Social, Economic and Political Context

Abstract

In the western housing literature on China, terms such as 'housing a billion people' are frequently encountered. Such phrases are useful to draw readers' attention to the scale of the housing challenges faced by the Chinese governments. However they only give a superficial picture and no sense of the organization of housing or of housing policy and practice in the country. China is a vast country and the Chinese population is by no means a homogeneous group, particularly in relation to current housing provision and requirements in the urban and rural areas. Traditionally, Chinese people were housed through various self-help shelter schemes in a more or less rural environment. State assistance in general had never occurred before 1949. Since then industrialization and urbanization have brought about an increase in the urban population.