Integration of Rural and Urban Society in China and Implications for Urbanization, Infrastructure, Land and Labor in the New Era

Abstract

In many parts of China, rapid economic growth, socio-economic inequality, and environmental degradation (air, water, soil) are undermining social stability and sustainable urbanization. Ruralurban migration is the main factor contributing to urban population growth. Economic opportunity in urban areas is the main 'pull factor' but government policies provide a 'push factor'. A model of the relationship over time of the rural sector and the urban sectors, mainly relating to the focus on manufacturing and the services sector, is discussed. Each sector provides a market for the other. We use three cameos of different types of urban-rural development taking examples from a Prefecture-level city of about 500,000 population located in Guangxi Autonomous Region in south east China. We analyze the infrastructure plan and land use planning in respect to the impact on labor, investment and urban growth. Feng and Squires; SAJSSE, 2(3): 1-13, 2018; Article no.SAJSSE.45575 2 Commentary

Ecosystem Services Provisioning, Urban Growth and the Rural–Urban Interface: A Case Study from China

“…The UN Millennium Ecosystem Assessment [16] (2005) states that the degradation of environmental services is a significant barrier to achieving the Millennium Development Goals-and that this impediment could grow significantly worse over the next 50 years. The rural poor, who directly rely on ecosystem goods and services for their diet, health and livelihoods, are disproportionately affected [4,9,10,12,13].…”

“…China is undergoing rapid urbanization [1][2][3][4][5][6] and according to the data from the national bureau of statistics, the rate increased from 10.64% in 1949 to 58.52% in 2017 and reached 60% in 2019. China's urbanization progress will continue, with the urbanization ratio reaching 70 percent by 2035, according to a report published by the National Academy of Economic Strategy under the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.…”

“…Mobility of the workforce in China was first enhanced by the implementation of the household responsibility system (HRS), which, in 1982, dismantled the communes and gave rural households individual contracts to farm agricultural land [4,[6][7][8]. A more efficient and productive use of resources-including labor-allowed for greater agricultural output and income, as markets for rural products thrived.…”

“…In order to diversify the household income, surplus labor began to engage in off-farm work. However, the pull factor created by enterprise labor demand led many peasant workers to leave the countryside even when they were not surplus to agricultural production [4,[6][7][8]. Mobility has further been ensured by a set of policies diminishing central state control over provincial and lower administrative units, which can now establish their own economic priorities.…”

“…Following introduction of the HRS, rural urbanization and industrialization also commenced. Peri-urbanization has been occurring on a large scale, especially near larger cities and is seen as an industrially driven process [4][5][6]. Some peri-urban districts have become completely urbanized, absorbed by growing cities and sometimes even incorporated as urban administrative districts [5,[7][8][9][10].…”