No other creatures in the animal world form anything like cities.

             closest resemblance would be a bee hive or an anthill, however in contrast.

             to human agglomerations; they are closed to non-natives and not based on.

             voluntary exchange (Bartlett, 1998, cited in O'Sullivan, 2009). The hukou.

             (household registration) system, implemented in China in the late 1950's and.

             still being enforced today, assigns a hukou location to every Chinese.

             citizen that curtails self-initiated moves and limits migration from rural.

             to urban areas (Fan 2005). These restrictions create agglomerations much.

             like those described by the hives and the hills of nature, and it is.

             questioned whether such restrictions are preventing Chinese cities from.

             obtaining a socially optimizing equilibrium. This essay looks to discuss.

             the determinants of city size, the effects of the hukou system on these.

             determinants and hence evaluate whether Chinese cities are induced to.

             become 'too small'.

             The size of a city can be distinguished between its size in terms of.

             land mass and its size in terms of population. For this issue we shall.

             mainly focus on population. Ravenstein's (1889, cited from Fan, 2005) laws.

             of migration introduced the notion that people move in order to better.

             themselves economically. In this view, migration is considered as the.

             individual's response to regional differentials in economic development.

             Similarly, neoclassical theory views migration as an outcome of geographic.

             differences in labor demand and supply (Sjaastad 1962, cited from Fan,.

             2005). .

             Firms and hence labor force are attracted to cities as they provide.

             agglomeration economies and economies of scale, efficiently concentrating.

             infrastructure and other common resources via labor-pooling, knowledge.

             spill-overs and economic competition, thus raising productivity, and hence.

             wages (O'Sullivan, 2009). Ultimately it is a migrant's utility that.

             influences their decision to migrate from place to place.