Cheungzhou at night

I've posted here about some of the less modern aspects of China. But not all of it looks like a third world developing country. Sometimes, if you squint your eyes (so that you can't really see the Chinese writing on buildings) and plug your ears a bit (so that you can't hear all the chatter and the drivers incessantly blowing their horns) and hold your breath (so that you can't quite smell all the weird smells), you might think that you are in some mid-sized U.S. city.

Case in point: Here are two views from a pedestrian bridge that crosses the main drag running north and south through Zhuhai. This photo was taken near the big "international" grocery store where we shop (i.e., they sell [land 'o lakes] cheese and real coffee) in a part of the city called Cheungzhou.*

Photo 1: Basic view:


Photo 2: Artistic blurry lights view:


In truth, these photos don't capture the size and bustle of the city. I mean, we are living among 1,000,000 + souls here. Of course, my Chinese students laugh and laugh at me when I refer to Zhuhai as "big" -- after all, there are a number of provinces in China that have larger populations than some countries in the world (our province alone has a population of 69.61 million**). One million people, the approximate population of our city, is a drop in the bucket -- a small town.

*I've been told that Cheungzhou means "fragrant city." It is fragrant, but not in a "wow, that smells like flowers/fresh baked cookies/insert nice smell here" way.

** Guangdong province is 71796 sq. miles. See more China population stats here.