MEGACITY: BEIJING

An outline of one of the oldest megacities in the world

By the world’s youngest Megacity expert Farzad Ghazanfar 


MEGACITY: BEIJING 2019 1

Introduction

This report presents essential information on the 700-year-old reigning capital and
economic hub of China: Beijing. Factors including its ancient geography, demographics,
and urban growth over recent years are discussed; chiefly through the context of megacity.
Moreover, both the benefits (economic, technological, social, etc) and serious challenges of
being one of the largest and most populated megacities in the world are outlined to yield
a concise decision on the age-old question: Are Megacities viable?

Geographical Information

- Beijing, the capital of the people’s republic of China, is located at the north-eastern side
of the country before the lip on the Tianjin river. Being positioned on the northern tip of
the Chinese northern plains,
the area receives a lot of fertile
soil, aiding the population
growth. Adversely, the area is
at the intersection of
unpredictable humid winds
from the Pacific and dry
winds from the Asian
continent. This makes the
plain prone to both floods and
drought. Furthermore, the
capital is close to the meeting
point of the Xishan and
Yashan mountain ranges and
surrounds it on the west,
north and east. This makes the
total terrain of 16,808 sp. km
approximately 38%flat and
the other 62% quite
mountainous. Being self-
explanatory, the city itself is
flat with elevation generally 40-60 meters above sea level (Wikipedia, 2019). The Beijing
municipality, although, stretches around the up to 2,000 m mountains surrounding the
city.

- In terms of Hydrology, There are several major rivers, including Yongding, Dashi, &
Guanting rivers. The rivers come from the highlands west and north of the city, and cut
- through the plain, emptying out into the Bohai Sea/Pohai aka Beijing bay. With
throughputs over 100 million tons (Wikipedia, 2019) Its closeness to Beijing makes it

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 among the busiest seaways worldwide. The three northernmost lakes Xihai (West
Sea), Houhai (Rear Sea) and Qianhai(Front Sea), are lined with various restaurants and
cafes for scenery & nightlife. To the south, Beihai (North Sea) in which a famous park is
established, and Zhonghai (Central Sea) and Nanhai (South Sea) are part of
the Zhongnanhai imperial garden, the headquarters for China’s communist party and
state council.

After the birth of the People’s Republic of China, the central government have fractioned
(for the 6th time since 1961) the 16 districts and 2 counties Beijing is comprised of today.
The 4 central districts are Dongcheng, Xicheng, Xuanwu, & Chongweng; Dongcheng
being the central embodiment of Beijing culture, relics, & historical points. Nevertheless,
the four districts are highly respected for their long history and cultural importance.

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Interestingly, these culture explosions are also the political and commercial functioning
nuclei of Beijing. As we go farther away from this centre, the less the population, therefore
the less the tourism, economy, and modernism. Another factor at play is the fact that the
‘centre’ of Beijing is also on flat plain, while the more rural towns are situated on
highlands (refer to previous topographic map). This is a universal pattern where it is often
better to live on flat, comfortable terrain which affects the climate in favor of human niche.
Inversely, this inevitably leads to large, not-so-eco-friendly cities sprawling to be able to
helplessly sustain the carrying capacity, which leads to a plethora of pollutive & mindless
problems. In addition, the centre 4 employ living near a water source (Hai river - Pohai
bay) and on fertile soil as opposed to rocky highlands. All in all, the capital has religiously
adhered to their history’s geographical footing but also gained a ton of people in doing so.

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Demographic Information

- The current population of Beijing - over 21.5

million. Over 2000-2010 censuses, the city grew by a
whopping 44% (wolrdpopul). Although, the city has
been growing at a steady 20% per decade since the
60’s.
- Beijing’s population density is one of the worst with
an estimated 6,000 per km2.
- The liminal centers (Chaoyang, Haidian, and
Fengtai) are among the most crowded.
- More Males due to the large amount of migrants
traveling to find work.
- Majority of the population is within working age
(15-64) due to economic activity and influx of
migrants.
- The birthrate has decreased by 60% over the last 20
years.

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 Ethnic groups Age composition
(Only 2004 available)

Han Chinese Manchu Hui Tourists 0-14 15-64 65&over

2%
2% 11% 10%

96% 79%

Gender
(Only 2010 available) Birthrate

Male Female per 1000 population

40

30

48%
52% 20

10

0
1950-1963 1970-1983 1983-2000 2000-2017

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 Population growth in Beijing
(projected)

Population growth (% Increase)

12

0
1950 1960 1970 1990 2020 2050

Beijing Urban Composition (%) Beijing Urban Extent (% Increase)

Urban Built Up Suburban Built Up

Urbanized Open Space Rural Built Up 1988-1999 1999-2013

988

5.25

999 3.5

1.75

013

0
Beijing, Beijing East Asia and the Pacific World
0 25 50 75 100

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Urban Growth

The Chinese Capital has been considered one of the largest cities in world for many years.
The city initiated its interesting process in 1950. During the birth of the people’s Republic
of China, December 1949, a group of Soviet experts proposed that “Beijing should be built
not only as the center of culture art and politics, but also the center of industry.”(Zhou, C.,
2019) and suggested placing the government’s center at the entrance of the Imperial city.
However, 2 Chinese architects, Liang Sicheng (later known as the Father of Modern
Architecture) and Abercrombie pupil Chen Zhanxiang disagreed with the idea’s
disastrous potential. The two proposed to put the administrative center to the west of the
city in order to avoid large scale demolition and for future expansion. Additionally, the
two developed also developed city planning proposals. This included future expansion,
district familiarizations, & even city structure preservation. Lamentably, the government
failed to consider their work due to impatience and a socialistic mindset.

From then on (refer to line graph above), the population increased by 20% unto 1970. But,
From 1970-1990, the population increase dropped from 10% to under 3%. This was largely
due to the one-child policy- a program nationwide to respond to unnatural growth of the
nation and cities struggling to cope with the growth. The people born closely after the
1980’s, grew up in the Chinese economic boom and experienced many cultural as well as
political shifts in their environment. Moreover, in 1974, Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping
decided to develop the non-existent tourism industry in China to be able to attain foreign
exchange. As a result, the years following 1990 - 2013 have seen steady increase not only
in the population, but also a 12% increase in the city’s urban extent within 25 years. This
spacial figure are much higher than The East Asia and Pacific region, as well as the world.
Furthermore, The city’s urban composition was chiefly Urban, with Urbanized open space
in 1988, but recent years have taken more space in Urbanized open spaces and Suburban
area rather than urban. This is logical as population increase starts to create crowdedness
and the frantic need to expand borders into suburbs and open spaces. Within the grand
scheme of megacity, Beijing is likely to decline in the next few decades as the population
stabilizes; similarly to Japan.

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Benefits

The Touristic exponential growth in China’s capital has greatly impacted its economy,
thereby improving its technology and society. As more Asians started to visit the ancient
city (And later foreigners) after the industry initiation, the larger Beijing’s reputation and
economy as China’s historic child grew. The inflow of tourists, as well as migrants looking
for work heightened; due to economic opportunities. This caused a domino effect into
other industries greatly advancing their technology; ultimately rising the Beijing’s societal
living standards.

Challenges

The neat thing about Beijing is, There are mostly no issues linked with poverty and/or
government malfunction. These include Unemployment, Education, Health, etc.
Nevertheless, the city is a human bomb. Although in recent years, the Population has
stabilized due to Government policies, there are still over 21 million people in the capital.
Behind the obvious overpopulation, there is the crippling air pollution. The source of it is
mostly the burning of coal, petrol cars, and the many industries situated around the city.
However, the underlying problem is the corrupt government who seem to not be doing
anything to resolve the long-lasting issue. Moreover, Traffic and congestion is terrible due
to the population density. Even though Beijing is anecdotally known for its traffic systems,
the large inflow of over 5 million cars.

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 Bibliography

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May 5, 2019, from http://www.asianews.it/news-en/Births,-workforce-and-aging:-The-demographics-
scare-Beijing-42879.html
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travels.com/beijing_guide/overview/geography.html
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generational-turning-point/
4. Liu, S., Aggarwal, S., & Xie, M. (2013). What are the major problems of the city of Beijing? What are the
causes and how can they be solved? Retrieved May 5, 2019, from https://www.quora.com/What-are-the-
major-problems-of-the-city-of-Beijing-What-are-the-causes-and-how-can-they-be-solved
5. Mailonline, T. Y. (2017, March 28). China builds a mega-city larger than Great Britain. Retrieved May 5,
2019, from https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4356676/China-builds-mega-city-larger-Great-
Britain.html
6. Stanway, D. (2018, November 22). Beijing sees population fall for first time in 20 years: Xinhua (P. Tait,
Ed.). Retrieved May 5, 2019, from https://www.reuters.com/article/us-china-population/beijing-sees-
population-fall-for-first-time-in-20-years-xinhua-idUSKCN1NR2F2
7. Topchinatravel. (2004). Beijing Facts. Retrieved May 5, 2019, from https://www.topchinatravel.com/
beijing/beijing-facts.htm
8. Wikipedia. (2019, April 28). Geography of Beijing. Retrieved May 5, 2019, from https://en.wikipedia.org/
wiki/Geography_of_Beijing#Topography
9. Zhou, C. (2019, January 08). The Beijing That Never Was: A Two-Center Beijing Under the 1950 Liang-
Chen Proposal. Retrieved May 5, 2019, from https://untappedcities.com/2013/08/09/the-beijing-that-
never-was-a-two-center-beijing-under-the-1950-liang-chen-proposal/

Pictures/Graphs/tables/Data
1. Researchgate. (n.d.). Reseachgate.net. Retrieved 2019, from https://www.researchgate.net/figure/
Census-geographic-unit-population-densities-of-Beijing-urban-area_fig6_236666871
2. Atlas of Urban Expansion. (2013). Atlas of Urban Expansion. Retrieved May 5, 2019, from http://
atlasofurbanexpansion.org/cities/view/Beijing_Beijing
3. 4. Birth rate of Beijing population drops nearly 60% in 20 years. (1985, March). Retrieved May 5, 2019,
from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12280249
4. Worldpopulationreview. (2019). Beijing Population 2019. Retrieved May 5, 2019, from http://
worldpopulationreview.com/world-cities/beijing-population/

WORD COUNT: 1303 WHOOPS, I WENT 200 WORDS ABOVE- OH WELL.

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