| Country name | People's Republic of China |
|---|---|
| Surface area | About 9,600,000 km² (about 25 times that of Japan) |
| Population | About 1,334 million(March 2010) |
| Population density | 139/km²(2007) |
| Percentage of urban population | 47.0%(2010) |
| GDP | CNY 34,050.7 billion(2009; National Bureau of Statistics of China) (Roughly equivalent to USD 4.9 trillion when the 2009 year-end exchange rate of USD 1 = CNY 6.83 is used) |
| GNI per capita (nominal) | USD 4,428(2010) |
| Percentage of employment by industry | Primary industry: 38.1% Secondary industry: 27.8% Tertiary industry: 34.1%(2009) |
| Economic growth rate (real) | 9.1%(2009; National Bureau of Statistics of China) |
Country Profile
China is the fourth largest country in the world in terms of area, spanning 5,500 km from north to south and 5,000 km east to west. It shares borders with 14 other countries. Though it has the largest population in the world, China is liberating and opening up its economy at a phenomenal pace as it can be seen particularly in the dramatic progress toward market economy in urban areas.
The tradeoff of China's remarkable economic growth, however, has been emerging problems of economic disparity between urban and rural areas and the widening gap between the affluent and the poor. Furthermore, the western inland regions have lagged behind the eastern coastal regions in levels of economic development and urbanizations, and the income gap between the two continues to broaden. (Actions to redress income gap was taken during the 11th Five-year Plan which achieved a certain result, however there still exists a wide disparity.)
Regions in the west of the country are characterized by particularly stark contrasts in development levels within the same region along urban and rural lines. This latter divide is far more prominent than the development gap between the eastern and western regions.
Provincial-level Administrative Divisions of China
Source: Research Institute for Urban & Environmental Development, JAPAN
Local Governments and Spatial Planning System
China's system of local government is divided into four tiers: provinces, prefectures, counties, and townships.
Figure:Local government system
Source: "Local Authorities for International Relations Forum", CLAIR, Japan Overseas Offices (Beijing) Special Report No. 2 - Overview of Chinese Administrative Systems (June 2000 Edition)
System of Spatial Planning and Territorial Development Policy
There are three layers of plans in the policy related to spatial planning and territorial development in China; socioeconomic development plans, national spatial plans (land use plans), and urban and rural plans.
Socioeconomic development plans are drafted at the national, provincial, and county levels.
National spatial plans (land use plans) are drafted at the national, provincial, prefectural, county, and township levels.
Urban and rural plans can be divided into: urban system plans (which serve to link different urban areas together), plans that link cities with towns, and plans that link townships with villages. Urban and rural plans are drafted at the national, provincial, prefectural, and county levels.
Figure:System of Spatial Policy in China
Note: Priority Areas are not yet designated. They will be decided from the viewpoints including efficient use of resources and mineral.
Urban plans of direct-controlled municipalities, cities at prefectural level, cities at county level, and plans of township and other levels includes master plans, regulative detailed plans and constructional detailed plans.
Source: Figure drawn according to the field work of Study Group on the Overview of Spatial Policy in Asian and European Countries.
Major Authorities Relating to Spatial Policy
| Program name or administrative field |
Organizations | Webpage |
|---|---|---|
| The Five-Year Plan for National Economic and Social Development (11th) |
National Development and Reform Commission | http://www.sdpc.gov.cn/ |
| National Spatial Plan, Overall Land Use Plan |
Ministry of Land and Resources | http://www.mlr.gov.cn/ |
| Urban System Plan, Urban and Rural Plan |
Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development | http://www.mohurd.gov.cn/ |
The Five-Year Plan for National Economic and Social Development
The basic national development policy for China is embodied in the Five-Year Plan for National Economic and Social Development. This plan mainly serves to outline the physical/geographical distribution of large-scale construction projects and centers of productivity, as well as how resources are to be portioned out to different sectors of the national economy. The plan also sets objectives and attempts to lay out a course for the national economy.
The First Five-Year Plan was started in 1953. The current plan is the 12th and runs from 2010 to 2015 (it and peripheral initiatives are colloquially called "Twelve Five"). The five-year plan is approved by the National People's Congress (the highest legislative body in the PRC). The National Development and Reform Commission (formerly the National Planning Commission, which was formed in 1952) is responsible for drafting plan proposals.
The 12th Five-year Plan sets out the key objectives of socioeconomic development for the next five years under the consideration of overall trend and condition in the future, taking in the need of connecting the plan closely to the momentous reaction dealing with the impact of global financial crisis and to the goals of activities to realize "well-off society" by 2020.
As for the development strategies related to national spatial policy, "acceleration of modern agriculture development" will be the target along with next three strategies; basic strategy on regional development, core function area strategy and urbanization strategy.
Figure:Distribution Map of Two-horizontal Three-vertical Urbanization Strategy (12th Five-year Plan)
Strategy seeking to expand economic growth and market area from east to west, and from south to north by taking Land Bridge (Eurasian Transcontinental Railroad) route and route along Yangtze River as two horizontal axes, and coastal area, Beijing-Harbin-Beijing-Guangzhou and Baotou-Kunming as three vertical axes, and also taking a few cities along the axes as the stronghold of constructing a framework of urbanization strategy of other constituent urbanized areas and cities.
Source: (Part 5, Chapter 20, Section 1 of 12th Five-year Plan for National Socioeconomic Development
Spatial Plans at National and Regional Levels
There are two sets of spatial plans in China: the national spatial plans (land use plans) and urban and rural plans. As a plan to form the foundation of spatial plan there is National Spatial Plan established under the responsibility of Ministry of Land and Resources. This plan includes contents such as safe construction of ecosystem, efficient distribution of national land resources, rational structure of national space, securement ability of energy resources, promotion of general preservation of national land, securement of implementing national spatial plan, etc., however it is not functioning as a plan at the moment. The first conference of Instructing Group of Establishing the Outline of National Spatial Plan was held in September 2010 and the conference passed "Method of Establishing the Outline of National Spatial Plan" and "First Half of the Study for the Outline of National Spatial Plan 2011-2030". These are expected to be examined and approved by the State Council, followed by publication of the Outline and other materials and then will move on to its implementation.
The scope of the land use (spatial) planning system encompasses the overall land use plan (master plan), sector specific land use plans, and detailed land use plans. In terms of national and regional plans, overall land use plans (master plans) are drafted that address the entire country as well as individual provincial regions. These plans are mandated by the Land Management Law. Overall land use plans dictate the general allocation of land resources, and serve as strategic guidelines for the development, use, improvement, and conservation of land resources. The Land Management Law stipulates that the master plans of lower administrative bodies are to follow those of higher administrative bodies.
In the system of urban and rural plans, plans corresponding with the plans of national and wide-area regional level are Urban System Plans established for the whole nation and each province. These are statutory plans based on Urban and Rural Planning Act. Urban System Plans are the plans for the development of certain areas (both nation and respective province). As development in the urban area gives great impact to the region-wide development, Urban System Plans are intended to plan development and distribution in urban areas which will link with regional socioeconomic development. The National Urban System Plan is positioned as a plan to guide formulation of Provincial Urban System Plans and Urban Plans (Urban Master Plans).
Metropolitan Planning
LargeWork is proceeding on the creation of the Beijing Master Plan and the Yangtze Delta Plan as regional plans which cover multiple provinces (including directly-controlled municipalities).
The National Development and Reform Commission began preliminary work for the formulation of the Beijing Master Plan and the Yangtze Delta Plan in 2004. In 2007 the plans were submitted to top officials for approval. Once approved, they are to be implemented not as plans mandated by legislation, but as plans promulgated and implemented by the State Council. (As for Regional Plan for the Yangtze River Delta, it was officially approved by the State Council in May 2010 and is already put into action.)
The three largest metropolitan areas in China are Beijing and the Yangtze Delta region mentioned above, and the Pearl River Delta. The Pearl River Delta plan deals with only one province (Guangdong), so owing to cooperation between the Guangdong government and the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development, this urban system plan took shape in complete form in 2005.
In 12th Five-year Plan for National Socioeconomic Development, a description can be seen in Part 5, Chapter 18, Section 4 (Active support toward Eastern Area development ahead of nation-wide development) such as "ensure integrated development of regional economy in Beijing-Tianjin-Heibei, Yangtze River Delta and Pearl River Delta areas, establish capital economic area … "
Trans-fronteer Issues
Mekong Delta development, Tumen River Area development (China, North Korea, Russia), Central Asian regional cooperation, New Eurasian Land Bridge cooperation, Sino-Japanese regional cooperation (the Hanshin area of Japan and mid- downstream areas of the Yangtze River), and other collaborative regional development projects are in the works.
Also in 12th Five-year Plan for National Socioeconomic Development, a description can be seen in Part 12, Chapter 50, Section 3 (Accelerating Liberation in Border Area) such as "Utilize geographical advantages of border areas to establish and implement specific liberation policy, to immediately establish hub ports, border cities, border/international economic partnership zone and liberation model area for prioritized development, to strengthen mutual access between infrastructure and surrounding countries, to develop distinctive outgoing industries and industrial base toward surrounding areas, and to make Heilongjiang Province, Jilin Province, Liaoning Province and Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region as important hub of liberating north-east Asia, Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region as important base of liberating western area, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region as a new highland of partnership within ASEAN and Yunnan Province as an important bridgehead of liberating south-west direction, which are to raise standard of outward liberation in border areas continuously."
