Smaller Chinese cities are experiencing the same traffic troubles as larger ones, even though they are far less populated and underdeveloped, China Business News reported Monday.

Yichang, a third-tier city in Central China's Hubei province with a population of 1 million -- 1/17 of Beijing's -- is troubled by traffic jams, despite the fact that its total number of cars pales in comparison with first-tier cities such as Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou. "I never imagined Yichang would have such serious congestion," said a Yichang native who came home on vacation. "So many cars are on the road, and they just don't seem to move."

But this hasn't hindered people's enthusiasm for owning cars, as the number of cars in the city increased more than 30 percent almost every month over the past several years.

Li Gang, a resident of Wuhan, capital of Hubei, said it took him 20 minutes to drive to work three years ago, but now he spends at least double that time and sometimes even an hour getting to work.

(chinadaily.com.cn December 16, 2010)