A Brief History of China's Urbanisation

China's urbanisation is often described as a unique process, but how different is it from the urban development of other countries? How close is China to becoming a 'modern urban nation'? What factors play a major role in the way China's cities have formed? How has the hukou and Special Economic Zones contributed to China's urban-rural divide? And what problems are we starting to see in the formation of Chinese cities?-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------00:00 Intro01:47 Background to Urbanisation in China03:45 Urbanisation under Mao16:35 Post-Mao Urbanisation19:30 The development of Special Economic Zones25:00 Chinese city tiers33:56 The Hukou42:44 Ghost cities-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------China urbanizes, Consequences, strategies and policies, Yusuf and Saich eds.China's 'Ghost Cities', Yu HongDenationalization of urban physical development, Jieming ZhuEvaluating cities' vitality and identifying ghost cities in China Jin et al 2017Is Chinese Urbanisation unique? Hamnett, 2020What attracts young talents? Understanding the migration intention ofuniversity students to first-tier cities in China, Jin et alUrban planning in socialist China, Yichun Xie and Frank J. CostaUrbanisation in China, Zhang Xing Quan 1991China’s City-Tier Classification: How Does it Work?, China Briefing https://www.china-briefing.com/news/chinas-city-tier-classification-defined/China’s tiered city system explained, SCMP https://multimedia.scmp.com/2016/cities/Reforms to China’s hukou system will not help migrants much, The Economist https://www.economist.com/china/2022/09/22/reforms-to-chinas-hukou-system-will-not-help-migrants-muchChina's 'ghost towns' come to life thanks to urbanization and policies, Global Times https://www.globaltimes.cn/content/1211265.shtmlSupport the showSign up for Buzzsprout to launch your podcasting journey: https://www.buzzsprout.com/?referrer_id=162442Subscribe to the Sinobabble Newsletter: https://sinobabble.substack.com/Support Sinobabble on Buy me a Coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/Sinobabblepod