China's Continuing Urban Transition

Abstract

Urban growth in China has proceeded in step with the growth and transition of the socialist economy. Year 2000 Census data indicate an urban population of 456 million; this is 36% of the total population and is increasing much more rapidly than the overall population. Several factors drive this rapid urbanization and growth of cities and towns: continuing, although diminishing, population growth; migration of rural people, as regulations on rural and urban household registration change; rapid structural shift in employment activities and the decline of farm employment; foreign trade and foreign investment, especially in coastal areas; restructuring of state-owned enterprises and growth of private enterprises and activities; and allocation of domestic funds in fixed assets for urban infrastructure, also concentrated in coastal areas. Key issues for continuing urbanization focus on the capacity of the emerging private sector in parallel with the state and collective sectors to generate new jobs, and the willingness of the central state to reconcile the subsidies and privileges of state-sector urban employees with other recent migrants in cities and towns who do not enjoy the state-sector subsidies.