What is a mega city? Which cities qualify in China? How do very large populations influence their own growth? And what factors are at play in driving population increase in order to propel cities in becoming the biggest of the big?
什么是特大城市？中国哪些城市符合条件？庞大的人口如何影响自身的增长？哪些因素在推动人口增长以推动城市成为大城市中的最大？
News has emerged in the past week of data released by the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development, in the form of that institution’s “2022 Urban Construction Statistical Yearbook”.
过去一周，住房和城乡建设部以该机构《2022年城市建设统计年鉴》的形式发布的数据出现了新闻。
Making the biggest headlines is the fact that Hangzhou, capital of our neighbouring Zhejiang Province, is now officially a mega city.
成为最大头条新闻的事实是，邻近的浙江省省会杭州现已正式成为一座大城市。
But before we go further, it is necessary to back up as to the terminology. In China, a megacity (超大城市) is defined as having an urban population of over 10 million, while a supercity (特大城市) is one with in excess of 5 million urban residents.
但在我们进一步讨论之前，有必要先了解一下术语。在中国，超大城市是指城镇人口超过1000万，而特大城市是指城镇人口超过500万。
The key word to note here is “urban”, also known as a metro population, i.e. excepting everything away from the urban sprawl. Where that line is drawn, however, is not often made clear.
这里要注意的关键词是“城市”，也称为都市人口，即排除远离城市扩张的一切。然而，这条线到底划在哪里，却常常不明确。
And that makes a big difference, one that often comes down to geographical size, as well as physical boundaries. Taking our very own Nanjing for example, since we are kind of on the small side by Chinese standards, one can split hairs over the difference between our total population versus the urban population.
这会产生很大的差异，这种差异通常取决于地理大小和物理边界。以我们南京为例，按照中国的标准，我们的规模偏小，所以我们的总人口与城市人口之间的差异可以说是吹毛求疵。
Not so with China’s largest municipality, Chongqing. Its urban population is suggested at being a staggering 22 million, whereas its total is over 32 million, making it the most populous city on Earth.
中国最大的直辖市重庆却并非如此。据推测，其城市人口达到惊人的 2200 万，而其总人口超过 3200 万，使其成为地球上人口最多的城市。
Back with those in the new Yearbook, Hangzhou has become the 10th megacity in China, joining Beijing, Chongqing, Shanghai, Tianjin, Dongguan, Guangzhou, Nanjing, Shenzhen and Wuhan.
回顾新年鉴，杭州已成为继北京、重庆、上海、天津、东莞、广州、南京、深圳和武汉之后的中国第十个特大城市。
Looking to the future, in terms of megacities, Xi’an (9.28 million) is most likely to be next; while Changchun, Changzhou, Fuzhou, Guiyang, Nanchang, Nanning, Ningbo, Taiyuan, Urumqi, Wuxi and Xiamen, all with urban populations of 3-5 million, are all expected to soon become supercities.
展望未来，就特大城市而言，西安（928万）最有可能位居第二；长春、常州、福州、贵阳、南昌、南宁、宁波、太原、乌鲁木齐、无锡、厦门等城市人口均在3-500万，预计很快将成为超级城市。
That’s all well and good, of course, but more important is how these cities managed to become, well, huge.
当然，这一切都很好，但更重要的是这些城市是如何变得庞大的。
Looking at Hangzhou as the prime example, in March of this year, that City released a new round of household-registration system reform policies, further relaxing the threshold for settlement. Those with a college diploma or above, under the age of 35, and paying social security, are entitled to settle in Hangzhou.
以杭州为例，今年3月，该市出台新一轮户籍制度改革政策，进一步放宽落户门槛。具有大专及以上学历，年龄在35岁以下，缴纳社会保险的，有权在杭州定居。
Giving a big boost, there was also this year’s Asian Games, which played an important role in building Hangzhou’s brand image, that in the process also led to a massive improvement in the city’s public infrastructure.
今年的亚运会也给杭州带来了巨大的推动力，它为杭州的品牌形象塑造发挥了重要作用，同时也带动了杭州公共基础设施的巨大改善。
Then there is the case of Wuhan, another new entry on the megacity chart, albeit a less-publicised one.
然后是武汉的例子，它是特大城市排行榜上的另一个新条目，尽管宣传较少。
Wuhan’s economic aggregate has been ranked among the top 10 cities in the country and first among cities in central China for many years. There, the total number of market entities exceeds 1.7 million, while 309 of the world’s top 500 companies have invested and established institutions in Wuhan.
武汉经济总量连续多年位居全国城市前十名、中部城市第一。市场主体总数超过170万户，世界500强企业中有309家在武汉投资设立机构。
Looking to Dongguan, the third and final addition to the megacity list in this year’s Yearbook, there are as of now more than 1.6 million private economic market entities in Dongguan. That makes it rank first among prefecture-level cities in Guangdong Province, as Nanjing Daily reports.
看看今年第三个也是最后一个上榜特大城市的东莞，截至目前，东莞的民营经济市场主体已超过160万个。据《南京日报》报道，这使其在广东省地级市中排名第一。
Feng Wenmeng, a researcher at the Development Research Centre of the State Council, says that becoming a megacity will bring scale effects and public services will be allocated more efficiently. Most pertinently, residents of megacities will live more comfortably, their environment be more liveable and life more secure.
国务院发展研究中心研究员冯文猛表示，超大城市将带来规模效应，公共服务配置将更加高效。最重要的是，大城市的居民将生活更加舒适，环境更加宜居，生活更加安全。
