Institutional Change And The Small Towns Of Southern Jiangsu Recent Developments In The Study

Since the Reform and Opening of China, small towns have been developing substantially. Valued by scholars and officials and encouraged in policy, small towns have been the main force of the Urbanization in China. With the deepening of economic system reform, small towns are facing some problems which are increasingly criticized by the scholar circles. So reform is being undertaken everywhere. By the end of the 1990s, the property right reform of township enterprises had been basically completed, the reform of census in small towns had been virtually promoted, the merging of towns and the adjustment of administrative divisions had been accelerated. These all provide a new system background for small towns.South of Jiangsu, the home of township enterprises, the fast development of small towns in which is the strongest force and main display of urbanization in 1980s.The establishment and completion of the Sunan Model has been the most characteristic example of rural urbanization. This paper will focus on small towns in South of Jiangsu, probe into the relations between institutional changes and development of small towns and grasp the development law, which will provide basis for the enforcement and promotion of regional urbanization.First, the paper defines connotation of urbanization, small towns and system changes. Reviewing and valuating the research situation of small towns at home and abroad, the author sums up the basic theory of their development. Then, the author focuses on new trends appeared following system changes since the end of the 1990s, including key-point development, transform of function and developing power and complicated population structure. Third, using qualitative and quantitative analysis, the author analyzes the importance and mechanism of a series of institutional changes which include census reform, property right reform of township enterprises and adjustment of administrative divisions. Fourth, the author chooses Changshu which is one of the provincial and national comprehensive experimented regions as a typical case to carry out research. Qualitatively analyzing the effects of all institutional changes, the author predicts the developing prospect of small towns in Changshu under the current system and seeks for developing strategies in the future from the institutional aspect.