临汾 / Linfen

Overview

临汾 / Linfen is a Shanxi city used by David Fishman first as a ranking-derived candidate for China’s “median city” and later, after a field visit, as a more limited example of a northern resource-dependent, post-industrial city.

Current Profile

In 城市就是这样22, Linfen is important less as a settled city portrait than as a methodological correction. Its middle position in one city ranking initially encouraged national generalization, but interviews across the old urban core and outer counties exposed different expectations tied to industrial transition, tourism, specialty economies, housing costs, and local opportunity. The episode therefore narrows Linfen from a national proxy to one case within a larger city typology.

Key Characteristics

• Appears near the middle of the episode’s cited 337-city ranking.
• Carries a historical association with coal, steel, chemicals, and severe pollution.
• Is described as facing difficulty replacing older heavy-industry growth drivers.
• Contains meaningful differences between a more pessimistic old urban core and some more optimistic outer localities.
• Has historical sites and apple production, but the source questions whether these create a sufficiently distinctive growth identity.
• Is treated as comparable to northern resource and post-industrial cities, with Datong offered as a tourism-led partial exception.

Evidence

• Ranking and correction: 城市就是这样22 records both the original median-city label and Fishman’s withdrawal of that national claim after visiting.
• Internal variation: 城市就是这样22 contrasts conversations in the old city with accounts from outer counties shaped by lower costs, scenic sites, or specialty activity.
• Development path: 城市就是这样22 connects the city’s present constraints to past dependence on coal, steel, and chemicals while reporting later environmental improvement.

Qualifications

The page reflects a short field visit and podcast discussion, not a comprehensive economic or environmental assessment. The episode’s ranking position, pollution improvement, industrial decline, housing views, and comparison with Datong remain source-scoped. Differences among districts and counties make even the narrower “post-industrial northern city” label a comparative tool rather than a complete identity.

What Changed

• Replaced the single “median China” interpretation with a bounded regional and industrial type.
• Added internal city-county variation as evidence against treating Linfen as one homogeneous sample.
• Preserved the ranking as a selection device while rejecting it as proof of representativeness.

Relationships

• David Fishman - researcher whose visit turned Linfen into a methodological correction.
• City-Type Sampling / 城市类型抽样 - Linfen is a case for type-based comparison rather than a national proxy.
• Urban Field Interviewing / 城市田野访谈 - resident conversations reveal differences hidden by rank position.
• China - national scope Linfen cannot represent alone.
• 城市就是这样 - series context for the city’s use as a research case.