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China Urbanization
In 1987 China had a total of twenty-nine provincial-level
administrative units directly under the central government in
Beijing. In addition to the twenty-one provinces (sheng),
there were five autonomous regions (zizhiqu) for minority
nationalities, and three special municipalities (shi)--the
three largest cities, Shanghai, Beijing, and Tianjin. (The
establishment of Hainan Island as a provincial-level unit separate
from Guangdong Province was scheduled to take place in 1988.) A
1979 change in provincial-level administrative boundaries in the
northeast region restored Nei Monggol Autonomous Region to its
original size (it had been reduced by a third in 1969) at the
expense of Heilongjiang, Jilin, and Liaoning provinces. Urban areas
were further subdivided into lower-level administrative units
beginning with municipalities and extending down to the
neighborhood level
(see Local Administration
, ch. 10).
The pace of urbanization in China from 1949 to 1982 was
relatively slow because of both rapid growth of the rural
population and tight restrictions on rural-urban migration for most
of that period. According to the 1953 and 1982 censuses, the urban
population as a percentage of total population increased from 13.3
to 20.6 percent during that period. From 1982 to 1986, however, the
urban population increased dramatically to 37 percent of the total
population. This large jump resulted from a combination of factors.
One was the migration of large numbers of surplus agricultural
workers, displaced by the agricultural responsibility system, from
rural to urban areas
(see Agricultural Policies
, ch. 6). Another
was a 1984 decision to broaden the criteria for classifying an area
as a city or town. During 1984 the number of towns meeting the new
urban criteria increased more than twofold, and the urban town
population doubled. In the mid-1980s demographers expected the
proportion of the population living in cities and towns to be
around 50 percent by the turn of the century. This urban growth was
expected to result primarily from the increase in the number of
small- and medium-sized cities and towns rather than from an
expansion of existing large cities.
China's statistics regarding urban population sometimes can be
misleading because of the various criteria used to calculate urban
population. In the 1953 census, urban essentially referred
to settlements with populations of more than 2,500, in which more
than 50 percent of the labor force were involved in nonagricultural
pursuits. The 1964 census raised the cut-off to 3,000 and the
requirement for nonagricultural labor to 70 percent. The 1982
census used the 3,000/70 percent minimum but introduced criteria of
2,500 to 3,000 and 85 percent as well. Also, in calculating urban
population, the 1982 census made a radical change by including the
agricultural population residing within the city boundaries. This
explains the dramatic jump in urban population from the 138.7
million reported for year-end 1981 to the 206.6 million counted by
the 1982 census. In 1984 the urban guidelines were further
loosened, allowing for lower minimum population totals and
nonagricultural percentages. The criteria varied among provinciallevel units.
Although China's urban population--382 million, or 37 percent
of the total population in the mid-1980s--was relatively low by
comparison with developed nations, the number of people living in
urban areas in China was greater than the total population of any
country in the world except India and the Soviet Union. The four
Chinese cities with the largest populations in 1985 were Shanghai,
with 7 million; Beijing, with 5.9 million; Tianjin, with 5.4
million; and Shenyang, with 4.2 million. The disproportionate
distribution of population in large cities occurred as a result of
the government's emphasis after 1949 on the development of large
cities over smaller urban areas. In 1985 the 22 most populous
cities in China had a total population of 47.5 million, or about 12
percent of China's total urban population. The number of cities
with populations of at least 100,000 increased from 200 in 1976 to
342 in 1986 (see
table 8, Appendix A).
In 1987 China was committed to a three-part strategy to control
urban growth: strictly limiting the size of big cities (those of
500,000 or more people); developing medium-sized cities (200,000 to
500,000); and encouraging the growth of small cities (100,000 to
200,000). The government also encouraged the development of small
market and commune centers that were not then officially designated
as urban places, hoping that they eventually would be transformed
into towns and small cities. The big and medium-sized cities were
viewed as centers of heavy and light industry, and small cities and
towns were looked on as possible locations for handicraft and
workshop activities, using labor provided mainly from rural
overflow.
Data as of July 1987
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