ABSTRACT
Seven case studies in 1993–1994 and six case studies in 2000–2001 were selected to examine the role of zhen in the process of economic and social change in regions at different stages of development. Of course, this study could not mirror a representative cross section in a statistical sense. The basic conditions for selection were, however, the same: choose localities in provinces with varying economic power, but also include coastal and interior regions, and ensure that the selected zhen varied in their distances from megalopolises and varied in the amount of influence exerted on them by those large urban centers
