At the end of 2008, the urbanization rate of China had reached 45.7 percent with a total urban population of 607 million people, according to the "Blue Book of Cities in China" published by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.

Dr. Shan Jingjing, the book's associate editor-in-chief, said urbanization has continued to expand rapidly and China's urban population had surpassed 600 million people by the end of 2008 with the urbanization rate reaching 45.7 percent.

Compared with 2000, the urban population has increased by 148 million people and the urbanization rate has risen 9.46 percentage points, up by an average of 3.78 percentage points per year.

Urban construction has also accelerated. Investment in urban construction is continuing to maintain a relatively fast growth, up by 0.3 percentage points year-on-year.

The proportion of urban fixed asset investment within the fixed asset investment of society as a whole is continuing to increase, rising by 0.4 percentage points.

The production and operational capacity of urban public utilities has noticeably increased. For instance, daily urban sewage treatment capacity rose 16.1 percent, while the sewage treatment rate rose by 2.4 percentage points.

By People's Daily Online