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China's Lab Experiment in Urbanization CCZ-3 • CHINA • JANUARY 2013 ICWA Letters InstItute of Current World Affairs China’s Lab Experiment in Urbanization By Chi-Chi Zhang CHONGQING, China – Huilongba was once a farming village dotted with cab- bage, string bean, and tomato crops. Today, the now-suburb is a booming industrial hub producing more than 15 percent of all raw white fabric manufac- tured in China. Through tax breaks and government spending on infrastructure, the Huilongba government was able to offer competitive wages and attract many former residents who in the past were forced to travel to coastal areas to find work. The town located in Chong- qing’s northwest region now boasts a population of more than 50,000 people. Chongqing has looked to towns like Huilongba, whose economic output shot to US$15 billion in 2011, as a successful representative of the much larger urban- Infrastructure projects such as new bridges are still Photo: Zachary Wang ization plan that Chongqing began in popping up as part of Chongqing urbanization plan. the late ’90s. Efforts to turn Chongqing’s countrysides into urban areas were partially aimed at reduc- as the central government looked to the city for relocation ing the imbalance between China’s affluent coast and lack of of displaced residents from China’s massive Three Gorges development in its languid interior. Dam project. The central government also saw potential in Chongqing as a transportation, economic, and commercial Ever since I moved to Chongqing, everyone has said that hub that would act as a gateway to accelerating growth in there’s no better place to research the intersection of migra- China’s lagging western provinces as part of Beijing’s “Go tion, urbanization and the future of China’s workforce. Ur- West” campaign launched in 2000. Chongqing is the larg- banization is a core identity of this megacity also known to est of the four municipalities and is home to 19 districts that the west as China’s Chicago. Chongqing’s municipality is house 32.8 million people, of which more than 19 million are home to 32-million residents. In 1997, Chongqing became farmers. In Chongqing, towns are considered urbanized once one of four municipalities in China, alongside Beijing, Tian- the countryside has industrialized like Huilongba and resi- jin, and Shanghai. Municipalities are independent of prov- dents no longer have to rely on farming as their livelihood. inces and report directly to Beijing. Geographically, many Chongqing’s urbanization is expected to grow from today’s of China’s municipalities are located in strategic positions 60 percent to 70 percent or more by 2020. between provinces and occupy regions that were once farm- ing belts. Chongqing’s municipality status came to fruition While Chongqing’s past holds historic significance, the Based in southwestern China, ICWA Fellow Chi-Chi Zhang is working in an urban- izing landscape impacted by incredible social change, mass migration, and a growing yet potentially problematic economy. She will be writing about China’s next generation and its role in the country’s political, economic and social development. As a producer The Information contained in this publication may not for CNN in Beijing, Chi-Chi covered ethnic dilution in Inner Mongolia, traveled to the be reprinted or republished without the express written North Korean border for Kim Jong-il’s death and documented Tibetan unrest in Sichuan consent of the Institute of Current World Affairs. Province. She previously worked as a correspondent for the Associated Press in Beijing. ©2013 Institute of Current World Affairs, The Crane-Rogers Foundation Photo: Zachary Wang Chongqing now has the fastest growing economy in China, offering jobs that attract hundreds of thousands of migrants annually. city’s urbanization did not really take off until Chongqing ban life, further urbanization could also lead to the emer- became a municipality in 1997. Chongqing was the coun- gence of urban poverty and increased crime rates. try’s wartime capital during the Second Sino-Japanese war in the late 1930s. And during the 1950s, Chairman Mao Chongqing’s residents credit Bo Xilai or as they call Zedong made Chongqing one of China’s strategic military him “Chairman Bo” or “Comrade Bo” for the city’s urban- and weapons bases based on the perceived threat of nuclear ization successes. The former Communist Party secretary attack from the U.S. and Soviet Union. Since then, Chongq- is now a disgraced politician who was expelled from the ing’s model of using state resources to stimulate consump- Communist Party in September for corruption, abuse of tion, infrastructure, housing and public works projects has power and bribery. But in Chongqing, many locals still propelled Chongqing’s policy innovations in urbanization praise him for making the city safer by launching a mas- to the forefront of China’s rural-to-urban transition. By in- sive crackdown on organized crime. An investigation into vesting billions of dollars in public housing and providing the crackdowns, which were initially praised, later re- rural residents with urban hukous that give people access vealed that he arrested many of his political adversaries to health care, education, and social security, the Chongq- in the process. Bo has yet to make an appearance follow- ing urbanization model is a bold lab experiment backed by ing his detention in March, but is expected to stand trial state policies and resources. in the coming months. Everywhere you go in Chongqing today—from the expansion of the city’s subway and con- A steady diet of tax incentives, funding provided by struction of new bridges—is a reminder of Bo’s legacy. the central government and state-owned enterprises (up to 20 percent of their annual profits ), infrastructure proj- As China faces its slowest annual growth in three ects, and foreign investment has allowed1 Chongqing to years this year3, the central government hopes that ur- flourish to the point where in 2011 the municipality’s eco- banization initiatives similar to those in Chongqing can nomic output reached over US$150 billion, representing be implemented across the country to create a stronger an annual growth of 16.4 percent and a doubling in eco- domestic consumer market, according to Pu Yongjian, an nomic activity since 2008. Chongqing2 is now a manufac- economist and director of Chongqing University’s Sus- turing hub for big electronics companies and has become tainable Development Institute. The goal of such fervent China’s third largest automobile producer. But Chongq- urbanization is to turn farmers into urban workers and ing’s initial success cannot be sustain without providing ultimately, into middle-class consumers living in modern adequate jobs and housing for farmers turned urbanites, high-rises ready to buy, buy, buy. and investing in technology to remain competitive. If the government cannot help rural residents assimilate to ur- When I asked Professor Pu why urbanization in China 1 China’s Ministry of Finance, “Chongqing: State-owned capital gains of 30% for improving people’s livelihood,” Jan 17, 2012, http://bit.ly/U2ZNtJ 2 Qiang Xiaoji, “28 provinces release 2011 economic data,” China Daily, Jan. 30, 2012, http://bit.ly/yy5Bbu 3 BBC, “China economic growth slows to 7.6% in second quarter,” July 2012 http://bbc.in/MnWlD9 2 CCZ-3 needs to happen so quickly, he laughed and said, “ You hong, who was covered from head to toe in cotton fuzz mean, why can’t we just let it happen naturally like in when we met. Since she began working four years ago, Xie the west? Because it’s China! The government needs to has jumped from one textile factory to another and now show that that they are doing everything possible to im- earn US$800 a month, double that of the average college prove people’s lives and show that people’s happiness is graduate’s starting salary. About a dozen dim fluorescent their number one priority. Maintaining a strong economy tubes lit up the musty warehouse half the size of a football through urbanization is the best way to keep the people field. Rows of thin pipes hung above us spraying mists happy. Happy people equals stable society.” His statement of water every two minutes to minimize the cloud of cot- certainly applied to lower and middle-class residents of ton debris that clogged the air. The rusty 1970s weaving Chongqing who saw new bridges, malls and skyscrapers machines sounded like 100 jackhammers with pounding as a shining beacon of Comrade Bo’s legacy. bang sounds that bounced off the room’s cement walls, magnifying the noise. For 12 hours a day, seven days a When Farms Become Factories week, Xie Xuehong oversees 50 machines weaving white cloth. Her job is to weed out broken threads with a metal On a smoggy and bone-chillingly cold day typical of pick and keep cotton strands from bunching together. Chongqing winters, Professor Pu drove me to his home- town of Huilongba. As we drove through Chongqing’s The strong-willed Xie, who stands at 4’11,” is posi- mountainous Beibei district (now famous for a sex scan- tive she won’t be a factory worker for long. Like many dal in which the district’s Communist Party Secretary was migrants who enter the job force at a young age, Xie said outed), the stout professor with toad-like features and a she had no interest in school and figured she could save penchant for science-fiction novel writing reminisced of her parents some money by supporting herself and not growing up in the 1960s in rural Huilongba. He spoke attending college. Even with a junior high school degree, fondly of running through mud roads after thunderstorms Xie said she’s set her mind on becoming an entrepreneur during Chongqing’s boiling summer months.
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