While Beijing, Shanghai and the Pearl River Delta get most of the headlines, all this week Guardian Cities will explore the other China – the huge but rarely reported cities on the front line of the country’s unprecedented urbanisation.

The pace of China’s urban transformation is staggering. It is already home to 119 cities bigger than Liverpool, and more than 100 with populations above 1 million people. By 2025, that number may have doubled.



From bike-sharing wars in Hangzhou to signs of life in the former ‘ghost city’ of Lanzhou New Area, our correspondents are investigating the challenges faced by China’s unheralded urban centres.



We will look at how Chairman Mao’s old home city of Changsha has struggled, examine a rare experiment in multiculturalism in Yiwu, and reveal timelapse satellite photos of China’s ‘great sprawl’.

There will be galleries, interactives, maps, as well as a personal call to arms from author Xiaolu Guo, whose village until recently didn’t even have a traffic light – and now has 1.4 million people.



We’re eager to hear your thoughts and experiences. Do you live in one of China’s second- or third-tier cities? Follow us on Facebook and share stories and pictures via WeChat (add us: GuardianCities) and by using #OtherChina on Twitter and Instagram.