Word: china
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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City on a Hill These divisions, and the government's push to reduce them, are evident in the southwestern megalopolis of Chongqing. Built on the hilly banks of the Yangtze River, this ancient trading center was the effective capital of China during World War II and today is one of the world's largest municipalities, with a population of 31 million. The brightly lit buildings along the Chongqing riverfront display a cosmopolitan sophistication. But that impression quickly fades as you leave the city for the corrugated hills outside. "In Chongqing, the transportation system and so on are quite developed," says...
...just the start. Another runway will be added to Chongqing's airport, the electrical grid will be upgraded, $5.8 billion will be spent on improving public water supplies, and wastewater treatment will be expanded to cover 90% of urban sewage, up from about 70% now. (See pictures of China's electronic waste village...
...that make up the city's downtown is interrupted by detours and periodic detonations, the result of work on a new light-rail system scheduled to be completed by 2011. "We still need at least 20 years to develop infrastructure to catch up with developed countries," says Shen. "For China, the infrastructure projects are not only temporary measures to get the country out of the downturn but an opportunity to prepare for the economy to take off in the future...
...China is using the stimulus package to play catch-up on another front: the environment. Three decades of rapid, unchecked economic growth has turned many of the country's rivers into cesspools and lands into wastelands and much of its air into grimy soup. Some $30.9 billion has been officially allocated under the stimulus plan for "environmental projects" to help clean up the mess and put the country on a path to more sustainable development. The government of Jiangsu province, for example, recently announced a $16 billion plan to clean up Lake Tai, once famed for its beauty and abundant...
Mountain High, Emperor Far Away No matter how well intentioned, China's stimulus package may provide little more than a short-lived growth blip if officials are unable to control the perennial bugbear of Chinese economic development: pervasive corruption in local and provincial governments, which make their own way far from the brilliant technocrats in Beijing. (Read "The Secret Memoir of a Fallen Chinese Leader...