Four Waves of Urbanization

1949 – present
Part - 1

Anthony Yeh
Chair Professor
Centre of Urban Studies and Urban Planning
The University of Hong Kong
60 Years of China’s Urbanization: 1949-2009

Source: Urban China, Vol.40, P20-21

The six decades witnessed the number of cities growing from 135 to 655; level of urbanization from 7.3% to
45.68 %; the number of city with 1 million population or more increasing from 9 to 122; the distribution of
cities is more balanced across the country; the urban economy dominating the national economy: the GDP of
prefectural level city and above accounted for 62% of the national economy. Thus, cities are playing an
increasing significant role in the country’s development.
 Urbanization and Urban Population 1949-2008

Source: China Population and Employment Statistical Yearbook 2009

Four Waves of Urbanization
Fourth
Wave
Third
Wave
Second
Wave

First Wave
Four Waves of Urbanization
 Characteristics of Cities Before
1949
 Production
 Consumption
 Post 2nd World War Period
 The First Wave：1949-1978
 Cities are transformed
from consumer
centres to production
First centres
Wave  Household registration
system restricts rural-
urban migration
 Manufacturing
relocation and the
construction of “Three
Lines”
The First Wave of Urbanization 1949-1978

Anti-Urbanization：Urbanization level remains at a

low level. No significant change is identified relative
to the urban system in 1949
 Major Factors
 Political Ideology
• Three great contradictions
 Workers and Peasants
 City and Countryside
 Manual and Mental Labour
 Major Factors
 Agricultural as the foundation and
industry as the leading sector
 Walking on two legs
• Industry and agriculture
• Heavy and light industries
• Modern and indigenous methods
 Self-Sufficiency
 Implementation Mechanisms
 Household Registration System
 Resource Allocation (5-Year Plans)
 Anti-Urbanization Period
 Period of Rehabilitation (1949-52)
 First Five Year Plan (1953-57)
 Great Leap Forward (1957-60)
 Economic Recovery and Adjustment
and Third Five Year Plan (1960-66)
 Great Cultural Revolution (1966-76)
 The Period of Adaptation and
First Five Year Plan
(1949-1957)

• Rehabilitation of urban infrastructure

and community facilities
• The first Five Year Plan （1953-57）
The Founding of New China: 1949

Peasant Revolution
The Founding of New China: Land Reform
The Founding of New China: Land Reform
Urbanization Level (1949-1978)

Year Urbanization Year Urbanization Year Urbanization

rate rate rate
1949 10.6 1959 18.4 1969 17.5

1950 11.2 1960 19.7 1970 17.4

1951 11.8 1961 19.3 1971 17.3

1952 12.5 1962 17.3 1972 17.1

1953 13.3 1963 16.8 1973 17.2

1954 13.7 1964 18.4 1974 17.2

1955 13.5 1965 18.0 1975 17.3

1956 14.6 1966 17.9 1976 17.4

1957 15.4 1967 17.7 1977 17.6

1958 16.2 1968 17.6 1978 17.9

According to the China Statistic Yearbook, 1984

 The Founding of New China: Infrastructure Restoration

Chengyu Railway, the first railway

independently designed and
constructed by the new PRC,
opened to traffic in July, 1952
 The Founding of New China: Historical City Conservation
(Beijing)

In preparation of the city master plan, Beijing paid more

attention on the protection of historical city since 1949.
In the city plan completed in 1957-1958, it emphasized and
made use of the present culture basis, reasonably reserve
and boldly reconstruct.
Transform the Consumer City into Production City
1949-1953
 Cities are transformed from consumer
centres to production centres

Source:
http://maolive.com.cn/zth/UploadFiles_7961/200912/2009
1207171139503.jpg

(left)http://maolive.com.cn/zth/UploadFiles_7961/200912/
20091207171139503.jpg (above right);
http://www.maolive.com.cn/zth/UploadFiles_7961/201003
 Transformation of City Function:
Beijing: From Consumer City to Production City

Beijing Urban Planning in 1954

First Five Year Plan: 1953-1957
Aided Construction by Soviet Union
First Five Year Plan (1953-1957)
 156 Projects: Industrial Construction

During the First Five Year Plan period, the restoration and enlargement of coastal
cities as well as the construction of inland industrial cities were carried out. 825
major projects, including the 156 dependent projects with Soviet aid, were carried
out and 530 of these were located inland.
Industrial Construction
 Industrialization Accelerates Urbanization

• During the First Five Year Plan period, 530 of the 825 industrial
construction projects were located in inland cities, this has greatly
accelerated the fast development of inland cities;

• One major problem is the fact that urban plans fell behind the speed
of industrial construction in this period.
 Four Types of City Plans During the 1st 5-Year Plan

Develop new urban area around the old

The paradigm of Soviet Planning
city – Luoyang city
- Baotou city
 Four Types of City Plans During the 1st 5-Year Plan

Build the city on the base of existing Construct a new city from the ground -
one - Lanzhou city Maoming city
Population Registration System (Hukou 戶口)
Household registration system (hukou system) was introduced in early 1950s. The
purpose of the system was just for household registration and census in the beginning,
while it was quickly maneuvered as an apparatus to control population migration.
By 1957, the Chinese government officially promulgated the family registration
system (Hukou system) to control the movement of people between urban and rural
areas. Individuals were broadly categorized as a "rural" or "urban" worker. A worker
seeking to move from the country to urban areas to take up non-agricultural work
would have to apply through the relevant bureaus.
 Household Registration System (hukou)
Restricts Rural-Urban Migration

There are two classifications of hukou, one is hukou status, and the other is hukou
location. The hukou type is differentiated into agricultural (nongye) and non-
agricultural (fei nongye) hukou. Such classification has determined one’s
entitlements to state-provided goods and services though not necessarily related to
the actual occupation of the respective hukou type. Besides the hukou type, each
person was also categorized according to this or her place of hukou registration with
respect to an administrative unit (such as city, town, or a village)

Major Constituent Groupings of Agricultural and Non-agricultural Populations by

Hukou Status and Location

Source: Chan,2010，202
Food Coupons (糧票）
 The Great Leap Forward (1958-1960)
 To industrialize by making use of the massive
supply of cheap labor and avoid having to import
heavy machinery

 “Walking on Two Legs” - promotion of small-scale

labour-intensive industry alongside the large-
scale modern sector, give equal weight to
agricultural and industrial development

 People’s Commune
• Each commune was a combination of smaller farm
collectives, consisted of 4,000-5,000 households, and
larger ones could consist of up to 20,000 households
• Communes were divided into production brigades and
production teams
Poster of the steel production
objective: “Take steel as the key link,
leap forward in all fields”

Three red banners

An ideal People’s
Commune
 History of the Production Brigade and
Commune System
• A production brigade was formerly the basic accounting and farm
production unit in the people’s commune system.

• From 1950 to 1952, the central government supervised land reform;

thus land in rural areas was distributed equally to peasants. But, by
the end of 1952, soon after land reform was accomplished, some
peasants began to spontaneously establish mutual-aid teams.

• This system consisted of three levels of land ownership, the lowest

level was the production team which was usually the same as the
natural village in rural areas, the middle level was the production
brigade which usually consisted of a few natural villages and the
highest level was the commune on the township government level
which usually consisted of a number of production brigades.

• The system of People’s Commune lasted for 24 years in China from

1958 to 1982.
Production Brigade
Production Brigade
Commune System

The set up of Shanghai Commune system

Commune System
 Commune Life
• Everything originally owned by the households were contributed to
the commune; they were put into different uses as assigned by the
commune

• Everybody in the commune were assigned jobs by their commune

leaders; their payment was based on their “work-points” (gongfen)
which were calculated according to their working hours.

“Free to eat” public kitchen

Gongfen piao
Rural Industrialization

Small backyard steel furnaces

Over Exaggeration of Production
 Consequences
 The incentive for peasants to work well were substantially
reduced

 Millions of peasants were shifted away from agricultural

work to join the iron and steel production workforce

 1959-1961: Three Years of Natural Disasters/Three Bitter

Years
• In 1959 and 1960, the gross value of agricultural output fell by 14%
and 13%, respectively, and in 1961 it dropped a further 2% to reach
the lowest point since 1952
 Economic Recovery and Adjustment
(1961-1965)
 The failure of the Great Leap Forward led to the
change in the national development plan
• Agriculture was given the top priority, light industry was
second and heavy industry third in the development
scheme
 Economic stability was restored, and by 1966,
production in both agriculture and industry
surpassed the peak levels of the Great Leap
Forward period
• Between 1961 and 1966, agricultural output grew at an
average rate of 9.6% a year; Industrial output increased
at an average annual rate of 10.6%.
 Third Line Construction

 Started in 1964
 Hostile international environment

 The Third Line region distributed among China’s

hinterland, over 700 kms away from both the
coastline and the territory borders, naturally
being protected by surrounding plateaus and
mountains, so it becomes ideal strategic rear in
war-time
 Manufacturing relocation and the
construction of “Three Front”
“We must pay close attention to Third Front construction: it's a way of buying time against
the imperialists, against the revisionists....In Third Front construction, we have begun to
build steel, armaments, machinery, chemicals, petroleum and railroad base areas, so that if
war breaks out we have nothing to fear”
Mao Zedong, January 1965.1

Third Front Regions

The objective of Third Front
construction was to create an
entire industrial system within
this naturally remote and
strategically secure region. The
area of the "big third front" (da
san xian) or "big rear area" (da
hou fang) includes all of the
provinces of Sichuan, Yunnan,
Guizhou, Gansu, Qinghai and
Ningxia, a portion of Shaanxi
(south of the Qinling
mountains), and the western,
mountainous portions of Henan,
Hubei and Hunan.
 Cultural Revolution (1966-1976)

 Launch by Mao Zedong on May 16, 1966 in an

attempt to prevent the development of a
bureaucratized Soviet style of Communism
 Nationwide chaos and economic disarray
• Schools were closed and students were encouraged to
joint the “Red Guard” units to denunciate and persecute
intellectuals
• Industrial production dropped by 12% from 1966-1968.
The nation returned into normal not until 1970. The
urbanization was stagnated during this period
 Intellectuals were sent down to the countryside
to be re-educated
“Destroy the old world;
Forge the new world”
Chairman Mao celebrated Culture Revolution
with millions of people
Red Guards
 Down to the Countryside Movement
 On December 12, 1968, Chairman Mao directed the People's
Daily to publish a piece entitled "We too have two hands, let
us not laze about in the city”, which quoted Mao as saying
"The intellectual youth must go to the country, and will be
educated from living in rural poverty.“
 In 1966, under the influence of the Cultural Revolution,
university entrance examinations were suspended and until
1968, many students were unable to receive admittance into
university or become employed. Additionally, the chaos
surrounding the Revolution from 1966 to 1968 caused the
Communist Party to realize that a way was needed to assign
the youth to working positions, to avoid losing control of the
situation.
 From 1962 to 1978, it is estimated that there were almost 18
million rusticated youth.
 Ruralisation of Cities and
Urbanization of Villages
 Learn from Daqing in Industry

WANG Jinxi （王進喜 ）, the labor model emerged in

Daqing’s construction
Learn from Daqing in Industry

Daqing (renown for the oilfield), in

Heilongjiang Province, was set as a model
for industrial production across the country.

The highlight of Daqing spirit includes ‘when

the condition exist, go ahead; when whey
don’t exist, then create them and go ahead;
‘i'd rather lose 20 years of my life and with all
my might to build up the largest oilfield. ’
 Learn from Dazhai in Agriculture

CHEN Yonggui（陳永貴） , the labor model emerged in Dazhai’s

construction
Learn from Dazhai in Agriculture

Dazhai located in
a steep mountain
valley in Shanxi
province with no
known resources
other than the
drought-prone
loess soil piled up
on eight ridges
and washing out
from seven gullies
on Tigerhead
Mountain.

By 1968, two decades after the communists introduced the People’s Commune
System, Dazhai, led by the chain-smoking, gravel-voiced Chen Yonggui, had
transformed itself into a prosperous village with high, stable yields of grain from
improved loam--humus-rich, water-absorbent sponge soil. Fruit and nut orchards,
conifer plantations, a piggery, a bean noodle plant and a machine repair shop
together added enough income to support an eight-grade village school, a health
clinic, a cultural center and extensive experimental plots (Time Asia, 1999 ).
The Second Wave: 1978-1988

First Second
Wave Wave
 Summary
 Period of Anti-Urbanization
 Slow Urbanization Rate
• 57.6 million to 139 million
• Annual Growth Rate of 2.97%
(Singapore, 3.76%)
• Urbanization Level from 10.6% to 13.9%
Economic Reform and Open Policy
• decollectivization of agriculture
• permission for entrepreneurs to start up businesses
• opening up of the country to foreign investment
• Socialist economy with Chinese characteristics
(Socialist market economy)

Deng Xiaoping Era (Post Mao Era)

• Crossing the River by Touching the Stones
(摸著石頭過河)
• Let some areas become rich first
• It doesn't matter whether a cat is white or
black, it is a good cat as long as it catches
mice
Economic Reform and Open Policy
1978
 Introduction of Private Enterprises
 Foreign investment
 National Urban System Policy
 Special Economic Zones
 Attraction of Foreign Direct
Investment (FDI)
 Cheap Land
 Cheap Labour
 Relaxed Environmental Legislation
 Preferential Treatment
 Modes of Operation
 Joint Venture
 Export Oriented Industries
 Labour Intensive Industries
 Land Intensive Industries
 Processing Industries
 National Urban
Development Policies
• Advocator of TVEs and
Small Town Development;
• ‘Small Towns, Big
Issues’(Prof. Fei Xiaotong)
• Urban Development
Guideline in the 1980s:
‘Limit the size of big cities;
develop medium-sized
cities; encourage the
growth of small cities’ Prof. Fei Xiaotong
Rural Industrialization and Urbanization
“enter the factories but not cities, leave
the land but not villages”
“industrialization without urbanization”
 National Urban System Policy

Strictly control the scale of large cities,

rationally develop medium and small cities,
and actively develop small cities and towns
- 1980
 The second stage of urbanization started from rural
reform.
• The Household Responsibility System (HRS) took over the
People’s Commune System (PCS);

In 1978, 18 farmers in Xiaogang village (in eastern Anhui Province) signed a secret agreement to divide
communally owned farmland into individual pieces. Thus inadvertently lighted the torch for China's rural
reform (China.org.cn, 2008). Their action triggered the collapse of the People’s Commune System (PCS) in
rural China and the establishment of the Household Responsibility System (HRS).
 The major consequences of the decomposition of
the PCS and the establishment of HRS:
 Increase agricultural productivity which could sustain
more urban population;
 Bring about a huge number of surplus farm labors;

According to to Taylor and Banister’s estimation, each year between

1982 and 1987, the number of surplus rural workers exceeded 100
million and the rate of surplus rural labor, ranged between 33.5 and
42.5 percent.
 The Rise of Township and Village
Enterprises

An electronics factory in Shahe (沙河).

A village-run garment factory in

Shanzhou county, Jiangsu province.

Wenzhou Model (of Village Enterprises) put 330,000

people in village industries. - Jiefang Daily, May 1985.
 The Rise of Township and Village Enterprises

Rise of Industries with intensive demands of labour in Village Enterprises/ Factories.

 The Rise of Township and Village Enterprises

High demand in the textiles industry in many Village-run Enterprises/ Factories.

 Rise of Township and Village Enterprises (TVEs)
• TVEs were set up in rural areas where the administrative
level is township and village.
Several factors were Figure 5 Number of Employees of Major Urban Sectors and TVEs
identified in driving the
growth of TVEs (Liang,
2006):
The surplus labor;

The abundant agricultural output

and cumulated capital;

local government concerning tax

revenue;

Central government expects TVEs

to play an important part in
achieving the country’s agricultural
modernization, absorbing surplus Source: China Statistical Yearbook 2009
labor, alleviating poverty and
improving the living standards of
the peasants;
 The absorption of labor and dynamic economic growth facilitates the
urbanization process by upgrading the townships into towns and
cities, thus, such bottom-up process of urbanization was later coined
as ‘urbanization from below’, featured with dynamic local driven
forces, such as geographical location, resources, history, business
culture, linkages with foreign capitals, etc. There are featured
models:
• The ‘Sunan Model’ (Southern Jiangsu province): Featured with
the role of prosperous collective industry, which means that the
collective paid a significant role in in organizing and facilitating
the industry operation (Ma and Fan, 1994).
• The ‘Wenzhou Model’ was famous for its dynamic private sector
(Liu, 1992）.
• The ‘Pearl River Model’ was featured with oversea capital，
‘exo-urbanization’ (Fan, 1996; Eng, 1997; Sit and Yang, 1997).
The Sunan Model and Wenzhou Model
 Pearl River Delta
Regional Division of Labour

Front Shops
Back Factories
Factories
Regional Production Complex

Shops
Overseas Capital Preferential Policies:
Imported Equipment Processing Land
Technical Know-how Labor
and
Managerial Skills Service
Assembling Infrastructure

The Pearl River Delta Model

1980 1990 2000

Vogel， Ezra F. （1989）， One Step
Ahead in China: Guangdong Under
Reform, Boston, Harvard University
Press.,
 Economic Reform
Four Modernization

“Four Modernizations” – the modernization of agriculture,

industry, national defense, science and technology.
 Industrial Development
 Economic and Technological
Development Zones
 Special Economic Zones
 Open Coastal Cities
 Industrial (Economic) Development Zones

Information for foreign

investors (Hong Kong investors)
for the Shekou Industrial Zone
in Shenzhen

- January 1980
 Special Economic Zones and
Coastal Cities
4 Special Economic Zones (1980):
 Shantou, Shenzhen, Zhuhai, Xiamen

Commemorative stamps of the first

4 Special Economic Zones of 1980.
 Special Economic Zones and
Coastal Cities
14 Coastal Cities (1984):
 Dalian, Qinhuangdao, Tianjin, Yantai, Qingdao,
Lianyungang, Nantong, Shanghai, Ningbo,
Wenzhou, Fuzhou, Guangzhou, Zhanjiang, Beihai
Open Coastal Areas (1985):
 Yangtze River Delta, Pearl River Delta, Xiamen-
Zhangzhou-Quanzhou Triangle, Shandong
Peninsula, Liaodong Peninsula, Hebei, Guangxi
 Special Economic Zones and
Coastal Cities
Other Open Economic Zones/ Provinces/ Cities
(1992):
 Province of Hainan, Pudong New Zone in Shanghai,
cities along the Yangtze River valley (Wuhu, Jiujiang,
Wuhan, Yueyang, Chongqing)
Border Cities/ Open Border Cities (1992):
 Huiehun, Suifenhe, Heihe, Manzhouli, Erlianhaote, Yili,
Tacheng, Hekou, Ruili, Wantingin, Fengxiang,
Dongxing
Inland Open Cities (1992):
 Harbin, Changchun, Hohhot, Shijiazhuang, Taiyuan,
Yinchuan, Xining, Lanzhou, Xi’an, Zhengzhou, Hefei,
Chengdu, Nanchang, Changsha, Guiyang, Nanning,
Urumqi, Kunming
Special Economic Zones and Coastal Cities
 China National Economic and Technological
Development Zone (國家級經濟技術開發區)

Shenzhen Special Economic Zone,

Guangdong 1980s
 Advancement of Industries
and Foreign Economic Development

A training course is set up in Shenzhen SEZ, aiming at

bringing up various qualified personnel for developing
foreign economic activities.
 Infrastructure-Led Development
Shenzhen Special Economic Zone Model:
“Four Linkages and One Leveling” (四通一平)

• Supply of Water, Electricity, Roads, Telecommunications

• Leveling of the ground for factories and worker housing

Road Paving

Drainage
Leveling and
Project
Preparation of
Land

Water Supply Telecommunication

Number

Small cities dominated

the urban system

Small Medium-Size Large Extra Large

Number of towns
experienced a rapid
growth
 Urban Population in Different City Sizes

Small Medium-Size Large Extra Large

 Summary
 Early stage of industrialization
 Reliance on export-oriented
industries
 Special Economic Zones and Coastal
Cities
 Infrastructure-led development