Three New Understandings of Urban-Rural Integration: Starting from the Dual Dual Structure

China not only has an urban-rural dual structure in which the agricultural household-registered population forms one element and the non-agricultural household-registered population forms another, but also has an intra-city dual structure in which the local household-registered population forms one element and the non-local household-registered population forms another. The urban-rural dual structure and the intra-city dual structure together constitute a dual dual structure. Urban-rural integration can be divided into urban-rural integration in the narrow sense and urban-rural integration in the broad sense. Urban-rural integration that breaks down the urban-rural dual structure is called urban-rural integration in the narrow sense, while urban-rural integration that breaks down both the urban-rural dual structure and the intra-city dual structure is called urban-rural integration in the broad sense. Urban-rural integration in the narrow sense is one-sided urban-rural integration, whereas urban-rural integration in the broad sense is truly comprehensive urban-rural integration. Both urbanization and urban-rural integration involve the relationship between city and countryside, and are different expressions of the urban-rural relationship. There are two different relationships between urbanization and urban-rural integration.

The Third Plenary Session of the 18th Central Committee of the Party proposed: “The urban-rural dual structure is the main obstacle constraining the integrated development of urban and rural areas. It is necessary to improve institutions and mechanisms, form a new type of worker-peasant and urban-rural relationship in which industry promotes agriculture, the city supports the countryside, workers and peasants benefit each other, and urban and rural areas are integrated, and enable the broad masses of farmers to participate equally in the process of modernization and share in the fruits of modernization.” Like the urban-rural dual structure, urban-rural integration is an important concept rich in Chinese characteristics, and both were put forward in the practice of reform and opening up by China's finest policy researchers of the 1980s. The relationship between urban-rural integration and the urban-rural dual structure is like the relationship between a “spear” and a “shield”. Urban-rural integration is directed precisely at the urban-rural dual structure, and the process of urban-rural integration is in fact the process of breaking down the urban-rural dual structure. Using the “spear” of urban-rural integration to break the “shield” of the urban-rural dual structure, and ultimately forming a new type of urban-rural relationship that is equal, open, integrated, and functionally complementary, is not only the fundamental way to solve the “three rural” issues, but also the fundamental requirement for achieving social civilization and progress. At present, we need to reunderstand both the urban-rural dual structure and urban-rural integration.

I. The Dual Dual Structure

The urban-rural dual structure has distinctive Chinese characteristics, and it is an important institutional root cause of China's “three rural” issues. In the 1980s, rural policy researchers represented by Guo Shutian and Liu Chunbin conducted pioneering and important research on China's dual social structure. On this basis, we once proposed that the fundamental solution to the “three rural” issues lies in breaking down the dual social structure. In October 2008, the Third Plenary Session of the 17th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China explicitly proposed striving to break down the urban-rural dual structure and accelerate the formation of a new pattern of integrated urban-rural economic and social development, with the institutions and mechanisms for integrated urban-rural economic and social development basically established by 2020. In recent years, accelerating urban-rural integration and breaking down the urban-rural dual structure have become mainstream policy choices, and various localities have introduced many new measures and made much new progress in advancing urban-rural integration. In 2010, during field research in Beijing's urban-rural fringe, the author raised the issue of the dual dual structure.

China's urban-rural dual social structure has two forms: static and dynamic. The static urban-rural dual structure is based, under the planned economic system, on the two different household-registration identities of farmers and urban residents, and on this basis establishes a system of unequal rights between city and countryside and between urban residents and farmers, implementing “separate governance of urban and rural areas, one country two policies,” placing farmers in the unequal position of “second-class citizens.” The dynamic urban-rural dual structure is based on the two different identities of local residents and migrant populations (mainly migrant workers, but not only migrant workers), and on this basis establishes a system of unequal rights between local urban residents and migrant populations, implementing “separate governance within the city, one city two policies,” placing migrant populations in the unequal position of “second-class citizens.” The dynamic urban-rural dual structure is the new form in cities of the original static urban-rural dual structure since market-oriented reform.

The static urban-rural dual structure and the dynamic urban-rural dual structure together constitute the dual dual structure of contemporary China. In developed coastal areas and major and medium-sized cities, the dual dual structure is interwoven and together constitutes a major institutional obstacle facing urbanization and urban-rural integration.

China's static urban-rural dual social structure was formed in the 1950s. It is a product of the planned economic system and the result of government-led institutional arrangements. Its basic features are separate governance of urban and rural areas, unequal status between farmers and urban residents, unequal rights enjoyed, and unequal obligations fulfilled. This urban-rural dual structure, centered on discrimination against farmers, restricts farmers to the countryside and does not allow them to move to cities, forming a stationary dual social structure, which we call the static urban-rural dual structure. The object of institutional discrimination in the static urban-rural dual structure is the group of farmers, who are deeply marked with the identity imprint of agricultural household registration. For a long time, China pursued development within the established urban-rural dual structure. It was not until 2008, when the Third Plenary Session of the 17th Central Committee of the Party explicitly elevated the breaking down of the urban-rural dual structure to a basic public policy of the state. The static urban-rural dual structure has lasted more than 50 years and is now in the process of being broken down.

China's dynamic urban-rural dual social structure was formed in the 1980s. It is a product of market-oriented reform and the result of the dual action of market forces and government behavior. Its basic features are separate governance within cities, unequal status between migrant populations and local residents, unequal rights enjoyed, and unequal obligations fulfilled. This dual structure, centered on discrimination against migrant populations, excludes migrant populations from public services provided by the government, forming a dynamic dual social structure produced by population mobility, which we call the dynamic urban-rural dual structure. The object of institutional discrimination in the dynamic urban-rural dual structure is the migrant population. Many of the migrant populations entering cities are migrant workers, but there are also other non-local persons with non-agricultural household registration, and they are uniformly marked with the identity imprint of migrant population or floating population. Since reform, cities of all types in China have pursued development within the established dynamic urban-rural dual structure. Since the 16th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, solving the problem of migrant workers has attracted great attention from the state, but migrant populations, including migrant workers, have never truly integrated into cities to become equal new citizens; they are objects of strict urban management. The dynamic urban-rural dual structure has lasted more than 30 years.

Since reform, with the development of industrialization and urbanization, population has continuously concentrated in cities, and migrant populations in cities of all types across the country have continued to grow. In some cities, the migrant population has greatly exceeded the local population. On the basis of the traditional urban-rural dual structure, the forces of market-oriented reform have also given rise in cities to a new dynamic dual structure. In cities of all types across the country, especially major and medium-sized cities and towns in economically developed areas, there has simultaneously formed a dual dual structure in which the traditional static urban-rural dual structure and the dynamic urban-rural dual structure that has appeared since reform are superimposed. Every city and town with a migrant population has a dual dual structure, and in major and medium-sized cities where migrant populations are heavily concentrated, the dual dual structure is especially prominent.

If the static urban-rural dual structure under the traditional planned economic system was mainly the result of administrative power, then the dynamic dual structure formed since reform, with the acceleration of industrialization and urbanization, by the flow and migration of large migrant populations, including surplus rural labor, into cities, is the product of the combined action of market forces and government behavior. However, this dynamic dual structure was formed on the basis of the traditional static urban-rural dual structure. In other words, the dynamic dual structure in cities is a replication and reproduction in a different place of the static urban-rural dual structure. The common essence between the two lies in treating a certain group unequally. The dual dual structure is the main social structural obstacle facing China's urbanization and urban-rural integration development.

The dual dual structure we propose is different from what some scholars call the “new dual structure.” Professor Sun Liping once proposed the concept of the “new dual structure.” He regarded the urban-rural dual structure formed before reform as an administration-led dual structure. Since the 1990s, a dual structure he called market-led began to appear. This is a new dual structure. What caused the emergence of the “new dual structure” was the transition of China's economic life from the stage of daily necessities to the stage of durable consumer goods. That is, upon reaching the era of durable consumer goods, urban residents' consumption items have almost nothing to do with the countryside or farmers, and it is difficult for urban residents' durable consumer spending to flow to the countryside, forming a break in consumption between urban and rural areas. This urban-rural dual structure caused by market factors is a market-led “new dual structure.” Obviously, the concept of the “new dual structure” enriches the connotation of the traditional urban-rural dual structure, but the “new dual structure” still falls within the scope of the traditional urban-rural dual structure, or what we call the static dual structure, and it does not involve the dynamic urban-rural dual structure in cities.

In the 1990s, some scholars proposed and discussed the issue of the “triple social structure.” We find that different scholars have different understandings of the connotation of the “triple structure.” The concept of “triple structure” closest to the dynamic urban-rural dual structure we propose takes migrant workers or the floating population as one element of society. In this sense, the use of the concept of “triple structure” mainly focuses on the problem of migrant workers and the problem of the floating population. The extension of the dynamic urban-rural dual structure we use is broader than that of the “triple structure.” In cities of all types, the element of the local household-registered population and the element of all migrant populations constitute a dynamic urban-rural dual structure of unequal status and rights. The main body of the migrant population in cities is migrant workers, but it is not only migrant workers; there are also other urban populations with non-agricultural household registration. The migrant population is also not only the floating population. Those migrant populations who have settled in a certain city for ten or twenty years, although no longer “floating,” are still regarded as the “floating population.”

Proposing and using the concept of the dual dual structure has important theoretical and practical significance. Theoretically, the urban migrant population problems formed since reform, such as the problem of migrant workers, the problem of the ant tribe, and the problem of the floating population, can all be incorporated into the framework of the dynamic urban-rural dual structure for explanation. Practically, breaking down the urban-rural dual structure has become the current mainstream public policy, but in breaking down the urban-rural dual structure, the relatively common phenomenon in various localities is to focus on breaking down the traditional static urban-rural dual structure while relatively neglecting the dynamic dual structure. Regarding migrant populations, although various localities have introduced policies to improve the treatment of migrant workers and other migrant populations, the traditional thinking and policies of various city governments in treating migrant populations still exist seriously. In dealing with the issue of migrant populations, cities of all types are still mainly limited to strengthening public security management of migrant populations, rather than treating them equally as new citizens newly settled in the city. That is, in the process of urban-rural integration, various localities have not yet elevated the treatment of migrant populations to the level of breaking down the dynamic urban-rural dual structure. The proposal of the concept of the dynamic dual structure provides important theoretical support for cities of all types in advancing the practice of urban integration.