Don't just measure GDP in urban development

Shortly after the new year began, a government official in a big city in northern China announced that his city's per capita GDP (gross domestic product) had exceeded $6,000, crossing the threshold of medium-level development in developed countries.

As if to match this, a vice-mayor from a big city in the south of the country announced that his city's per capita GDP will hit $10,000 in three years, equal to highly developed areas of the world.

Good things came in bunches.