To understand the most important characteristics of a society, one must study its major cities.

I can’t agree the statement. Admittedly, major cities of a state reflect many aspects of the society, especially prosperous part, but what count the most important characteristics are often not lie in the major cities, or least not only depend on them.

Major cities are unique because they own a lot of identifiers of society, they are often the center of economy and culture in the nation, and have relatively concentrated people. People in major city usually occupy most professions of the state; including industry, business, and politics, thus their living condition and professional skills are directly related to the development of the nation. Moreover, culture relics and large scale markets are mostly kept in major cities. Such as Beijing, preserving the Imperial Palace which considers as the symbol of china, as well as keeping the highest consumption level in the nation.

But are these flourishes define the most important characteristics of the nation? I don’t think so, and the dark side of a society may count more. There are many small cities and villages that locate in the mountains or plains in a nation. These small cities and villages are often less developed than major cities because of their relatively bad geographic positions, limited resources, or bad climates. While such small but numerous cities usually kept a large amount of population, especially in the developing country. People living rural areas mostly work on farming, or some else high labor occupations, with little payment. But, can we ignore them just because they are poor or unimportant? On the contrary, it is them who build the splendid house in major cities, feed the country by their hands, and constitute the majority of the nation. What they eat, how well they live, and whether their children has the chance to be educated are the real issues society should care, and of course the important features of the society.

To understand a society, we should not just put our eye on how amazing its achievement is, but also see the flaws in it. Society is made up of multiple level of man, someone rich and intelligent, while some others poor and dull, but they all a part of society. The sum of their life is what defines the whole package of the society.