Understanding China's Urbanization: The Great Demographic, Spatial, Economic, and Social Transformation

Understanding China's Urbanization: The Great Demographic, Spatial, Economic, and Social Transformation, Li Zhang, Richard Le Gates and Min Zhao, Cheltenham, Edward Elgar, 2016. vii + 426pp, £100, ISBN978 1 78347 473 8This authored book sets itself the challenge of providing 'the most comprehensive and up-to-date description of Chinese urbanization since the period of reform and opening up that began in 1978' (12). This is the period during which China's level of urbanisation tripled from under 18 per cent to almost 55 per cent in 2014 and its urban population grew by 558 million. According to their own calculations, China now possesses three megalopolises (urban areas with at least 30 million people), plus seven 'pre-megalopolises' and sixteen other large city clusters (LCCs), the twenty-six together being home to 874 million people or around 58 per cent of the total population. At the other end of the scale, there were almost 20,000 official towns with a combined population of almost a quarter of a billion. The statistics on China never fail to impress.The book rises well to this enormous challenge, constituting a veritable tour de force. It draws on a huge literature with a bibliography spanning almost 30 pages, split almost equally into English-language and Chinese items. It synthesises the complex and rapidly changing body of statistical information on Chinese urbanisation. It also goes beyond the numbers by presenting the results of the extensive fieldwork that the authors have undertaken across the country. It also sets out their own theoretical take on the developing scene in the form of a 'double dual track transition' model and describes the policy steps needed to support the second track that involves a shift of focus 'from the pursuit of quantity to the pursuit of quality' (351), following the first transition of evolving from a planned towards a market-based economy. Not for nothing, therefore, do the authors see their endeavour - the culmination of many years' work - as an exercise in 'applied policy-oriented research' (5).What is more, the book is written in an admirably accessible style. For one thing, it is aimed at readers with little previous knowledge of China, providing extremely useful grounding in the country's distinctive social systems, especially hukou and the difference between de jure and defacto residence, and also in the complex governmental and administrative frameworks as they have evolved over the past four decades. For another, the key messages are put across in a user-friendly, almost chatty, way right from the introductory section that sets out 'why we wrote this book' (1), 'who we are' (6), 'who this book is for' (7), 'how our book is different from other books about Chinese urbanization' (8) and 'our methodology' (9). Also very helpful for contextualisation is the outline of the book's contents at the end of the first chapter, the summaries at the end of each chapter and the frequent reminders of the central argument.In terms of contents, the book comprises ten chapters. Four are primarily scene-setting and, as mentioned, extremely valuable for those urbanists who are less familiar with China. The first chapter provides background on the country and its urbanisation history. The second reviews the history of hukou and argues that changes in this have not kept pace with the country's socio-economic development, leaving an imprint that will last for many years to come. The third reviews the evolution of the country's governance and administrative arrangements at different levels, while the fourth is especially salutary in stressing the vast regional disparities in the nature of urbanisation across China and in reviewing the evolution of relevant sub-national policies. …

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