ASSESSING THE QUALITY OF URBAN LIFE IN CHINA

Key words: 
• quality of life /
• quality of urban life /
• urban development /
• urban population

Abstract: The quality of life is considered as the distributed degree of social resources with significance to the urban residents as a whole. There are three features about the study of the quality of life by means of objective method. First, objective methid is based on the government publication of statistics from which the information of social environment influencing people's life can be obtained by systematic analysis. Second, as a result of social policy and planning development, the quality of life studied by objective method can provide scieatific basis for regulating and making policy. Third, the objective method emphasize that the improvement of the quality of life mainly depends on the effort from the government so as to set up a coordinatly developed environment of community.On the basis of relevant data from the 1991 Yearbook of Urban Statirtics of China published by Statistics Press of China, and using spss, the quality of urban life in China is evaluated. Seventy four cities are selected from 467 cities in China. These cities are basically representative of the present urban development in China. There is a significant correlation between the quality of urban life and the level of economic development.