ABSTRACT
Since the start of reform and opening-up, the spatial distribution and structure of China’s population has undergone signifi cant change as a result of strong, large-scale movements of people between rural and urban areas and between regions. The size of the migrant population has continued to increase rapidly, and at present has already reached 220 million people, accounting for about one-sixth of the total population. These movements have had extensive and powerful effects on the structure of Chinese urban, rural and regional development and have led to the emergence of a wide geographical variety of demographic structures and a wide range of spatial problems. Most of the fl oating population is made up of rural migrant workers who go to cities to work or engage in trade and commerce. These people have already left the countryside looking for employment and livelihoods. However, their household registration remains in the countryside, they are not properly integrated into urban society, and they show characteristics of incomplete urbanization. Allowing the fl oating population to become urban residents and increasing the quality of urbanization have already become pressing contemporary problems in China.
