In 2016, neo-urbanization was frequently brought up as an important issue and was extensively discussed in the annual plenary sessions of the national and local People’s Congress, as well as in the committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference. In the 13th Five-Year Plan suggestion, the Central Government mentioned that in 2020, “household registration population’s urbanization rate will increase”, and promoting people-as-core in the future’s neo-urbanization has become the focus of attentions in various regional sessions.
In January 29 this year, Hu Zucai, deputy director of the Development and Reform Commission, pointed out in the introduction of Some Opinions on Further Promoting New-type Urbanization Construction, at present the urbanization rate of the resident population in China has
reached 56.1%, but the urbanization rate of the household registration population is still relatively low (approximately 37%). This is also a reflection of the current "semi-urbanization" phenomenon; many migrant workers work in the cities but their household registrations are in the rural areas; the labor forces are in the city but their families are in the rural areas; the incomes are generated in the cities but accumulated in the rural areas; they live in the cities but rooted in the rural areas. This has formed the unequal interest between urbanites and rural people or locals and outsiders, an implication of the urbanization problems that lie behind the scene.
Anbound researchers believe that in during the period of the 13th Five-Year Plan, the process of turning rural agricultural workers becoming urbanites, and the urbanization of household registration population have highlighted the problem of the ruralization of cities. Ruralization of cities refers to the rural life order being carried over to the process of urbanization, and is considered to be an associated phenomenon in China’s urbanization. With the process of modernization, a large number of rural surplus labor forces pours into the cities, resulting in the ruralization of urban labor forces in the process of the transfer of rural labor forces. This is manifested in characteristics like workers in the cities having non-rural and agricultural jobs but their identities are ruralized, their lifestyle has been urbanized yet their identities are still rural, or that their identities are urbanized but their habits and mindsets are ruralized.
With the progress of urbanization and the development of social economy, ruralization of cities also presents new social characteristics. At present, ruralization of cities in metropolises like Beijing and Shanghai has begun to manifest concentratively. In China’s first-tier cities, Beijing and Shanghai’s resident population has exceeded 20 million, while Guangzhou and Shenzhen’s has exceeded 10 million. These cities are showing clear upside down population phenomenon, referring to migrant population has exceeded the local population (household registration population), and a large number of these migrant population is from rural areas. With such a large population of migrant population, the social development of these cities has experienced a huge impact; the demographic structure, lifestyle, urban culture and even the spatial pattern of these cities have been quietly changed.
However, in the era of unprecedented mass migration and rapid urbanization, the integration, assimilation and the formation of common identities of "outsiders" become more and more difficult. More and more "outsiders" who have lived in cities for a decade or two, bought houses and cars, having children and brought their parents there, yet they still do not perceive themselves as locals.
Today, big cities like Beijing and Shanghai are the so-called "multi-cultural" society, however, this "diversity" does not mean sufficient integration. The reason is obvious; people from different regions and cultural backgrounds share the same society, but maintain their different cultural traditions. This can also be vividly described as a "platter society", just like a large platter consists of different unique dishes. Multicultural platters are rich and colorful, but because they do not have a mainstream value, people living there tend to seek recognition from their original cultural traditions, and in the same society they form isolated communities; on the social level this is shown as disunity. It is hard to imagine that a person who lives in a big city but does not think of himself as a "local" from the bottom of his heart would care about the city’s future. Obviously, this is not conducive to the healthy development of the city; such urbanization is difficult to be described as successful.
China’s National Plan on New Urbanization (2014-2020) proposes that by 2020, the country’s urbanization rate of household registration population should reach 45%. To achieve this target, there should be 100 million urban non-household registration populations becoming permanent populations, and this indicates more cities will face the problem of ruralization of cities. Anbound’s chief researcher Chen Gong has pointed out that China’s urbanization is in a fairly complex process, ruralization of cities is a manifestation of such complexities. Whether we admit it or not, or if we like it or not, the trend of ruralization of cities has become a reality. In this regard, any simplified understanding will cause grave consequences. Ruralization of cities cannot be avoided, and is worth to be pondered upon.
