Clifton W. Pannell

China's continuing urban transition

Urban growth in China has proceeded in step with the growth and transition of the socialist economy. Year 2000 Census data indicate an urban population of 456 million; this is 36% of the total population and is increasing much more rapidly than the overall population. Several factors drive this rapid urbanization and growth of cities and towns: continuing, although diminishing, population growth; migration of rural people, as regulations on rural and urban household registration change; rapid structural shift in employment activities and the decline of farm employment; foreign trade and foreign investment, especially in coastal areas; restructuring of state-owned enterprises and growth of private enterprises and activities; and allocation of domestic funds in fixed assets for urban infrastructure, also concentrated in coastal areas. Key issues for continuing urbanization focus on the capacity of the emerging private sector in parallel with the state and collective sectors to generate new jobs, and the willingness of the central state to reconcile the subsidies and privileges of state-sector urban employees with other recent migrants in cities and towns who do not enjoy the state-sector subsidies.

China's Economic and Political Penetration in Africa

A senior American specialist on China and noted geographer presents a study of that countrys economic and political penetration into the African continent. The author identifies three key elements of Chinas objectives and plan, namely (1) support for Chinese policies in international affairs, particularly with regard to Taiwan, (2) search for oil and other mineral resources, and (3) creation of a new market for Chinese goods and services in tandem with additional jobs in China. The paper includes four case studies highlighting economic activities stimulated by Chinese loans and investments in the Republic of South Africa, Egypt, Sudan, and Angola. Considerable attention is devoted to oil imports, exports of cheap consumer goods, and construction and repair of infrastructure by Chinese technicians and laborers, as well as the competition between Chinese imports and host-country manufacturing and the PRCs diplomatic support of rogue African nations. Journal of Economic Literature, Classification Numbers: F020, F210, F350, F540. 11 figures, 1 table, 47 references.

China's Demographic and Urban Trends for the 21st Century

This paper assesses remarkable and far-reaching changes under way as China enters the 21st century. Among the most significant are the rapid decline in fertility and birth rates, leading to a slowdown in the rate of population growth and a reduction in the growth rate of the labor force. This occurs against the backdrop of continuing structural shift in the economy from a rural-based economy to one increasingly urban-based with growing employment in manufacturing and services. Oshimas conceptual framework for the demographic and industrial transition in Asia is invoked to help explain conditions of change in China. Urbanization proceeds in parallel with these economic changes, and a key feature of transition will be the growth of cities and towns of all sizes. The regional pattern of urbanization will proceed at different rates, with coastal regions advancing most rapidly owing to stronger linkages to the global economy. Journal of Economic Literature, Classification Numbers: J11, O10, O18. 3 figures, 6 tables, 36 references.

The Global Economic Crisis and China's Foreign Trade

Two noted academic specialists on Chinas economic geography are joined by a research assistant to examine the impact of the current global economic crisis and recession on Chinas trade with the rest of the world. Relying on statistics collected by the countrys customs administration through the first half of 2009, the authors identify and analyze trends in Chinas imports and exports (detailing countries of origin and destination) as well as balance of trade. They also develop and present an input-output model in order to gain a more precise understanding of the countrys trade dependence (both before and during the crisis) than afforded by analyses based on conventional statistics, and explore some of the implications of the decline in trade on levels of domestic unemployment.

Structural Change and Regional Disparities in Xinjiang, China

The paper by a noted American geographer and a specialist based in Germany examines and analyzes recent economic growth and structural change in the strategically significant and resource-rich (including oil and gas deposits) region of Xinjiang. The authors identify regional variation in the trajectory of economic development at the urban and county levels, employing conceptual approaches related to structural shifts in economic sectors and focusing on shifts in employment from agriculture to activities in the secondary and tertiary sectors. They also investigate the role of the tertiary sector using a labor transition model, examining its functioning in the context of the industrial sectors absorption of labor in the transitional economy of China. Calculations are based on the most recent official statistical data released by national and regional governments and available at present (mid-2006). Journal of Economic Literature, Classification Numbers: J21, J24, O18, R11. 9 figures, 4 tables, 45 references.

Growing Economic Links and Regional Development in the Central Asian Republics and Xinjiang, China

(2001). Growing Economic Links and Regional Development in the Central Asian Republics and Xinjiang, China. Post-Soviet Geography and Economics: Vol. 42, No. 7, pp. 469-490.

China's Urban Transition

This article describes recent changes in urban patterns in Shanghai-Nanjing, Beijing-Tianjin-Tangshan, Canton-Hong Kong, and Dalian-Shenyang. The urban patterns in these metropolitan areas are viewed as part of an urban transition that is responding to population growth, a structural shift in employment, relaxed rules on migration and household registration, and foreign investment and trade. It is argued that these metropolitan coastal areas will form the key growth centers and will lead Chinas economic development. Urban transition is defined as the shift from rural to urban and from agricultural employment to industrial, commercial, or service employment. Chinas large cities always dominated as important centers of politics and trade. The recent shift is from interior to coastal cities due to a new world view and a movement away from the isolationism of prior centuries. It is assumed that cities are formed to take advantage of economies of scale in production, consumption, and distribution and to conform to regional specialization. Governments can intervene in growth processes. Chinas development of cities reflects state controls and market forces. The size and scale of Chinas population influenced the development process, which resulted in differences in the shape and process of the urban transition. It was under Chinese communism that cities became more than a set of discrete regional urban systems. Reference is made to Oshimas model of change that is specific to monsoon countries. Oshima argues that monsoon agricultural conditions require a distinct strategy based on full employment in order to achieve industrial transition. Rice cultivation requires a large and disciplined labor force. The discussion focuses on other models as well, such as the McGees model of the extended metropolis and its extension by Zhou Yixing to China. Chinas changes may not follow Skeldons models of urbanization in developing countries, because of state control of migration. However, the longer migrants remain in cities the more likely Skeldons models of early European transitions apply to Chinas urban transition.

China Gazes West: Xinjiang's Growing Rendezvous with Central Asia

A senior American specialist on the geography of China surveys that countrys enduring interest and involvement with the former Soviet republics of Central Asia, increasingly on the basis of Xinjiangs role as a bridgehead for economic linkages. Among the key features of this growing involvement reviewed in the paper are the establishment in 2001 of a regional security alliance (Shanghai Cooperation Organization) to combat Islamist extremism as well as separatist activities; growing commercial linkages (especially with Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan) in tandem with improved transport links and increasing crossborder movements of merchants, traders, and tourists; and Chinas growing need for oil and increasing reliance on Kazakhstan as a key source for petroleum. Chinas growing engagement with Kazakhstan and other Central Asian countries is examined within the context of both opportunities as well as challenges, the latter reflecting the increasing complexity of Han Chinese and Uyghur/Turkic relations owing to increased Uyghur ties to affiliated populations in the Central Asian states.

China's special economic zones : policies, problems, and prospects

In this volume, the authors analyse the historical, economic, political, geographical, legal, planning, and management aspects of Chinas special economic zones, and discuss their original motivations, current problems, and future prospects in relation to Chinas overall programme of modernization and economic reform.

Recent increase in Chinese urbanization.

Recent evidence indicates a faster growth in level of urbanization than population in China during the last 35 years despite some years during the 1960s when urban population experienced an absolute decline. Official estimates show an increase in the level of urbanization from 10.7% (1949) to 23.5% (1983). Changing policies have led to adjustments in the definitions of city town and urban population as well as the official statistics....Regional differences in level of urbanization were identified with the highest levels found in the three national municipalities--Shanghai Beijing and Tianjin--as well as the three northeastern provinces--Heilongjiang Jilin and Liaoning. Analysis of different variables indicated level of commercialization of agriculture as measured by the per capita value of agricultural output explained best the regional level of urbanization. Continued increase in the level of urbanization in China is anticipated in step with the overall economic growth and development that has occurred with recent policy shifts and economic reforms. (EXCERPT)