great urban changes in 75 years: life is better
2024-10-04
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for a long time after the founding of the people's republic of china, haidian district, as a suburb of beijing, was the capital's "vegetable basket" and an important vegetable production base and beijing west rice production base. the greenery in spring and summer and the rolling rice waves in golden autumn were common sights when walking in haidian.
the years change and the phoenix rises to nirvana. today's haidian is a strong economic, educational, technological and talent area. in 2022, the total economic aggregate will become the first municipal district in beijing and the second in the country to have an economic aggregate exceeding one trillion yuan. in 2023, it will exceed 1.1 trillion yuan, accounting for a quarter of the city. it is the ballast stone of the capital's economy. ; the per capita gdp in 2023 will be us$50,000, reaching the level of moderately developed countries; there are many universities and research institutes in the area, making it the core area of the beijing international science and technology innovation center, becoming a vanguard of high-quality development in the capital in the new era and a new-quality productivity demonstration area .
the astonishing changes in haidian district over the past 75 years are a microcosm of china's urban changes. over the past 75 years, china has experienced the largest and fastest urbanization process in world history. urban development and urbanization construction have made historic achievements and undergone historic changes. we all deeply feel that urban development makes life better.
if your hometown is in a rural area, you will find that the population living in rural areas is decreasing year by year. where have they gone? town. relevant data show that more than 930 million people live in cities and towns, that is, nearly two-thirds of the population lives in cities and towns, an increase of 760 million people since the end of 1978. at the end of 2023, the urbanization rate of my country's permanent population reached 66.16%, while at the end of 1949 more than 70 years ago, the urbanization rate of my country's population was only 10.64%.
accompanying population urbanization is the increase in the number of cities and the expansion of city size. at the end of 1949, there were 129 cities in the country. since the reform and opening up, urbanization has entered the fast lane, large, medium and small cities and small towns have accelerated their development, and the number of cities has increased rapidly. by the end of 2023, the number of cities will reach 694 and the number of incorporated towns will reach 21,421. at the same time, the urban population continues to expand, and the population agglomeration effect becomes more obvious. at the end of 2023, the permanent population of cities at or above the prefecture level in my country reached 673.13 million, an increase of 16 times compared with the end of 1949. there are 29 cities with a permanent population of more than 5 million, and 11 cities with a population of more than 10 million. at the end of 1949, there were only 5 cities with a population of more than 1 million, and 90% of the cities had a population of less than 500,000. the area of urban areas is also increasing. in 2023, the physical area of urban areas across the country will reach more than 62,000 square kilometers, an increase of 7.3 times compared with 1981.
high-rise buildings, row upon row. the city has not only grown taller, but also become increasingly "physically stronger". when the people's republic of china was founded, the city's foundation was weak. after 75 years of development, especially the rapid development since the reform and opening up, the city's economy is full of vitality and its strength has become increasingly strong. in 1988, the gdp of urban areas in the country was only 702.5 billion yuan, accounting for 50.7% of the country's total. by 2023, the gdp of urban areas above the prefecture level alone will reach 77 trillion yuan, accounting for 61.1% of the country's total. the city's financial strength has been significantly enhanced. in 1978, the total urban public fiscal revenue was only 58.4 billion yuan. by 2023, the general public budget revenue of cities above the prefecture level will reach 7,009.5 billion yuan, and the general public budget expenditure will be 10,728.2 billion yuan, accounting for 32.3% and 39.1% of the country's total respectively. the local general public budget revenue of 14 cities including shanghai, beijing, shenzhen and hangzhou exceeds 100 billion yuan.
more than 40 years ago, you had to rely on food stamps to buy food and clothes. nowadays, there are large supermarkets in remote counties in the central and western regions with a wide range of products. if you don’t want to go to the mall, you can have your purchases delivered to your home with just a few clicks. since the 18th national congress of the communist party of china, the platform economy, sharing economy, and digital economy have continued to grow, the conversion of old and new driving forces has accelerated, urban economic vitality has continued to be released, online retail has emerged as a new force, and e-commerce has developed strongly. data show that since 2011, the proportion of the added value of the tertiary industry in cities above the prefecture level has increased rapidly, surpassing the secondary industry for the first time in 2013, and exceeding 50% in 2014, accounting for half of the urban economy. by 2023, the proportion of the added value of the tertiary industry in cities above the prefecture level will be 60.4%, an increase of 27.4 percentage points from 1990. national urban retail sales of consumer goods were 40,749 billion yuan, with an average annual growth rate of 16.3% from 1979 to 2023, accounting for 86.4% of the total retail sales of consumer goods in society, an increase of 57.6 percentage points from 1978.
"a city is prosperous for its people." putting people first and making people's lives better is an important goal of modern urban development. in the early days of the founding of the people's republic of china, our country's municipal facilities were very backward and their operating efficiency was low, which seriously restricted economic development and the improvement of people's living standards. at the end of 1949, there were only 72 cities and towns in the country with tap water plants and 6,589 kilometers of water supply pipelines; only 4 sewage treatment plants with a daily processing capacity of 40,000 tons and 6,035 kilometers of drainage pipelines; and only 9 cities with gas supply facilities. after 75 years of construction and transformation, the infrastructure network has been continuously optimized, the quality of facilities has been continuously improved, and the service capabilities have been significantly enhanced. by the end of 2022, the length of water supply pipelines will reach 1.103 million kilometers, with a water supply penetration rate of 99.4%; the length of gas supply pipelines will be 990,000 kilometers, with a gas penetration rate of 98.1%; there will be 2,894 sewage treatment plants, 914,000 kilometers of drainage pipes, and a sewage treatment rate of 98.1 %; domestic waste treatment rate reaches 99.98%, harmless treatment rate is 99.9%; there are 194,000 urban public toilets. in many cities, frequent water and power outages are a thing of the past.
transportation is more convenient. in the early days of the founding of new china, urban transportation was very backward, equipment was outdated, and development was very slow. at the end of 1949, there were only 27 cities in the country with public transportation facilities. walking, riding bicycles, and rickshaws were the more common ways for citizens to travel. over the past 75 years, the construction of transportation infrastructure has continued to increase. urban buses, subways, urban railways, taxis, online ride-hailing and various shared vehicles have greatly facilitated citizens' travel. in 2022, the length of urban roads across the country will reach 552,000 kilometers, and 55 cities will have built rail transit lines, with a total length of more than 9,500 kilometers. if you want to go somewhere far away, you can get there quickly by plane or high-speed rail, or you can travel by car on the expressway. my country has built the world's largest high-speed railway network and highway network, and both the operating mileage of high-speed railways and the mileage of highways rank first in the world.
the xindu area renewal project in xisanqi, haidian district, beijing, which was awarded the "best practice" project, is realizing a gorgeous transformation from a "building materials city" to a "science city". community residents have more sense of gain around them, just like a self-proclaimed city. a community resident who grew up in xisanqi said: "we feel the happiness and beauty brought by urban renewal." the urban living environment is more beautiful. since the founding of the people's republic of china, the construction of urban environmental infrastructure in our country has experienced a process from starting at a low level to developing rapidly. “small green spaces” and “pocket parks” are appearing around citizens, making the people’s vision of “seeing green spaces through windows and going out to parks” become a reality. by 2022, the green coverage area of urban built-up areas will be 2.821 million hectares, the green coverage rate of built-up areas will be 43.0%, and the per capita park green space will reach 15.3 square meters. in 1981, the per capita park green space area was only 1.5 square meters. the sky is bluer and the water is clearer. in 2023, the average concentration of fine particulate matter (pm2.5) in cities at the prefecture level and above across the country will be 30 micrograms/cubic meter, a decrease of 16 micrograms/cubic meter from 2015. the proportion of surface water sections nationwide with excellent water quality reached 89.4%, and black and smelly water bodies have been basically eliminated.
urban residents' pockets are getting bigger, their living standards have improved significantly, and cars have entered the homes of ordinary people. over the past 75 years, especially since the reform and opening up, the income of urban residents has increased significantly, residents' consumption levels have significantly improved, and the quality of life has improved significantly. in 1978, the average salary of employees in urban non-private units was 615 yuan, the per capita disposable income of urban residents was 343 yuan, and the per capita consumption expenditure was 311 yuan. by 2023, the average salary of urban non-private unit employees will reach 120,698 yuan; the per capita disposable income of urban residents will be 51,821 yuan, and the per capita consumption expenditure will be 32,994 yuan. from 2013 to 2023, more than 140 million new urban jobs will be created.
the difficulty for urban residents to go to good schools, go to university, and see a doctor is difficult and expensive, which can be alleviated to a great extent. the overall development level of my country's education has jumped to the middle and upper ranks of the world, and higher education has entered the stage of universalization. in 2023, the gross enrollment rate of my country's higher education will exceed 60%, and the scale has ranked first in the world. the world's largest urban basic medical insurance network has been established in a relatively short period of time. by 2023, there will be 20,642 urban hospitals at or above the prefecture level with 4.613 million hospital beds.
cities are the main frontier and growth pole of national development. they are key hubs for promoting high-quality development, cultivating new productive forces, realizing common prosperity and promoting chinese-style modernization. they are also where most chinese people work and live. urban development is related to you and me.
perhaps, numbers are boring, but numbers are a collection of countless life scenes of urban residents and truly reflect the overall situation. needless to say, the macro figures have a different temperature difference for each urban resident, because urban development is insufficient and unbalanced, the urban renewal model is single, and the degree of marketization is not high. this is understandable. but please believe that as the process of chinese-style modernization accelerates, urban development will become more beautiful and more livable, and your and my lives will be better. (i came from the south)
