Urban Population Growth in China and the USSR

Abstract

In the June 1978 issue of Monthly Review, Hans Blumenfeld, in his critique of Larry Sawers' article, "Urban Planning in the Soviet Union," appearing in the March 1977 issue, concludes that "the evidence shows clearly that China has been less successful than the Soviet Union and the European socialist countries in limiting the growth of large cities and encouraging small ones." This inference follows a comparison of the two largest cities in the Soviet Union and China (Moscow and Leningrad; Shanghai and Peking) in which Blumenfeld's facts on the two Chinese cities are seriously in error, even though he recognizes that the totals for Shanghai and Peking include rural areas within their administrative jurisdiction—quite large rural areas.

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