Urbanization in China

Hanson, Matthew
Soc 202
24 August 2006


Current Events Article (2)
Urbanization

This article is about how urbanization is helping China. Liu Yong stated, “China's urbanization process in the coming years will produce much consumption demand and greatly drive up the nation's economy.” It is proven that urbanization has a positive correlation with any country’s economic growth. Though China’s population sits right around 1.2 billion, 70 percent of that lives in the rural areas and countryside. Rural areas are not very sufficient when it comes to supporting such a large population. On the other hand, expanding urban areas can provide the jobs for rural laborers who cannot find work in their home provinces. It should be known that China’s urbanization rate (ratio of urban population to the entire population) is very low. I feel that urbanization is definitely a good thing for any country, but only up to a certain point. Too much urbanization causes over population, and especially waste and trash problems. Recently, I’ve read elsewhere that due to the on going urbanization, there has been huge problems as far as trash and dumps filling up. China is taking up more and more land it is growing out of hand. I think that businesses should move away from the cities. I believe by doing this, people would follow and relieve all the congestion in the cities.

- http://us.tom.com/english/2285.htm, China Internet Information Center, 2002