China has a population of about 1.4 billion people. That’s almost 20% of the world’s people in one country. I do like a good statistic, and I find that China is three times the size in area of India, but has only very nearly the same population. This is incredible considering that China has a one child per family limit. (The one-child policy was introduced in 1979 to reduce, or at least control, the growth in population. It’s not a flat limit, and rural or ethnic families doe not have such a hard and fast rule, but in recent years it would seem that many families disregard it anyway.)
There is an accepted speed limit of 100 km/h, but is quite normal to have someone shoot past doing a lot more than that. On this stretch of the G15, there are not that many cars or trucks. Considering the population, I am quite surprised by this.
About a third of that way along I pass Enping. As of 2005, there are 460,000 residents in Enping. Some of the earliest overseas Chinese came from Enping. There are 420,000 overseas Chinese with ancestry in Enping in over 50 countries. That’s a very odd statistic, given that this is a small city in a very large country. Besides the various mountain ranges, mainly to the northeast, the road follows the central area of a flat plain.
I meet a fair number of toll booths along the way, and by the time I reach the Xi river bridge, I have paid quite a bit in fees. Thankfully, this is the last leg of the route today and I draw money from an ATM when I fill up along the G1501. At Nansha, I cross the impressive Numen bridge which spans the Shiziyang river.
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I will be visiting Hong Kong tomorrow, so I ‘book’ a hotel in the Futian area of Shenzhen. This is a very modern part of the city, and the roads are in a very ordered layout, much like New York. I park the camper and head for my room. Looking forward to my time in this city and Hong Kong, and I will research the history and culture and find some great food.