With the founding of the People's Republic in 1949, lived only one in ten Chinese cities. Until now, the degree of urbanization with just over 43 percent is relatively low (2005). The reason mainly is that the influx into the cities for most of the time was not possible, and even today there is hardly any movement. Moreover, in the 1960s, large campaigns, where people from the cities to the country were relocated, in part to the crowded cities with high unemployment to relieve, in part from the ideological right, class differences and disparities between urban and rural residents should be repealed. The urbanization level has remained so in the 1960s and 1970s largely the same, time he fell. Made possible by the strong economic growth in China has been increasing since the mid-90s degree of urbanization of China strongly.

The capital of China is Beijing. Other major cities are Shanghai, Guangzhou, Wuhan, Harbin, Nanjing, Xi'an, Chengdu, Tianjin, Chongqing and Shenzhen (see also List of cities in the PRC).