Growth fueled by urban investment
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Starting in the 1980s, China's reform and opening up were initiated by the creation of the coastal special economic zones, most of which were in Guangdong province, close to Hong Kong and Macao.
Soon the reform extended from cities such as Shenzhen and Guangzhou to other primary cities, from Beijing to Shanghai. During the past decade, the economic ripple initiated by the success of these megacities has been washing into new generations of Chinese cities.
Even before the onset of the global financial crisis, second-tier cities - from Suzhou, Tianjin and Shenyang to Chengdu, Dalian and Chongqing - had already attracted significant attention with investments from global corporate giants.
At the same time, third-tier cities, from Ningbo and Fuzhou to Wuxi and Harbin, were following in the footprints of first- and second-tier cities. Behind these three tiers of rapidly-growing urban agglomerations, there are still others such as Kunming and Hefei, seeking to take advantage of the urban growth trajectories.
In China, the expansion of old and rise of new cities have been driven by growing economic prosperity and dreams of a better quality of life. At the heart of this colossal transformation, it is the central cities that drive growth - not just within city borders, but regionally.
The Chinese economy was fragmented until the late 1970s, when the reform began, boosting economic integration internally and externally.
Take, for instance, the growth story of Shanghai. In 1992, Deng Xiaoping declared that Shanghai would be "the head of the dragon", pulling the country into the future. The development of Pudong was intended to restore not only Shanghai's past grandeur, but also its historical role in the Yangtze River Delta (YRD) region and, more broadly, for China.
As Shanghai implemented economic reform, it sparked the birth of Lujiazui, China's Wall Street, and huge development in shipping and trade - which will be evident to the estimated 70 million tourists who will soon attend the 2010 Shanghai World Expo.
The expansion of these gigantic cities has been fast, disruptive and unprecedented in world history. It has also been accompanied by rapid price increases. But they have occurred primarily in the first-tier cities. Markets cannot easily price what they have never witnessed before.
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