Cangxia was once Fuzhou’s largest shantytown, where most homes were cobbled together from cheap cedar planks and newspaper lined the walls. They leaked when it rained, creaked in the wind, and caught fire easily. During a redevelopment project in 2000, it took just 400 days for more than 3,400 households—nearly 10,000 people—to move from their makeshift homes into Cangxia New Town.