A Study On The Development Strategy Of China's Small Towns

The development strategy of China's small towns has been widely debated both by government officials and by professionals.Still, great divergences exist as to whether or not to and how to develop small towns. Lack of consensus leads to the long time absence of a development strategy at the national level to specify the function of small towns, and the objectives, priciples, approaches, foci, policies, etc. for small town development. Consequently, the development of small towns has met various problems, which in turn make many reserchers doublt the value for constructing small towns. In the next few years to come, the newly adopted national development strategy and the changing national conditions are bound to bring new opportunities and challenges to and at the same time make great demands on small towns which are experiencing a period of transformation, thus making a national strategy for the development of small towns under new conditions is urgent.The thesis is a summing up report and theoritical distillation of a survey on over 1800 central towns throughout the country, and the literatures, cases, theoretical thinking accumulated from three years' persistent strive in the research field of small towns and urbanization. Based on the synthetical review of the development process of small towns and the relevant theories and researches, as well as penetrating analysis on the influences of the changing national conditions, the author defines a framework for understanding and grasping the essence of rural-urban dual structure, and puts forward a small town development strategy which can be summarized into "two functions, six principles and five major projects". The five major projects are expounded and implementation measures including policy systems discussed. The contents of the thesis are as follows:Chapter One: IntroductionIn this chapter, the value of the research is discussed first. The author makes a penetrating analysis on the background for the development of small towns, esp. the opportunities, challenges and demands made by the changing national conditions including population, resources, environment, economic transformation, etc, as well as the transformation of the small towns themseves from growth to development and the national strategy of "Buliding New Socialist Countryside". The basic concepts are also specified here, as are the research approaches and materials used.Chapter Two: Review on the Pratices and Theories Concerning the Development of Small Towns Home and AbroadThe roles small towns play in the urbanization processes of western countries are studied, and the theories on the development of small towns critically reviewed. The progresses made and problems met in the studies concerning the status and development patterns, economic development, social transformation, structural reform etc. of China's small towns are summed up.Chapter Three: A Multidimensional Analysis Framework Based on the Evolution of the Rural-Urban Dual StructureThrough analyzing the development process of the characteristic rural-urban dual structure in China and its relationship with small towns, the author finds that to eliminate the dual structure, the rural to urban investment and development dividend feedback to rural areas are essential. Only when small towns are studied within the framework of economic, social and intitutional dual...