City on Steroids

super cool pods. China's gonna OWN america one day if we don't get it together!

I think China is going to have a major market crash like the U.S did back in the 20's, & might not be able to rebound from it.

Great pod, Adam. It's impressive the level of development that is taken place in China. But if they want to attract people into the city, they seriously have to do something about the air. It looks extremely polluted!!!

I like this; you can parallel it to the growth of America. What i can not believe is that China is Communist. what is communist about it???? my father worked in Nanghi outside of Bejing.
I think like any new growing country; the will have growing environmental pain.

Chongqing is Amazing! The pod really shows both sides of the expansion paradigm. Complex to say the least.

Adam, you told a great story. Looking forward to what else you will be reporting on China.

If you have been to Chong Qing, you'll find this video just shows you a very limited side of that city. No matter how properous a city is, there must be a dark side. if you insistently dig it, you will find the facts. so wise men always believe what they see in person, and more importantly, from a comprehensive perspective.

I just caught this on television last night. Bravo on a job well done. I've lived in China and have seen firsthand the remarkable changes taking shape, in terms of the country, but also in terms of the people's outlook. In some ways it seems as though the Chinese people have captured the spirit and ambition that was once proudly on display here in the states. They look at us, are inspired and determined to emulate our lifestyles, for better or worse. I guess that explains the growing car culture and associated pollution.

I was stunned at the statistic about the number of people studying English almost equaling the population of the US! The educational aspirations of the Chinese should put the world on notice.

Great job, Adam, I'm a fan of your work. Excellent portrait of the city from various perspectives. I have spent my fair share of time in Chongqing--I agree with you it is hard to describe without frequent superlatives.

Love this pod. I like how we can view a person's life in China. Very informative and thought provoking.

I really enjoyed this, as I enjoy all of your work Adam. You were able to capture many perspectives and show us a changing country. I am really interested in where China is headed in the global arena.

this city is insane! I am stunned by the level of growth in China. I've made several trips to Shanghai in the last few years, but I had not been all that familiar with chongqing.
thanks for the amazingly fun ride adam, this was a really great pod.

while china's development is in overdrive, you really have to wonder what will happen when (not if, but when) things slow down. this type of growth is unsustainable and the excess capacity is an issue, even for a nation with 1/5 the world's population.

Fantastic story. It was great to be able to see so many different parts/aspects of China surrounding this one issue - there are so many factors and so many consequences.

I especially like that quote "One who earns money in China is a winner. One who earns money in overseas is a hero." It really seems to reflects the different atmosphere that exists there.

I was exploring on my mom's cable, and found your station for the first time. This is amazing! I am not a "young person," but I find that I love the style of the reporting, the casual, real perspective.

Particularly, this was a great piece. I really appreciated it. Having just spent a month traveling around Britain, I am very struck by how (a) it seems like it would be relatively doable to try to "describe" a place; (b) it is not. One realizes quickly that there are so many perspectives, that whatever you say is limited by what you say! ;-) Having said this, this gave me a great number of perspectives on a place that -- as you say -- I had never heard of before.

Stellar reporting and very compelling report indeed!
I was very impressed by the reporter's approach and his willingness to get in there and mingle with people, which is pretty unusual for newspeople to do. I was also struck by the pollution of the city which has got to be china's biggest challenge henceforth.

I just discovered this channel, and I think I'll be tuning in more regularly.

Cnburbridge & genn_star: WELCOME to Current! You'll be addicted soon enough!

To Adam and to everyone at Vanguard, thank you for ALL of your hard work. I look forward to watching your pods every Wednesday night. I no longer have cable, so hooray for Current.com!

breathtaking development. i could barely see the sky though, is that pollution? if so, that's gonna kill china and the world. i was in beijing last summer, and the air was absolutely hellish.

i lived in houston for 11 years and now i moved to china. i havent seen changqing, but i've seen Guangzhou and Shanghai. those two cities are HUGE. there are foreigners everywhere. its kinda cool living in china because i've always been a minority in Houston, but now i am the majority. i think the govt needs to do something about the pollution which has been the major dissatisfaction of my stay here. good luck to the earthquake victims in sichuan.

I agree with frank81, china's economy's got to experience a giant crash at some point soon. the rush t develop is creating a lot of overcapacity and speculation thats bound to come to a halt.

Amazing insight to the rapid change in China, the growing of mega cities always have negatives and positives

It seems China's Communist state has given the upper hand here! They can order mass development of cities faster than America. They can populate it faster than us. But they are huge downsides such as the gap between the rich and peasants, the peasants who have to work for $25 a month, and the big environmental problem.
I think they can solve the environmental problem by making laws that prohibits wasteful and toxic products.
China is a superpower.

Frank81 do not write such a thing on other people it's good that they is growing finally they get to have something good, they should not go down for they have just started to develop well.

This is a great pod - top stuff Adam. I've been to China 3 times in the past year and am about to go study in Beijing for two years. The true economic miracle is happening in the interior cities like Chongqing - it's totally amazing. The problem however is that the Chinese government is banking on the notion that they will be able to clean up the environment after they industrialise. After seeing cities like Chongqing, I worry that's not going to be quite so easy - there might just be a point of no return. At the moment it's only a matter of losing the freshwater dolphins from the Yangtze but what happens if there's not enough drinkable water to service these sprawling new metropolises?