"Rapid urbanization will create favorable conditions for China to tackle the challenges involving rural areas, farmers and agriculture. But it will not guarantee fast changes for the better in rural areas. Maybe it will widen the rural-urban gap," the article said.

"This is why we repeatedly stress the necessity of achieving coordinated development between rural areas and cities... Urbanization can not replace the building up of rural areas, and the functional disparity of cities and rural areas can not and should not be removed," it said.

As the Spring Festival has come to an end, farmer Guo Xiaoming who lives scores of kilometers away from Luoyang, the capital of central Henan province, no longer wants to return to Guangzhou.

He has learned he can earn a monthly salary of 2,000 yuan ($317) by working in a factory nearby his home village.

"As more factories are built on the outskirts of cities, I can work nearby my home village for decent pay and wait to be urbanized," Guo said.