ABSTRACT
With rapid economic development and urbanization since 1978, there have been significant changes in Chinese cities (Fan 1999; Ma 2002; Pannell 2002; Gu and Shen 2003). Urban change in China is clearly related to the decentralization process of the state in China. Before 1978, the power of the hierarchical administrative system in China was highly centralized. Since the early 1980s, there has been a clear tendency of decentralization in economic and financial administration and decision-making. Various scales and forms of state activity have been rearticulated through complicated processes involving the twin issues of governance and scale.
