Bert Van der Knaap, Erasmus University Rotterdam, Rotterdam, The Netherlands
Population and internal migration in China during the 1990's (assigned to theme
The Chinese economy is experiencing rapid growth and transformation during the last 2 decades. Part of this process is the opening up of 4 Special Economic Zones and 10 open port cities, which are located in the South, viz. Guandong provincer and Fujian and on the East Coast. The result of this is a rather uneven pattern of regional and urban growth. Another consequence of this development is a change in the household registration system (the hukou system) allowing for an increase of both official migration and illegal migration (floating) population. In the paper the changes in the patterns of regional(provincial) population growth will be studied based upon an analysis of natural growth and migration. This will provide the basis for an analysis of interregional migration flows, which is predominantly labour migration. The structure of these flows and their changes will be analysed between 1990 and 2000 on the basis of a regression analysis. A second point of interest is the impact this has on the growth of cities located in the three major economic zones in the South (Guangzhou), the east (Shanghai)and the North (Beijing)generating hyperurbanisation and polynuclair metropolitan areas.
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