Winner of the 2017 WENJIN BOOK AWARDS.

Great Nation Needs Bigger City is a comprehensive presentation about the research results of Professor Lu Ming’s work in many years. It focuses on the realistic issues in the current process of urban and rural economic development in China. The urbanization process in China has only been half-way through but the problems in the big cities and in the countryside are coming into the public spotlight. Comparing the current situations in China with global experiences, based on the local realities and practical theories, the author argues strongly about the importance of developing big cities in China. He also pays special attention to the path of development of Shanghai, systematically analyzing the advantages of big cities for the individuals, the communities and for the entire nation. It is only when allowing the market to have its full influences on labor force and other social production factors, the difficult contemporary social issues can be resolved thoroughly. The focuses of the government functions should be put on the aspects where the market cannot cast its influences, for instance, the infrastructures and public services.

Through this book, the author tries to call for the cancellation of the restrictions against free flows of the domestic population, and to advocate the development of big cities in order to help the urbanization process in China speed up. Only through aggregation, only through pursuing the balancing of the per capita GDP instead of the regional GDP, the economic developments can be truly balanced, which will eventually benefit the nation and its people greatly.