In the data, urban areas are recorded as digital values of 1. Then the no-urban areas are recorded as digital values of 0.

Generated by DMSP/OLS ҹңӰ
Format: GeoTIFF
Provided by the BCL research fellow Prof HE Chunyang at Beijing Normal University
 
For urban areas in 2008 produced by Prof HE, please see BCL Data 16. 
 
Cite: Yang, Y., He, C., Zhang, Q., Han, L., & Du, S. (2013).Timely and accurate national-scale mapping of urban land in China using Defense Meteorological Satellite Programs Operational Linescan System nighttime stable light data. Journal of Applied Remote Sensing, 7(1), 073535-073535. (see the link below for the full paper)
 
Other datasets of BCL that might interest you.
15 Parcel maps for 297 Chinese cities
17 Impervious area of China
22 Urban areas of China in 2012 (by various methods)
26 Natural cities of China 1992-2012