This paper analyzes the main factors that accelerate the urbanization process in China after 1978.

After 1978, under the background of rapid economic growth and separation of urban and rural household registration, actively developing small towns will inevitably become the best urbanization policy chosen by the government. China's urbanization has finally changed from being suppressed to being loosened and liberalized. In the past, the policy of controlling urban population growth and urban-rural division was replaced by the policy of encouraging the development of small towns. 1980 in the case of urban-rural division and lagging infrastructure in big cities, the national urban planning work conference put forward the general urban development policy of "controlling the scale of big cities, rationally developing medium-sized cities and actively developing small cities".

In order to implement the above policies, the system of prefecture-level cities managing county-level cities was implemented in the early 1980s, and the number of prefecture-level cities increased rapidly. During the period of 1983- 1998, more than * * 100 county-level cities were upgraded to prefecture-level cities, of which only three were 1983- 1985.

65438-0983 Strengthen the construction of small towns, mainly small towns, supplemented by large, medium and small cities, and solve the problem of rural surplus labor.

1984- 1986 "Demolition of cooperatives to build villages", lowering the standard of established towns and increasing the number of established towns by 7,750 within three years; 1992- 1994, the state carried out "withdrawal, expansion and merger" of towns and villages, and increased 750 towns in three years. The urban growth in these six years is equivalent to 7 1% of the net growth during the period of1979-1999 (21year).

After 1986, the relevant state departments revised the standard of "building cities", and the number of county-level cities also increased rapidly. During the period of 1986- 1996, the number of county-level cities increased by 286. From 65438 to 0992, the State Council revised the organizational standards of small towns again, which promoted the development of small towns.

1993 10 the Ministry of construction held a national conference on the construction of villages and towns, determined the working policy of the construction of villages and towns with emphasis on the construction of small towns, and put forward the development goals of the construction of small towns in China by the end of 2/kloc-0. After the meeting, with the consent of the State Council in principle, the Ministry of Construction and other six ministries jointly issued "Several Opinions on Strengthening the Construction of Small Towns". 1In April, 1995, the State Commission for Economic Restructuring, the Ministry of Construction, the Ministry of Public Security and other 1 1 ministries and commissions jointly issued the Guiding Opinions on Comprehensive Reform of Small Towns, and 57 towns were selected nationwide as pilot projects for comprehensive reform. 1June, 997 10, the State Council approved the notice of the Ministry of Public Security's "Pilot Program of Household Registration Management System Reform in Small Towns" and "Opinions on Improving Rural Household Registration Management System". The circular holds that it is necessary to reform the household registration management system in a timely manner, allow rural people who have worked and lived in small towns and meet certain conditions to apply for permanent residence in small towns, promote the orderly transfer of rural surplus labor to small towns nearby, and promote the all-round development of small towns and rural areas. Newborn babies in rural areas can register permanent residence with their mothers or fathers. Since then, many small cities have basically liberalized their household registration restrictions in order to promote economic development; Many large and medium-sized cities, even Beijing and Shanghai. , but also relaxed the restrictions on the entry of migrants into the city.

1998 10 The Third Plenary Session of the 15th CPC Central Committee adopted the Decision of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China on Several Major Issues in Agriculture and Rural Work, which stated that "developing small towns is a grand strategy to promote rural economic and social development", further enhancing the important position of developing small towns. In July 2000, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council issued Several Opinions on Promoting the Healthy Development of Small Towns. The Opinions pointed out that the time and conditions for accelerating the urbanization process are ripe. Grasping the opportunity and guiding the healthy development of small towns in time should be an important task of rural reform and development at present and in the future.

In June 5438 +2000 10, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China put forward in the proposal of the Tenth Five-Year Plan: "With the improvement of agricultural productivity and the acceleration of industrialization, the conditions for promoting urbanization in China have gradually matured, so we should seize the opportunity to implement urbanization strategy." In order to speed up the process of urbanization, in May 20001,the State Council approved the Opinions of the Ministry of Public Security on Promoting the Reform of Household Registration Management System in Small Towns, and in May 20001,the State Council approved the Opinions of the Ministry of Public Security on Promoting the Reform of Household Registration Management System in Small Towns. The "Opinions" pointed out that the implementation scope of the reform of household registration management system in small towns is county-level cities, resident towns of county people's governments and other established towns; Anyone who has a legally fixed residence, a stable occupation or a stable source of life and their immediate family members living together within the above scope may apply for permanent residence in cities and towns according to their wishes; The blue-printed accounts, local urban residents' accounts and self-care rations accounts that have been handled in small towns meet the above conditions and are uniformly registered as urban permanent accounts. This indicates that small towns have abolished the urban-rural division system. Some places even adopt policies to encourage farmers to live and start businesses in small towns.

To sum up, since the reform and opening up, the changes in China's urbanization policy are mainly reflected in two aspects. First, in the past, urban and rural areas were divided, and restrictions on population movement gradually turned into deregulation, allowing farmers to enter cities for employment and encouraging farmers to move into small towns; Second, the urbanization policy of actively developing small towns has been established.