On January 26th, 2013, China Center for International Economic Exchanges (CCIEE) held the Annual Meeting of China’s Economy in Beijing. The theme of this year is “a new stage of economic development—new opportunity, new challenges, and new development”. The meeting aimed to address that problems and challenges facing China’s economy in its next stage of development. Attendees sought to understand the new underlying economic trends so as to better inform macroeconomic policy decision-making for a stable and sound national economy.

Chen Xiwen, deputy director of the Central Rural Work Leading Group commented that currently and in the future, urbanization will become a driving force of economic growth. The rate of China’s urbanization during the past three decades has been substantial. Based on the number of permanent residents, China’s urbanization rate already reached 52.57% in 2012,  1.3% higher than in 2011, which means additional 210.3 million people becoming permanent residents in urban areas. This data suggests that there is huge potential for further urbanization in China by the endogenous forces of growth.  Still, many potential problems in the urbanization process demand a high degree of attention, such as the supply and demand of agricultural commodities and the rural population.

The Chinese version appeared in Chinese Social Sciences Today, No. 410, Jan. 28, 2013                                        

                                                                                                                      Translated by Zhang Mengying