The impact of rural industrialization on urbanization in China during the 1980s.

摘要

China has experienced dramatic socioeconomic changes since 1979, when the economic reform introduced market mechanisms to the centrally planned system. Industrialization and urbanization during the 1980s exhibited unique characteristics. One salient characteristic of industrialization was the growth of a large number of rural industries. This dissertation explores how the development of rural industries shaped the urbanization patterns during this period.; Based on a three-sector theoretical framework, this dissertation investigates the following major research questions. What are the effects of rural industrialization on urban population growth and rural-urban migration? How does rural industrialization shape the urbanization process? How does rural industrialization change rural labor's migration behavior? To explore these questions, investigation and analysis are conducted at three different geographical levels.; At the national level, this research evaluates and analyzes the overall impact of rural industrialization on urbanization and rural-urban migration. This research shows that rural industrialization promoted urbanization, but prevented urban growth from outstripping industrial growth and massive concentration of urban population towards one region. The analysis also reveals that rural industrialization promoted population movement at the local level, but prevented rapid concentration of population at broader levels.; Using Jiangsu province as a case study, the research analyzes how rapid rural industrialization in this province helped preventing over-concentration of population. The study reveals that rural industrialization promoted the dispersed growth of small towns, and that such a dispersed growth reduced rural-urban migration compared to that resulted from concentrated growth.; The research further investigates the mechanisms of how rural industrialization and small town development affected rural labor's migration behavior. The study, which was conducted in Shanghai suburban counties, shows that rural migrants to small towns tended to maintain a strong tie to their rural origins and that many of them did not completely migrate to towns. The research analyzes the benefits in rural areas and the challenges in urban areas, and reveals that the unique socioeconomic structure is the fundamental determinant of the migration behavior. The research also demonstrates that the spatial characteristics of the development, created by rural industrialization, played an important role in rural labor's migration decision.