Holidays are meant as a time for the reunification of families, when children return to the folds of the home from whence they left to pursue their own lives and dreams. However, due to long distances and financial burdens, many people found it simply impossible to return home this year, creating thousands of "empty nests" (空巢, kōngcháo) across China. In the pictures above, one photographer for Xinhua News traveled around Shaanxi (陕西) Province and documented the impact urbanization has had on rural families whose chairs and homes remain empty over a holiday season meant to celebrate the family. more ›

While everybody loves to have a big living space, most people here aren't able to find one in China's highly packed cities. Taking the matter into their own hands, some talented folks in Haikou, Hainan built a super narrow building - one side was only 20cm! more ›

Despite having roughly similar amounts of people in roughly the same area of the world, China and India have developed very, very differently. One difference: how quickly they urbanized. While China's urban population jumped 41% a year from 1950 to 2005, India is "still waking up to its urban realities and opportunities," says McKinsey Quarterly. more ›

In case you didn't think our cities were crowded enough, an official has predicted that some 300 million Chinese currently living in rural areas will move into urban centers during the next 15 to 20 years. 300 MILLION, aka the population of the United States aka half the population not living in cities right now. The official was pretty upbeat about it, arguing that the fast pace of urbanization will create at least 1 trillion yuan in annual investment opportunities - building water supplies, waste treatments, heating and other public utilities. We're not anti-city by any means, but this sounds like a disaster. Not only do we already have some of the world's densest cities, but weren't we all about encouraging farmers to stay on the land last year? What's with the sudden about face? Source: China Daily more ›

One of the most worrisome aspects of the last couple years in China has been its overly rapid development of urban areas - the nonstop construction of skyscrapers, high-rises, highways - and the sometimes careless disregard for its environmental and social impact. At least now it seems like someone in the government is recognizing the problem, to the point of calling the current economic downturn a great opportunity to refocus on other priorities. more ›