China has more than 660 cities, of which 10 has populations of more than 4 million, 23 between 2 and 4 million and 138 between 1 and 2 million. Shanghai and Beijing are the two biggest cites in China, Shanghai has a population of 12 million people (18.7 millions in the metropolitan area) and Beijing a population of 9 million (17.4 million in the metropolitan area). Taipei in Taiwan has 7.5 million, Hong Kong and Chongqing City 7 million, Changsha and Tianjun 6 million.
In the course of city planning, China has implemented the principle of "strictly controlling the size of large cities, developing medium-sized cities rationally and developing small cities actively". Medium-sized cities with populations of less than 500,000 and small cities with populations less of 200,000 has grown rapidly since the 1980's. The large cities with populations of over 1 million have developed satellite cities and towns in a planned and positive way.
