Urbanisation of the Chinese Rural Population: A Literature Review of China's New-type Urbanisation

Abstract:China's New-type Urbanisation Plan has greatly impacted hundreds of millions of rural citizens. This article provides a comprehensive review on recent urbanisation trends with respect to the Chinese rural population. It offers three key findings: (i) the actual progress of current urbanisation is significant yet still limited; (ii) the reform strategies of rural land marketisation and restructuring urbanisation finance are innovative yet largely unrealised; and (iii) the goals of growth and citizenship embedded in reform strategies may be inconsistent and contradictory. Despite reflecting a significant rural-to-urban demographic transformation, China's new-type urbanisation trajectory is a long-drawn-out process.