Political Aspects of Mobility in China's Urban Development

Traditionally, Chinese urbanism was as much “a way of life”as in present-day America or Europe though its style, scope and effect on general social change differed markedly from its Western counterparts. The pre-modern Chinese city, predominantly an administrative-military center, extended and enforced imperial authority and proved to be a hostile environment to entrepreneurship. Typically, the mark of officialdom was stamped on the Chinese city, and urban life and elite status were often equated. Moreover, the appeal of urban living remained sufficiently strong through the years to attract large numbers of non-official local elites or “gentry” as well as officials, particularly during periods of relative social instability and peasant unrest. Since the perquisites of status surrounded the lives of city dwellers in many areas of China, the young peasant aspirant to the elite also considered movement to the city and upward social mobility to be roughly equivalent. This view of mobility and the city in the Chinese scheme of things provides a basis from which we can examine trends in recruitment and their consequences for social change for selected periods since the Ming Dynasty (1368–1644). Particular emphasis will be placed on the interrelationships of urban social mobility and industrialization and on the implications of these interrelationships for political legitimacy in the Chinese People's Republic.Following the time-honored Chinese system of evaluating occupations, the official was accorded unmatched prestige. The general citizenry, well beneath all officials, was classified into scholars, peasants, artisans, and merchants—in descending order of rank—with a tiny group of declassed individuals placed far below them.