China’s urbanisation – it’s speed and extent - has become the stuff of legend: growing from an urban population of 17% in 19761 to around 64.6% of the total population in 20232 During this time, of course, the national population has also risen massively. As a number of researchers have pointed out, Chinese statistics have always been difficult to interpret or to accept, but we have a reasonable assumption that China’s population in 1975 was between 850 –931 million3; and at its peak in 2022, it was 1.41 billion. In other words, its urban catchment increased statistically and numerically, from around 140 million to 945 million.

However, in recent years, a number of factors have influenced the relentless rise in China’s urban population and recalibrated relations with the rural areas. This paper seeks to explore a few of these issues; namely the impact of Covid (and, more importantly, the lockdown of society); the housing crisis and its impact on the national economy; the historical and contemporary influence of a national self-sufficiency narrative, and the consequences of population decline. All of these stories are wrapped up in the urban v rural divide that continues to blight the country. Whether this societal division can be resolved into a more liberal definition of free movement - regardless of relations to land designation - is yet to be resolved, but there are changes currently taking place that will redefine the way that urban and rural areas and occupants are conceptualised. This paper is a short exploration of the possibilities and challenges arising from this socio-political shift in China’s historical-demographic organisation.