National Central Cities: Unravelling A Chinese urban policy puzzle

Abstract

This paper critically examines a recent innovation in Chinese urban policy: the designation of a new category of ‘National Central Cities’ (NCCs). These cities, of which there are currently nine, are meant to play a key role in economic modernisation and national economic development. But, despite their undoubted importance, their precise role, definition and function and their basis of designation is unclear. The paper argues first that the underlying, but implicit, theoretical rationale is growth pole theory and that the cities are meant to play a major role in the diffusion and ‘radiation’ of economic growth and other forms of development in their regional hinterlands. The paper also examines the geographical distribution of NCCs in China and looks at their ranking compared to other cities in terms of a number of different indicators such as GDP and population and asks why some cities have been chosen and not others. What is the basis of NCC designation? Finally, it speculates on the future number and distribution of NCCs, the competition for new designation and the possible benefits designation may confer.