Content area
Full Text
J OF CHIN POLIT SCI (2015) 20:479481
DOI 10.1007/s11366-015-9379-6
BOOK REVIEW
Tom Miller, Chinas Urban Billion: the Story behind the Biggest Migration in Human History
(London, New York: Zed Books, 2012), 168p. $25.27 paperback
Jean-Marc F. Blanchard1 & Chen Huirong2
Published online: 28 November 2015# Journal of Chinese Political Science/Association of Chinese Political Studies 2015
China is undergoing massive urbanization as a result of economic and demographic factors and deliberate government policy. Indeed, according to some estimates, over 1 billion people will live in cities by 2030. The optimistic view is that urbanization will promote higher incomes, balanced economic growth, and better service delivery. The pessimistic view is that Chinas urbanization will produce hundreds of millions of underclass citizens, sprawling, hideous, and polluted urban jungles, and cities that contribute little to Chinas economic rebalancing. In his book, Chinas Urban Billions, Tom Miller, the managing editor of China Economic Quarterly (CEQ) and a former journalist, promises to address two pressing questions relating to Chinas urbanization: What kind of lives will Chinas urban billion lead and what is the future of Chinas cities?
Chinas Urban Billions consists of six chapters, excluding the introduction and conclusion. Chapter 1 overviews evolving government migration policies, migration patterns, and the failure of Chinas hukou (household registration) system to provide full social benefits to rural migrants. Miller observes the current system condemns millions of rural migrants live in poor conditions, Btreated like illegal immigrants in their own country^...