Originally Posted by
guoguo914
sorry to miss your point.
well, I don't think any hard data can really quantify the scale of construction or even, in this case, compare two cities given their heterogeneity. maybe infrastructure investment in RMB is the least-bad measure although it does not captures the intensity.
While I'm no expert in this area, I've spent enough time in China to realize that the government here is prone to pushing specific goals. Shanghai got its lift when Zhu Rongji was still influential, and now Beijing can't ignore it. Beijing will always help Beijing.
Insofar as the rest of the country is concerned, HSR has been a boon to ~50 cities, but there hasn't been a lot of isolated attention (from the central government) to many of them.
Nanning is a clear exception to this rule. Check back here in 2 years, lest you don't believe me. I am absolutely certain about its bright future.