ABSTRACT
This chapter describes the evolution of the urban–rural relationship since the establishment of the People’s Republic of China in 1949 in order to provide a backdrop to understand “dual track” urbanization: state-led and bottom-up urbanization. It explores the peri-urban areas of Shanghai in the Yangtze River Delta, Guangzhou in the Pearl River Delta, and Beijing in the Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei region as case studies, examine their social-economic changes since the 1990s, and analyze the socio-economic characteristics of peri-urban areas. Moreover, there is a decreasing tendency of the urban–rural income ratios in Shunde and Nanhai, and the relatively small urban–rural gap is mostly attributed to the development of local rural industries in the peri-urban areas. The urban–rural relationship is one of the most important factors to social and economic development in contemporary China. From 1949 to 1952, the transient harmonious urban–rural relationship accelerated the reconstruction speed of national economy.
