There are only a few high-rise buildings in downtown Birmingham, most of which are two-story buildings. They look antique and unpretentious. There are countless large factories around Birmingham. Its industrial output value accounts for 1/5 of the national industrial output value.
Birmingham is the most culturally diverse city in Britain. According to the statistics of 200 1, 29.7% of the population is not white, and there are many immigrants from the Caribbean, South Asia and Ireland. It is the region with the largest number of black Christians in Jamaica outside Jamaica. Irish people's parade to celebrate St Patrick's Day ranks third in the world after Dublin and new york. The "Balati" curry cooking method invented by Birmingham Indians has become popular all over the world.
Birmingham receives about 22 million tourists every year, and its business center is second only to West End of London.
There are 60 kilometers of rivers in the center of Birmingham. During the industrial revolution, these rivers were the lifeblood of industry, but now they are only used for tourism. People often say that the river in Birmingham is longer than that in Venice, which is only 43 kilometers. In fact, Birmingham is much bigger than Venice, so the proportion of rivers is not as big as Venice.
During World War II, Birmingham was heavily bombed and Victorian buildings were completely destroyed. All of them were rebuilt in 1950s and 1960s, so Birmingham became the ugliest city in Britain, often called "concrete forest".
In recent years, great changes have taken place in the city center. Many old streets have been restored and many squares have been built.