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China’s Cities—Should We Not Be Concerned


When traveling to Beijing recently, I had a chance to visit a Mandarin-speaking church. The sermon that day was on the last part of the book of Jonah (Jonah 3:10-4:11). This was one of those divine coincidences since I had just been hearing about China’s re-categorization and management of its larger cities.

The book of Jonah is a classic example of how we should not respond to God. Jonah shows our prejudices, even hatred towards certain groups of people, are the opposite of how God looks at us and those around us, including those we dislike.

At the start of 2024, China had a total of 707 cities categorized by various levels.1 I have gotten used to the Chinese ranking of cities by tiers (first tier like Shanghai down to tier five such as county-level cities). In the USA, I would respond negatively if someone told me I lived in a second or third-tier city. I recently visited a city in southern Shandong and asked Baidu’s AI chatbot if it was a second-tier city. The AI bot responded, “No, it is a fourth-tier city.” “On what basis?” I asked. I was given a list of factors including population, education, economic activity, etc.

Over the last 40 years, China has gone from being primarily a rural country (in 1980 it was 80.6% rural) to mainly an urban population (61.4% in 2020).2 China has a “hukou,” or household registration system that determines where each individual can live and receive government benefits such as education, medical care, etc. The “hukou” system has been used to restrict migration to the cities, especially the larger cities.

As China continues to encourage urbanization, there has been a need to relax and adjust the “hukou” system. While China wants to encourage urbanization, it has also decided to restrict migration to the largest cities. As part of these changes, China recently put out a list of mega cities and super mega cities that are treated differently3:

CityLocationUrban Population
Super Mega CityShanghaiChina24.89 million
BeijingChina19.16 million
ShenzhenGuangdong, China17.68 million
ChongqingChina13.23 million
GuangzhouGuangdong, China13.20 million
ChengduSichuan, China11.87 million
TianjinChina11.65 million
WuhanHubei, China10.94 million
   
Mega CityHangzhouZhejiang, China9.93 million
DongguanGuangdong, China9.30 million
New YorkNew York, USA8.36 million
Xi’anShaanxi, China7.40 million
ZhengzhouHenan, China7.19 million
NanjingJiangsu, China6.93 million
Ji’nanShandong, China6.57 million
HefeiAnhui, China6.42 million
ShenyangLiaoning, China5.97 million
QingdaoShandong, China5.80 million
ChangshaHunan, China5.10 million
HarbinHeilongjiang, China5.03 million
   
Los AngelesCalifornia, USA3.82 million
Table 1. Super mega cities and mega cities in China (in comparison with Los Angeles, USA)

If you line these up against the list of largest US cities, only New York makes it onto the mega city list. Los Angeles would be the next largest US city, but it would not make these top two lists in China.

China has more than 100 cities with over one million people. In the USA, we have nine cities with over one million population;4 the European Union has 15.5 If you want to see where your city ranks against similar-sized Chinese cities, you can go to a website6 and scroll down until you find your city’s name.

Looking at these numbers, I come back to Jonah and his view of Nineveh. Jonah hated the Ninevites and did not want to see God have mercy on them. Jonah would have been satisfied if God had destroyed Nineveh and its people. In his interaction with Jonah, God said that despite all the valid reasons Jonah had for not wanting good for Nineveh and the Ninevites, “should I not have concern for the great city of Nineveh, in which there are more than a hundred and twenty thousand people who cannot tell their right hand from their left” (Jonah 4:11).

As I listened to the sermon that Sunday morning in Beijing, I pondered how concerned God must be for the cities of China. These are cities that are ten, fifty, or even two hundred times the size of Nineveh. It took Jonah three days to walk Nineveh. If I walked around Beijing’s sixth Ring Road, it would take me five or six days. If God was concerned about Nineveh, what about these cities of China? How does God look at each person in these cities who, as He explained to Jonah, “cannot tell their right hand from their left.” As I walk, bike and drive around cities in China, these words echo in my mind, and I try to get my heart in alignment with what I know God feels toward the people around me.

Jesus told the parable of the lost sheep leaving 99 sheep to go after the one lost one (Luke 15:1-7). At a recent missions conference held by a church in China, one of the speakers commented that the ratios for China are almost the opposite with leaving five sheep to go after the 95 lost ones.

When the Pew Trust surveyed Americans about their attitudes towards China,7 they found that 83% had a negative view and 38% considered China an enemy. The Pew report tracks a number of objective and valid factors leading to this high level of negativity. Jonah also had valid reasons for his negative feelings towards Nineveh and its inhabitants.

However, as followers of Jesus, I think the only Biblical view toward Chinese people is what God expressed to Jonah—He has love and concern for these people, each one individually. Should I not also have and show this kind of concern?

Early in 2024, China Partnership started an effort to pray for China’s cities. Signing up for this prayer effort has been one way to align my outlook with God’s concerns for the cities of China. This has also helped me understand God’s love and compassion for each person I meet on the streets of China from Beijing to the lowest tier cities I visit.

Endnotes

  1. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_cities_in_China#Tier_system (accessed 9/24/2024)
  2. See https://www.macrotrends.net/countries/CHN/china/urban-population (accessed 11/6/2023)
  3. http://english.www.gov.cn/policies/latest_releases/2014/11/25/content_281475015213546.htm (classification of cities by size); WeChat public group Expat Link posted 7/24/2023 provided population numbers
  4. For US cities see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_United_States_cities_by_population (accessed 11/7/2023)
  5. For EU cities see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_cities_in_the_European_Union_by_population_within_city_limits (accessed 11/7/2023)
  6. https://www.visualcapitalist.com/chinas-113-cities-one-million-people-population/
  7. See https://www.pewresearch.org/global/2023/07/27/chinas-approach-to-foreign-policy-gets-largely-negative-reviews-in-24-country-survey/ (accessed 11/7/2023)
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Image credit: Michael Discenza by Unsplash

Peter Bryant

Over the last 30 years Peter Bryant (pseudonym) has had the chance to visit, to live for extended periods of time, and to travel to almost all of China’s provinces. As a Christian business person he has met Chinese from all walks of life. He has a particular interest in …View Full Bio


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