Between 1990 and 2000 the surfaces of each of the 120 cities he and his team studied grew on average more than twice as fast as their populations.

ECONOMIST: Urban research

They say that China is fast moving from an agricultural society to an industrial one, with more farmers leaving the land for the cities.

BBC: Social discontent rising in China, says report

The population of the city already numbers more than half a million, and if you count outlying suburbs and independent cities, the total number of people in the metro area is fast approaching two million, more than double what it was just a decade ago.

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