Urbanization with Chinese Characteristics: The Hukou System and Migration

Many agree that rapid urbanization in China in the late 20th and early 21st centuries is a mega process significantly reshaping China and the global economy. China?s urbanization also carries a certain mystique, which has long fascinated generations of scholars and journalists alike. As it has turned out, many of the asserted Chinese feats are mostly fancied claims or gross misinterpretations (of statistics, for example). There does exist, however, an urbanization that displays rather uncommon "Chinese" characteristics that remain to inadequately understood. Building on his three decades of careful research, Professor Kam Wing Chan expertly dissects the complexity of China?s hukou system, migration, urbanization and their interrelationships in this set of journal articles published in the last ten years. These works range from seminal papers on Chinese urban definitions and statistics; and broad-perspective analysis of the hukou system of its first semi-centennial; to examinations of migration trends and geography; and critical evaluations of China?s 2014 urbanization blueprint and hukou reform plan. This convenient assemblage contains many of Chan?s recent important works. Together they also form a relatively coherent set on this topic. They are essential readings to anyone serious about gaining a true understanding of the prodigious urbanization in contemporary China.

Introduction Definitions and Statistics 1.Misconceptions and Complexities in the Study of China’s Cities: Definitions, Statistics, and Implications 2. Remapping China’s Regional Inequalities, 1990-2006: A New Assessment of de Facto and de Jure Population Data The Hukou System and Migration 3. The Chinese Hukou System at 50 4. The Global Economic Crisis and Unemployment in China 5. A China Paradox: Migrant Labor Shortage amidst Rural Labor Supply Abundance 6. Migration and Development in China: Trends, Geography and Current Issues
Urbanization and China’s Future 7. Crossing the 50 Percent Population Rubicon: Can China Urbanize to Prosperity 8. The Size Distribution and Growth Pattern of Cities in China, 1982-2010: Analysis and Policy Implications 9. China’s Urbanization 2020: A New Blueprint and Direction

Kam Wing Chan is Professor of Geography at the University of Washington, USA. He is a leading expert on China's urbanization, migration, and the household registration (hukou) system, and author of an important work on China’s urbanization: Cities with Invisible Walls: Reinterpreting Urbanization in Post-1949 China (Oxford University Press, 1994).