Urbanization requires market-based planning

With many rural migrants in cities going back to their home villages for Spring Festival, the holiday is an opportunity for many empty-nested villages to come alive again.

Admittedly rural residents should be welcomed to work and eventually resettle in cities. But if not handled properly, it could backfire and hurt both the countryside and small cities aspiring to grow. Successful urbanization lies not just in rural residents buying homes in the cities and settling in them, but also in market-based planning.

Many third - and fourth-tier cities in central and western China have to offer preferential property purchasing policies to attract potential rural homebuyers. Some of these smaller cities have even incorporated schools in their residential developments as a means of tempting parents in rural areas to purchase urban properties for "educational purposes".