> Even if they have a lot of SFHs, they are counting Victorian row houses that are placed next to each other

Is that supposed to mean something? Most housing there doesn’t look like a The Painted Ladies anyways, and being denser amongst the most middling cohort possible isn’t an accomplishment.

> I lived in Beijing for 9 years, and it was plenty dense

What’s plenty? Why do you think it’s enough? And idk if you’ve noticed, but China has had an insane urbanization rush for the last 20+ years, so high housing costs in their cities isn’t surprising.