Construction

 You see them everywhere....the construction sites.  You can tell them by the cocoon of scaffolding and green windbreak.  Also the cranes.  They are all over the place. 

 I have never seen a city outside of China with so much construction going on all at the same time.   We used to joke that Madrid was the city of cranes.  And back in the early 2000s Madrid was growing rapidly.  But in Suzhou it seems that every other block has a major construction site rising up into the sky.

 If you ask someone how many people live in Suzhou, the answer usually comes in two parts....registered residents and migrants.  The residents...some 6 or 7 million people...have their principal home in the Suzhou area.  The migrants come from all over, mainly from the rural country side, to work on the construction projects.  No one knows how many migrants there are.  Maybe 1 million.  Maybe 7 million.

 The migrants appear to live in temporary housing and out of the backs of vans.  You can find the temporary housing hidden away in corners of the city.  It is usually pre-fab modules fitted out as bunk houses...each cramming in as many people as possible.  The workers go home on holidays and occasional week-ends.  All aother times they work.  And it looks like they work very hard.

The photos on this page are a collection of construction sites within walking distance of our apartment.  In Indianapolis, I think any one of these would be considered a major project.  In Suzhou, they are run of the mill.  On the drive to Hangzhou, towards the South edge of the city, there are developments that look like they cover 20 acres or more....forests of cranes and scaffolding and green windbreak.  In Shanghai, they put up 90 story skyscrapers like the morning paper.  Whether it's sustainable or not, I have no idea.  But I do know that it's mindboggling.  So much...so fast.