During this period, the news of “negative population growth” in the four major first-tier cities has been making headlines. Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Shenzhen, as the golden lands where Chinese urban professionals pursue their personal dreams, are they really losing their appeal?
Indeed, it is true.
Taking the two “giants” of the first-tier cities, Beijing and Shanghai, as examples, according to the officially released data, the number of permanent residents in these two cities has decreased by 43,000 and 135,400 respectively compared to the same period last year.
If we rewind back to the year 2000, the permanent population of Beijing and Shanghai was approximately 13 million and 16 million, respectively. By 2022, the permanent population of these two cities had reached 21.84 million and 24.75 million. Over the span of more than 20 years, these two cities have grown by around 8 to 9 million people, a population increase comparable to that of Switzerland, one of the most developed countries in Europe, with a population of 8.7 million.
In the history of human urbanization, it is difficult to find a story as remarkable as China’s.
So, has the logic changed now? Indeed, there have been some changes
