By Liu Feng, Research Team on "Studies on Strategies and Policies of Urbanization with Chinese Characteristics" of DRC

Research Report No 133, 2009

Urban cluster is an important development trend and the most prominent regional characteristics during the course of urbanization at home and abroad. It is a cluster of cities and towns of various types in a big number and on different scales, formed with one or more major cities as the core of regional economy and with the help of modern transport and information facilities. This urban cluster is structurally in good order, functionally complementary, closely linked and entirely optimized, which is an advanced evolution form and helps to better realize the interaction between urban and rural areas and to better facilitate regional integration.

I. Scale Structure and Spatial Structure of Urban Areas in China

A multi-level urban and township system characterized by the coordinated development between large, medium- and small-sized cities and small towns has taken its initial shape in China, with large cities as the core, medium- and small-sized cities as the mainstay and small towns as the basis. Cities and towns are being more and more tightly connected and regions characterized by urban cluster and with cities and towns crowded together have gradually come into being.

1. The number of large cities and the scale of their population have all shown an increasing trend

In 2007, there were 655 cities in China, increasing by 462 as compared to 1978. In 2007, there were 63 megalopolis, 31 giant cities and 8 mega-cities¹ across the country. By changing trend of the urban scale structure (Table 1), the number of large cities has witnessed an evident increase and, in particular, the most evident increase has occurred in the number of cities with a population between 500,000 to 1 million and over 2 million. Among those cities, the number of those with a population of over 5 million increased from 2 in 1997 to 8 in 2007 and the number of big cities with a population of over 500,000 increased from 80 in 1997 to 154 in 2007. Accordingly, the populations tend to aggregate in big cities in big number, and the population growth in large cities advances much faster than that in small and medium-sized cities. In 2007, the number of large cities with a non-agricultural population of over 500,000 reached 154, making up 23.5% of the entire cities, whereas the number of non-agricultural populations accounted for 70.4% of total non-agricultural populations of districts directly under cities across the country; the number of medium-sized cities with a population of 200,000 to 500,000 reached 245, making up 37.4% of entire cities, and the number of their non-agricultural populations accounted for 20.4% of total non-agricultural populations of districts directly under cities across the country; the number of small cities with a population of less than 200,000 registered the biggest proportion, reaching 256, making up 39.1% of the entire cities, whereas the number of their non-agricultural populations only constituted 9.2% of total non-agricultural populations of districts directly under cities across the country.

Table 1: Urban Population Scale and Structure of China

	Urban Scale	2007		1997		1987
		Urban nonagricultural population, including resident population (10,000 persons)	Number of cities	Urban nonagricultural population	Number of cities	Urban nonagricultural population	Number of cities
				(10,000 persons)		(10,000 persons)
	≧5 million	8467.77	8	1522.06	2	1257.99	2
Large cities	2 million-5 million	6600.57	23	3006.84	10	1806.21	6
	1 million-2 million	4588.57	32	2957.88	22	2217.93	17
	500000-1 million	6406.58	91	3175.3	46	2155.24	30
Medium-sized cities	200000-500000	7538.48	245	6188.14	203	3120.15	103
	100000-200000	3053.61	202	3405.68	239	1710.65	118
	50000—100000	348.61	47	922.89	116	649.15	86
	30000—50000	23.37	6	73.44	18	44.39	11
Small-sized cities	10000—30000	2.04	1	15.2	8	1.66	6
	5000-10000			0.54	1	1.69	3
	2000-5000
	〈2000
	Total	37029.6	655	21267.97	665	12965.06	382

Source: Data for 2007 come from Statistical Yearbook of China Urban Construction2007 (including temporary resident populations, therefore, the statistical requirements were different from those of 1997 and 1987), China Building Industry Publishing House. Data for 1997 come from China Urban Statistical Yearbook1998 and the data for 1987 come from China Urban Statistical Yearbook1988, China Statistical Press.

2. Small towns have grown rapidly

Since reform and opening up, small cities and towns in China have witnessed a rapid growth and the number of administrative towns has increased significantly, reaching 19,249 in 2007, a rise of 17,076 over 1978, indicating an annual average increase of 570. Most of the newly designated administrative towns have been evolved from village-based townships and are centers of widely scattered rural villages. Those administrative towns are growing into distinctive small towns of new types based on various industries, such as agricultural service, business and tourism, industrial and mining development, and have constituted an important foundation for China's urban and township system. In the past 30 years, the number of small towns has expanded rapidly, but on a small scale. Nevertheless, the number of administrative towns with a population of less than 10,000 across the country is on the large side (Table 2). We need to turn some qualified big towns into municipalities or nurture them into small cities and improve their population bearing capacity and public service level.

Table 2: Urban and Township Population Scale and Structure of China (2002)

City			Administrative Town		Total
	Population	Number	Township population	Number of towns	Urban and township population			Number of cities and towns
	10,000 persons	Number	10,000 persons	(Number)	10,000 persons		(%)	(Number)		(%)
≧5 million	10783.6	4			10783.6		18.8	14		0.1
2 million-5 million	7883.1	29			7883.1		13.8	29		0.2
1 million-2 million	9646.7	69			9646.7		16.8	69		0.4
500000-1 million	8137.2	113			8137.2		14.2			113 0.6
200000-500000	4373.2	140	82.37	3	4455.6		7.8	143		0.8
100000-200000	2749.2	193	605.89	49	3355		5.9	242		1.4
50000—100000	566.5	74	2196.18	327	2762.7		4.8	401		2.2
30000—50000	42.8	11	1715.58	447	1758.4		3.1	458		2.6
10000—30000	13.5	6	3489.2	2133	3502.7		6.1	2139		12
5000-10000	0.9	1	2294.09	3327	2295		4	3328		18.6
2000-5000			2148.95	6534	2149		3.8	6534		36.6
〈2000			546.59	4392	546.6		1	4392		24.6
Total	44196.6	650	13078.9	17212	57275.5		100	17862		100

Source: Urban data come from China Urban Statistical Yearbook2003 and data on administrative towns come from ChinaRuralTownship Statistical Data2003, China Statistical Press.

3. Significant differences exist in regional distribution of cities with different scales

The difference in total number of cities located in eastern, central and western China is not very conspicuous. However, significant differences exist in regional distribution of cities of different scales in China (Figure 1). Cities in eastern China are large in scale and almost 60% of those cities have a population of over 1 million. In 2007, most of China's 31 giant cities with a population of over 2 million were scattered in eastern China. Cities in western and northeast China were small in scale on the whole, and the number of small and medium-sized cities with a total population of less than 500,000 accounted for 68% and 74% respectively. 100-200 thousand; 200-500 thousand; 0.5-1 million; 2-5 million; 5-10 million; 10 million

Figure 1: Regional Distribution of Cities of Different Scales in 2007

Source: China Urban Statistical Yearbook2008, China Statistical Press

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¹This paper has classified the urban scale as follows in line with the classification standard laid down in China Urban Statistical Yearbook: by urban non-agricultural population, cities with a population of less than 200,000 are defined as small cities, those with a population of 200,000-500,000 are medium-sized cities, those with a population of 500,000-1 million are large cities, those with a population of over 1 million are giant cities, those with a population of over 2 million are super large cities, those with a population of over 5 million are megalopolis and those with a population of over 10 million are super megalopolis.