China's Vanishing Worlds

Figure Sixty years later, its population has grown to over 1.3 billion, with approximately 50 percent, the majority of which are peasant framers, residing in the countryside. According to a projection, by 2020 urban areas will occupy 96 percent of China's total arable land. China's rural residents will account for less than 4 percent of the total population, although they will be spread over almost two-thirds of the country (Wu 2010: 20 -21).