urbanization in china

7/23/2019 Urbanization in China

1/6

Cause and Effect of Urbanization in China

China experienced extreme urbanization in recent years, allowing it to emerge as

one of the worlds leading nations. During this time, Chinas urbanization has undergone

various definitional changes by the government in a bid to garner control over the rapid

growth of its population. Despite these efforts to seuester its population and their

migration, Chinas urbanization gained momentum in the late !"#$s due to changing

economic policies. %oday, Chinas urban population continues to grow at an astoundingly

hurried rate, ma&ing it a model of urban growth for the rest of the world. 'owever, due to

its role as a global leader, Chinas uic&ly growing urban population attracts freuent

criticism and speculation regarding its long(term sustainability. %hough the definition of

what constitutes an urban area evolved uite substantially over time, evidence suggests

that China will continue on its urbanization trend, and therefore needs to do so

consciously in order to guarantee an economically and ecologically prosperous future for

its population.

)n the past, Chinas measurement of urban areas underwent significant

modifications. )n the early !"*$s, China believed brea&ing up large cities and focusing

instead on the growth of smaller locales and well(developed medium(sized cities best met

their economic goals. +ccording to idney -oldstein in Urbanization in China, 1982-87:

effect of migration and reclassification !""/0,policyma&ers considered too(rapid city

growth and too large a city population to be detrimental to a citys social, environmental,

and economic benefits, and they therefore wanted to limit the growth of larger cities.


2/6

%hese early beliefs, and the resulting government policies, led to a suppression of

transcontinental migration and any subseuent urban development. uch limitations

prevented the trend towards urbanization from continuing until the early !"*$s when

Chinese planners began to recognize the important roles possible for large cities to play

in national development. Despite these realizations, China did not alter the criteria for

localities to ualify as urban until the late !"#$s, which finally enabled citizens to

migrate from rural to urban locations. %he !"12 census lowered the criteria for ualifying

localities as urban further, allowing even more people to be counted urban residents. 3o

longer was urbanization solely determined by state control, permitting massive internal

Chinese migrations. 45ooming industrialization in rural areas and the mar&et economy,

together with large numbers of farmers leaving the farming sector, became forces driving

urbanization 6i, 7iachaud, 2$$*, p. *0. +ccording to the tate tatistical 5ureau 2$$$0

the level of urbanization increased from !18 to 9!8, respectively, with the urban

population rising by 22 million between !"#1 and !""". +fter relaxing restrictions, rural

Chinese citizens floc&ed to coastal cities in pursuit of greater economic opportunity,

contributing to a near instantaneous urban population increase of *8. uch migratory

movements are therefore the result of centrally planned governmental control and

economic development.

)n an attempt to &eep pace with the global economy, China has made urbanization

into a &ey component of its infrastructure, establishing itself as a leading example for the

rest of the world. +ccording to the United 3ations, 4the worlds urban population

continues to grow at a higher rate than the total population of the world with 9 billion

people, approximately :18 of the world population, reside in an urban environment;


3/6

Chen, 2$$#, p. !/!0. 5ecause of the movement of various countries towards

urbanization, it is indisputable that the worlds population will continue to urbanize. +s it

stands, Chinas urbanization level is slightly higher than the average for low(income

countries. 4Considering that urbanization in China started only in the early !"1$s, the fact

that China exceeded the low(income country average in less than ten years portends an

unusually rapid pace for urbanization in the coming years; ueled by economic necessity and increased industrialization not found in other low(

income countries, Chinas demand for labor is abundant, as demonstrated in statistical

data. )n todays global economy, urbanization is becoming increasingly economically

practical for citizens as income gaps between urban and rural regions continue to widen.

+ccording to the 3ational 5ureau of tatistics, in 2$$/ the average income of urban

residents was ?!$,:"9 and that of rural residents ?9,2//. 5ecause of such drastic

differences in incomes, which current pro=ections predict will only increase in disparity,

the rate of rural(to(urban migration is ever growing and is currently the predominant

source of Chinas /*2 million urban residents.

'owever, such extensive and sudden growth unuestionably results in many

obstacles. 5ased upon the findings of Urbanization, sustainability and the utilization of

energy and mineral resources in China, Chinas -D7 demonstrated rapid increase in past

years. uch growth has resulted in significant societal advancement and mar&ed urban

acceleration, which in turn has caused China to largely exploit and over consume its

resources. Domestic water demand due to growth and living standards has partially led to

a shortage of water in China, with water crises occurring in over :$$ Chinese cities in

2$$$. >urthermore, 4the rural(urban migration of citizens has given rise to a new trend of


4/6

massive farmland loss for the benefits of mar&et farming and non(agricultural

developments; hen, Cheng, -unson, @an, 2$$/, p. 2110. %hough China should be

used as a model of urban growth for other populous nations, it is critical that said nations

ta&e into account the ecological and agricultural impacts of urbanization.

Urbanization is progressing uic&ly in the less developed regions of China with

urban population anticipated to grow an average of 2.98 per year in the developing

world. Chinas growth is pro=ected to exceed *$8 of the proportion of total population by

2$9$, as determined inRaid urbanization in China: ! real challenge to soil rotection

and food security" hould urban growth and migration continue under current policies,

many of the resource shortage issues currently plaguing China, including cement, steel,

aluminum, and coal, will only increase in severity and will be especially economically

damaging because of Chinas manufacture based economy. %hough it may be possible for

China to sustain its future coal demands domestically, the costs of harvesting the coal will

lead to a significant increase in production costs hen, Cheng, -unson, @an, 2$$/, p.

2110. @hile sometimes considered an option, it is impossible for China to import large

amounts of resources and energy from abroad due to insufficient capital strength. )t is

crucial China for to revise its policies in an attempt to better offset the environmental

effects of an urbanized society in order to sustain its current growth rates. hould changes

not occur, the li&elihood of China exhausting its natural resources and polluting the

environment will certainly become a reality.

%he rapidly expanding urban population poses future health issues that will be

difficult to accommodate with Chinas current social welfare system. %he social impact of

urbanization leads to changes in various environmental and lifestyle factors, which can


5/6

have a direct impact upon the health of urban citizens. %his is trend is most obviously

exemplified in Understanding and harnessing the health effects of raid urbanization in

Chinawith 4rates of chronic diseases are currently much greater in cities than in rural

areas, particularly for circulatory system diseases and endocrine, nutritional, and

metabolic diseases; 2$!!, p. /!$$0.@hile widespread urban testing has not been done

enough to determine the exact cause of this increase in chronic disease, it is li&ely that it

is due in part to the lifestyle and dietary changes a migrant faces when moving from a

rural to urban area. 5ased upon the findings of %he 7ortal of the Central 7eoples

-overnment of the 7eoples Aepublic of China, cereal and vegetable inta&e for urban

populations in China is /28 of dietary inta&e, but is *#8 for rural populations. @ithout

the promotion of healthful lifestyle choices and improvement of the Chinese welfare

system, the rising prevalence of chronic disease will pose a significant threat to Chinas

future well being.

Chinas urban social infrastructure also faces challenges as it moves into the

future. Drastic and continued urban migrations will eventually overload social services.,

despite their best efforts to meet the demands of an ever(growing population. +s

migrators continue to floc& to urban areas, housing and other necessities see greater

demand, thus increasing in cost. Urbanization is also proving detrimental to the

educational system of China. @hile the cost of living in urban locales may be more

expensive, the urban school systems receive disproportionate amount of funding

compared to rural schools. %he +sia(7acific Bournal surveyed this issue, and discovered

that funding from the central -overnment, provincial governments and regional

governments for rural education amounted to less than !/8 of the total spending on


6/6

education. +t the national level, on average, government spending on a rural student is

one tenth that of the spending on an urban student. uch divergences in funding will

surely continue to encourage rural(urban migration, worsening the overpopulation in

urban areas and the lac& of agricultural support in rural areas. @ithout an avenue for

social mobility through adeuate schooling, rural students will find it to be increasingly

difficult to improve their socioeconomic ran&ing. Eventually, urbanization will need to

provide stable long(term economic development and assist with the maintenance of social

stability rather than to continue reinforcing rural poverty and the urban crises.

Chinas -D7 and urbanization will continue to grow at a high speed, guaranteeing

it a leading nation as the world moves into the future. 'owever, with such uncontested

growth comes serious confliction. hould China continue to develop at its current rate,

significant disparities in growth will become increasingly prominent and hinder Chinas

urbanization and economic development. Economic gaps between rural and urban

populations will only increase, promoting continued rural(urban migration. @ith

decreased rural populations, Chinas infrastructure will struggle because of the decrease

in agricultural output from rural regions. >urthermore, resource shortages and pollution in

urban areas will deem urban areas uninhabitable in the future unless and effort is made to

revise current governmental policies towards resource allocation..

urbanization in china

Documents