Shiyan, China
Cities
The population of China has been urbanizing at a rapid rate. In 1978, less than 20% of China’s population lived in cities. In 2015, more than 55% of the population of China was urban, and that rate is climbing. By 2030, the country’s urbanization is projected to reach 70%. That will be about 1 billion people living in cities in China.
The Shiyan Municipality, Hubei Province, presents an interesting example of urbanization. The population of Shiyan increased from 333,089 in 1990 to 724,016 in 2010. To accommodate the increased urbanization in the Shiyan region, as in other regions of China, engineers have found an innovative way to create more land for building—flattening mountaintops.
This Landsat series of natural color images shows the rapid development occurring on leveled land around Shiyan, along with changes seen to the Danjiangkou Reservoir nearby.
Location
Apr. 17, 1987, Landsat 5 (path/row 125/37) — Shiyan, China
Apr. 12, 2000, Landsat 7 (path/row 125/37) — Shiyan, China
May 17, 2004, Landsat 5 (path/row 125/37) — Shiyan, China
Apr. 2, 2005, Landsat 5 (path/row 125/37) — Shiyan, China
Sep. 15, 2007, Landsat 7 (path/row 125/37) — Shiyan, China
Apr. 26, 2008, Landsat 5 (path/row 125/37) — Shiyan, China
May 2, 2010, Landsat 5 (path/row 125/37) — Shiyan, China
Apr. 19, 2011, Landsat 7 (path/row 125/37) — Shiyan, China
Mar. 26, 2014, Landsat 8 (path/row 125/37) — Shiyan, China
Apr. 14, 2015, Landsat 8 (path/row 125/37) — Shiyan, China
Apr. 16, 2016, Landsat 8 (path/row 125/37) — Shiyan, China
Shiyan, China Additional Imagery & Stories
Canal
On the east end of the largest portion of the Danjiangkou Reservoir, a bright line extends to the east and north. This canal takes water from the rese...
Danjiangkou Reservoir
Visible in these images is one canal associated with the $62 billion South-North Water Transfer Project. Water resources are a concern in China becaus...
Environmental Problems
A Sentinel-2 image from February 2016 shows a bit more detail than Landsat. This close-up view of Shiyan shows the industrial development and land cle...
Land Leveling
Shiyan, China, was a small village in the mountains until the 1960s. That’s when a lot of industrial production was established there in its relativel...
References
Barnett, J., Rogers, S., Webber, M., Finlayson, B., and Wang, M., 2015, Sustainability—Transfer project cannot meet China’s water needs: Nature, v. 527, p. 295–297.
China Central Television, 2014, Water starts flowing from Danjiangkou reservoir to Beijing: China Central Television, accessed on May 5, 2016, at http://english.cntv.cn/2014/12/12/VIDE1418389681657907.shtml.
CIA, 2016, China: The World Factbook, accessed on May 5, 2016, at https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/ch.html.
City Population, 2016, China—Hubei: City Population Web page, accessed May 19, 2016, at http://www.citypopulation.de/China-Hubei.html.
Hong Kong Trade Development Council, 2012, Shiyan (Hubei) City Information: Hong Kong Means Business, accessed April 27, 2018, at http://hkmb.hktdc.com/en/1X09R8SK/hktdc-research/Shiyan-Hubei-City-Information.
International Rivers, [n.d.], South-North Water Transfer Project: International Rivers, accessed on May 5, 2016, at https://www.internationalrivers.org/campaigns/south-north-water-transfer-project.
Li, P., Qian, H., and Wu, J., 2014, Accelerate research on land creation: Nature, v. 510, p. 29–31.
McMahon, D., 2013, China's Sprawling Cities Bet Their Future on Getting Even Bigger: The Wall Street Journal, accessed on May 5, 2016, at http://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052702304014504579248560210927376.
Morelle, R., Risk posed by China mountain removal: BBC News, accessed on May 5, 2016, at http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-27702401.
Water-technology.net, [n.d.], South-to-North Water Diversion Project, China: water-technology.net, accessed on May 5, 2016, at http://www.water-technology.net/projects/south_north/.
Wenbo, L., Qin, Y., Sun, Y., Huang, H., Ling, F., Tian, L., and Ding, Y., 2016, Estimating the relationship between dam water level and surface water area for the Danjiangkou Reservoir using Landsat remote sensing images: Remote Sensing Letters, v. 7, no. 2, p. 121–130.
World Bank and the Development Research Center of the State Council, P.R. China, 2014, Urban China—Toward Efficient, Inclusive, and Sustainable Urbanization: World Bank, Washington, DC, 547 p. Also available online at http://www.worldbank.org/en/country/china/publication/urban-china-toward-efficient-inclusive-sustainable-urbanization.
Yi, L., Xiong, W., Zhang, W., Wang, C., and Peifang, W., 2016, Life cycle assessment of water supply alternatives in water-receiving areas of the South-to-North Water Diversion Project in China: Water Research, v. 89, p. 9–19.