Urban agglomerations in southern Fujian province of China a comparison with San Francisco bay area

Abstract

In recent years, accelerated China’s urbanization is approaching the turning point from the conventional urbanization to neo-urbanization. At this critical stage, it has become more necessary to focus on the regional growth collectively, in the form of regional integration. However, in the case of the Southern Fujian Province, the population is to a large extent concentrated in a few large cities, not evenly distributed. This paper would explores the theory of two stage urbanization and then compare this region with San Francisco Bay Area which exemplifies the general track of metropolitanization. Both regions show similarity geographically but different in many other aspects, especially the degree of economic integration among its various parts. Therefore, reform in the local government system for Southern Fujian area is strongly needed, especially the system of city-leading-county. In doing so, Xiamen needs to reform its economic structure in the entire metropolitan area, instead of confining the reform to the city proper.