Abstract：Urbanization in China demonstrates an accelerating rate of growth since the beginning of this century with some unbalanced features emerging and remaining. Through the lens of urban entrepreneurialism, this paper investigates the mechanisms driving rapid urban spatial and economic growth in China. Following a brief review of literature in urban entrepreneurialism, this paper reveals the governance pattern of Chinese cities by dissecting the public financial structure between 2001 and 2009 on the basis of official data. With manufacturing and real estate as the two major sources of local revenues while administration and urban construction as the arenas localities tend to spend disproportionally, Chinese cities demonstrate strong motivation to maximize the short-term economic and physical performances within their jurisdictions. The institutional configuration that contributes to the profile of Chinese cities reflects how urban entrepreneurialism that is rooted in globalization is conditioned by the legacies of socialist state and features of transitional economy. In particular, the centralized political appointment system links the political prospects of Chinese officials to the office achievements accomplished during their few year terms, while the decentralized fiscal system related the local financial strength to their efforts to mobilize revenue collection. This paper further examines the land-based tactics that is operated by Chinese cities to promote urban spatial and economic growth and realize their entrepreneurial project. Strategically, the housing and urban land use reform from the late 1990s facilitated the rise of real estate and manufacturing as the dual engines of local economic growth. Statistics compiled from Chinese official data supports the field research finding that municipal strategy to expedite urban economic and physical growth is to bid up the prices of land for real estate development on one hand by limiting the land supply and improve the floor area ratio, while on the other offer land to manufacturing investors at excessively low rates in exchange for their investment commitments. The overall consequence of such growth strategies is the lack of structural competitiveness in building Chinese entrepreneurial cities. This paper concludes with call for new regulatory framework to achieve more sustainable urban development.
