ABSTRACT
This chapter reviews China's urbanization and the driving forces in different stages of urbanization in order to investigate why the new leadership is trying to differentiate urbanization from the previous development orbit, and what lessons could be drawn from this urbanization initiative. Urbanization development in China, which has a different economic and political regime background from the rest of the world. Its new leadership is highly pitching the urbanization. The current patterns of urbanization are criticized by its over-reliance on physical construction and spatial expansion, with insufficient attention paid to resources efficiency and the welfare of the migrant peasant workers. The shift of resources from agriculture to industry is the central feature of modern economic growth, as the income elasticity of demand for industrial goods was higher than that for agricultural products. The urbanization took place in counties and towns were driven largely by the rural industrialization and the rise of the Township and village enterprises (TVEs).
