3. Tianjin
In the shadow of Beijing, its neighbor to the north, Tianjin is one of China's most overlooked megacities. Just over 11 million people live in this city, but for many, especially in the West, Tianjin is essentially unknown, another anonymous Chinese megalopolis churning out goods for the world market. The foreign concessions of the late 19th century have left the city with a touch of colonial-era European architecture, but today Tianjin's aesthetic is distinctively modern Chinese: wide boulevards and gleaming office towers.
Above, a man enters a building with solar panel glass windows in the Sino-Singapore Tianjin Eco-city in Tianjin Binhai New Area, China, on Nov. 30, 2011. A joint project by the Singaporean and Chinese governments, the Tianjin Eco-city is a 30 square-kilometer development built with the latest green technologies to serve as a model for future eco-cities in developing countries.
EPA/HOW HWEE YOUNG
