Annotation :::: The rapid expansion of cities and towns has taken place in China over the last three decades, but urbanization of the rural population lags behind in the mountain areas, thus causing numerous migrant workers and a floating population. The sixth census shows that the floating population numbers as many as 261 million people, accounting for about one third of the total labour in the country. Studies indicate that migration will present three kinds of situations in the future urbanization process. The first is the continuous increase in the size of urban population. The estimated population of migrants will probably reach about 350 million people by 2050 and the vast majority of migrants will choose cities and towns as their destination places if there is no significant change of population policy in China. Secondly, there is the change of distribution pattern of migrant population. Big cities and towns of eastern China were the destination places for rural migrants in the past; but today the migrants choose the city belt of eastern China, city groupings of central China, and central cities and towns of western China as their destination places. The third situation is the transfer from survival-oriented migration to development-oriented migration. With more and well-educated young migrants entering into cities and towns, they aspire to become permanent urban residents and have increasingly strong demand for survival and development rights. In those situations, urban areas must accordingly absorb a number of migrants, otherwise, urban areas cannot develop in a healthy manner and overall society will suffer from instability. At present, the vast majority of migrant workers rent houses in suburban areas with substandard conditions. Studies indicate some effective ways of integrating migrant workers into city life. For example, a house-supply system and policy system suitable for the characteristics of migrant workers should be established. Also, encouraging the development of cities and towns with decent conditions as a way to gradually integrate qualified migrant workers (having a stable occupation and living in the city for a certain number of years) into the urban housing security system. Finally, the report concludes that China needs to transfer a large number of the rural population into cities and towns in the future urbanization construction process, and guide the population flow along reasonable standards. Also, there is a need to avoid excessive concentration of the rural population in some big cities, and absorb to the maximum extent the rural population in small and medium-sized cities and towns. The final goal for urbanization is to establish an urban system of coordinated development among big cities and small towns instead of haphazard expansion and unproductive competition between cities and towns, and promote the overall development of metropolitan circles and city groups.
