ABSTRACT
This chapter shows the effect of the shifting policies outlined above on the number, population, and distribution of cities in each policy era. It examines the four policy eras delimited by five data points—1953, 1963, 1973, 1978, and 1986. These dates are picked not only because of data availability but also because they bracket significant shifts in policy. City status was restricted to places with a population of more than 100,000—or if less than 100,000, only if the place was an important industrial or mining base, the home of provincial institutes, a large market town, or an important urban center along the border. Cities have been both added and canceled from the city system—or, more commonly, cities have been either promoted from or demoted to town and county status. Chinese policy swings, then, had dramatic effects on the number of cities and only slightly smaller consequences for the population of cities.
