Congress took the promotion of "coordinated development of medium and small cities and towns" as a core task, following its theory of "taking the path of city and town development of the Chinese particular" made at the 16th CPC National Congress.

Management on household registration system and government administration came under trial reform following these policies.

Polarization

"Macro economy has direct affects for the process of China's urbanization, as the progress was proceeding at the guidance of the government at the very beginning," said Li Tie, director of the China Center for Town Reform and Development (CCTRD) under the State Development and Reform Commission (SDRC). Urbanization, while experiencing fast development, is tending to cause severe polarization in terms of regions.

Before the 1990s, cities were concentrated in the hinterland of China. After the 1990s, many cities concentrated on the three fairly well-developed coastal areas--the Yangtze River Delta, Pearl River Delta and Bohai Sea Rim. As a result East China is home to 56.3 percent of large cities, 47.7 percent of medium-sized cities and 49.5 percent of small cities, as well as 37.6 percent of towns above county level, along with 788 of the country's top 1,000 small cities and towns.

The urban population in 40 large cities, including Beijing and Shanghai, accounts for 36.24 percent of the nation's total. Cities gathered around the Yangtze River Delta, Pearl River Delta and Bohai Sea Rim accounted for 60 percent of the nation's urban population.

The gap between large, medium and small-sized cities has become larger. Beijing and Shanghai have become international metropolises, with the urbanization rate of the former reaching 84.3 percent and the latter, 88.7 percent.

In contrast, small cities and towns in west China are similar to the surrounding rural areas. Urbanization in Guizhou Province and Tibet Autonomous Region is respectively a mere 27.5 percent and 28.2 percent.

Challenge for public facilities in cities

China's urbanization level is measured by the ratio between the urban population and the total population.

The country's urban population reached 390 million in 2000, accounting for about 30 percent of the total population. Since 2000, migrant farmers in cities and towns have been included in the numbers of urban citizens, leading to a rise in the urban population of 7 percentage points during 2000-05.

In accordance with the world rule, levels of urbanization in a country are in three stages: initial stage, with the urban population accounting for 30 percent of the total population of the nation; medium stage, or the fast-development period, with the ratio reaching 30 percent to 70 percent; and the stable phase, where the ratio is above 70 percent.

China is considered to be in the period of the second phase, with an annual urban population growth of 1 percentage point.

As a populous country, 1 percentage point increase in urban population means 11 million people will shift from rural to urban areas each year, adding to the pressure on city infrastructure facilities.

The current municipal public facilities are finding it hard to satisfy the needs of the current increasing urbanization, which needs suitable drainage facilities, high level sewage disposal systems, and non-harmful garbage disposal methods.

In spite of that, SDHRC promised to create favorable conditions for farmers to enable them to mingle with urban residents in terms of living, education, and public services.

The state department vowed to make a plan to construct basic public services including roads, water drainage and supply facilities, telecommunications, power, as well as hospitals and schools. The aim is designed to enable residents in rural areas to enjoy the achievements and rewards of the reform and opening up.

(Source: mohurd.com, China News Weekly)