China gears up for urbanization

Chinese Premier Li Keqiang remarked at this year's NPC and CPPCC sessions that urbanization is an inevitable trend, and pledged to advance urbanization in a steady, active and prudent way. At the 5th World Forum on China Studies which kicks off on Saturday in Shanghai, CCTV reporter Xie Sisi spoke with the world's prominent scholars on this matter.

At the opening of the World Forum on China Studies this year, shifting people from the countryside to cities is a policy priority for China's new leaders as they seek to sustain economic growth.

The government hopes 60 percent of China's population of more than 1.3 billion will be urban residents by 2020 –a way to include more people into the economic activity.

Zheng Bijian, Director, China Inst. for Innov. & Dev't Strategy, said, "We need to push forward the development of our social productivity to achieve a higher level. On the basis of the last 30 years of reform and opening-up, we need to not only focus on the quantity of productivity forces, but also make a greater leap to a better quality of productivity."

Currently, there are about 260 million migrant workers in cities and more than 10 million farmers are migrating to cities every year.

The biggest problem of traditional urbanization is that the development of the social system is left behind by the expansion of cities. Experts say the two aspects should be in step with each other.

Xie Sisi, Shanghai, said, "Urbanization is not simply relocating rural population to cities. The central government is now promoting a new model that shifts from one that is capital-driven to one that is people-oriented. And it is to focus on systematic reforms such as of the hukou system and social welfare system."

Moreover, one scholar said a key task during the country's urbanization is to protect the interests of farmers and to help them better integrate into cities after urbanization.

In the meantime, the government also vows to prevent over expropriation of farmland for development as well as water shortages, pollution and other environmental problems.