City size distributions in China 1949 to 2010 and the impacts of government policies

Since 1949, the size distribution of cities in China has been changing. This change process can be divided into two stages. The cut-off point of the two stages is 1978, the year China's reform and opening-up policy started. In both stages, the central government has played a significant role. The main interventions of the central government are not Keynesian approaches but political. First, it enhanced economic vitality by implementing a new regional development strategy. Second, it promoted the development of backward or declining cities by transfer payments. Consequently, metropolises and large cities have not grown abnormally large in the globalization process of China's urbanization.