The Way To Reach China’s Urban-rural Integration

The relationship between urban and rural areas is the basic relation in economic and social development. The society will change with the change of the relationship between urban and rural areas. The evolution of the relationship between urban and rural of developed countries shows that the relation between urban and rural experienced four stages which are urban and rural symbiosis, urban and rural separation, urban and rural opposition, urban and rural integration. Urban-rural integration concentrates on harmonious development in every way such as economic, society and ecology between urban and rural areas. Its essence lies in balancing urban and rural development, eliminating urban and rural opposition and enabling urban and rural residents to share equal national treatment and social rights. Urban-rural integratio is an important target and the inevitable development trend, and urban-rural dual structure is a necessary stage of the development process of urban and rural. China’s urban-rural dual structure is urban-rural dualitic mechanism formed by economic development and institutions. Now, it is the best period to break up the urban-rural dualitic system and implement urban-rural integration. Integrating urban-rural development is the inevitable choice during the acceleration period of urbanization, and is the important way and goal to change the mode of economic and social development..Based on dual sector model, growth pole theory and core-periphery theory, three basic cognitions can be obtained. The first one is that urban-rural integration is the inevitable tread of economic and social development. The second one is that industrialization, urbanization and agricultural modernization are the basic way to realize urban-rural integration. The third one is that the process of industrialization, urbanization and agricultural modernization driving urban-rural integration is very slow, and the government can accelerate the process by institutional innovation. Meanwhile, according to new institutional theory, property rights theory and principal-agent theory, it can be known that institution is a main factor to economic and social development. Therefore, three theoretical hypotheses can be obtained that the interaction between institutional innovation and new-type industrialization and new urbanization and agriculture modernization drives urban-rural integration. One is that institutional innovation is the accelerated external thrust of urban-rural integration. The second one is that promoting harmonized development of new-type industrialization and new urbanization and agriculture modernization is the endogenous thrust of urban-rural integration. The third one is that the interaction between institutional innovation and new-type industrialization and new urbanization and agriculture modernization is the effective force for urban-rural integration.The western developed countries and newly industrialized countries have realized urban-rural integration. The developed countries represented by Great Britain and America place emphasized the development of rural areas and agriculture during the process of industrialization and urbanization, and finally realized urban-rural integration. When the newly industrialized countries represented by South Korea and Japan realized industrialization and urbanization, the government coordinated urban and rural development by a mechanism of industry promoting agriculture and urban areas helping rural areas. On the contrary, Latin American countries emphasized industrialization and urbanization, but ignored the development of rural areas and agriculture over a long period of time, and eventually fell into "the Latin American crisis", making it difficult to realize urban-rural integration. The international achieved Route of Urban-rural Integration shows fully that the interaction between industrialization, urbanization and agricultural modernization is an important driving mechanism and realizing mechanism. Meanwhile, institutional innovation responses the requirement of the interaction and accelerate the interaction. Institutional innovation and industrialization, urbanization and agricultural modernization which are benign and interactive are effective force for realizing urban-rural integration.In Suzhou, Integrating urban and rural development has gone through the start-up stage, the spontaneous exploratory stage and the implementation stage. In the start-up stage, the characteristics of urban-rural integration are that the government strong launched, and industrialization and urbanization oriented gradually. In the spontaneous exploratory stage, the characteristics of urban-rural integration are that the government policy guided, and industrialization, urbanization and agricultural modernization developed quickly. In the implementation stage, the characteristics are that the government has been leading strategy, and industrialization, urbanization and agricultural modernization has been accelerating development. In the implement stage, Suzhou has implemented overall urban-rural comprehensive matched reform, which focuses on institutional innovation including property rights defined clearly, institutions reform and the administrative reform, and focuses on developing new-style industrialization, new-style urbanization and agricultural modernization. The interaction between institutional innovation and new-style industrialization, new-style urbanization and agricultural modernization has been promoting to integrate urban and rural development quickly. The main measures include integrating urban and rural planning, integrating infrastructure and public services, deepening the reform of household registration system, defining the law farmers’ rights to farm the land they have contracted and to use the land on which their houses sit and to share in the proceeds from rural collective operations, and increasing policy measures to support and benefit agriculture, rural areas and farmers, and strengthening of county authority, the interaction between politics and social, and establishing a new type of system for intensive agricultural operations to construct modern agriculture. Suzhou’ overall urban-rural comprehensive matched reform has made major achievements, but there are still gaps compared with urban-rural integration fully accomplished. The reason is that new-style industrialization, new-style urbanization and agricultural modernization have not yet fully realized, and urban-rural dual institutions have not reformed completely because of the long-term of urban-rural dualistic mechanism, the goal and the behaviors of local governments and their officials deviated.Achievements and significant effects accorded with China’ national conditions made by urban-rural integration in Suzhou, which is the interaction of between institutional innovation and new-style industrialization, new-style urbanization and agricultural modernization, and illustrates that which is the way to reach the urban-rural integration. In particular, adhering to principles of the interaction between institutional innovation and new-style industrialization, new-style:urbanization and agricultural modernization, promoting coordination between new-style industrialization, new-style urbanization and agricultural modernization, and changing government functions based on the basic role of market forces in allocating resources are the main contents.Experience of international urban-rural integration development and a case study of Suzhou’ urban-rural integration test the hypothesis of the interaction of urban-rural integration between institutional innovation and new-style industrialization, new-style urbanization and agricultural modernization being the effective way to urban-rural integration proposed by theoretical analysis, Hence, in order to accelerate urban-rural integration, it is necessary to accelerate promoting new-style industrialization, new-style urbanization, rural and agricultural modernization, and changing government functions based on the basic role of market forces in allocating resources.