| Population urbanization is inevitable as human society marches forward. The speed of population urbanization has great influence on the development of social economy. The so-called population urbanization not only means the increase in the numbers of cities and population, but also the tendency and process of the mass population gathering towards big cities. This article analyzes in detail China's population urbanization process since 1950s, illustrates the challenges and opportunities we face in the process of population urbanization, and points out the way of population urbanization that fits China's, which is of great importance to the grand task of China's modernization.I. The theoretical basis of China's population urbanizationIn demographics, urbanization is referred to as population urbanization, i.e., the phenomena and process of rural population transferring into urban population. In another word, population urbanization is the phenomena and process of urban population in a specific country or region forming a larger and larger percentage of the total population. We have the world's largest population. And rural population forms the main part. The demand for labor and differences between rural and city residents and those between regions are the incentives of population urbanization. Our historical background and starting point of population urbanization are different from those of other countries. Firstly, the number of population is immense and is increasing quickly. Secondly, rural population forms the majority and agriculture is lack of the supporting capability. Thirdly, our resources per capita and GDP per capita is little, and industrialization level is low. Looking back at the past half century, we can see that the general trend of China's population urbanization is N-shaped: city developing, population increasing—city withering, population decreasing—city redeveloping, population re-increasing. II. The analysis on the stages of China's population urbanization since 1950sChina's population urbanization process for the half century can be divided into four stages: 1. Starting stage (1949-1957). 1949-1952 was the recovering period for national economy as well as for population urbanization. The first five-year plan period from 1953 to 1957 was the real starting point of China's population urbanization. 2. Ups and downs stage (1958-1965). The Great Leap Forward movement from 1958 to 1960 led to short-term population over-urbanization. Rural people waved into cities massively, which made our population urbanization develop abnormally. The industrialization adjustments from 1961 to 1965 resulted in the unique population anti-urbanization. 3. Stagnation stage (1966-1976). During the ten years of Cultural Revolution, the national economy stagnated and so did the development of industrialization. At the same time, the increase of city population was very slow, below the average increase of the same period. 4. Rapid developing stage (1978 till now). After the third meeting of the 11th committee, China's population urbanization took on the right track and urban population increased rapidly. Generally speaking, the population urbanization contributed greatly to the development of the economy and the progress of the society ever since and formed the necessary and good base for future population urbanization. III. The general analysis on the course of history of China's population urbanization One manifestation of population urbanization is the increase in numbers of cities and towns. The number of cities increased from 160 of 1949 to 223 of 1980 and to 663 of 2000. And the construction and development of towns were not negligible. This article also analyzes in detail the development of different kinds of cities, the changes in their weight, and their respective increasing speed. The features of China's population urbanization are: the starting point was relatively late, population urbanization process was slow, policies constrained the population urbanization significan...
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