Abstract: In recent years, cities in the ethnic areas of southwest China bordering upon Myanmar show a shrinking tendency. Moreover, border security is at risk and social development under threat. Generally speaking, it is the result of the combined effect of population aging, economic globalization, large-scale urbanization, turmoil in northern Myanmar and other issues. Therefore, to minimize the adverse influence of this tendency, local authorities need to abandon the concept of inertial growth, follow the natural law of rise and fall of cities, accept the tendency and act rationally–especially following the principles of smart shrinkage, targeted governance and integrated development–under the guidance of the philosophy of Chinese-style modernization and concept of novel urbanization characterized by the notion of “people first.”

Key words: frontier area in southwest China, urban shrinkage, border security, urban-rural composition