Urbanisation And Migrant Workers

Question 1

China’s urban population process statistic

Answer 1

• In 1949: 70 million (12.5% of the total population)
• In 1990: over 575 million (51% of the total population)

Question 2

China’s urban population compared to other countries

Answer 2

• UK 2010: 79.7%
• China 2022: 63%
• China 2050: 70%
• China still has a long way to go

Question 3

China’s urban population conclusion

Answer 3

It is predicted that another 350 million citizens over the next two decades could move into cities more than American’s entire population.

Question 4

China’s urban populations statistic compared to population growth

Answer 4

Between these years, the population grew by almost 6% per year. This far out paced the growth rate of the overall population - which was just under 2%

Question 5

What stimulated the modernisation of China?

Answer 5

• Many people then were moving to work in construction and in mines; however, after death of Mao in 1976, China began to modernise its agriculture, industry and technology to develop new trade links.

Question 6

China’s urban population statistic

Answer 6

• In 1949, was about 70 million (12.5% of the total population)
• In 1990, China’s urban population was over 575 million (51% of the total population)

Question 7

Other factors that contribute to the urban growth figures

Answer 7

• The return of people previously sent to the countryside in the 1950s-60s
• The reclassification of rural settlements as urban
• The upgrading of some towns to cities

Question 8

Urban population in large cities statistic

Answer 8

Over 60% of the urban population live in cities with a population of more than 500,000 and over 40% of those live in a metropolis (main city in region)

Question 9

How many large cities in China?

Answer 9

50 with the 20 metropolises

Question 10

Shanghai’s population

Answer 10

13 million

Question 11

Beijing’s population

Answer 11

10 million

Question 12

Tianjin’s population

Answer 12

Over 9 million

Question 13

Factors affecting the distribution of urban growth in China

Answer 13

Rural transfer movement (Xiafan)

Question 14

Rural transfer movement (Xiafan)

Answer 14

Thousands of factories workers and millions of urban dwellers were sent to rural areas in the 1950s-60s

Question 15

Urban Sprawl

Answer 15

• the spread of urban areas as a result of rural-urban migration
• there has been a massive urban sprawl in China to accommodate for the millions of people who have migrated to China

Question 16

Shanghai urbanisation area statistic

Answer 16

Shanghai’s designated urban area has grown by 486% from 1985 to 1995, but the population only increased by 37%

Question 17

Spatial patterns in urban areas:

Answer 17

• Although China’s major cities now have modernisation schemes, the majority of cities still have the pattern of land use established during the 1950s.
• The centre typically consisted of main streets of state owned shops and offices, plus a mixture of poor public and private housing.
• This was surrounded by a ring of industrial work units.
  As the central areas are redeveloped, wealthy people move into the centre while the poor are relocated to the periphery.

Question 18

Differences in housing with statuses

Answer 18

• The privatisation of industries and housing displacement has changed the ring of estates of mixed housing and factories into high-quality housing.
• The new middle-classes have better homes in a suburban ring around the edge of the cities, but there are fewer facilities or job opportunities, and less of a family support network in these areas.

Question 19

Impact on the environment due to urbanisation

Answer 19

• The new housing developments separate home and work for most people, and the necessary transport network is expensive for local authorities to provide.
• There are more cars and commuting, which is consistent with modern traffic.

Question 20

Urban renewal

Answer 20

Urban renewal should be targeting the worst housing areas, but developers prefer areas with good land value, low population density and straightforward land, property and tenancy agreements

Question 21

Most vulnerable

Answer 21

• The most vulnerable of all are the ‘unofficial poor’ - those rural migrants who are left out of the housing reform programmes.
• During the Mao years, housing was provided by the state-owned enterprises and businesses, but it wasn’t a priority to look after the quality of the houses.

Question 22

What are the consequences of the differences in urban renewal?

Answer 22

• = many homes which need much maintenance and repair but provide rented housing for people below the poverty line.
• The privatisation of housing since the late 1990s = increased social inequalities.
• Commercial builders have produced too many luxury dwellings for the new wealthy which remain unsold.

Question 23

Sustainability of Cities due to urban growth

Answer 23

Environmental issues such as
waste disposal
air pollution
transport
the quality of water supplies

Question 24

Quality of water statistic

Answer 24

• Beijing is struggling to source clean water from the **shrinking Lake Miyun **
• Between 50% and 90% of urban groundwater is polluted by agriculture, industry and municipal waste and mine tailings.
• There are frequent chemical spills into rivers.

Question 25

Decrease in rural areas statistic

Answer 25

• China has seen a 33% - Beijing is struggling to source clean water from the shrinking Lake Miyun
• Between 50% & 90% of urban groundwater is polluted by agriculture, industry and municipal waste
• There are frequent chemical spills into rivers.
  in rural areas per capita within the last 50 years
• China faces the problem of whether it can feed itself
• In 1996, concerns were so high that urban sprawl was banned for a year.

Question 26

Urbanisation

Answer 26

an increase in the proportion of people living in urban areas compared to rural areas
• the transformation of rural populations into urban population - the process by which a nation’s population become concentrated in cities and towns.

Question 27

China’s urban cities growth statistic

Answer 27

• China’s cities are already home to more than half the country’s people
• by 2030, they will contain around 1 billion people (70% of China’s population)

Question 28

China’s city urbanisation example

Answer 28

• Chengdu has the world’s largest building (the New Century Global Centre) which includes a shopping mall and a 300 metre long indoor artificial beach
• Zhengzhou has the largest bullet-train station in the world
• The bullet-train network is longer than all of Europe’s and will expand by another 2/3 meaning every city with a population of 500,000 or more will be connected to it

Question 29

Problems with urbanisation (economic)

Answer 29

○ Famers in China have no property rights, so officials can allowed to grab agricultural land on the peripheries of urban areas (and make money for themselves by selling it to developers)
○ This over hasty development has led to ‘ghost cities’- half-empty forests of high-rise office and residential buildings that have sprung around many cities
○ This had then led to vast debts = economic stability

Question 30

Problems with urbanisation (environmental)

Answer 30

○ People need cars to get around
○ Beijing has more cars than Houston as well as some of the dirties air on the planet
○ Stat: China passed US as the biggest emitter of CO2 from energy (nearly twice US’s level)

Question 31

Social problems with urbanisation

Answer 31

○ China’s cities are now largely made up of two classes
○ A property-owning middle class = new social freedoms, takes holidays in Europe
○ A migrant underclass = toils in factories & menial jobs but is denied public services because of its hukou
○ Both groups are discontent with each other and distrust one another

Question 32

Why do farmers have no property rights?

Answer 32

• This is a powerful deterrent against powerful migration
• Rural hukouer are allowed a small piece of land. They can rent it out but can’t sell it.
• The government sees it as welfare provision since they can use that land to grow food
• Some say it should be privatised to allow them to sell it
• This is good since without it, mass migration would occur and turn China’s cities into slums
• During the global financial crisis 2008, as many as 20 million migrant workers lost their jobs but the farm land kept them from taking to the streets

Question 33

Suggestions to help with urbanisation

Answer 33

• Give farmers property rights
• Renewable transport
• More democratic

Question 34

Suggestions (renewable transport)

Answer 34

• China has less habitable space than America but 4x as many people.
  
  • Much of the country is mountain/desert/unusable for development.
  • High prices for land would make people regard land as a scarce resource and use it efficiently.
  • That would discourage them from using American-style sprawl and encourage them to build dense, energy-efficient European-style cities where people walk, cycle or take public transport

Question 35

Suggestions (more democratic)

Answer 35

• Give residents a say in how cities are planned, built and run (e.g elect a mayor)

Question 36

Example of cities changing (urban sprawl)

Answer 36

• Shenzhen’s transformation from fishing village to megacity. It had the world’s fastest growing residential property prices.
• 1955: 5,000 people
• 2015: 10.7 million
• Cars and motorbikes clogs the roads while skyscrapers tower over the city’s small commercial area

Question 37

Urbanisation is crucial driver of China’s economic growth.

Answer 37

• Migrants not only provide labour for factories, they also boost consumption by renting apartments, eating in restaurants

Question 38

Population in urban vs rural areas

Answer 38

China’s 2020 census
Urban: 63.9 percent
Rural: 36.1 percent

Question 39

Over-population in urban areas

Answer 39

• Strain on housing: Emergence of slums
• Strain on education
• Strain on healthcare