Some local governments are financially dependent on land sales and use all sorts of methods to turn farmland into construction land. Villages are turned into towns by administrative decree. Illegal and violent demolitions seriously damage the interests of farmers.

Statistics show the 2006-2010 period saw an average of 440,000 acres of land transfers per year. This poses a severe challenge to the country's limited land resources.

According to Chen Xiwen, social security is a public service that the government should provide to all citizens. Farmers have legal title to their property and it is completely illegitimate to ask them to exchange their land for access to public services.

Urbanization is not just a vision of the future

Urbanization is the result of industrialization. It should progress step by step, in line with the development of industry.

According to Professor Liu Xin from Renmin University's Public Management Department, industrialization is the driving force of urbanization, and urbanization, in turn, create conditions for further industrialization. "We must pay close attention to the close relationship of the two," he said.

"If we compare urbanization to a quilt, industrialization is the lining. To make a good quilt, you need a good lining," Professor Zeng Yesong of the Party School told the People's Daily. "If we ignore the level of industrialization in pushing urbanization, we will go against economic laws and be punished in the end," Zeng added.

According to Professor Zhang Hongyan from Nanjing University's Institute of Public Administration, over the next 10 to 25 years, China will undergo a major transformation, in which between 500 million and 600 million agricultural population will become city dwellers. It will be one of the most dramatic social and geographical changes in the history of mankind, and will give tremendous impetus to China's overall development. But governments at all levels seem inadequately prepared to handle the issues it will throw up.

How to avoid the pitfalls and achieve the promise of urbanization is one of the most important challenges China now faces. The way out lies in respecting the laws of urbanization in order to achieve sustainable development.