China and the rise of the new global city
https://www.ft.com/content/6c5d968e-f526-442b-a372-af630cb9fab0
Adam Tooze:
If you visit China today, you will see something that was not on our radar two decades ago: mega cities of giant scale with tens of millions of inhabitants, spectacularly modern technology and infrastructure, deeply connected to the world economy but virtually empty of foreign inhabitants. …
The Sinosphere has its own cultural-linguistic logic. The Chinese language erects huge barriers to in-migration. But, at the same time, command of simplified Mandarin creates a shared culture for at least one-eighth of humanity. That opens the path to mass migration. Beijing may not have many foreign inhabitants but almost 40 per cent of its population has recently arrived from other parts of China.
https://www.ft.com/content/6c5d968e-f526-442b-a372-af630cb9fab0
Adam Tooze:
If you visit China today, you will see something that was not on our radar two decades ago: mega cities of giant scale with tens of millions of inhabitants, spectacularly modern technology and infrastructure, deeply connected to the world economy but virtually empty of foreign inhabitants. …
The Sinosphere has its own cultural-linguistic logic. The Chinese language erects huge barriers to in-migration. But, at the same time, command of simplified Mandarin creates a shared culture for at least one-eighth of humanity. That opens the path to mass migration. Beijing may not have many foreign inhabitants but almost 40 per cent of its population has recently arrived from other parts of China.