Seven Prototypical Chinese Cities

Abstract

Not all Chinese cities are alike, and these differences are reflected in the challenges posed by urbanisation and the corresponding responses cities undertake, including the formulation of mandated five-year plans. These plans emerge from and contribute to a larger discursive process by which planners and other actors frame an understanding of the key issues that cities need to address. This research undertakes a content analysis of the 11th five-year plans of 286 major cities in China, leading to the identification of a set of key words permeating those texts. A cluster analysis is then conducted based on those key words describing principal tasks outlined in the five-year plans. Seven distinct clusters of cities emerge and an additional analysis using socioeconomic data from the China City Statistical Yearbook identifies the defining characteristics of each cluster and prototypical cities within them (Jilin, Liuzhou, Zhuzhou, Nanping, Xinyu, Chengde and Mianyang). Finally, by comparing the present socioeconomic profile and prospective development issues of each cluster, implications for national urban planning strategies in China are discussed.

Evolution in city branding practices in China's Pearl River Delta since the year 2000

“…City labels were collected from the sentences expressing a city's development targets in the text of the FYPs. The FYPs are comprised of sets of strategies and initiatives for future socio-economic development of cities (Heikkila & Xu, 2014). Issued every five years, they provide the opportunity to study city label changes over a reasonable timeline.…”

A Literature Review of Cluster Theory: Are Relations Among Clusters Important?

“…Jofre‐Monseny () and Lee and Choe () had similar ideas to Brulhart et al . (). Special economic zones: Many Asian countries have successfully created such zones and achieved great results (Cheng et al ., ; Heikkila and Xu, ). Despite this, there is a debate about whether government should use a “visible hand” or not (Ketels, ).…”

Understanding knowledge threatened by declining wild orchid populations in an urbanizing China (Sichuan)

“…Globally, the greatest Cymbidium diversity is found from the eastern Himalayas into China, and though Cymbidium has a large range across southern China, the focus of many distributions lies in southwest China, including Sichuan (Du Puy & Cribb 2007, Zhou et al 2016. Following economic reforms beginning in 1978, China experienced world history's largest rural-to-urban migration (Zhang & Song 2003), with an unprecedented domestic migration of >440 million people (Heikkila & Xu 2014, Zhao et al 2015. Urbanization and changing market dynamics have fuelled price speculation and rapid overcollection of many Chinese orchids (including Cymbidium), resulting in population collapse and local extinctions of many species (Du Puy & Cribb 2007, Zhang et al 2015.…”