This video is
sponsored by Curiosity Stream. This city is one of the 15 largest in the world by population. And fun fact, it has the world's busiest monorail system which is part of its metro network. More on that later. This city would be the largest
in Europe if it was there, but it's only the third most
populous in its own country. I'm talking about Chongqing, probably the largest city
you've never heard of or if you've heard of it, you probably don't know much about it. I don't think I'm going out on a limb by saying that the people in my audience know more about Buenos Aires and Istanbul. There is no catchy TMBG
song about Chongqing, but I would definitely listen
to it if they put one out. If the Johns are watching
this channel, make it happen. This video is meant to highlight some of the lesser known big
cities on our planet and learn some things we
may not know about them. We'll start with the 10th largest and work our way back up to Chongqing, Spoiler alert: there'll be lots of other
Chinese cities on list too, including number 10. That city's actually slightly
more populous than Hong Kong. Let's learn more after the bike bell. (bell ringing) Before I reveal the list, let me tell you where it comes from. I used the United Nations
2018 population estimates to create the list of
most populous cities. It's not a perfect list, but it's not bad. It's just as good as anything else. And then I went down the list and simply chose the cities that I didn't really know much about. Now, I've heard of all
these cities on this list, but I couldn't really tell
you a thing about them. So this was a fun exercise
for me to learn more about global cities, and I hope it's fun for you too. So let's talk about Xi'an,
number 10 on the list. For one thing, I didn't
know that Xi'an was home to the Terracotta Army, a UNESCO World Heritage site. These figures were built after
the first emperor of China Qin Shi Huang, so he'd have
an army in the afterlife. There are an estimated
8,000 figures there, and no they don't count toward the 7.4 million residents of Xi'an. Xi'an's history doesn't stop there, as it is the eastern end of the main branch of the Silk Road, a trading route that
transported Chinese silk and other products across
Central Asia to the Middle East from the second century
BCE to the 15th century. But what about the city now? This is going to be a theme
with these Chinese cities, but I can't help but
focus on its metro system. In 2010, Xi'an had no
functioning metro system. Today it has eight lines, 188 stations and 258 kilometers of lines. That's more length and about
the same number of passengers as the Paris Metro, and they built it in 12 years. That's incredible. Our ninth city you've never heard of has no metro system at all, though maybe we should
check back in 12 years. It's Luanda, the largest and capital city of the African nation of Angola. Luanda doesn't have the star power of a Cairo, Cape Town, or Lagos, but that's in part, because it's been
growing so fast recently. Angola only achieved
independence from Portugal in 1975 and emerged
from Civil War in 2002. Relative political stability
and significant investment from oil and diamond interests
have fueled Luanda's rise. And what a rise it's been. According to the UN, only the African cities of Cairo
and Lagos have more people. Luanda has a striking waterfront, with a long slender
peninsula forming the barrier between Luanda Bay and the Atlantic Ocean. There are beaches, a waterfront promenade, and some excellent views of the skyline. Beyond the city center, informal urban settlements stretch inland and continue to be built as migrants move to Lawanda
for the economic opportunities. But we need to leave
Africa and return to China, for the eighth largest city
you've never heard of, Nanjing. Maybe you've heard the name, but do you know anything
about it or where it is? It's up-river from Shanghai, sort of in the shadow of its
larger and more famous cousin. Like Xi'an, it's known for a wonder found in civilization games,
the Porcelain Tower. It was constructed by the Ming
Dynasty in the 15th century and destroyed in 1854, so
you can't visit it today. In the game Civ V, the wonder was useful for players hoping to
achieve a science victory, which makes sense as Nanjing is known, even today as a city of knowledge. It's home to many well-known and highly regarded universities, like Nanjing University
and Southeast University. It has the highest ratio of college students to
general population in China. Nanjing sounds a lot
like the Boston of China with all of its universities and students. Nanjing's metro system is
ancient by Chinese standards, with the first line being built in 2005. All of that time has
allowed the metro to expand to the 7th longest system in the world. It carries over 3
million passengers a day. One of the cities that beats Nanjing on metro system length
is our next city, Chengdu This city in central
China has a metro system with an astounding 518
kilometers of length. That's like adding New York and Stockholm's metro system together. And unsurprisingly, the city
has built the metro system at a breakneck pace. It's first line opened in 2010. Chengdu needs a metro system, as it's been growing rapidly
with no signs of slowing down. There are several massive
development projects in various stages around Chengdu. One example is Tianfu New Area, a 1500-square kilometer development featuring a second airport for the city, the largest building in
the world by floor area, almost three times the
size of the Pentagon, and importantly, a new Legoland. Chengdu was aiming to be one of the most green cities in the world. The city's goal is to
be a city within a park. All residents should be within
300 meters of a green space. They're also hoping to
conserve land outside the city as a habitat for pandas,
native to the region and a symbol of the city,
province, and nation. They're calling this
their Park City concept, and if it works, it could overturn the
idea of Chinese cities as economic engines that push
sustainability to the side, in favor of boundless growth. Chengdu is still growing, though, and it already has four ring roads, though most of the new development is happening around the third. I must applaud their
transportation engineers for some perfectly circular rings though. Now, we're leaving China, but not Asia for our next
city, located in Japan. Nagoya doesn't have the same notoriety as Tokyo, Kyoto, or Osaka, but Nagoya's got a lot to be proud of. It's one of the main stations of the Chuo Shinkansen high-speed rail that connects Tokyo to Kyoto and Osaka. And Nagoya's train station is one of the largest in the world by floor area. It's also the tallest in the world, as it consists of twin 50-story buildings. Passengers who stop in Nagoya
will see a major industrial and trading center for Japan. Major industries include
aerospace, automotive, and ship building. Its port is the busiest
and largest in Japan and 11% of all of Japan's trade
value passes through Nagoya. For example, Toyota's cars
are exported through the port. Most importantly, the Port of Nagoya has
two adorable mascots. Nagoya's history is less
cute than Potan and Mitan, but more interesting. Tokugawa Ieyasu moved the capital of Owari province from
the city of Kiyosu in 1610 which led to the restoration
of Nagoya Castle. The city became a major industrial hub during the Meiji restoration, but suffered a major
setback during World War II as US air raids destroyed
significant parts of the city including important aircraft
production facilities. Sadly, the fire bombings
also destroyed a quarter of the city, including
most of Nagoya Castle. The castle and the city were
repaired and rebuilt quickly and the city of Nagoya is
planning a full-scale rebuild of the castle in the coming years. You might never have
heard of our next city if you've been in a coma since 1996. Until then, his name was
Madras, but the state government of Tamil Nadu changed it to Chennai. The effort was a continuation of Indian geographic names changing to reject the legacy of
British colonial rule. Actually, both Chennai and Madras have pre-colonial origins though, but either way, Chennai is
what they call it today. There's a theme in
these less-famous cities that they tend to be
big industrial cities, and maybe aren't the finance
and cultural powerhouses that some of the better known cities are. This theme holds true in Chennai. The city's home to about 40% of India's automobile
production, for example. Now, that's not to say that
Chennai isn't a cultural hub. It's home to Callywood, the center of the Tamil film industry that produces nearly 200 films per year. Like most of the cities on the list, Chennai is growing rapidly and its urban planning goals aim to minimize the
drawbacks of that growth. The city is beginning the planning process for a new master plan. Officials have already
identified priorities, like making the region slum-free by 2031, expanding the metro system, identifying the site for a new airport, and making the city more resilient to natural disasters like floods. Most of Chennai's growth is
happening on the urban fringe and the preservation of
open-space is also a concern. Okay, you might have heard of Shenzhen, but it's another city on this list clearly overshadowed by another. In this case, the shadow's
being cast by Hong Kong, Shenzhen's neighbor
immediately to the south. And 40 years ago, there'd be no reason to
have heard of Shenzhen, as it was a backwater border town of about 300,000 people. But if you've heard of Shenzhen today, it's because of the Shenzhen's
special economic zone, established in 1980. Zones like this exempt business interest from the planned economy
of the rest of China and allow the local economy to
engage in market capitalism. This makes SEZ an attractive place for foreign and domestic headquarters and can create a lot of
economic growth quickly. China has many more SEZs now, but Shenzhen was one of the first four and arguably the most successful. Its economic output is now
higher than Hong Kong's and third in China, only behind Shanghai and Beijing. It's known as the Silicon Valley of China and is home to companies like DJI, Huawei, and the mobile phone company, OnePlus. Shenzhen's success is due in part to its location near Hong Kong, which gave it a strong
early trading partner. But Shenzhen's port is one
of the busiest in the world and its ability to export the fruits of its economy to the
world has helped it grow. Despite its focus on
high tech and exports, Shenzhen is growing as a
tourist destination as well. It has beaches, tall
buildings, and theme parks. Notably Legoland Shenzhen
is scheduled to open in 2024 and will be the largest
such park in the world. We can't leave a Chinese city without discussing its metro system. It opened in 2004 and today it's the eighth
longest in the world, just behind Nanjing. Its annual ridership numbers
are double Nanjing's, however, and are higher than New
York City's and Hong Kong's. We're not going far for
our next unknown city, at least not geographically. We're staying in the
Pearl River Delta region, home to 71 million people, which is almost beyond comprehension. Amazingly, the largest city in that region isn't Hong Kong or Shenzhen, but a city that's probably
even less known than those two, Guangzhou. The city used to be referred to as Canton, and even today, residents
are known as Cantonese, which is also the name of the language spoken by half of all residents. Mandarin is increasing in popularity especially as Mandarin-speaking
Shenzhen grows in influence. But Guangzhou is still the
hub of Cantonese culture. Opera is one focal point of that culture, and it's no surprise that Guangzhou has a massive opera house. It's one of the largest
performance spaces in all of China, and designed by the famed
international architect, Zaha Hadid. Despite its massive size, the building is meant
to look like two pebbles on the banks of the Pearl River. Guangzhou's metro system is
the third longest in the world and the longest featured in this video, only behind Shanghai and Beijing. It's over three times
as long as Hong Kong's and carries slightly more
passengers per year than Beijing. The metro system is also unique, because it's the only one in China that goes between two major cities. It connects Guangzhou
to neighboring Foshan, itself a massive city of 9 million people. The shared metro line is symbolic of the increasingly close
ties between the two cities and there's some who believe
the two cities should merge into one city with a
shared administration, though this has not yet happened. We have come to our penultimate city, and no surprise here, it's still in China. It's the city of Tianjin, which is another in-the-shadow city, but this time it's in
the shadow of Beijing. It's actually between
Beijing and the Bohai Sea, one of the busiest waterways in the world. It's so busy because
all of Beijing shipping goes through Tianjin and
onto the wider world. It's one of the top 10
busiest ports globally and a major contributor
to the local economy. The economy is highly diversified and notably home to airplane
manufacturer, Airbus. The local economy is also butchers by a special economic zone, similar to the one that built Shenzhen. The result is the highest
per capita GDP in China, higher than Beijing and Shanghai. Locals can even earn a living censoring Chinese internet posts. Tianjin is the censorship capital of China as workers are cheaper than
the nearby capital of Beijing and censoring is a labor-intensive job. Tianjin has the second
oldest metro system in China, with its first line opening in 1984. It's squandered that advantage, however, and its systemizes only 265 kilometers. That's anemic by Chinese standards, but still longer than
Paris's or Singapore's, so you know, it's all relative. Ridership is also somewhat
low by Chinese standards, which means that it's only at the level of a London or Madrid. This brings us back to the largest city you've never heard of: Chongqing. When I introduced it back at
the beginning of the video, I did not do the requisite metro review, so here it is: Chongqing's 400 kilometers of lines doesn't make it particularly impressive. That's only good enough
for 10th in the world, but its system has some unique features. Chongqing is a very hilly city and its transit agency used
monorails on two lines, because they can handle steep
grades and tight curves. Line three is the busiest
monorail line in the world, with a peak daily ridership
of 1 million people per day. It's also the longest
monorail line in the world. Take that Disney World. Chongqing is also building
the tallest metro-only bridge in the world and one of the longest
metro-only bridges in the world. That's super impressive. Now, this is only the tip of the iceberg of large cities I know nothing about and you probably don't
know anything about either. I continue this video with
the trio of Chinese cities in a video over on Nebula, and if you're not interested
in Chinese urbanism, I might still have you covered. I have eight other videos
not available on YouTube and I add a new one each month. I also have 16 videos with bonus content not
available on YouTube and in an entire 20-minute
video on planning ancient Rome, that might be one of my
favorite videos of all time. There are also tons of other
exclusive videos on Nebula, from RealLifeLore, Mustard, and more. And maybe the best part is, there aren't any ads on Nebula and this gets even better, because Nebula is bundled
with Curiosity Stream. Curiosity Stream is the source for high-quality, engaging documentaries. You'll love "The Cities
of Tomorrow" series that tackles topics like vertical farming, smart cities, and the process
of creating brand new cities. It's a perfect series for
someone interested in cities. We have a deal where if you
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