China is so big it breaks numbers - but adds up to fascination

Since moving to China, I've had to give up numbers. Math, scope, scale, frames of reference ... it all fails me here. I'm from the green fields of Wiltshire. A patch of Merry Olde England, most famous for Stonehenge, twee little villages where the Harry Potter films were shot, and cathedrals that attract tourists all the way from Russia.

It's a small place, where you can count everyone you know on the six fingers of your hand.

When I was 11, we moved to the local megalopolis of Swindon. The jump from a small town to a "city" of 200,000 was staggering. It had not one, but two Burger Kings.