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Chongqing, the Largest City – In Pictures

theguardian.com

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Re: Chongqing, the Largest City – In Pictures

#31

Post by oceanhaiyang »

moomin wrote: post #22
kubb wrote: post #15

Chongqing seems incredible on pictures and YouTube videos. No doubt it's a comfortable place to live for many people, and surely it isn't perfect, especially when it comes to things like air pollution. What amazes me is China's capacity to do development on a large scale, something that's completely missing in Europe. If we had efficient large-scale construction solved, we could really put a dent in the cost of livin…

The thing is, we used to do this. Walk around London or Florence or Rome and you will see era-adjusted sights that are equally impressive. For that matter, go check out Blenheim Palace. It’s a reasonable question to ask: What happened? But the answer is prosaic. These sights all come from times of _incredible_ inequality. Which you don’t see in these pictures but is vastly more relevant to the day to day lives of mos…

> Show me a place that looks like that where no-one goes hungry, has to worry about medical bills and doesn’t live in fear of the rich and powerful and then I’ll be impressed.

I think you’re still speaking about Chongqing. China builds these and closes the wage gap.

Re: Chongqing, the Largest City – In Pictures

#32

Post by chgs »

dan-robertson wrote: post #26
whatever1 wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The cost of housing in the large Chinese megacities is comparable to, if not higher than, that in Western countries. Therefore, they are not constructing housing at a fast enough pace to meet their population’s needs. However, they do build at a rate that is 2-4 times faster than that of Western countries.

What does ‘comparable’ mean? Is it about ratios between incomes and costs? Or cost of the same apartment in two places? Or something else?

Median monthly cost in terms of median take home pay would be the sensible comparison.

This would exclude ex-pats.

Re: Chongqing, the Largest City – In Pictures

#33

Post by markus_zhang »

pydry wrote: post #24
kubb wrote: post #15

Chongqing seems incredible on pictures and YouTube videos. No doubt it's a comfortable place to live for many people, and surely it isn't perfect, especially when it comes to things like air pollution. What amazes me is China's capacity to do development on a large scale, something that's completely missing in Europe. If we had efficient large-scale construction solved, we could really put a dent in the cost of livin…

Europe and America have no industrial strategy to speak of and powerful lobbies dedicated to perpetuating the war on affordable housing. I doubt this is something that can or will be reversed gradually. The consolidation of oligarchic power has been building up over many decades and only shows signs of acceleration. In order for the power structures responsible for this to be overturned something pretty cataclysmic w…

A new cold war might help. If that happens any oligarchy with half a brain would have to give back some pies to the ordinary people.

Re: Chongqing, the Largest City – In Pictures

#34

Post by decimalenough »

Havoc wrote: post #19

How accessible is this for western tourists?

About the same as the rest of China, meaning not very accessible, but not impossible either. There's a major airport, you need WeChat/Alipay for everything (but you can now easily set up foreign credit cards for these), approximately nobody speaks English but translation apps work and tour guides are cheap, the Great Firewall is a hassle but roaming SIMs can bypass it.

The sheer spice level of the food is a challenge though, even other Chinese think that Chongqing level spiciness is nuts.

Re: Chongqing, the Largest City – In Pictures

#35

Post by yapyap »

kubb wrote: post #15

Chongqing seems incredible on pictures and YouTube videos. No doubt it's a comfortable place to live for many people, and surely it isn't perfect, especially when it comes to things like air pollution. What amazes me is China's capacity to do development on a large scale, something that's completely missing in Europe. If we had efficient large-scale construction solved, we could really put a dent in the cost of livin…

> What amazes me is China's capacity to do development on a large scale, something that's completely missing in Europe. If we had efficient large-scale construction solved, we could really put a dent in the cost of living crisis, and reverse the overcrowding of the existing urban centers.

Because China has their singular government system (one party dictatorship, whatever you want to call it) they can make really quick decisions. In democratic countries there is a lot of hemming and hawing cause you need everyone or a majority to agree with you, in China or North Korea they just snap their fingers and the project has to start within a few weeks or months.

Re: Chongqing, the Largest City – In Pictures

#36

Post by lormayna »

moomin wrote: post #22
kubb wrote: post #15

Chongqing seems incredible on pictures and YouTube videos. No doubt it's a comfortable place to live for many people, and surely it isn't perfect, especially when it comes to things like air pollution. What amazes me is China's capacity to do development on a large scale, something that's completely missing in Europe. If we had efficient large-scale construction solved, we could really put a dent in the cost of livin…

The thing is, we used to do this. Walk around London or Florence or Rome and you will see era-adjusted sights that are equally impressive. For that matter, go check out Blenheim Palace. It’s a reasonable question to ask: What happened? But the answer is prosaic. These sights all come from times of _incredible_ inequality. Which you don’t see in these pictures but is vastly more relevant to the day to day lives of mos…

> Show me a place that looks like that where no-one goes hungry, has to worry about medical bills and doesn’t live in fear of the rich and powerful and then I’ll be impressed.

You are just describing every western European country.

Re: Chongqing, the Largest City – In Pictures

#38

Post by 10u152 »

oceanhaiyang wrote: post #31
moomin wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The thing is, we used to do this. Walk around London or Florence or Rome and you will see era-adjusted sights that are equally impressive. For that matter, go check out Blenheim Palace. It’s a reasonable question to ask: What happened? But the answer is prosaic. These sights all come from times of _incredible_ inequality. Which you don’t see in these pictures but is vastly more relevant to the day to day lives of mos…

> Show me a place that looks like that where no-one goes hungry, has to worry about medical bills and doesn’t live in fear of the rich and powerful and then I’ll be impressed. I think you’re still speaking about Chongqing. China builds these and closes the wage gap.

Oh come on.

Lower socio economic Chinese definitely still fear the rich and worry about being homeless and not getting medical treatment.

Re: Chongqing, the Largest City – In Pictures

#40

Post by bojan »

lormayna wrote: post #36
moomin wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The thing is, we used to do this. Walk around London or Florence or Rome and you will see era-adjusted sights that are equally impressive. For that matter, go check out Blenheim Palace. It’s a reasonable question to ask: What happened? But the answer is prosaic. These sights all come from times of _incredible_ inequality. Which you don’t see in these pictures but is vastly more relevant to the day to day lives of mos…

> Show me a place that looks like that where no-one goes hungry, has to worry about medical bills and doesn’t live in fear of the rich and powerful and then I’ll be impressed. You are just describing every western European country.

Every Western European country now. Not in the time those sights were built.
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