Urbanisation with Chinese characteristics

Sun Sheng Han () and Ning Yan ()

Chapter 7 in Institutions, Culture and the Chinese City, 2025, pp 137-161 from Edward Elgar Publishing

Abstract: Chapter 7 examines the impact of national policies, direct interventions by top leaders and trendy programmes on the urban development trajectory under Deng Xiaoping's leadership. This analysis helps identify three channels through which institutions and culture shape Chinese cities during the reform era. Rural reforms boosted agricultural productivity and created a significant surplus of rural labour. However, strict rural-urban migration controls prohibited rural labourers from working in cities. As a temporary measure to absorb surplus labourers, township and village enterprises mushroomed, leading to the rural urbanisation model known as leaving the land but remaining in hometowns. Nationwide reforms favouring the development of private business and attracting foreign investment created job opportunities for migrant workers. They worked in city jobs, but institutional barriers prevented them from settling in cities, resulting in a semi-urbanised population. The relaxation of settlement criteria for cities led to administrative urbanisation, characterised by a boom in the number of cities and urban population due to adjustments in criteria. The open policies established a coastal focus on urban growth in selected cities and regions. Three channels of national policy influence emerged in these discussions: the administrative system played an instrumental role in policy implementation, while the direct intervention of top leaders was clearly visible, as demonstrated by the formation of the four Special Economic Zones. Large-scale trendy projects (Fengchao) surfaced as cultural responses to opportunities. Rural non-agriculturalisation, administrative urbanisation and a semi-urbanised population characterised Chinese cities during the Deng Era.

Keywords: Rural non-agriculturalisation; Town and village enterprise; Administrative urbanisation; Semi-urbanised population; Special economic zone; Large-scale trendy projects (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
ISBN: 9781035312429
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