List of cities of East Asia

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

For the purposes of this article, East Asia shall represent,

•  People's Republic of China
•  Republic of China (Taiwan)
•  Japan
•  North Korea
•  South Korea

As well as a broader group including,

•  Mongolia
• Russian Far East

Contents 1 Largest metropolitan areas 2 Largest urban areas 3 Largest cities 4 See also 5 Notes and references

[edit] Largest metropolitan areas

Main article: List of metropolitan areas by population

Rank	Metropolitan area	Country	Population	Area (km²)	Population Density (People/km²)
1	Tokyo	Japan	32,450,000	8,014	4,049
2	Seoul	South Korea	20,550,000	5,076	4,048
3	Osaka-Kobe-Kyoto	Japan	17,375,000	6,930	2,507
4	Shanghai	China	16,650,000	5,177	3,216
5	Hong Kong-Shenzhen[1]	China	15,800,000	3,051	5,179
6	Beijing	China	12,500,000	6,562	1,905

[edit] Largest urban areas

Main article: List of urban areas by population

Rank	Urban area	Country	Population	Area (km²)	Estimated Annual Growth Rate (%)
1	Tokyo–Yokohama[2]	Japan	34,450,000	7,835	0.29
2	Seoul–Incheon[3]	South Korea	20,090,000	1,943	0.60
3	Osaka–Kobe–Kyoto[4]	Japan	17,280,000	3,497	0.08
4	Shanghai	China	14,530,000	2,979	2.23
5	Beijing	China	12,160,000	3,043	2.62
6	Shenzhen[5]	China	11,820,000	1,295	3.65
7	Nagoya	Japan	9,220,000	4,662	0.23
8	Guangzhou[6]	China	7,050,000	1,684	0.12
9	Hong Kong[5]	Hong Kong, China	6,840,000	220	0.92
10	Taipei[7]	Taiwan	6,560,000	440	0.28
11	Dongguan	China	6,450,000	1,101	3.65
12	Tianjin[8]	China	5,190,000	453	1.48
13	Wuhan	China	4,890,000	518	2.17
14	Shenyang[9]	China	4,420,000	777	1.06

[edit] Largest cities

Main article: List of cities by population

The population listed here is by incorporated municipal area.

Rank	City	Country	Population	Image	Description
1	Seoul	Republic of Korea	10,421,000		Located at along the Han River, Seoul is South Korea's economic powerhouse, capital, and largest city. It is governed as a Special City.
2	Shanghai	People's Republic of China	9,838,400		Located at the mouth of the Yangtze River, Shanghai is China's economic powerhouse and largest city. Shanghai was opened up to trade as a result of the 1842 Treaty of Nanjing that ended the First Opium War. Foreign investment collapsed after the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949; however, in 1992 foreign direct investment was encouraged, and Shanghai's economy has since been growing at an increasing pace.
3	Tokyo	Japan	8,483,140		A unit of 23 prefectures.
4	Beijing	People's Republic of China	7,441,000		China's capital and center for sciences and the arts. Beijing is one of the hubs where major national transportation routes converge. It is rich in historical and cultural heritage.
5	Hong Kong	People's Republic of China	7,041,000		Hong Kong Island was first occupied by British forces in 1841, and then formally ceded from China under the Treaty of Nanjing at the end of the war. Hong Kong remained a crown colony of the United Kingdom until 1997 when it was returned to China.
6	Tianjin	People's Republic of China	5,095,900		Tianjin's urban area is located along the Hai He River. Its ports, some distance away, are located on Bohai Gulf. The manufacturing sector is the largest and fastest-growing sector of Tianjin's economy.
7	Wuhan	People's Republic of China	4,488,900		Wuhan is a city in Hubei province that lies at the east of the Jianghan Plain and the intersection of the middle reaches of the Yangtze and Han rivers. It is a major transportation hub, with dozens of railways, roads and expressways passing through the city. In the 1920s, Wuhan was the capital of a leftist Kuomintang (KMT) government led by Wang Jingwei in opposition to Chiang Kai-shek. Wuhan is now recognized as the political, economic, financial, cultural, educational and transportation center of central China.
8	Guangzhou	People's Republic of China	4,154,800	Image:Guangzhou skyline.jpg	Better known to many English speakers as Canton, Guangzhou is a city in Guangdong province. It is a port on the Pearl River, navigable to the South China Sea, and is located about 120 km (75 miles) northwest of Hong Kong.
9	Chongqing	People's Republic of China	3,934,200		Chongqing is an industrialized city and a major inland trading port transporting goods from the southwestern provinces to eastern China. The surrounding area is rich in natural resources, with more than forty kinds of minerals, natural gas, and coal reserves estimated to be 4.8 billion tonnes. Chongqing's agricultural sector still employs a significant portion of the population. The city has been used as a resettlement area for refugees from the Three Gorges Dam project.
10	Shenyang	People's Republic of China	3,981,000		A city in Liaoning province, Shenyang is an important industrial center in China. It is the transportation and commercial center of China's Northeastern region. From 1950 to 1980 Shenyang focused on heavy industry; at its peak in the 1970s, Shenyang was one of the top three industrial centers in China. After a rust belt period Shenyang has revived with software, automotive, and electronics as part of the Revitalize Northeast China campaign.
11	Busan	Republic of Korea	3,657,840		South Korea's second largest city and busiest seaport, Busan is considered a Metropolitan City.
12	Yokohama	Japan	3,600,175		Located within the Tokyo metro area.
13	Shenzhen	People's Republic of China			Shenzhen once a small fishing village, singled out by Deng Xiaoping and became the first of the Special Economic Zones (SEZ) in China since the late 1970s has been one of the fastest growing cities in the world due to its proximity to Hong Kong. It is also the busiest port in China after Shanghai.
14	Taipei	Republic of China (Taiwan)	2,630,872		A major village since the 18th century, Taipei became the provincial capital of Taiwan in 1894, was the capital during the period of Japanese rule, and currently capital of the Republic of China. Taipei has been at the center of rapid economic development in the country and has now become one of the global cities in the production of high technology and its components.
15	Changchun	People's Republic of China			Changchun has a complete industrial system with 128 categories and over 3,000 types of products. As Changchun's main industry, the manufacturing of transportation facilities and machinery such as those of automobiles, passenger trains, and tractors have developed very well.
16	Harbin	People's Republic of China			This city in Heilongjiang province lies on the southern bank of the Songhua River. It serves as a key political, economic, scientific, cultural and communications center of Northeastern China. Harbin is originally a Manchu word meaning 'a place for drying fishing nets.'
17	Chengdu	People's Republic of China			This city in Sichuan province has risen as an IT and electronic R&D powerhouse. Chengdu's Hi-tech Industrial Development Zone has attracted a variety of multinational companies. Chengdu is a financial hub for Western China and has successfully attracted major international financial institutions. Chengdu is also known for manufacturing Chinese military aviation technology.
18	Jinan	People's Republic of China			Jinan is the capital city of Shandong province.
19	Hangzhou	People's Republic of China			This city in Zhejiang province is one of the most renowned and prosperous cities of China for much of the last 1,000 years. Hangzhou is also well-known for its beautiful natural scenery, with the West Lake (Xī Hú, 西湖) as the most noteworthy location. Hangzhou's industries have traditionally been textile, silk and machinery, but electronics and other light industries are developing.
21	Handan	People's Republic of China			This industrial city in Hebei province has transportation, coal mining, iron, steel and textile mills, chemical, and cement plants.
22	Taiyuan	People's Republic of China			A Prefecture-level city in Shanxi Province.
23	Nanjing	People's Republic of China			The capital city of Jiangsu province; Nanjing has previously served as the capital of China during several historical periods. Located in the downstream Yangtze River drainage basin. Nanjing has been a national hub of education, research, transportation and tourism throughout history.
24	Xi'an	People's Republic of China			Xi'an is the capital city of Shanxi province. With 3,100 years of recorded history Xi'an is one of the most important cities in Chinese history. It was the capital of China for 13 dynasties, including the Zhou, Qin, Han, and the Tang dynasties. It was renowned for being the eastern terminus of the Silk Road and for the location of the Terracotta Army made during the Qin Dynasty. Since the 1990s, Xi'an has re-emerged as an important cultural, industrial and educational center of the central-northwest region, with facilities for research and development, national security and China's space exploration program.
25	Lanzhou	People's Republic of China			A Prefecture-level city in Gansu Province.
26	Dalian	People's Republic of China			This city in Liaoning province is China's northernmost ice-free seaport and is China's most livable city. It is also one of the most heavily developed industrial areas of China. Located west of the Yellow Sea and east of Bohai Sea roughly in the middle of the Liaodong/Liaotung peninsula at its narrowest neck or isthmus.
27	Zhengzhou	People's Republic of China			A Prefecture-level city in Henan Province.
28	Kaohsiung	Republic of China (Taiwan)			One of Taiwan's Central Municipalities also the second largest city in Taiwan.
29	Osaka	Japan
30	Qingdao	People's Republic of China			Qingdao today is a major seaport, naval base, and industrial center in Shandong province. It is also the site of the Tsing-tao Brewery. The character 青 (qīng) in Chinese means "green" or "lush," while the character 岛 (dǎo) means "island." It was recently named China's 9th-most livable city by China Daily.
	Pyongyang	North Korea	2,741,260

[edit] See also

• Political divisions of China
• List of cities in the People's Republic of China by population
• List of cities in the People's Republic of China by GDP per capita
• List of metropolitan areas in Taiwan
• List of Taiwanese counties and cities by population
• List of metropolitan areas by population
• Cities of South Korea
• Cities of North Korea
• List of Japanese cities by population

[edit] Notes and references