Urbanization in China or 37 percent of the total population in the mid-1980s—was relatively low by comparison with developed nations, the number of people living in urban areas in China was greater than the total population of any country in the world except India. The four Chinese cities with the largest populations in 1985 were Shanghai, with 7 million; Beijing, with 5.9 million; Tianjin, with 5.4 million; and Shenyang, with 4.2 million. The disproportionate distribution of population in large cities occurred as a result of the government's emphasis after 1949 on the development of large cities over smaller urban areas. In 1985 the
Telecommunications in China international fiber-optic links include those to Japan, South Korea, Hong Kong, Russia, and Germany. Fixed and mobile operators in China include China Mobile, China Netcom, China TieTong, China Satcom (former), China Telecom and China Unicom. In 2014 only 3 countries (China, US, Japan) host 50 % of the globally installed telecommunication bandwidth potential. China replaced the U.S. in its global leadership in terms of installed bandwidth in 2011. By 2014, China hosts more than twice as much national bandwidth potential than the U.S., the historical leader in terms of installed telecommunication bandwidth (29% versus 13% of the global total) (see