Abstract
Compared to other developing countries, China has a low urbanization level as a result of government policy to control urban development since 1949. However, there is much regional variation in urbanization and urban primacy among its 26 provinces. This paper attempts to analyze the provincial variation in urbanization and urban primacy of China in 1978 by factor analysis and regression techniques. In China, government policy does not only slow down the overall rate of urbanization but also has profound influence on provincial variation in urbanization and urban primacy. Low urban primacy in the eastern provinces is mainly the result of the urbanization policy of controlling the development of large cities that favours the development of small and medium cities. The spatial industrial policy of decentralizing industries from the coastal provinces to interior provinces encouraged high urbanization and urban primacy in the western interior provinces of China.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Berry, B. J. L. (1961), “City-Size Distributions and Economic Development,”Economic Development and Cultural Change, Vol. 9, pp. 573–587.
Berry, B. J. L. (1971), “City-Size Distribution and Economic Development: Conceptual Synthesis and Policy Problems with Special Reference to South and Southeast Asia,” in L. Jakobson and V. Prakash (eds.),Urbanization and National Development, Beverly Hills: Sage, pp. 111–156.
Buck, D. D. (1975), “Directions in Chinese Urban Planning,”Urbanism Past and Present, No. 1, pp. 24–35.
Buck, D. D. (1981), “Policies Favoring the Growth of Smaller Urban Places in the People's Republic of China, 1949–1979,” in L. J. C. Ma and E. W. Hanten (eds.)Urban Development in Modern China, Boulder: Westview Press, pp. 114–146.
Carroll, G. R. (1982), “National City-Size Distribution: What Do We Know after 67 Years of Research?”Progress in Human Geography, Vol. 6, No. 1, pp. 1–43.
Chang, S. D. (1976), “The Changing Systgem of Chinese Cities,”Annals of the Association of American Geographers, Vol. 66, No. 3, pp. 398–415.
Chang, S. D. (1981), “Modernization and China's Urban Development,”Annals of the Association of American Geographers, Vol. 71, No. 2, pp. 202–219.
Chen, C. S. (1973), “Population Growth and Urbanization in China 1953-70,”Geographical Review, Vol. LXIII, pp. 55–72.
Chiu, T. N. (1980), “Urbanization Processes and National Development,” in C. K. Leung and N. Ginsberg (eds.),China: Urbanization and National Development, Research Paper No. 196, Department of Geography, the University of Chicago, pp. 89–107.
Chu, D. K. Y. (1982), “Some Analysis of Recent Chinese Provincial Data,”Professional Geographer, pp. 431–437.
El Shaks, S. (1972), “Development, Primacy and Systems of Cities,”Journal of Developing Areas, Vol. 7, pp. 11–36.
Johnston, R. J. (1977), “Regarding Urban Origins, Urbanization and Urban Patterns,”Geography, Vol. 62, pp. 1–8.
Keyes, F. (1951), “Urbanism and Population Distribution in China,”American Journal of Sociology, Vol. 56, No. 6, pp. 519–529.
Kwok, R. Y. W. (1981), “Trends of Urban Planning and Development in China,” in L. J. C. Ma and E. W. Hanten (eds.)Urban Development in Modern China, Boulder: Westview Press, pp. 147–193.
Kwok, R. Y. W. (1982), “The Role of Small Cities in Chinese Urban Development,”International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, Vol. 6, No. 4, pp. 449–564.
Linsky, A. S. (1965), “Some Generalizations Concerning Primate Cities,”Annals of the Association of American Geographers, Vol. 55, pp. 506–513.
Ma, L. J. C. (1976), “Anti-Urbanism in China,”Proceedings of the Association of American Geographers, Vol. 8, pp. 114–117.
Murphey, R. (1970),The Treaty Ports and China's Modernization: What Went Wrong, Ann Arbor, Michigan Papers in Chinese Studies, No. 7.
Murphey, R. (1975), “Aspects of Urbanization in Contemporary China: A Revolutionary Model,”Proceedings of the Association of American Geographers, Vol. 7, pp. 165–168.
Murphey, R. (1976), “Chinese Urbanization Under Mao,” in B. J. L. Berry (ed.),Urbanization and Counterurbanization, Beverly Hills: Sage, pp. 311–329.
Onoye, E. (1970), “Regional Distribution of Urban Population in China,”The Developing Economics, Vol. 8, pp. 93–127.
Paine, S. (1981), “Spatial Aspects of Chinese Development: Issues, Outcomes and Policies 1949–1979,”Journal of Development Studies, Vol. 17, No. 2, pp. 133–195.
Pannell, C. W. (1981), “Recent Growth and Change in China's Urban System,” in L. J. C. Ma and E. W. Hanten (eds.),Urban Development in Modern China, Boulder: Westview Press, pp. 91–113.
Salter, C. L. (1976), “Chinese Experiments in Urban Space: The Quest for Agropolitan China,”Habitat, Vol. 1, No. 1, pp. 19–35.
Schenk, H. (1974), “Concepts Behind Urban and Regional Planning in China,”Tijdschrift voor Econ. en. Soc. Geograpfie, Vol. 65, No. 5, pp. 381–388.
Sit, V. F. S. (1982), “Urbanization and Development: An Introduction,” in V. S. F. Sit and K. Mera (eds.),Urbanization and National Development in Asia, Hong Kong: Tai Dao Publishing Co., pp. 1–6.
Vapnarsky, C. A. (1969), “On Rank-Size Distribution of Cities: An Ecological Approach,”Economic Development and Cultural Change, Vol. 17, pp. 584–595.
Wu, C. T. and D. F. Ip (1980), “Structural Transformation and Spatial Equity,” in C. K. Leung and N. Ginsberg (eds.),China: Urbanization and National Development, Research Paper No. 196, Department of Geography, University of Chicago, pp. 56–88.
Wu, Y. L. (1967),The Spatial Economy of Communist China, New York: Praeger.
Xu, Xueqiang, Huaying Hu and Jun Zhang (1983), “Woguo chengzhen fenbu ji qui yanbian de ji ge tezheng” (Some Characteristics of Cities and Towns Distribution and Evolution in China),Jingidili (Economic Geography), Vol. 3, No. 3, pp. 205–212.
Zhou, Yinxin (1983), “Lun woguo chengzhenhua de diyu chayi” (Regional Disparities in Chinese Urbanization),Chengshiquihua (City Planning Review), No. 2, pp. 17–21.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Additional information
This paper was developed while Xueqiang Xu was a Visiting Scholar of the Centre of Urban Studies and Urban Planning in 1982–83.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Yeh, A.GO., Xu, X. Provincial variation of urbanization and urban primacy in China. Ann Reg Sci 18, 1–20 (1984). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01286467
Received:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01286467