Urbanizing China

Can China now be considered urbanized? Unlike earlier studies that viewed China as a peasant or rural society, this book focuses on the question of whether China is already urbanized. Each of the contributors considers the degree to which the town-country dichotomy has been obliterated in the China of the 1980s and 1990s. The focus is unique, for previous studies have failed to raise this fundamental question.

The contributors to the volume, who are from China, Hong Kong, the United States, and Canada, collectively address China's past and continuing transformation, the multiple factors influencing the urbanization of Chinese society, and the strengths and weaknesses in China's transformation. China's urbanization, the authors claim, can be traced to two successful development strategies: small town development and coastal economic reforms. These strategies, however, raise the question of how China should deal with uneven and inequitable regional growth. China's solution, Guldin says, has been to mix economic liberalization and an emphasis on small town development with a still significant degree of central planning. The work is interdisciplinary, with contributions from the fields of sociology, geography, anthropology, and urban planning. It should be of interest to scholars from all of those disciplines with a special interest in China.