Stately Nanjing is not as glamorous as Shanghai or as busy as Beijing but it tells the story of China’s development. New buildings are popping up along the main arteries to house the eastern city’s surging population – already 8m. City authorities are firmly in favour of becoming a megacity.
Most Chinese officials punctuate their sentences with the words “harmonious” and “dynamic”. In Nanjing, home to the mausoleums of the first Ming emperor and the first president of the Republic of China, the word “historic” is also regularly used. Yet construction has swamped the old city. Aside from a few ancient buildings and a medieval wall, the town gives little hint of its age. All is new; much gleams.
The result is that in poor light, of which the smoggy city has plenty, the centre of what was once the capital of China could pass for a prosperous eastern European town. The middle class is getting rich fast – as the car parks attest. This is not a city of wheezing jalopies. You take your life in your hands crossing highways but you are, at least, only at risk from the grandest marques.