ABSTRACT
This chapter examines recent trends in the relationship between migration and development and in the interpretation of urbanization and the growth of large cities. It discusses the issue of whether migration in China has indeed been different from that in other countries. The chapter focuses upon population movements in East Asia over the last fifty years to suggest that the most effective way to understand global patterns of migration is to envisage them within a unitary framework of the expansion of a capitalist system. It argues that, despite differences between the experiences of Europe and those of East Asia in their urban and industrial transformations, there are similarities of process that have been reflected in the general structures of demographic and mobility change. The functional economic differentiation of regions and the associated patterns of population mobility are examples of the types of processes that are helping to create a global economy and global community.
