Given that the scientific literature reports an insufficient number of cities in China, we attempt to explain the origins of this anomaly by examining four possible sources of peculiarities in Chinese urbanisation. We Conversation suggested by:
Denise Pumain, UMR Géographie-cités, Paris (France)demonstrate that it is possible to obtain more realistic estimates of the number of cities by using Chinese data sources, and we cite a number of recent articles that are beginning to move in this direction. Thus, the use of harmonised data bases could help to restore comparability between urbanisation in China and that in other regions of the world.

One finding is likely to surprise urban scientists who focus on Chinese cities. For several decades, academic articles have confined themselves to covering between some 200 and some 650 cities, defined by their administrative status and most often referred to as ‘prefecture-level cities’. Yet, in a country of 1.4 billion inhabitants, where the urban population was set to exceed 950 million city dwellers by 2025, one would expect from urban science to find Continuer la lecture de The Hidden Number of Chinese Cities →