Comments from Three Gorges Daily
　　The Way of Building a Megacity
　　It’s all the citizens’ dream to build Yichang into a “big, strong, excellent and beautiful” modern megacity, which also demonstrates Yichang Municipal Government’s forethoughts.
　　It demands forethoughts based on practical environment to set up such a grand goal, so as to find a better way to improve the development of Yichang City. The main task is to make the city “big, strong, excellent and beautiful”.
　　However, what kind of city is “big”; how to understand being “big”; why should it be “big”; and how “big” is it supposed to be? Furthermore, how to make it “strong” when it\'s already “big”? Because being “big” doesn’t necessarily mean being “strong”. When it comes to the strength of a city, economy matters most. While when it comes to economy, all that matters is talents. Besides, it’s being “excellent” that makes a city outstanding. What are the “excellent” aspects about Yichang? It demands precise recognition of the city in the process of building itself into a megacity to highlight Yichang’s excellence of being unique.
　　About the critic
　　Qin Daoming, researcher, PhD, Tujia Minority, was born in Changyang Tujia Autonomous County in Nov., 1966. He has been working as deputy director in Research Department in Yichang Municipal Government, director in Department of Policy Planning and vice executive secretary in Yichang Municipal Party Committee, vice president in Hubei Academy of Social Sciences, deputy director in Research Department (Development Research Center) in Hubei Provincial Government and committee member in Consulting Panel in Yichang Municipal Government. For a long time, Qin was engaged in researches on policy research and consulting, reform and development and social governance in rural area and regional economy. He has got more than 300 academic papers and research reports plus several books published. He was also rewarded with national and provincial awards for multiple times.
　　It is a core mission of the city’s development in the next phase to build Yichang into a more creative and competitive provincial sub-central city. 
　　To catch up with developed cities, Yichang needs to be far-sighted as well as ambitious. What’s more, it’s vital for Yichang to move on towards the right direction during its modernization.
　　1. It is a strategic choice for Yichang to become “big”
　　China’s overall economy has come to the second stage when strategic adjustment is needed, which means the era to make transition for the city\'s development pattern has also come around. Many cities at home and abroad, such as Beijing, Shanghai, Chicago, and New York, have started making plans about long-term programs for centuries to come. Forethoughts and planning will give a city guidance on current performance, so as to make it clearer and more practical for future development.
　　It is a strategic objective put forward by Yichang Municipal Government and Municipal Party Committee to turn Yichang into a “big, strong, excellent and beautiful” modern megacity. This goal has also become a shared dream of all the Yichang citizens. Based on the opportunity it faces, its regional strategic positioning and the functions it bears, Yichang has great potential to become “big”. At present, the finest opportunity comes along with the central government’s support to build a new economy belt along the Yangtze River. For Yichang locates in the conjunction point of the upper and middle reaches of Yangtze River, this “golden opportunity” is bound to bring the city “golden achievement”. As a provincial sub-central city, Yichang plays the leading role among the cities Yichang, Jingzhou and Jingmen. Additionally, Yichang has a traditional radiation scope, including the western Hubei Province and the eastern Sichuan Province. The city is bound to accelerate its agglomeration effect and diffusion effect on its radiation area. Therefore, to build Yichang into a “big” city is a strategic choice that suits the development of Yichang City.
　　However, there should be a limitation of being “big”. Considering all these resources such as land, environment, housing, transportation, industry, education, health care, social security and so on, there should be an alert line when building Yichang into a “big” city. The core strategic issue to build Yichang into a megacity is to gather people and bring in talents. With more young people, a city will become more energetic; more immigrants, more creative. A city could not enlarge its population without limitation. It’s more advisable to bring in people with certain pertinence, so as to form a more reasonable population composition.
　　Based on all mentioned above, a city should not only be “big”, but also strong. At the same time, there should be a reasonable construction of being “big”. Yichang, in Chinese, means harmonious and prosperous. That is exactly what a city should be. Nowadays, people have reached a consensus: a great city should be, first of all, livable. It should be a place where people would like to settle down, make a career and achieve the value of their life. With strength, a city would be more pleasant and qualified. When it comes to the strength of a city, economy matters most. But traditional economic form and economic growth pattern will no longer account that much. It is essential for a city to assemble scientific and technological talents and entrepreneurs who follows closely with global new technological revolution and industrial revolution. In this way, a city would have most influential enterprises and industrial cluster. That means talents are of greatest importance when it comes to economy. To build itself into a megacity, Yichang needs to figure out what is high-end in its economy. Then it should support its most competitive enterprises and industries, and help them become leading roles in these areas.
　　2. Features Makes An Outstanding City
　　To become an outstanding city, features that only belong to the city itself are inevitable factors that cannot be duplicated. The famous city planner Saskia Sassen (a tenured Professor at Columbia University and a Co-Chair of The Committee on Global Thought) says that nowadays it is impossible that two cities are completely the same, and the city’s specialized difference is more important than its ranking.
　　So, it is necessary to develop characteristics into features. Yichang has a history of 2700 year, with numerous characteristics. In my opinion, Yichang should be developed into a green and ecologic city. Confucius said:“The wise find pleasure in water; the virtuous find pleasure in hills.” Yichang, abundant in waters and hills, will definitely be a popular destination for the wise and the virtuous, which will in return contribute to Yichang’s prosperity.   
　　Athletes participating in the Olympic Games are all aces, but those who attract the most attention are always gold medalists. This is called the “first place effect”. To establish and market the city’s image, we must utilize some top features of a city. Yichang is endowed with world class features-the hydropower development and its related cultural relics, which enables Yichang, an inland city, to earn itself a place among cities around the world.
　　It is essential to manifest Yichang’s special features. Yichang is very special because it is the hometown of Qu Yuan and Wang Zhaojun, and it is the only city in Hubei Province that has two Tujia Autonomous Counties. It is also the city in China that has the largest proportion of reservoir immigrants. The embedment of these specialties into urban construction can help to manifest the city’s features.
　　3. A Reverent Heart Help Yichang Go Further
　　Liu Taige, father of city planning in Singapore, once said: “City planning should be conducted from far to near.” We can avoid dire consequences that are brought by behaviours seeking quick success and instant benefit through seeing to our goals from a more far-sighted and detailed way. By doing so, we can bear with us reverent hearts, which can tell us what we should and shouldn\'t do.
　　Be reverent before history. A city’s history must be mingled with glorious events and miserable moments, which are all what we should hold in awe. These are all priceless memories from which we can learn useful experience.
　　Be reverent before culture. Culture, the unique symbol of a city, is the city’s soul and core competence. The cultural memory of a city often resides in its streets and alleys. “If you want to get to know a city, start from its streets and alleys,” Saskia Sassen once said. We should protect these old streets and alleys and preserve the essence and spirit of culture.
　　Be reverent before nature. In the face of nature, we are only naive and simple-minded children. Engels once said that do not intoxicate yourself too much in the conquest over nature because the nature revenge itself on us for each victory of this kind. We should leave the blessed abundant resources and green environment to future generations.
　　Be reverent before people. People are constructor and appraiser of a city. The starting and standing point of urban development is to defend people’s interests and satisfy people’s needs. The famous city planner Lewis Mumford holds that city is one of the organs of people’s love, so the optimized urban economy should be people-caring and mind-refining. The core of the new-type urbanization is the urbanization of people. When building Yichang into a megacity, the development of people is the fundamental goal, and the economic growth and the urban expansion should all serve for the development of people.