ABSTRACT
Chinese cities have experienced two dramatic transformations since 1949. When the communists came to power, the country was predominately a rural society with a very poor urban network. There were only 69 settlements with official city status, which included about 11 per cent of population. Cities also had distinctive land-use patterns and internal structures derived from the historical sequence of Chinese imperial and western-associated colonial treaty port eras. Land use in cities dominated by palaces, gardens, government buildings, traditional houses, western settlements (concessions) and some industrial establishments concentrated in the coastal regions. Between 1949 and 1976, cities experienced the first major transition. Under the leadership of Chairman Mao, semi-feudal and semi-colonial cities were transformed into socialist industrial bases. Centralised economic planning and strict population movement control maintained a relatively low level of urbanisation (Kirkby, 1985).
