In an effort to improve population management, the Chinese government has added a tier to its new city classification system for "super large-sized cities."

China's State Council issued a statement saying it was increasing the number of tiers from four to five, and will be based on a city's population. The new tier, referred to as "super large-sized" has been designated for China's mega cities that have a population of more than 10 million.

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"There is a significant increase in the number and size of cities since China's opening-up. The old city tier system is outdated," the State Council said in a statement. "China's cities are undergoing a critical period of development."

Cities that have a population of between 5 million and 10 million inhabitants will be called "extra large-sized cities." Cities that have between 1 million and 5 million citizens will be referred to as "large-sized cities," while municipalities with 500,000 to 1 million inhabitants will be known as "medium-sized cities." Cities with fewer than 500,000 people will be termed "small-sized cities."

The Council said its new classification system will respond to the needs of economic and social development.

There currently are four cities in China that would qualify for the new "super large-sized" designation, which include Shanghai, Beijing, Guangzhou and Shenzhen. But in the next couple of years, three more Chinese metropolises will exceed the population threshold of 10 million people: Chongqing, Wuhan and Tianjin.

The new classification could make room for the China's proposal to create a massive mega city with a population of 42 million. In 2011, Chinese city planners announced a plan to combine the nine major cities that encircle the Pearl River delta. It would extend over a large swath of China's manufacturing heartland, and would include Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Foshan, Dongguan, Zhongshan, Zhuhai, Jiangmen, Huizhou and Zhaoqing.

TagsChina Supersizes Cities with New Classification Tier, China State Council, Wang Xiaolu, National Economic Research Institute