*2.2. Domestic Research*

Research on urbanization and rural development in China has generally exhibited a shift from an emphasis on rural development to an emphasis on urban development in the modern era and, to date, has developed to achieve the overall planning of urban and rural areas through the integration of the two strategies of new urbanization and rural revitalization (Table 1).

Agriculture was the foundation of society in ancient China. It was a long-term economic policy to emphasize agriculture and suppress commerce. Instead of resulting in a conflict between urban and rural areas, urbanization was based on and even oriented to rural areas, and free communication between urban and rural areas formed the integration of urban and rural areas [63]. However, the Opium War broke this integration in China during that historical period, causing opposition between urban and rural areas gradually. The invasion of capitalism has changed both the city and the countryside. The development of modern industry and commerce has made the city more prosperous than before, and it needed a lot of cheap labor, which led to the continuous migration of the rural population to the city. The urban–rural relations and the dependence of rural areas on cities have been strengthened, and the urban control and exploitation of rural areas have led to the decline of rural areas. A large-scale rural construction movement began to rise, with representatives of Yan Yang-chu, Liang Shu-ming, Lu Zuo-fu, etc. The movement focuses on the rural economy, rural education, the rural environment and rural transportation [21,64–66].

*Land* **2021**, *10*, 207


**Table1.**MainstagesandcharacteristicsofChina'surban–ruralrelationsandurbanization

Since the 1950s, as a series of policies of industrial priority and urban bias have been adopted, the gap between urban and rural areas has been widening and resulted in the formation of an urban–rural dual structure [67]. The strategy of heavy industry priority under the planned economy promoted industrialization at the expense of agriculture and farmers, which made the urban–rural relations extremely unbalanced [68]. A strict household registration system and a series of economic and social systems derived from it, such as the urban welfare security system, urban–rural dual ownership system, dual citizenship system, and dual exchange and distribution system, led to the deepening of urban–rural isolation and the solidification of the urban–rural dual structure [69]. Since 2000, with the socialist new rural strategy, new-type urbanization strategy and rural revitalization strategy put forward in succession, urban and rural areas are showing a new trend of integrated development.
