China listed some 2,000 towns across the country as 搆ey towns?to be developed into larger cities to accommodate the government抯 drive to urbanize the rural population.
These towns will enjoy preferential policies in areas such as land use, construction and financing. At the same time senior government consultants suggested a massive 搘est-to-east?migration campaign of 100 million western farmers to speed up the urbanization process.
The consultants argued that the migration would guarantee an ample labor supply for the eastern region and the development pressure would be reduced in the economically and ecologically fragile western areas. China has about 220 million surplus laborers in rural areas, mostly in the central and western regions.