1.1 Background
Chinese cities of all sizes are models and drivers of economic growth. This growth occurs through the expansion of the cities themselves as well as their impact on the surrounding areas. City development involves and reflects the accumulated decisions of governments in the provision of infrastructure, land management, spatial arrangement, economic development, and institutional management (Friedmann, 1986). At the same time, the antiquity of many Chinese cities means that the ebbs and flows of history would have led to periods of growth, decay, and regeneration that many “classic” theories provide at best partial explanations of these cities’ development. Thus, concepts like “garden city”, “satellite city”, “organic decentralization”, “urban agglomeration”, and “urban-rural integration” can provide explanations of phases of city growth but not completely (Shao, 2015). Indeed, how cities actually develop owes much to context—historical, geographical, to name just a few. The primary concern of this book is that inasmuch as generic factors like institutions and globalization can characterize city development, contextual differences often shape decisively how cities actually develop.
As the most populous country in the world, China offers arguably the most numerous examples of city development. While the decisions cited above are applicable to the many cities in China, her cities are also evolving through the changing policies, transforming through liberalization, urbanization to specialization, and through efforts to position themselves from just being domestic markets to become international markets. More specifically, liberalization drove the initiation of city development in contemporary China and sparked, sometimes rekindled, industrialization. Large-scale urbanization, in line with industrialization witnessed in the last few decades, led to dramatic urban expansion and development. In accordance with a branch of growth theory which articulated the significance of technology in driving growth, cities in China are enthusiastic in formulating their specific innovation strategies to maintain sustainable growth. These growth drivers are briefly discussed with respect to China below.
1.1.1 Liberalization
Deng Xiaoping’s open-up reform since 1978 has sown the seeds of economic liberalization in China. Through decentralization, local governments were empowered to mobilize resources, and allowed to make local socioeconomic decisions in promoting regional development (Wei, 1995). Thus the cities were enthusiastic in being designated “Special Economic Zones” (SEZs) to attract foreign investment, famous examples being Shenzhen (Ng, 2003) and Suzhou (Wang, Shen, & Chung, 2015). Together with loosened administrative restrictions on international trade and relaxation of foreign exchange controls, most of the coastal cities were led by local governments with the aim to build genuine export-oriented economies.
1.1.2 Urbanization
Incentivized by its open-up reform, China has experienced unprecedented urbanization since the 1990s. More liberalized migration of the rural labor force into cities continuously extended the urban city limits, which resulted in farmland encroachment and intensified urban accommodation pressure (Wang, Zhang, & Cheong, 2014). Meanwhile, rapid industrialization in conjunction with urbanization led local governments to develop and extend their respective urban jurisdictions as fast as possible in order to capture the benefits of economic development. Local governments appealed to underlying concepts such as spatial concentration in their city master plans, all of which seek to encroach upon rural land to support urban expansion (Long, Tang, Li, & Heilig, 2007).
The overheating city economy was reflected in the mushrooming of industrial zones nationwide. To attract investment, local governments built numerous industrial estates to accommodate national and international industries (Wei, 2015; Yang & Wang, 2008). This had created a problem where the peasants who made a living in urban areas but still lived the lifestyles of farmers behaved differently from their urban counterparts. To reconcile the culture clash, regional zones had to be identified by local government in urban areas to accommodate the rural migrants to the cities (Wang et al., 2014).
1.1.3 Specialization and Globalization
A thriving economy owes much of its success to technology and innovation. The attempt of China in transforming itself from simply manufacturing to emphasize also branding shifted many a city plan to focus on high-tech research and development. The emergence of “University Towns” and “Technology Parks” is the result of this initiative, and reflects the ambitions of local governments to build a knowledge-based economy (Li, Wang, & Cheong, 2016; Wei, 2015). Apart from that, with the proposed One Belt One Road strategy announced in 2013, China is seeking to become a world leader in internationalization and to change the global economic order. To this end, the strategic sea-port cities and land-port cities are assigned specialized development functions in order to build China as a gigantic international logistic hub (Li et al., 2016). Meanwhile, the cities along the Silk Roads are all tasked by their local governments with specific and distinctive functions in order to achieve and sustain their growth and compete in the global market.
1.2 Cities in China
Both urban system classification and the socioeconomic index are employed to measure city levels in China. In terms of the urban system, Chinese cities are classified into three levels: provincial level, prefectural level, and county level. At the same time, according to city size and city socioeconomic conditions, the cities in China are divided into four tiers. The factors that determine the city tier are GDP, politics, and population (Table 1.1), where politics refer to the urban authority.
Table 1.1
City system based on socioeconomic index in China
GDP (US$ billion) | Politics | Population | |
|---|---|---|---|
Tier 1 | Over 300 | Controlled by central government | Over 15 million |
Tier 2 | 68–299 | Provincial capital cities and subprovincial capital cities | 3–15 million |
Tier 3 | 18–67 | Prefecture capital cities | 150,000–3 million |
Tier 4 | Below 17 | County-level cities | Below 150,000 |
The top-tier city is characterized by its dense population and well-developed economy, which is able to impact China economically, culturally, and politically. It attracts a large number of foreign enterprises. Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Shenzhen are considered tier-one cities. Tier-two cities are those with a rapid development rate and which enjoy the benefits of cheaper labor costs. Examples are Qingdao and Hangzhou. Tier-three and tier-four cities are respectively prefectural- and county-level cities, largest in number in China with less developed socioeconomic condition. In what follows, several tier-one and tier-two cities will be briefly profiled.
Beijing, the capital of China, is considered one of the most developed cities in China with a recorded GDP of 2.49 trillion yuan in 2016, accounting for over 3% of national GDP (Beijing Statistical Bureau, 2016). The 6.7% economic growth of the city in 2016 owed much to its high-technology industries. The city economy tripled in size in only eight years from 2004, thanks to its booming tertiary sector, which currently generates more than 70% of the city’s total output (Beijing Statistical Bureau, 2016). It enjoys the benefits bought by accommodating a vast number of state enterprises. In the 2012 Global Fortune 500 list, 89 Chinese enterprises were listed, among which state enterprises accounted the lion’s share (Malik, Malik, Makhdoom, & Makhdoom, 2016). About 81 of these top global Chinese enterprises set up their offices in Beijing, 48 of them as headquarters. Meanwhile, 345 of the foreign companies on the list have offices in Beijing. Being home to numerous top enterprises has enabled Beijing to develop with sufficient domestic and foreign investments. Further, Beijing is known for its high-tech industries. The outskirts of the city are surrounded by development zones. Zhongguancun, dubbed “China’s Silicon Valley”, is a cluster of electronics enterprises, which, together with Yongle Economic Development Zone, has become the center of pharmaceuticals, information technology, and material engi...