That was excellent, thank you! I don't know about "median" but you sure described the typical Chinese city! πππ Tourism is their lifeline, a strategy shared by many recently. I remember writing such about Jingdezhen two years ago. Tons of potential there, lots of money going in, but when everyone is doing it? Another industry everyone is piling into meaning lower profits or losses for everyone.
The name Linfen rang a bell but after the intro I thought I am just mixing up the many similar Chinese names. But I could not let go, turns out I have indeed heard of it in the context of this absolutely astonishing photo series of Coal Cities from Ian Teh https://www.ianteh.com/dark-clouds/v2hko9n19dphek0h3w5cx49at4h6tl. Probably my favourite photo project I found out about this year. Wish I could still find a book of it.
David: another excellent city-study. Thank you! I first encountered the realm of ζ±Ύι in the 70s and visited Linfen and the surrounding countryside at the height of the pollution miasma, around 2010. So interested to read about your visit and learn more about the city today, Geremie
Lovely read, and sweet ending. Some of the points kind if reminded me of towns in the north/midlands of the UK. Re transportation, I wonder if the HSR is far away from the main city? I notice that tends to be a complaint in a lot of cities.
Small cities often get to enjoy closer transportation hubs compared to mega-cities. The new Linfen West station with the HSR is just about 10-15 minutes driving from downtown and the airport is only 25-30 minutes away.
Very interesting post. I am a retired American economics professor, living in Yuxi City, Yunnan. I previously lived in Beijing for 5-6 years. Yuxi seems to be similar in many ways to Linfen. It is about the same size and there are not a lot of sexy jobs here. But, I do think the quality of life is good for average people, better than in similar cities in the US. My conclusion is that an average young person has a better life here than he/she would moving to Beijing or Shanghai. Of course, an AI engineer or the like should go to a Tier One city. But life is much easier, comfortable and cheaper here for everyone else--especially if they have local family support. I think this conclusion applies to many South China small cities. I'd like to understand better why it does not apply to North China.
I think thereβs a stronger feeling of declining fortunes - or at least declining momentum - in those northern cities. After all, they once DID have a robust and thriving heavy industrial segment that drove them to grow almost as rapidly as the coasts for a period, but now thatβs in decline, they feel the sting of the slower growth the way inland southern cities donβt.
Great post as usual David! Duplicating what other commenters have said but the stories - especially the front desk girl at the hotel - remind me a lot of Rust Belt / some Appalachia cities. In the U.S. anyway, JD Vance's "Hillbilly Elegy" is a great first-person account of the vacuum left by receding heavy industry without new industry to replace it.
Those stories were severely exacerbated by narcotics and family trauma, but that's not uniquely a US problem - The Netherlands, France, the Nordics, and other EU countries are dealing with this too. No clean answers yet, but credit to Colombia where it's due, they turned around the most dangerous neighborhood in MedellΓn into a thriving arts and cultural centre in less than a generation (look up Comuna 13).
The Linfen folks you spoke with seemed mostly... fine, some content to θΏθΏε°ζ₯ε, but curious how citizens of other "leftover" Chinese cities in your travels are personally dealing with stagnation and decline.
Iβve spent relatively little time in north/central China (most of my and in-depth longer trips have been in the south) so this was my first time encountering such overtly bleak perspectives on the cityβs development. Perhaps this is broadly representative in the northβ¦now I know I need to spend more time up there.
The story of Linfen is very much representative of many other former/present coal mines and industrial heavy cities in China. Reminds me a lot of West Virginia and Pensilvania in the States.
The city needs to pivot and transform, from coal mine town to other 'cleaner', future-proving industry.
I looked up geographic info about the city, Linfen, and many other central north / north west of China are not exactly suitable for farming. It also doesn't have the talent pools like Beijing, Shanghai.
Perhaps, solar farm would be the best option: land is cheap there, operating solar farm needs less human labor, trained technicians require less skilled, management and monitoring can be done remotely. More importantly, it is clean energy and much needed given the country's ambition in AI.
Definitely - I saw quite a few solar farms appearing on some of the barren hillsides and the solar resources in this part of China are generally pretty good - although Linfen itself maybe not so much (because of the poor weather in the geologic basin).
A load of Chinese 3rd/4th cities look βmedianβ at first glance, but of course thereβs really no such thing as a "truly median city". Once you consider more than 3/4 traits in a model, any city that seems average in the model as a whole turns out to be unusual in others. e.g. maybe it was once rich and has fallen on hard times; maybe it was dirt poor and is booming thanks to highspeed rail etc.
Among Yicai's median 10% or so, youβve got world-famous tourist spots (Dali, Leshan), ethnic border cities (Honghe), βpost-industrialβ places (Linfen, Qiqihar), historically influential Cantonese trading hubs (Chaozhou), and even a provincial capital (Xining).
Iβve been to a bunch of these (mostly a decade or so ago), and although most of them are more representative of the median China than Beijing/Shanghai, they all felt super distinctive.
But one of the sadder things on my last trip was noticing how China's cities' distinctiveness is fading a bit: Putonghua is replacing dialect, urban architecture has lost a lot of its distinctiveness, chain stores becoming more common than local restaurants etc.
Yep totally agree - in the end I think Iβll be better served by trying to identify a different median city to represent different archetypes - the post industrial city on its way down, the inland provincial capital on its way up, the border city whose fortunes depend entirely on cross-border trade, etc. Itβs still worthwhile to try to find a way to understand and categorize different portions of the country by some of their unifying and defining features, but definitely no way to do it with just one city!
excellent read, an interesting journey. it is evident where the silent consensus on moving to the big cities comes from. linfen seems perfectly unremarkable.
The tourism angle is an interesting one. I think Linfen could look at what Datong has done.
Of course, Datong already had the Yungang grottoes and Hanging Monestary, but when the coal business went into decline they put serious effort into building the city center into a tourism hub. They build a brand new city wall, Price Dai's palace and 'old town'. All very fake, but impressive at the same time. The start of this project was fascinatingly documented in Datong/The Chinese Mayor. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4056808/
I visit Datong quite often because it's my wifes hometown and have seen the completion of the city wall. I thought it was madness, 10 years ago. But it has worked and tourism seems to be blooming in Datong.
That was excellent, thank you! I don't know about "median" but you sure described the typical Chinese city! πππ Tourism is their lifeline, a strategy shared by many recently. I remember writing such about Jingdezhen two years ago. Tons of potential there, lots of money going in, but when everyone is doing it? Another industry everyone is piling into meaning lower profits or losses for everyone.
The name Linfen rang a bell but after the intro I thought I am just mixing up the many similar Chinese names. But I could not let go, turns out I have indeed heard of it in the context of this absolutely astonishing photo series of Coal Cities from Ian Teh https://www.ianteh.com/dark-clouds/v2hko9n19dphek0h3w5cx49at4h6tl. Probably my favourite photo project I found out about this year. Wish I could still find a book of it.
Those are amazing pics - thanks for sharing!
Interesting to read as always.
David: another excellent city-study. Thank you! I first encountered the realm of ζ±Ύι in the 70s and visited Linfen and the surrounding countryside at the height of the pollution miasma, around 2010. So interested to read about your visit and learn more about the city today, Geremie
a great story about another view about china. Not only Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen. There has many other type of city.
Interesting read. Thanks for shedding some light on what an average average city in China is like.
Lovely read, and sweet ending. Some of the points kind if reminded me of towns in the north/midlands of the UK. Re transportation, I wonder if the HSR is far away from the main city? I notice that tends to be a complaint in a lot of cities.
Small cities often get to enjoy closer transportation hubs compared to mega-cities. The new Linfen West station with the HSR is just about 10-15 minutes driving from downtown and the airport is only 25-30 minutes away.
Very interesting post. I am a retired American economics professor, living in Yuxi City, Yunnan. I previously lived in Beijing for 5-6 years. Yuxi seems to be similar in many ways to Linfen. It is about the same size and there are not a lot of sexy jobs here. But, I do think the quality of life is good for average people, better than in similar cities in the US. My conclusion is that an average young person has a better life here than he/she would moving to Beijing or Shanghai. Of course, an AI engineer or the like should go to a Tier One city. But life is much easier, comfortable and cheaper here for everyone else--especially if they have local family support. I think this conclusion applies to many South China small cities. I'd like to understand better why it does not apply to North China.
I think thereβs a stronger feeling of declining fortunes - or at least declining momentum - in those northern cities. After all, they once DID have a robust and thriving heavy industrial segment that drove them to grow almost as rapidly as the coasts for a period, but now thatβs in decline, they feel the sting of the slower growth the way inland southern cities donβt.
Great post as usual David! Duplicating what other commenters have said but the stories - especially the front desk girl at the hotel - remind me a lot of Rust Belt / some Appalachia cities. In the U.S. anyway, JD Vance's "Hillbilly Elegy" is a great first-person account of the vacuum left by receding heavy industry without new industry to replace it.
Those stories were severely exacerbated by narcotics and family trauma, but that's not uniquely a US problem - The Netherlands, France, the Nordics, and other EU countries are dealing with this too. No clean answers yet, but credit to Colombia where it's due, they turned around the most dangerous neighborhood in MedellΓn into a thriving arts and cultural centre in less than a generation (look up Comuna 13).
The Linfen folks you spoke with seemed mostly... fine, some content to θΏθΏε°ζ₯ε, but curious how citizens of other "leftover" Chinese cities in your travels are personally dealing with stagnation and decline.
Iβve spent relatively little time in north/central China (most of my and in-depth longer trips have been in the south) so this was my first time encountering such overtly bleak perspectives on the cityβs development. Perhaps this is broadly representative in the northβ¦now I know I need to spend more time up there.
Very interesting story!
The story of Linfen is very much representative of many other former/present coal mines and industrial heavy cities in China. Reminds me a lot of West Virginia and Pensilvania in the States.
The city needs to pivot and transform, from coal mine town to other 'cleaner', future-proving industry.
I looked up geographic info about the city, Linfen, and many other central north / north west of China are not exactly suitable for farming. It also doesn't have the talent pools like Beijing, Shanghai.
Perhaps, solar farm would be the best option: land is cheap there, operating solar farm needs less human labor, trained technicians require less skilled, management and monitoring can be done remotely. More importantly, it is clean energy and much needed given the country's ambition in AI.
Definitely - I saw quite a few solar farms appearing on some of the barren hillsides and the solar resources in this part of China are generally pretty good - although Linfen itself maybe not so much (because of the poor weather in the geologic basin).
Nice piece!
A load of Chinese 3rd/4th cities look βmedianβ at first glance, but of course thereβs really no such thing as a "truly median city". Once you consider more than 3/4 traits in a model, any city that seems average in the model as a whole turns out to be unusual in others. e.g. maybe it was once rich and has fallen on hard times; maybe it was dirt poor and is booming thanks to highspeed rail etc.
Among Yicai's median 10% or so, youβve got world-famous tourist spots (Dali, Leshan), ethnic border cities (Honghe), βpost-industrialβ places (Linfen, Qiqihar), historically influential Cantonese trading hubs (Chaozhou), and even a provincial capital (Xining).
Iβve been to a bunch of these (mostly a decade or so ago), and although most of them are more representative of the median China than Beijing/Shanghai, they all felt super distinctive.
But one of the sadder things on my last trip was noticing how China's cities' distinctiveness is fading a bit: Putonghua is replacing dialect, urban architecture has lost a lot of its distinctiveness, chain stores becoming more common than local restaurants etc.
The median Chinese city may yet emerge!
Yep totally agree - in the end I think Iβll be better served by trying to identify a different median city to represent different archetypes - the post industrial city on its way down, the inland provincial capital on its way up, the border city whose fortunes depend entirely on cross-border trade, etc. Itβs still worthwhile to try to find a way to understand and categorize different portions of the country by some of their unifying and defining features, but definitely no way to do it with just one city!
excellent read, an interesting journey. it is evident where the silent consensus on moving to the big cities comes from. linfen seems perfectly unremarkable.
Wonderful. That's the kind of China reporting we need more of. Granular, specific, deeply human.
The tourism angle is an interesting one. I think Linfen could look at what Datong has done.
Of course, Datong already had the Yungang grottoes and Hanging Monestary, but when the coal business went into decline they put serious effort into building the city center into a tourism hub. They build a brand new city wall, Price Dai's palace and 'old town'. All very fake, but impressive at the same time. The start of this project was fascinatingly documented in Datong/The Chinese Mayor. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4056808/
I visit Datong quite often because it's my wifes hometown and have seen the completion of the city wall. I thought it was madness, 10 years ago. But it has worked and tourism seems to be blooming in Datong.
P.S. I think Datong was also almost median in the city tier list you published a while ago.