The Role of China’s Spatial Administrative Hierarchy in China's Urban Expansion: A Case Study of Chongqing and Pudong New Area

Abstract

This research will delve into China’s spatial administrative hierarchy (SAH), an organized, multi-tier administrative system consisting of nested territories amongst the administrative levels, to better understand and analyze how the central government alters China’s administrative and spatial landscape to achieve China’s strategic goals through via economic, institutional, and territorial changes. My research will focus on the case study of urbanization from Chongqing’s administrative upgrade from a prefecture-level city within Sichuan province to a provincial-level municipality to support the Three Gorges Dam national project, and from the decentralization that helped create the Shanghai Pudong New Area, “the new Shanghai.” I will compare and contrast how the central government manipulated the spatial hierarchy to achieve strategic level goals in both case studies. Ultimately, I make the claim that during the reform era, the central government would follow the following pattern in manipulating China’s SAH to achieve a strategic level goal or meet the National Agenda. First, institutional and territorial changes (whether through mergers or decentralization of power to lower government echelons) occur to better align the governing structure and territorial resources that suit the end goal. Following these changes, land and/or fiscal policy is implemented to exploit the resources of the new-target region, ultimately reaching the economic, industrial, or urban goals set forth by the center. This pattern mimics rapid industrialization and urbanization through “pseudo-marketization”, but is still actually a top-down initiative that maintains overall control of the outcome and factors that would result in the outcome. The analysis will include historical background, examples of institutional changes, territorial restructuring, fiscal and land policy changes, and global/local dynamics. Specifically, historical context will be considered to understand the strategic-level objectives to clarify the rationale behind the central government’s decision-making process. For this analysis, I will utilize official government data, historical accounts, territorial reform policies, and population/financial/city data to provide a refined, theoretical perspective of the state’s manipulation of the SAH to achieve national level goals. This research aims to broaden the existing research of China’s SAH and its role in China’s urbanization. Specifically, this research will expand the topic of urbanization in a Chinese lens and take a deeper look into the Chinese factors and characteristics that set China apart. The findings will shed light on differing methods in which the Central Government manipulates the SAH while maintaining ultimate control and authority while obtaining strategic level goals supporting China’s national agenda. The findings will also shed light on China's utilization and manipulation of the SAH to demonstrate how the country leverages re-territorialization and decentralization to exploit local resources while retaining full political control for the purposes of urbanization and industrialization. This study advocates for broader recognition among researchers of the significance of China's SAH in urbanization dynamics. A comprehensive understanding will be provided in terms of economic, institutional, and territorial urbanization. What role did China’s SAH play in shaping China’s Urbanization? How did the central government manipulate China’s SAH to achieve national agendas?