities for construction firms, public transportation, utilities and appliance makers, and a break from the cycle of farmers consuming only what they produce.
Urbanization has already proven to be one of the most wrenching changes in China’s 35 years of economic reforms. Land disputes rising from urbanization account for tens of thousands of protests each year.