China's Urban Transition

by John Friedmann

Though China's urban history reaches back over five thousand years, it is only in the last quarter century that urbanization has emerged as a force of widespread social transformation while a massive population shift from country to city has brought about a dramatic revolution in China's culture, politics, and economy. Employing a historical perspective, John Friedmann presents a succinct, readable account and interpretation of how this transition - one of the most momentous phenomena in contemporary history - has occurred. China's Urban Transition synthesizes a broad array of research to provide the first integrated treatment of the many processes that encompass the multi-layered meaning of urbanization: regional policy, the upsurge of rural industries, migration, expanding spheres of personal autonomy, and the governance of city building. John Friedmann's detailed analysis suggests that the nation's economic development has been driven more by social forces from within than by global capital. This leads directly to the epic story of rural migration to major urban regions, the policies used to restrain and direct this "avalanche" of humanity on the move, and the return of many migrants to their home communities, where the process of urbanization continues. Focusing on everyday life in cities, he also shows how this social transformation extends to the most intimate spheres of people's lives. In conclusion, the author raises the question of a "sustainable" urban development and its relation with China's own past, values, and institutions. Friedmann predicts that within ten years China - already the most powerful country in East Asia - will have become a major power in the world. With historical depth, interpretive insight, and interdisciplinary breadth, this book offers an unparalleled introduction to China's transformation.

Genres: China

196 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2005

Reviews

[Sam Bright · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a really interesting book to read seeing as it reflects on trends from the late 90s and early 00s (it was written in 2005). There were some great insights to how midsize Chinese cities - not just the megalopolises of greater Shanghai and Beijing - grew after Deng Xiaoping's modernization campaign. The resiliency and ingenuity of individual people to take advantage of the CCP's desire to keep urban populations from skyrocketing (to keep the production of grain and other "necessary" crops growing) is a really cool way to look at Chinese industrialism from the Chinese prospective and not just as an American consumer. There are a lot of connections to be made between Chinese patterns of migration from the inland villages to the coastal cities (the author identified five unique types of migrants in modern China) and the patterns of migration we see temporary workers and political refugees take in the United States - like the spoken language being a delineation between the "haves" (urban hukou holders, white Americans) and the "have nots" (rural hukou holders, Spanish speaking migrants to the United States).

There is a lot of really interesting city planning discussion as well, I think a second edition of this book written 18 years later would be incredibly interesting to see how much better or worse the central government in China has adapted to a newfound necessity to provide urban residents the right to something. Are China's urban areas westernized to the point where city planners and local government agencies actually have the power to implement the plans mandated of them to create or does the burden still fall on the police force to be the catalyst of small quality of life improvements and private enterprise runs free to build high rises for the wealthy and drive inequality in a self-proclaimed socialist society continually up?

The only thing that holds this book from five stars is a seeming lack of continuity, in my opinion, that ties the six chapters together. Otherwise, a really interesting look back to early 00s Chinese urban development.

[Sudhir Bhatia]

Very informative before by first trip to China in 2007.