Seven steps toward the Chinese dream

3. Urbanization

During the Central Urbanization Work Conference at the end of 2013, President Xi Jinping said urbanization is where the greatest potential lies for expanding domestic demand and promoting industrial restructuring.

But this time, the central government is poised to put a more people-centered approach at the heart of its urbanization plan, setting out a reform timetable for the nation's household registration system by 2020, one based on regular places of residence rather than the much criticized current system based on a person's place of birth.

Gu Shengzu, a professor of economics at Wuhan University, said China's urbanization rate has reached 51.27 percent, but the proportion of registered urban residents accounted for only about 38 percent, which means that nearly 200 million people live in towns and cities where they cannot enjoy the same treatment as registered urbanites. Their identity and status remain indeterminate.

Narrowing the gap between urban and rural regions has become the focus of the urbanization program. The central government announced on Feb 7 its resolve to integrate the rural and urban pension insurance systems, in order to equalize access for both rural and urban residents.

One highlight is the transfer of rural residents to neighboring medium or small-sized towns, instead of a huge migrant influx to major metropolitan areas such as Beijing and Shanghai. Promoting this new type of urbanization depends on making a breakthrough in county-level economic development.

Yao Shujie, a professor of economics at the University of Nottingham in the United Kingdom, said China's urbanization will embark on a more balanced development path when there is a stable flow of rural residents to nearby small cities and towns.

This will also help reduce the population pressure in big cities, so that skyrocketing housing prices are likely to be curbed.