A Study of Income Segregation in Large Chinese Cities

Income segregation is an issue of great importance to scholars and policy makers because it is thought to exacerbate inequities of social outcomes such as education, social capital, and employment. China makes an ideal case study for the topic of income segregation. It has the largest population of any country, some of the highest levels of income inequality in the world, and many megacities. Using data from 20 large cities in China, this paper measures levels and patterns of income segregation in large Chinese cities with new measurement techniques. Findings show that there is a negative correlation between segregation levels of studied cities and their level of economic development and size, a sharp contrast to patterns in cities of the United States and Hong Kong. Additionally, the shape of the segregation profile varies greatly across the cities. There are three clear groups of cities based on their internal income segregation patterns. Possible explanations for the differences among these groups include the size of the built-up area, level of economic development, and the size of the immigrant population