Case Study 2

URDANETACITYUNIVERSITY
COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING AND ARCHITECTURE
Q043-ARCH 414
PLANNING 2
FUNDAMENTALS OF URBAN DESIGN &
COMMUNITY ARCHITECTURE
CASE STUDY 2
CHINA
Date Due: SEPTEMBER 20, 2023
Submitted by:
Name: ISIT, MAE ANN P. & LICUDAN, JOHN KENNETH

Student No.: 20203105
Submitted to:
AR. MARIA TERESA VELASCO, UAP

CEA- Instructor
COLLEGEOFENGINEERINGANDARCHITECTURE
#1 San Vicente West, Urdaneta City, Pangasinan
TABLE OF CONTENTS
I. INTRODUCTION…………………………………………………….2
II. THE BODY…………………………………………………………….9
III. THE SUMMARY…………..…………………………………………18

ORIGIN OF THE CITY
GEOGRAPHY
RELIGION & BELIEF
SOCIAL & CULTURAL ISSUES
TOURISM, EMPLOYMENT & MEANS OF LIVING
POPULATION DENSITY
IV. REFERENCES……………………………………………………….25
INTRODUCTION
CHINA
China is a country of immense variety in its terrain and geography, but the
story of modern China is often told through its cities. According to Public
Radio International, for the past two decades China has built twenty new
cities each year. These urban centers draw people from China’s countryside
and from around the world to take advantage of new economic opportunities.
China is the world's most populous country, and its largest city, Shanghai, is
the largest city proper in the world, with a population of 26.3 million as of
2019. According to the Demographia research group, in 2017, there were 102
Chinese cities with over 1 million people in the "urban area", as defined by
the group's methodology.
According to the administrative divisions of China, there are three levels of
cities, namely direct-administered municipalities, prefecture-level cities, and
county-level cities. The special administrative regions of Hong Kong and
Macau are not included in this administrative classification.
Municipalities and prefecture-level cities are not each a 'city' in the strictest
sense of the term, but are, instead, an administrative unit comprising,
typically, both the urban core (a city in the strict sense) and surrounding rural
or less-urbanized areas.
Prefecture-level cities nearly always contain multiple counties, county-level

cities, and other such sub-divisions. To distinguish a prefecture-level city from
its actual urban area (city in the strict sense), the term (shì qū; "urban area")
is used. However, even this term often encompasses large suburban regions
often greater than 3,000 square kilometres (1,000 sq mi), sometimes only
the urban core, whereas the agglomeration overtakes the city limits. Thus,
the "urban core" would be roughly comparable to the American term "city
limit", the "shì qū", or "urban area", would be roughly comparable to

"metropolitan area", and the municipality is a political designation defining
regions under control of a municipal government, which has no comparable
designation.
While in 2013 Chongqing had the largest population total of any special
municipality, 28 million, only 4.5 million of the people were in the actual
Chongqing urban area, with the remainder of the population in suburban and
rural areas.
Beijing: On Top of the World

Beijing was born to be a world capital. After being burned to the ground by
Chingghis Khan in 1215 CE, Beijing was built anew as the capital of the vast
Mongol Empire under Chingghis’ grandson, Kubilai.
Today, Beijing is the capital of China. It is home to top universities,

numerous museums, and national treasures such as the Forbidden City, the
Temple of Heaven, and the Summer Palace. Many fear, however, that
Beijing’s most distinctive treasures, like the winding hutong alleyways, are
being lost to progress. Lined with noodle stands, markets, and doorways to
private courtyards, hutong ring with the sound of the distinctive Beijing
accent known for ending words with an "r”-sound. It used to be said that in
Beijing, the hutong were more numerous than the hairs on an ox. Today,
though, most have been razed.
In their place, world-class architecture such as Herzon and de Meuron’s

Beijing National Stadium, the seat of the 2008 Olympic Games, has arisen.
Beijing worked hard to win the Olympics and Beijingers look forward to 2010
as the year when their city will be on top of the world.
The history of China spans several millennia across a wide geographical area.
The notion of "China" can be understood under many diverse
historiographical, cultural, geographic, and political lenses, and has evolved
tremendously over time. Each region now understood to be part of the
Chinese world has alternated between many periods of unity, fracture,
prosperity, and hardship. Classical Chinese civilization first emerged in the
Yellow River valley, which along with the Yangtze and Pearl valleys now
constitute the geographic core of China and have for the majority of its
imperial history. China maintains a rich diversity of ethnic and linguistic
people groups. The traditional lens for viewing Chinese history is the dynastic
cycle: imperial dynasties rise and fall, and are ascribed certain achievements.
Throughout pervades the narrative that Chinese civilization can be traced as
an unbroken thread many thousands of years into the past, making it one of
the cradles of civilization. At various times, states representative of a
dominant Chinese culture have directly controlled areas stretching as far west
as the Tian Shan, the Tarim Basin, and the Himalayas, as far north as the
Sayan Mountains, and as far south as the delta of the Red River.
During the Neolithic period, increasingly non-parochial societies began to

emerge along the Yellow and Yangtze rivers. In the north, varieties of millet
constituted the primary agricultural staple of those inhabiting the Yellow River
valley, while the cultivation of rice predominated along the Yangtze further to
the south. It has been a major goal of contemporary Chinese archaeology to
establish a relationship between the material cultures appearing in the
archeological record and accounts from traditional Chinese historiography. For
example, the Erlitou culture existed throughout the central plains of China
during the era traditionally attributed to the Xia dynasty (c. 2070–1600 BCE)
by Chinese historiographers, as detailed in foundational works like the
Records of the Grand Historian—a text written around 1700 years after the
date it assigns to the fall of the Xia.
The earliest surviving written Chinese dates to roughly 1250 BCE, from the
time of Shang dynasty king Wu Ding. This religious writing records divinations
inscribed on oracle bones. Chinese bronze inscriptions, ritual texts dedicated
to deceased ancestors, form another large corpus of early Chinese writing.
The earliest strata of received literature in Chinese include poetry, divination,
and records of official speeches. China is believed to be one of a very few loci
of independent invention of writing, and the earliest surviving records display
a written language already mature.
The culture remembered by the earliest extant literature is Zhou dynasty (c.
1046–256 BCE), described as a confederation or a kin-based settlement state.
During this axial age of early China, the aristocratic state gave way to
bureaucratization, chariot-based warfare was superseded by infantry, the
earliest classical texts took shape, the political theory of the Mandate of
Heaven was introduced to legitimate monarchical rule, thinkers such as

Confucius lived, and philosophies such as Taoism and Legalism were first
articulated.
China was first united as a single state under Qin Shi Huang in 221 BCE.
Orthography, weights, measures, and law were all standardized. Shortly
thereafter, China entered its classical age with the Han dynasty (206 BCE –
CE 220). During this period, the Chinese empire saw some of its farthest
geographical control. Confucianism was officially adopted and its core texts
edited into their received forms. The father of Chinese historiography, Sima
Qian, produced his seminal Records of the Grand Historian. Wealthy
landholding families independent of the ancient aristocracy began to wield
significant power. The earliest extant dictionary of the Chinese language was
produced, the Shuowen Jiezi. Chinese science and technology during the Han
dynasty could be considered on par with that of the contemporaneous Roman
Empire, and China became known internationally for its silks. Mass production
of paper aided the proliferation of document making, and the written
language of this period was used in most genera for millennia afterwards.
The Han dynasty marks a critical period in Chinese self-conception: one term
for the Chinese language is still "Han language", and the dominant Chinese
ethnic group often call themselves "Han people".
After a long stretch of political unity, notwithstanding a short usurpation

around the turn of the millennium, the Chinese imperial order collapsed in the
final decades of the 100s CE, and apart from a brief unification, China was
divided for centuries. Buddhism entered from India, and had a significant
impact on Chinese culture thereafter. Calligraphy, art, historiography, and
storytelling flourished. Wealthy families gained even more power in
comparison to the central government. The Yangtze River valley was
incorporated into the dominant cultural sphere. Few records survive from
these turbulent times, sometimes understatedly called the Six Dynasties.
The realm was united again in the late 500s CE, and as before the unifying
dynasty soon gave way to a long-lived successor: the Tang dynasty
(608–907). Regarded as another golden age of Chinese civilization, the Tang
dynasty saw flourishing developments in science, technology, poetry,
economics, and geographical influence. China's first officially recognized
empress, Wu Zetian, reigned during the first century of the dynasty.
Buddhism was officially adopted by the imperial rulers, while orthodox
Confucianism was articulated by scholars such as Kong Yingda and Han Yu.
"Tang people" is the other most common demonym for the dominant Chinese
ethnic group.
After another century or so of disunity – the Five Dynasties and Ten

Kingdoms period – the Song dynasty (960–1279) saw the maximal extent of
imperial Chinese cosmopolitan development. Mechanical reproduction of text
was introduced, and many of the earliest surviving witnesses of certain texts
are wood-block prints from this era.
Scientific advancements led the world, on par with the contemporaneous
Khwarazmian Empire. The imperial examination system gave ideological
structure to the political bureaucracy. Confucianism and Taoism were fully knit
together in Neo-Confucianism. The roots of modern capitalism could be
detected.
The Yuan dynasty began with Kublai Khan's conquest of China in the late
1200s. During this period, the first of the classical modern Chinese novels,
Romance of the Three Kingdoms, was put to paper. Marco Polo, a European
merchant who traveled along the Silk Road, reported about Yuan dynasty
China.
The next great dynasty was the Ming (1368–1644). Its achievements
included global exploration, fine porcelain (sometimes still known in English
as "China"), and many extant public works projects, such as the restorations
of the Grand Canal and Great Wall. Two of the four Classic Chinese Novels,
Water Margin and Journey to the West, were written during the Ming dynasty.
The Qing dynasty succeeded the Ming. They placed ethnic Manchu officials in
every important office while also adopting most features of elite Chinese
culture. The most prolific poet and art collector of the period was the
Qianlong emperor (r. 1735–1796), who commissioned a complete
encyclopaedia of his imperial libraries, totaling nearly a billion words. His
grandfather commissioned the greatest premodern dictionary of the Chinese
language, the Kangxi Dictionary, completed in 1716. The land area controlled
by any Chinese dynasty reached its apex during the Qing. During this period,
China came into increasing contact with European powers, culminating in the
Opium Wars and subsequent unequal treaties.
Empress Dowager Cixi was the final imperial ruler of China: the 1911 Xinhai
Revolution, led by Sun Yat-sen and others, created the modern Republic of
China. From 1927 to 1949, China was embroiled in a civil war between the
forces of the Republic of China and Mao Zedong's Chinese Red Army. Mao
proclaimed victory in 1949, establishing the People's Republic of China. The
Republic of China government under Chiang Kai-shek retreated to Taiwan.
Each government continues to claim sovereignty over both mainland China
and Taiwan, with the People's Republic of China enjoying greater recognition
by foreign powers, and status of Taiwan still deeply complicated.
From 1966 to 1976, the Cultural Revolution helped consolidate Mao's power
at the end of his life. The government began its economic reforms in 1978
under the leadership of Deng Xiaoping.
As a result, China has the world's fastest-growing major economy, with
growth rates averaging 10% over 30 years. China was the most populous
nation in the world for parts of the 20th and 21st centuries. Earlier records
lack sufficient data.
Urban Planning in China or The People's Republic of China is currently
characterized by a top-down approach, high density urban development and
extensive urbanization. China's urban planning philosophies and practices
have undergone multiple transitions due to governance and economic
structure changes throughout the nation's extensive history. The founding of
the People's Republic of China in 1949 marks the beginning of three recent
historical stages of urban planning philosophies and practice that represent a
divergence from traditional Chinese urban planning morphologies are broadly
categorized as socialist, hybrid and global cities.
Traditional City - walled cities, for example, Xi'an and Beijing's Forbidden City.
Traditional cities, were planned in a manner similar to that of present-day,
was they were also directly affected by the philosophies, governance and
economies of their time. Traditional cities are often planned in accordance
with archaic concepts of geomancy, Feng-shui, I-Ching. The Rites of Zhou
dating to approximately (1100–256 BC) serve to emphasize the importance of
such philosophies, the cardinal directions and harmony between the human
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and natural realms.[3] China's history is rich with examples of early planning
philosophies and practices evidenced by traditional cities such as, but not
limited to Chang'an (Xi'an) (西安), Beijing (北京), Nanjing (南京) and
Luoyang (洛阳).
Socialist City - (1950–1980) Planning efforts focused to increase the
percentage of blue-collar workers, create affordable housing, urban
communes, work unit (danwei 单位), discrete enclosures, broad, central
avenues and large squares and Soviet-style exhibition halls. Examples
include: Harbin (哈尔滨) and Beijing.
Hybrid City - (1860–Present) Planning that incorporating western planning
and design principles meshed with traditional Chinese street grids and
architectural principles. These were often the first cities to develop modern
infrastructures networks and include cities such as Shanghai (上海) and
Tianjin (天津).
Global City - (1990–Present) Planning aimed to encourage strategic economic
development of a region for the purposes of global economic participation as
a key node in the globalized market; coined and conceptualized by Saskia
Sassen. Global cities are characterized by international familiarity,
participation in international events and global affairs, densely populated
metropolitan areas, Central Business Districts (CBD) housing key financial,
corporate headquarters and national services, extensive public transportation
systems, internationally networked airports, large-scale commercial and
industrial zones and multiple urban cores. Examples include Beijing,
Shanghai, Hong Kong (香港), Guangzhou (广州) and more recently Shenzhen
(深圳).
HISTORY
Ancient Chinese urban planning
China provides one of many examples of how archaic philosophies and their
resulting planning decisions have had a profound impact on not only the
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spatial organization, but the culture of cities and nations of the distant past
and present. Planning in China originates previous to that of the very early
dynastic times, for example, "the most influential study of an ideal layout for
a royal capital" was recorded in the Kaogongji (Artificers' Record) during the
Western Han dynasty (206 BC-9 AD) and is thought to have been a
replacement for a lost section of the Rites of Zhou created during the Zhou
dynasty (1100-256BC).[2][3] Further, the Rites of Zhou indicate that the
origins of the most basic of urban planning philosophies in China are of a
more archaic nature relating to concepts of geomancy, Feng Shui and I
Ching. The planners of ancient China "imposed an orthogonal and cardinal
regimen on the districts, temples, places and streets of its capital cities at
least as early as the Zhou dynasty (1122-221 B.C.)" and that the Rites of
Zhou confirm the importance cosmologically based philosophies such as
directional orientation and symmetry.Santiago Ortuzar indicates that such
basic rural and urban planning philosophies may have originated more than
7000 years ago in the Neolithic villages, for example, the Hemudu culture
settlements in Zhejiang province. Banpo, a village outside of Xi'an dating to
4500 or 3000 B.C. provides an example of early urban activity centres as 45
dwellings still remain in what could be easily considered high density for the
building materials of the time. The traditional walled cities, such as Xi'an were
planned in 7th century AD as the first Chinese capital city under the Sui
dynasty. The construction of which was preceded by a regional survey to
ensure the flow of water, resources and a strategic location for reasons of
health, natural balance and safety; an exercise planners today practice on a
daily basis. Xi'an's city walls during the seventh century AD enclosed
approximately 80,000 ha and housed an estimated half a million people; an
accomplishment even the most prominent European cities failed to achieve
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until the 19th century; furthering their historical and present value making
them entirely relevant to recent planning paradigm shifts of both the East and
Western.
It is perhaps best to follow the example of Santiago Ortuzar, Professor of

Urban Planning, School of Architecture Central & Mayor Universities,
Santiago, Chile, who analyzes traditional urban planning in China by
separating urban tradition and urban antiquity; two highly integrated aspects
of urban morphology as their origins in Eastern planning are different.
Urban antiquities
Human settlements in China are considerably older than those of the West, as
neolithic villages in the lower plains of the Yangtze River are approximately
7,500-7,000 years old. Banpo, an early village located on the outskirts of
Xi'an, discovered in 1953, may have preceded Xi'an by 1,500 years or more
and dates to approximately 5,000 BC. The village, while partially excavated
presents considerable evidence of early planning efforts in China as its layout
reveals "various land uses (zoning) were allocated and where several
activities took place" and further represents "a clear indication of a conscious
decision to separate the perilous outside world with a secure internal space"
in fashion similar to present towns, cities and global city municipal zoning.
Some 45 dwellings and various other structures used for food storage and
animal pens compose the site. Further from these structures were work
areas, several timber-fired kilns and a cemetery consisting of 250 tombs.
Various types of pottery, bone and timber tools were also recovered from the
site; reinforcing the spatial usage patterns derived from the layout, remains
and other site data. The grouping of such objects in archaeological context
further reinforces the level of "sophistication both in terms of spatial and
human organisation that can only be classified as a settlement inhabited by a
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cohesive social group composed of urban dwellers" approximately 5,000

years ago. A second village near Beijing dating to 2,400BC further confirms
that similar discoveries such as Banpo "are not isolated examples" of early
and intentional urban planning in China.[7]
Chinese settlements, while later than those of the Nile Valley, Indus,
Euphrates and Tigris river basins "are undoubtedly some of the worlds first in
terms of human evolution and urban character".[8] Ortuzar furthers this
statement by indicating that there is "a long urban tradition which stretches
far back in time. It has continued to remain uninterrupted for several
thousands of years from the very origin of towns until the contemporary city.
Few nations can exhibit such continuity over a long period of time".
Urban tradition
billboard of Deng Xiaoping
Chinese Premier Deng Xiaoping initiated the creation of Special Economic
Zones (SEZ) in the coastal cities during the 1980s.
Urban tradition is usually intimately related to urban antiquity. However, in
the context of China, it has its own set of attributes in relation to urban
planning, design and the social realm. China's population is classified as being
approximately 55-60% rural, and in contrast to the majority of western
countries, rural inhabitants are not thinly distributed over the landscape on
individual land tracts. Rural inhabitants "live grouped together" in hamlets
creating an absence of parcel bound dwellings in the countryside. This
settlement pattern has existed in China for thousands of years for various
purposes including defense from "attacks by bandits, local chieftains and
other enemies came together in hamlets. There were practical reasons too,
14
such as the boring of wells to assure themselves of sufficient clean water".

This situation appeared much later in European history for similar reasons.
Rural Chinese live in small scale urban settlements of "about 500 to 700
persons each" with men traveling daily by horseback or bicycle to a nearby
plot of land, while women either accompany their husbands to the fields or
attend children or the household. Services, entertainment and social activities
are agglomerated in the larger urbanized hamlets that are often planned to
service roughly twenty-five surrounding settlements. The resulting geographic
and planned patterns of such settlements respond "to regional criteria of
urban distribution, something rarely occurring in other cultures". The
resulting patterns of living in one area and working in another is considered
to be a social characteristic that many Chinese peasants have continued as
they gradually urbanize into global city regions and other more urbanized and
planned environments. In contrast, European peasants did not begin to
urbanize in a similar manner until the advent of modern transportation during
the beginning of the Industrial Revolution and arrived in urban areas with
little or no urban experience due to the disbursed settlement patterns of the
West. Ortuzar furthers, that the urban tradition in China has been
ever-present "as its origins can be traced back to the early ages of
development; one which is not necessarily bound to the size of towns, nor to
the level or degree of urbanization achieved".
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Modern time
A large boulevard in Shanghai
In 1949, the year that the People's Republic of China was founded, less than
10% of the population in mainland China was urban.[9]: 203 Few cities at
that time could be considered modern.
During the period of the First Five Year Plan (1953-1957), China's urban
planning was heavily influenced by the Soviet Union's experience. Soviet
experts helped write China's national standards and guidelines and Soviet
text books and regulations were translated into Chinese. In the early part of
the 1950s, city plans also followed the socialist city planning principles from
the 1935 Moscow Master Plan.These principles included maintaining the old
city core as administrative areas while building industry on the periphery with
green space and residences between the two. Planning for factories and
workers' housing in this period included strong central axes, green belts,
symmetrical building placement, parameter blocks, and monumental
entrances. Residential buildings were built in a historicist style with traditional
Chinese roofs.
16
Urban migration stayed below 20%, with city planning primarily supporting
urban industries and limiting opportunities for migrating into cities from rural
areas. In 1958, The Great Leap Forward shifted the country's focus towards
industrialization. Rural people were moved to factory jobs and city dwellings
en masse, straining infrastructure. The country recovered slowly. In the
Cultural Revolution (1966 – 1976), however, urban residents are encouraged
or forced to leave for the countryside. Many historical sites were damaged or
destroyed during the "Destroy the Four Olds" movement from 1966 to 1968.
Subsequently, massive counter-urbanization known as the Down to the
Countryside Movement took place, greatly dampening the process of
urbanization in China.
Eventually, in 1979, formal urban planning efforts in China were restored and
promoted due to the adoption of reform and open policy, causing consistent
urban growth. The economic boom ushered in by Deng Xiaoping increased
funding to major city planning works, including urban revitalization and
renewal projects. Chinese planners in the early Reform and Opening Up
period redesigned cities both to accommodate the increasing urban
population and increasing economic growth through light industry that
produced consumer goods.
This process changed urban areas from a focus on production to more livable
cities. Architecture of this era was influenced by a re-connection with global
designs, including noteworthy examples such as I. M. Pei's the Beijing
Xiangshan Hotel. As understandings of pollution became more
comprehensive, urban planning began to focus on creating more
environmentally sustainable developments, while also preserving historic
aesthetics. Currently, urban planning in China run on multiple levels of
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government. This central planning approach ensures each city follows the
national economic plan, exists in a cohesive design with other cities, and is
funded by an informed government. Urban planning in China focuses to guide
and comprehensively regulate urban construction to ensure the rational
development, construction and implementation of the national economic plan
that serves as the nation's master planning document. The central
government has established a tiered planning and legal system to guide,
implement and regulate urban development and construction in accordance
with the national economic plan.
The pace of urbanization in China accelerated in 2008.
In 2013, Xi Jinping promoted the sponge city concept, a construction and

design approach to dealing with heavy rainfall through promoting rainwater
infiltration, stagnation, storage, purification, utilization, and discharge.
It includes the use of permeable materials in buildings, roads, and open

public spaces as well as remediation of natural features such as wetlands or
lakes which were blocked or filled during earlier stages of development.
Between 2013 and 2018, Seaside City in Sichuan, China's first fully 'privatised
city', was constructed under the aegis of developer Chairman Huang and is
home to over 120,000 people.
Before the 2020s, the majority of urban growth generally consisted of

outward expansion from city centers, mostly into former farmland.
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SUMMARY
HUMAN FACTORS AFFECTING POPULATION DENSITY: ECONOMIC
DEVELOPMENT
A brief history of economic development in China
Until 1911, China was an imperial country, ruled by emperors who had total
control over "The Middle Kingdom". A series of dynasties lasted from ancient
times until the Qin Dynasty which lasted from 1644 till 1911. The emperors
were regarded as "Sons of Heaven" and were reluctant to embrace progress
or reform.
In 1911, the final emperor was overthrown and a republican government was
established under the leadership of Sun Yat-Sen and his party KMT. The
Chinese Communist Party (CCP) was established in 1921. In 1926, political
and philosophical differences between the two parties led to a civil war which
concluded in 1949 with the CCP victorious and the communist leader Mao
Zedong established the People's Republic of China.
The Chinese economy was then subject to strong central control and a series
of "Five Year Plans" and political/economic campaigns. Private ownership of
land and of businesses was abolished. China's economy suffered from periods
of great upheaval and social change, in particular the Great Leap Forward
between 1958-1960 and the Cultural Revolution between 1966 and 1976. it is
estimated that the Great Leap forward caused 45 million deaths.
Mao Zedong died in 1976, ending the Cultural Revolution and starting a
period of liberalisation and and opening of the Chinese economy. Mao was
replaced by Deng Xiaoping who focused on the economic development f the
country and worked to build ties with the outside, capitalist world. foreign
investment was encouraged for the first time and Special Economic Zones
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were established in Shenzhen and Zhuhai initially. The government

introduced incentives for private enterprise. Consumer and export sectors of
the Chinese economy grew rapidly and an urban middle class developed,
particularly in the cities of the east coast such as Shanghai, Shenzhen and
Guangzhou. Living standards, literacy, life expectancy and GDP all increased.
In 1992 Deng Xiaoping declared that "to be rich is glorious". China's
economic growth averaged 13% per year in the 1990s and, although this
growth has slowed in recent years, China has had the world's greatest growth
for more than 30 years.
While all areas of the country have benefited from this economic growth,
most growth has been focused in the east, especially in the coastal provinces.
It is estimated that more than 700 million people have moved out of poverty
in the last 30 years with hugely improved access to education, health care,
electricity and running water. The focus os this growth remains in the east
and the gap between the richest and poorest in Chinese society has grown.
This has led to massive, often state sponsored migration to regional cities
and from poorer to richer provinces.
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Coastal provinces therefore tend to be more outward looking, have much

greater access to world markets, education and expertise and have benefited
greatly from Foreign Direct Investment. This has enhanced the benefits these
provinces already have through physical characteristics of relief, soil, rainfall
and temperatures as well as their coastal locations.
GEOGRAPHY
China, Chinese (Pinyin) Zhonghua or (Wade-Giles romanization) Chung-hua,
also spelled (Pinyin) Zhongguo or (Wade-Giles romanization) Chung-kuo,
officially People’s Republic of China or Chinese (Pinyin) Zhonghua Renmin
Gongheguo or (Wade-Giles romanization) Chung-hua Jen-min Kung-ho-kuo,
country of East Asia. It is the largest of all Asian countries and has the largest
population of any country in the world. Occupying nearly the entire East
Asian landmass, it covers approximately one-fourteenth of the land area of
Earth. Among the major countries of the world, China is surpassed in area by
only Russia and Canada, and it is almost as large as the whole of Europe.
China has 33 administrative units directly under the central government;

these consist of 22 provinces, 5 autonomous regions, 4 municipalities
(Chongqing, Beijing, Shanghai, and Tianjin), and 2 special administrative
regions (Hong Kong and Macau). The island province of Taiwan, which has
been under separate administration since 1949, is discussed in the article
Taiwan. Beijing (Peking), the capital of the People’s Republic, is also the
cultural, economic, and communications centre of the country. Shanghai is
the main industrial city; Hong Kong is the leading commercial centre and
port.
Within China’s boundaries exists a highly diverse and complex country. Its
topography encompasses the highest and one of the lowest places on Earth,
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and its relief varies from nearly impenetrable mountainous terrain to vast
coastal lowlands. Its climate ranges from extremely dry, desertlike conditions
in the northwest to tropical monsoon in the southeast, and China has the
greatest contrast in temperature between its northern and southern borders
of any country in the world.
The diversity of both China’s relief and its climate has resulted in one of the
world’s widest arrays of ecological niches, and these niches have been filled
by a vast number of plant and animal species. Indeed, practically all types of
Northern Hemisphere plants, except those of the polar tundra, are found in
China, and, despite the continuous inroads of humans over the millennia,
China still is home to some of the world’s most exotic animals.
RELIGION AND BELIEFS
The People's Republic of China is officially an atheist state, but the

government formally recognizes five religions: Buddhism, Taoism,
Christianity (Catholicism and Protestantism are recognized
separately), and Islam. In the early 21st century, there has been
increasing official recognition of Confucianism and Chinese folk religion as
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part of China's cultural heritage. Chinese civilization has historically long been
a cradle and host to a variety of the most enduring religio-philosophical
traditions of the world. Confucianism and Taoism (Daoism), later joined by
Buddhism, constitute the "three teachings" that have shaped Chinese culture.
There are no clear boundaries between these intertwined religious systems,
which do not claim to be exclusive, and elements of each enrich popular or
folk religion. The emperors of China claimed the Mandate of Heaven and
participated in Chinese religious practices. In the early 20th century,
reform-minded officials and intellectuals attacked all religions as
superstitious; since 1949, China has been governed by the CCP, an officially
atheist party that prohibits party members from practicing religion while in
office. In the culmination of a series of atheistic and anti-religious campaigns
already underway since the late 19th century, the Cultural Revolution against
old habits, ideas, customs, and culture, lasting from 1966 to 1976, destroyed
or forced them underground. Under subsequent leaders, religious
organisations have been given more autonomy.
23
Folk or popular religion, the most widespread system of beliefs and practices,
has evolved and adapted since at least the Shang and Zhou dynasties in the
second millennium BCE. Fundamental elements of a theology and spiritual
explanation for the nature of the universe hark back to this period and were
further elaborated in the Axial Age. Basically, Chinese religion involves
allegiance to the shen, often translated as "spirits", defining a variety of gods
and immortals. These may be deities of the natural environment or ancestral
principles of human groups, concepts of civility, culture heroes, many of
whom feature in Chinese mythology and history. Confucian philosophy and
religious practice began their long evolution during the later Zhou; Taoist
institutionalized religions developed by the Han dynasty; Chinese Buddhism
became widely popular by the Tang dynasty, and in response Confucian
thinkers developed neo-Confucian philosophies; and popular movements of
salvation and local cults thrived.
Christianity and Islam arrived in China in the 7th century. Christianity did not
take root until it was reintroduced in the 16th century by Jesuit missionaries.
In the early 20th century, Christian communities grew. However, after 1949,
foreign missionaries were expelled, and churches brought under
government-controlled institutions. After the late 1970s, religious freedoms
for Christians improved and new Chinese groups emerged. Islam has been
practiced in Chinese society for 1,400 years. Currently, Muslims are a minority
group in China, representing between 0.45% to 1.8% of the total population
according to the latest estimates. Though Hui Muslims are the most
numerous group, the greatest concentration of Muslims is in Xinjiang, with a
significant Uyghur population. China is also often considered a home to
24
humanism and secularism, with these ideologies beginning to take hold in the
area in the time of Confucius.
Because many Han Chinese do not consider their spiritual beliefs and
practices to be a "religion" and do not feel that they must practice any one of
them exclusively, it is difficult to gather clear and reliable statistics. According
to scholarly opinion, "the great majority of China's population of 1 billion"
takes part in Chinese cosmological religion, its rituals and festivals of the
lunar calendar, without belonging to any institutional teaching. National
surveys conducted in the early 21st century estimated that some 80% of the
population of China, which is more than a billion people, practice some kind
of Chinese folk religion; 13–16% are Buddhists; 10% are Taoist; 2.53% are
Christians; and 0.83% are Muslims. Folk religious movements of salvation
constitute 2–3% to 13% of the population, while many in the intellectual
class adhere to Confucianism as a religious identity. In addition, ethnic
minority groups practice distinctive religions, including Tibetan Buddhism, and
Islam among the Hui and Uyghur peoples.
25
REFERENCES
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Urban_planning_in_China
https://www.cfr.org/backgrounder/religion-china#:~:text=The%2
0state%20recognizes%20five%20religions,case%20of%20traditio
nal%20Chinese%20beliefs.
https://www.cfr.org/backgrounder/religion-china#:~:text=The%2
0state%20recognizes%20five%20religions,case%20of%20traditio
nal%20Chinese%20beliefs.
https://www.jkgeography.com/case-study-1-china.html#:~:text=
With%20a%20population%20of%201.37,average%20of%20appr
oximately%201.11%25%20pa.

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URDANETACITYUNIVERSITY

COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING AND ARCHITECTURE

Name: ISIT, MAE ANN P. & LICUDAN, JOHN KENNETH

AR. MARIA TERESA VELASCO, UAP

II. THE BODY…………………………………………………………….9

III. THE SUMMARY…………..…………………………………………18

Prefecture-level cities nearly always contain multiple counties, county-level

limit", the "shì qū", or "urban area", would be roughly comparable to

Beijing: On Top of the World

Today, Beijing is the capital of China. It is home to top universities,

In their place, world-class architecture such as Herzon and de Meuron’s

During the Neolithic period, increasingly non-parochial societies began to

Heaven was introduced to legitimate monarchical rule, thinkers such as

After a long stretch of political unity, notwithstanding a short usurpation

After another century or so of disunity – the Five Dynasties and Ten

It is perhaps best to follow the example of Santiago Ortuzar, Professor of

cohesive social group composed of urban dwellers" approximately 5,000

such as the boring of wells to assure themselves of sufficient clean water".

The pace of urbanization in China accelerated in 2008.

In 2013, Xi Jinping promoted the sponge city concept, a construction and

It includes the use of permeable materials in buildings, roads, and open

Before the 2020s, the majority of urban growth generally consisted of

were established in Shenzhen and Zhuhai initially. The government

Coastal provinces therefore tend to be more outward looking, have much

China has 33 administrative units directly under the central government;

The People's Republic of China is officially an atheist state, but the

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