China claims to have more than 600 cities with total population of 360 million. These figures include only people with permanent urban IDs issued by the PSB authorities. Accordingly, the real number of residents of some cities is likely to be bigger than reported. Two-thirds of the 34 biggest cities are in North China, showing that the traditional industrial bases in northeast are still among the most heavily populated areas of China.

• Two-thirds of Asia’s largest cities are in China, which has been the largest urban nation since the 1970s. By 2005, China’s urban population will be larger than the combined populations of Southwest Asia, Europe, and the former Soviet Union.

• There is a correlation between urbanization and standard of living, so urbanization is important.

• Not all coastal cities are rich and not all inland cities are poor. GDP in the Yangtze Basin is twice that of India, and about the same as Indonesia.

• Physical access to markets is important to economic growth, but many cities have limited road links. The national trunk highway system, to be completed over the next five years, will bring about real change—some cities will become much stronger while others will decline. This is as significant as the completion of the interstate highway system in the United States. Some cities that seem unimportant now will become very important over the next 10 years. Distribution will be affected.