Abstract
China’s urban system includes official cities (Chengshi) and towns (Zhen). While there is a large literature on Chinese cities in both Chinese and English, the importance of rural towns in China’s urbanization has not been fully recognized. This chapter is based on fieldwork in Hubei province where the authors conducted interviews and surveys about the development mechanisms of rural towns. This chapter looks into the industrialization process in rural towns and examines whether or not manufacturing is the exclusive factor that drives town development. It also explores how rural people become urbanized and why they have a strong desire to migrate into the rural towns. Finally this chapter probes into the mechanisms underlying the ebb and flow of rural migrant labourers into and out of urban areas. The findings reveal that rural workers had many obstacles against their migration and settlement in cities. These obstacles were main considerations that support a migrant worker’s decision to return to his/her homeland, especially back to rural towns. The chapter concludes that rural towns in China serve a bridging role that connects villages with cities. Rural towns are the urbanization frontline and the primary point for public service provision to the rural people.
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Notes
- 1.
The Chinese government conducted six census surveys in 1953, 1964, 1982, 1990, 2000, and 2010 with 100 % samples. The population data in 1987, 1995, and 2005 are of 10 % samples. The population data in normal years are of 1‰ samples. Therefore the data from censuses are the best. Statistical data at the end of 1970s were not used due to some confusion; we prefer to use data from 1982.
- 2.
The response rate was 100 %. A replacement respondent was used if a selected interviewee refused to participate.
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Acknowledgements
We wish to thank the work team of Tongji University and Huazhong University of Science and Technology for their contributions in the study of Strategic Plan of Urbanization and Urban Development for Hubei Province, and Richard LeGates and Zhu Jieming, both visiting professors at Tongji University, for their comments on earlier drafts of this chapter. We also thank for the grant provided by NSFC (51208362), Science and Technology Ministry (No. 2012BAJ22B03) and Tongji University.
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Zhang, L., Zhao, M. (2015). Rural Towns in China’s Rapid Urbanization: A Case Study of Hubei Province. In: Wong, TC., Han, S., Zhang, H. (eds) Population Mobility, Urban Planning and Management in China. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-15257-8_14
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