Explore China's AMAZING Urban Villages and HANDSHAKE BUILDINGS | UNSEEN on YOUTUBE WOW 

The little ‘ ‘ around the word slum should be an indication that I might not believe that these are slums. Also the content should also give big hints. Cmon people, learn to read and learn a little bit of media literacy as well. Maddening.

No homeless, no crime, clean streets not a bad place to live.

The alley is very tidy and clean!!! Even Hong Kong's alley can't be compared!

In China, we call this kind of area "urban villages". They are actually old towns that are gradually surrounded by cities during the rapid expansion of large cities. They cannot be demolished and rebuilt for new buildings due to ownership or financial reasons. These areas are close to the metropolis and look crowded and shabby, but the prices and services inside are very cheap. I live next to an urban village. I usually go to the urban village for haircuts and market. Cheaper than large supermarkets.

The amazing thing is the tiny alleys are quite clean!

China exists poor communities which provide running water, sanitation, streets lights, cable TV, internet access, 24/7 electric, security cameras, sewers systems, no gangster, no youths roaming around. No baggers, no homeless around. No slum in China definitely.

I really like it when you zip the backpack for that boy, he said " Thank you" in English and you replied with " 不用谢“ in Chinese, very cute :-)

Even the stairs in these dark alley building are super clean. Zero trash.

Crazy how little trash/dirt there is

Aren’t you aware of how clean this place is??

I’d not call the area a slum at all, it’s compact, crowded and the homes have extended themselves onto the street but, it’s clean very clean. You’ve quite a lot of areas in london that would be embarrassed at how clean it is there 😂 It looks a lot like parts of HK and totally get why those areas are great for street photography. Where would I like to live, a bit of both I suppose, I do love a lot of the modern architecture but you can’t beat convenient living either right. Growing up and living in London it has similarities especially with how areas that are being redeveloped say like the Elephant and Castle, it had large predominantly council flats that were pulled down and the old occupants were moved on and new swish apartments blocks were built in it’s place, I suppose that’s more gentrification too though. Maybe the happy medium is to design and build something that has much of what you was walking through but make it a tad larger and more open 🤷🏻‍♂️ maybe it loses totally then what it’s trying to emulate. Affordable housing is needing all over the globe though and it should never be overlooked. Superb video, I’ll have to give the other one a watch too, great content man.

This not a slum. I live by Compton long beach at the edge of downtown LA near burned trailers and shitstained cracked sidewalk. That's a slum.

It's by no means a 'slum', just a bit narrower than normal area, because the residents own those lands and thus want to make most of it by leaving minimum area for gaps and roads.

Low crime, clean....If we call this a 'slum', what shall we call innercity of major US cities? Lol

Your video will become one of those "streets of XXX from 2024" videos in 100 years. People will watch it and appreciate the retro vibes in it.

In the past, these were the residences of rural people without good planning. As the city expanded, it became an "urban village". Obviously, the environment is not as good as a modern community, but it provides cheap accommodation for many young people who have just come to this city to develop. They have to pay rent until they have better financial ability to move away from here. This is a place where the city is tolerant of immigrants. The space is small, but the government manages sanitation, security, water and electricity supply, Internet services, and privately operated low-cost living services.

The handshake buildings were built by different family without a well design. They just built the houses next to next. It’s not a slum, actually the house owners are quite rich especially if they get relocation by government or other commercial cooperation. Now, these houses are rented by people who are working in Shenzhen but come from somewhere else or not own a property.

so much better than India

Love this clean and compact urban area.

I believe the urban villages were once farm land areas turned into "farmer-houses" many decades ago during the early period of economic reform and the setting up of Shenzhen special economic zone. They provided many low cost accommodations and living needs for a large number of first comer migrant "farmer-workers" from all around the country who contributed to the building of the city of Shenzhen.

They maybe poor but they are not homeless and the area look clean and safe

Quick fact: a lot of people had their homes in “slums” removed by the government got super rich after being compensated by the government at market rate. No such luck with slums in Mumbai !

Nice work you are doing always showing what China has to the world. I always look forward to seeing you new videos

Old but clean .. which is amazing.

In addition to being noisy and having poor lighting, it actually has many advantages: it is located in the city center, has convenient transportation, cheap rent, and convenient life. The most important thing is that they are safe. Many of these urban villages even have their own patrol security teams. 除了嘈杂和采光不好外，其实有很多优点：位于市中心、交通方便、租金便宜、生活便利。重要的是很安全，很多这样的城中村甚至有自己的巡逻保安队伍。

Damn it looks so clean and orderly.

I live in one of the village.during the summer walking in an alley the AC water dropped from the top like raining.Last year they fixed it and they remodeled the whole exterior for all the building for the whole villages and all villages in the city as well .government compensate it partial.

very clean. In my standard, I wouldn't even call it a slum.

Amazingly clean, I mean I’ve seen videos of slums in India, Philipines and more, including Kensington Avenue, Philadelphia, USA

These places is a heaven for the crooks in America. Bikes, open doors and thing left outside.

Many large cities were much smaller and surrounded by farming villages before 1980s. As cities like ShenZhen buying up farm lands to expand their cities, the indigenous village folks were allowed to retain a small portion of the land collectively owned by each village as their ancestral homestead. The rest of the farm lands were sold to the city for developments. Many business minded villagers used their payouts to build as many buildings as possible on their homestead to meet the burgeoning demand for cheap housing due the flood of migrants drawn to big cities for better opportunities. That is pretty much the genesis of Chinese city villages.

A lot of negative comments here. He is showing so called “slum” in China, so people can compare against other slums around the world…”

In earlier days thieves and robberies were quite common in China, so the old buildings usually have the iron window bars. But in recent years due to the rise of the living standard and the strengthened security by surveillance cameras, the old crimes have gone, so as the iron window bars.

I was posted to work in Wuhan for a short period 2013 to 2015. I stayed in an apartment in one of the hundreds of old housing blocks. These blocks are all 7 storeys with no lifts. They looked like concete slums indeed although free from crime. They look dirty from the outside as there was no maintenance programs. By 2015 before I left, the blocks were razed to the ground, all hundreds of them, with a huge housing estate built in the area. It was incredible given the speed of the re-development.

I grew up in Gongming (公明）and Xixiang（西乡）in 80s. I think Xixiang is where the Qianhan (前海）is located, you may show us about Qianhan new development.

The cleanest "slum" in the world.

CHINA is the future 💪💪💪💪 watching from Brazil 🙏 #BRICS

These are just old community, not slum. Actually property owners will be very rich when developer come. They typically will offer handsome compensation to acquire these old property, tear down and build new high rise apartments.

so real, this is the more affordable living in one of the most developed cities in China.

Slum in China considered luxury to India.

It's okay to describe these urban villages as "slums" because they are indeed the worst places in terms of housing conditions. But they are not equivalent to slums in many other countries, which are usually rife with drugs and gang wars.

A true slum has an independent ecosystem within the city and is almost completely isolated from the outside world. In contrast, the urban villages in China are original rural areas that have been surrounded by urban expansion. The residents of these urban villages have close ties with the city.

No wino? no one ask you for a quarter? no smash n grab? no gun shot? no graffiti? no empty thunderbird bottle?

I used to live in this village fifteen years ago, everything is familiar and strange to me

I prefer this urban village more than those sterile modern apartments, hope China to retain this kind of urban village for years to come

Old neighbourhood yet they keep its pretty clean, very impressive

This video is a fucking insult to the word “slum”

A slum is where people staying don't own the land. Here every inch of land come with a title - however old the title maybe. Developments as such because there are no zoning laws or building laws when those buildings were put up.

It reminds me of Shanghai in the late 90's when I first graduated and started working. I was living in a similar urban village, which was crowded but very easy to get around and live in, and crucially very cheap. It was a bit noisy at night, there were all sorts of stalls, all sorts of small convenience stores, film disc sellers, massage parlours and prostitutes, overall it was a great memory.

Welcome to urban village 😂, yep, kinda chaotic, kinda messed up there but ppl live in harmony basically 😂

These are the old towns with old buildings, doesnt falls into the category of a slum like in India. There is no slum in China, only old buildings.

Urban village represent! I love these places

Beautiful Village. Clean Village

This is similar to the back alleyways of newer side of Hanoi in Vietnam - very handy to just nip down and get your laundry done, grab a bite or some groceries or a coffee

Good man, zipping up the backpack. 😄

The places are relativey clean, safe, quiet, well organized and managed, and convenient for most of the daily needs, compared to many other chiotic, noisy, with many criminal activities "slumps" in the world.

Fascinating

Thanks for sharing. It is great. Please bring more.

Much appreciate your vids, Eric. Informative and indeed your views are not usually covered by other China vlogs. Take care and keep up the good work to tell the rest of the world the good and bad sides of China. Thanks again.

if this is the slum, Indian slum will be hell.

城中村在中国还要存在很长一段时间。每个城市的运行都需要很多外来人口，这些外来人口大多从事一些劳动密集型产业和低端服务业，他们进入城市住不起新建的社区，而只能住在这种廉价、配套设施不全的老旧城区中。政府需要对这些旧城区进行改造，新增一些消防、排水、配电、公厕等基础设施。

Awesome real life perspective.

Urbanism research at work with detailed narrative. Very interesting work. Very well done.

I'm glad you put this out here. Lately I've seen so many videos of China, mostly covering the same conent of the huge cities. After visiting China last year (only visiting my daughter) I was just as surprised like everyone else when seeing China for the first time. By now I'm convinced that the world really is misrepresenting China and people are hard to change their perceptions without seeing it for themselves. But you've shown me what I wanted to see, though I also visited Guilin that also gave me the same kind of experience. What is really good to see is how clean it is, even if the buildings are old, the streets are very clean. That is something that I do not experience currently. The small towns are now ruined. It's heartbreaking to see in what filth we have to live. I also visited South Korea a few times and walk through the neighbourhoods there and look very similar than what you've shown here. But it was not as clean as this place.

Chinese slams are like presidential palaces in some countries

For a slum or urban village, it's pretty nice, clean and modern. Almost like a city in my country in S. E. Asia. 🎉

keep pumping out those China videos Eric!!!!

If this is slum, the world should see it and learn from China how to manage slums

It’s best to use travel videos without filters, the real ones are the best

Your best time on the ground work yet. Utopia.

They certainly seem to be very well organized and clean, which is refreshing to see. Unlike America's poor. It's great how they watch out for each other too. Are they usually prejudice toward white people or accepting? Thank you. This is amazing to see.

These are just some old communities in China without remodeling. Not rich or modern areas but still places for common people.

Lots of interesting details

我是中国人，在中国没有贫民窟这个说法，其实这是这个城市的原住民住宅区，城市的开发，地价升高，他们就自己住到别的地方，然后把这些住宅租给外来人口。

Omg, it is absolutely clean & tidy for a slump! I understand that China is still upgrading their older towns & improve the living environment for the people.

nice video Eric, keep up with the good work

I cant get over how clean and orderly china is these days. I think that is amazing. Every city town and the countryside should be cleaned up to be immaculate.

I get the sense it's more a "neighbour watch" type thing. Like there's always locals so nobody is stealing your washing machine or other cheap stuff like your clothes drying outside or a few plastic chairs. But the bars on the windows are very common, more to keep you safe while sleeping than anything else

This is not a slum, everybody have their own toilet, just like a tiny unit, for ordinary people with normal or lower income people, Which is affordable to save money, if they got the money they will get a bigger house. Most of them are peaceful, and good management.

Feel more warm and welcome than those high end condo area. I will select this place to stay if I have chance.

nice and clean.

it's a nice slum i can see myself live there.

The truth is the urban village is the poorest area in a city

I have lived in this village flat during my early days in Shenzhen for about 4-5 months as a foreigner. I was very curious and wanted to experience it, it turned out to be a very interesting and rewarding experience of my life. I would do it again if you ask me.

Most advanced urban Village in the world 😎

thx for sharing

This is a authentic clean slum

I think the grills on the windows are decorative purpose only because the big front door is wide open!

Love to explore villages in other province's lakes ,mountain s n homes on the terrain !.

That's amazing.The 'slums' looks like old town in this city.Near the CBD,maybe.

Come to Italy they have these sorts of buildings everywhere, especially in popular Venice and Florence

I prefer to see more opportunities for the villagers. Excellent work of reporting and research and respect.

Very impressed with your Mandarin. 👍

Love China

The balance or choices between functionality and preservation of history/culture is an interesting topic. The Kowloon Walled City in HK, now a park, would be a good case study.

I saw the interview with you. You're great.😊

nice video! looks peaceful ❤

Way better than usa

nice video tour. Reminds me of Japan. Japanese cities are this dense everywhere. The average living standard in Japan is comparable to this place.

來台灣走一走，全台灣都是這種都市景觀。