The Chinese 29THE PEOPLE OF THE ‘PEOPLE’S REPUBLIC’
With some 1.31 billion people by official count (up to 1.5
billion by some estimates), China remains today the world’s
most populous country (although India is an increasingly
close runner-up). Despite runaway global population growth
(the UN estimates that there are now nearly 6.5 billion
humans worldwide) and strong Chinese family planning
programmes, it is still true that nearly one out of every five
humans on earth lives in China.
China’s population numbers are in some sense
incomprehensible, especially for people coming from some
Western countries where under-population is considered a
problem. In China, a metropolis of half-a-million people may
well be called a ‘village’. Medium-size Chinese towns are often
larger than all but the largest US or European cities.
In China, to be considered a big city, it has to have a
population of at least 5 million people. China has 10 cities
with a population over 5 million, compared to 2 in the US.
Shanghai, with some 16.6 million people is among one
of the world’s most heavily
populated metropolitan areas.
Beijing with 12.4 million people,
Chongqing with 9.4 million and
Shenzhen with 9 million all rank
among some of the largest citites
worldwide.
Many quips and quotes attest
to attempts to bend minds
around the vastness of China’s
population. “You know,” one old
saying goes, “if you really, truly,
are a ‘one-in-a-million’ kind of
guy, in China there are 1,300
other guys just like you.”