the ministry of civil affairs is studying the transformation of super large towns into cities. if it is implemented, who will be the owner?
2024-09-19
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liu yaning/economic observer recently, china social news published an article written by liu tao, director of the division of regional divisions and place names of the ministry of civil affairs, entitled "deeply study and implement the spirit of the third plenary session of the 20th cpc central committee and continue to deepen reform and innovation in regional division and place name work." the article mentioned "studying new paths and models for establishing cities from super-large towns and creating economic growth points in counties."
in july this year, the "decision of the central committee of the communist party of china on further comprehensively deepening reforms and promoting chinese-style modernization" reviewed and passed at the third plenary session of the 20th central committee of the communist party of china also mentioned "deepening the reform of granting extra-large towns economic and social management rights commensurate with their population and economic scale."
the topic of "establishing cities from super-large towns" has been around for a long time. the above-mentioned latest policy developments regarding "super-large towns" may mean that some super-large towns will be granted higher management authority.
towns are the most basic administrative institutions in china. they are the bridge connecting urban and rural bases, and the key node for coordinating urban and rural development. they play an important role in administrative divisions. today, the gdp of some economically strong towns has reached hundreds of billions of yuan. therefore, strengthening towns and expanding their powers has become an important direction for administrative division reform.
the economy of super-large towns is not inferior to that of prefecture-level cities, and it is imperative to expand their power
the list of "china's top 100 towns in 2023" shows that among the top 100 towns, there are two towns whose total gdp reached 100 billion yuan in 2021, namely shishan town in nanhai district, foshan city, guangdong province and maotai town in renhuai city, zunyi city, guizhou province.
in addition, there are 14 towns with a total gdp of 50 billion to 100 billion yuan in 2021, of which jiangsu accounts for 5, guangdong accounts for 6, and shaanxi accounts for 2. beijiao town, shunde district, foshan city, guangdong, yushan town, kunshan city, suzhou city, jiangsu, and yangshe town, zhangjiagang city, suzhou city, jiangsu, all exceeded 90 billion yuan in gdp in 2021, entering the ranks of "quasi-100 billion towns". in addition, chang'an town, dongguan city, guangdong, and chendai town, jinjiang city, quanzhou city, fujian, both exceeded 80 billion yuan in gdp in 2021; the gdp of humen town, dongguan city, guangdong exceeded 70 billion yuan.
with the continuous growth of the town economy, by 2024, the number of "100 billion towns" in china has reached 5, namely shishan town and beijiao town in foshan, guangdong, yushan town and yangshe town in suzhou, jiangsu, and maotai town in zunyi, guizhou.
shishan town in foshan is the first "100 billion town" in the country, with a gdp exceeding 100 billion as early as 2017. in 2023, shishan town will achieve a regional gdp of 137 billion yuan. if compared with the total gdp of prefecture-level cities in guangdong, the gdp of shishan town exceeds that of chaozhou, heyuan and yunfu in guangdong. at present, shishan town has formed seven pillar industries, including complete vehicles and parts, non-ferrous metals, intelligent equipment, optoelectronic display and lighting, smart home, biomedicine, and new materials. among them, the annual output value of two industries, automobile complete vehicle and parts manufacturing and non-ferrous metals, exceeds 100 billion yuan, and the annual output value of the other five industries exceeds 10 billion yuan.
beijiao town is the second "100 billion town" in guangdong. it has the world's largest white goods industry chain and small appliances product cluster. in 2022, beijiao town's gdp exceeded 100 billion yuan. in 2023, its gdp exceeded that of shishan town, reaching 145.3 billion yuan, exceeding the total gdp of five prefecture-level cities in guangdong.
maotai town achieved a gdp of 109.2 billion yuan in 2020, becoming the second town in china with a gdp of 100 billion yuan, and the first town in the central and western regions to have a gdp exceeding 100 billion yuan. in 2022, maotai town's gdp reached 140 billion yuan. compared with the total gdp of various cities in guizhou province, its total gdp exceeded that of anshun city and qiandongnan miao and dong autonomous prefecture. the prosperity of maotai town is due to kweichow moutai. in 2022, moutai group's operating income was 127.554 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 16.53%; net profit was 62.7 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 19.55%.
in 2022, yushan town, kunshan city, achieved a regional gdp of about 102 billion yuan, breaking the 100 billion mark, a year-on-year increase of 5.3%. if compared with the total gdp of counties and cities in jiangsu province, the gdp of yushan town in 2022 exceeded the total gdp of 22 counties and cities in jiangsu province, and was equivalent to the gdp of gaoyou city, yangzhou city (101.481 billion yuan). in addition, yangshe town, zhangjiagang city, jiangsu's second 100 billion town, had its gdp exceed the 100 billion mark for the first time in 2023, reaching 100.137 billion yuan.
at present, the fiscal system of township governments in my country is "township finances managed by the county", that is, the local township revenue is handed over to the county, and the county government allocates funds according to the local budget. however, in reality, the county government will not fully invest the town-level fiscal revenue it receives in the town, but will instead make overall arrangements at the county level, which will affect the development of infrastructure construction and social undertakings in these towns.
in addition, the concentration of a large population in economically strong towns has also magnified the shortage of public services. restricted by the town-level system, economically strong towns often have a serious shortage of public management personnel in areas such as public security and transportation, and need to hire a large number of external personnel to fill the gap in administrative and public institution staff, and all these expenses are borne by the town's own finances.
whether the gdp exceeds 100 billion or exceeds that of prefecture-level cities and county-level cities, such economically strong towns cannot be simply regarded as ordinary towns. as the most basic administrative unit, towns do not have enough money, power, people, and land, and the town-level system is difficult to adapt to the needs of development. therefore, the transformation of economically strong towns into cities or the expansion of power of strong towns is of great significance in the zoning reform.
super-large towns with a population of 100,000 will be upgraded to cities. which towns are expected to be upgraded?
the "2023 china county statistical yearbook (township volume)" shows that there are 630 towns in china with a registered population of more than 100,000, of which guangdong has the largest number, reaching 154; guangxi and jiangsu are tied for second place, with 58; the number of towns in anhui province with a registered population of more than 100,000 also exceeds 50, reaching 54.
among these towns, the town with the largest registered population is shishan town, nanhai district, foshan city, guangdong province, with a registered population of 400,300 in 2022; the registered population of yanjiao town, sanhe city, hebei province is also close to 400,000, reaching 391,300.
if the registered population of shishan town is compared with other prefecture-level cities across the country, its population size exceeds that of 11 prefecture-level cities, including diqing tibetan autonomous prefecture in yunnan, daxing'anling in heilongjiang, jiayuguan city in gansu, and alxa league in inner mongolia. the economic and population size are no different from those of cities, and such a town is expected to become a target of "removing towns and establishing cities".
the national development and reform commission once introduced in a press conference on "key tasks for promoting new urbanization in 2016" that "there are already more than 200 towns with a population of more than 100,000, and it is necessary to provide institutional support for these towns to become new small and medium-sized cities." according to the registered population data, all of these 630 towns can be abolished and established as cities.
how to “abolish a town and transform it into a city”?
located on the coast of the east china sea, longgang town, cangnan county, wenzhou city, zhejiang province, was approved to be directly upgraded to a county-level city in august 2019. it is the first "town to city" in the country and the "source" of new urbanization reforms. this year, longgang city celebrates its fifth anniversary of its transformation from a town to a city.
over the past five years, longgang's gdp has exceeded 40 billion yuan, and its growth rate has ranked second in wenzhou and fifth in zhejiang for two consecutive years. in addition, longgang town has taken the lead in achieving "urbanization of the entire region and local urbanization", with a 21.3% increase in permanent population and a 98.2% urbanization rate.
in the process of abolishing towns and changing them into cities, some towns will transform into county-level cities, while some may become town-level cities. with the exception of longgang town, there has been no significant progress in other areas of the country in terms of towns being upgraded to county-level cities. the reform of establishing "town-level cities" has been explored in some areas.
in 2023, nanyang city, henan province, released an implementation plan for the pilot project of cultivating "small town-level cities", and selected 11 towns among 13 counties and cities as the exploration sites for the pilot project of "town-level cities". however, this "town-level city" exploration does not involve the upgrading of administrative levels. these towns are still town-level units under the jurisdiction of the county, and their administrative level is still town-level.
in addition to the reform of administrative divisions, "power expansion" is also one of the directions of "abolishing towns and transforming them into cities". dongguan city, guangdong province has 4 streets and 28 towns. in the "top 500 town economies in china in 2024", 28 towns in dongguan are on the list. dongguan, with such a developed economy, has no districts, and all towns are directly managed by dongguan city.
at the end of 2010, dongguan, in accordance with the "documents on the reform of the powers of towns in counties and towns and the reform of powers of towns with simplified administration and powers of towns" issued by guangdong province, delegated 575 powers of the town government in accordance with the law in the areas of industrial development, urban construction, public services, etc. through authorization, entrustment and adjustment of the management system of the dispatched agencies, and "expanded powers and strengthened towns" were fully rolled out to solve the problem of "small horses pulling big carts" that kept appearing. through the reform of powers of towns with simplified administration and powers of towns, by 2017, dongguan had delegated more than 3,500 matters to towns (streets, parks), accounting for about 50% of the total powers at the municipal level, so that the economic and social management powers of towns and streets basically reached the level of county-level governments.
after economically strong towns are established as cities, they will become a force that cannot be ignored in urban agglomerations. however, there are also many problems in the process of promotion. just from the name point of view, if the town area is changed to a county-level city, there will be confusing place names such as "shishan city, nanhai district, foshan city, guangdong province" and "yushan city, kunshan city, suzhou city, jiangsu province"; secondly, if the town area is changed to a town-level city, there is no regulation or precedent for the county to govern the city in the division of power in chinese cities.
therefore, although the transformation of economically strong towns into cities is expected to reshuffle the structure of china's urban agglomerations, its development path is still long and arduous, as it poses profound challenges to the current administrative management system.
(source: economic observer)
