China's Urbanization in 1949-2015:Processes and Driving Forces

The pace and scale of China's contemporary urbanization are stunning. This paper reviews process and the underlying driving forces of China's urbanization between 1949-2015. Contemporary China's urbanization has experienced four stages, and each has had different driving forces:1) economic re-construction and industrialization-led urbanization (1949-1977); 2) economic reform and market-led urbanization (1978-1995); 3) economic globalization and the global-local urbanization (1996-2010); and 4) the land-economyled urbanization (2010-). These urbanization processes and driving forces will undoubtedly provide scientific reference and have significant implications for developing countries, especially African countries, to formulate their urbanization public policies.