The development and planning of Xian since 1949

Wang, Y.P. and Hague, C. (1992) The development and planning of Xian since 1949. Planning Perspectives, 7(1), pp. 1-26. (doi: 10.1080/02665439208725736)

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Abstract

Most recent publications on the development of urban planning in China tend either to present an overall view of the country as a whole, or to concentrate on a few large coastal cities, such as Shanghai, Tianjin and the national capital, Beijing. How were cities in more inland areas planned and developed in the last 40 years? Questions like this have not been adequately addressed by those writing on the subject outside China. The omission is particularly important because the contrast between the coastal cities and the interior provinces was proclaimed by Mao back in 1956 to be one of the ten major contradictions in China, and is still an important concern for analyses of Chinese urban and regional planning. This paper examines the planning and development of Xian city over the last 40 years. It reviews the two official overall city plans for Xian (1953 and 1980). The 1953 Plan, as a means ‘to change the consumer city into the socialist production city’, was conceived as addressing the development gap between the coastal cities and the inland regions. It sought to promote industrial urbanization within a strict centrally‐planned economy, and was cast in a characteristically static blueprint mould. The 1980 Plan was a result of China's new embrace of market processes as reflected in the Special Economic Zones (SEZs) and liberalizing initiatives in the coastal cities. The paper therefore analyses both plans and their implementation, makes comparisons between them, and draws conclusion about the planning of an inland city in comparison with the coastal cities.

Item Type:Articles
Status:Published
Refereed:Yes
Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID:Wang, Professor Ya Ping
Authors: Wang, Y.P., and Hague, C.
College/School:College of Social Sciences > School of Social and Political Sciences > Urban Studies
Journal Name:Planning Perspectives
ISSN:0266-5433
ISSN (Online):1466-4518
Published Online:08 May 2007

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