| Urbanization is an important content in China's Eleventh Five-year Plan and strategy of constructing a harmonious society. China's urbanization in present day lags behind industrialization. On the one hand, this is the result of China's traditional social and economic policies. On the other hand, this is closely related to the restricted population migration due to China's urban and rural residence registration arrangement and dual-element social structure. In essence, urbanization is the population concentration in cities during industrialization or a process of population urbanization under certain economic conditions. This paper, from the point of view of the science of politics and by proposing freedom in population migration, studies the relationship between China's urbanization progress and its residence registration reform. It also aims to clarify the relation structure of urbanization, residence registration reform, population migration, setup of supporting systems, and social and economic development. Finally, it offers proposals for promoting China's free population migration and perfecting urbanization development.This paper adopts history study method and comparative study method. On the basis of reviewing China's population migration history during its urbanization and formation of its residence registration system that results in separation of urban and rural areas, this paper analyzes the characteristics of and driving force behind China's urbanization and expounds the restriction on free population migration by the residence registration system that separates the urban area from the rural one. The restriction on migration during China's urbanization comes from two aspects. First, it comes from the continuity of China's residence registration system that features status hierarchy correlated with rights and interests. Secondly, it comes from the "marginalized" survival condition of China's rural surplus laborers in their working cities. Focusing on these two defects, this paper analyzes experience of several other countries in floating population and residence registration administration during their urbanization. In addition, by presenting some laws on equality and freedom as theoretical bases, it explains the necessity and importance of China's residence registration reform and points out that in order to realize essential freedom in migration, China must start with residence registration system reform and construction of supporting systems. China should not only establish a residence registration system focusing on "social administration function and population information statistical function", cutting off the countless ties between residence registration and material benefits in people's life, but also stage the corresponding reform in rural land system and social welfare system concerning employment, education, and social security, safeguarding equal and lawful rights of both urban and rural residents. Only in this way can essential free migration of rural surplus laborers be realized and China's urbanization promoted. |
