Abstract: Since reform and opening up, one of the deep drivers of China's rapid urban growth has been the "capitalization of space". This mode of development has supplied powerful momentum for urbanization and city building, but it has also generated increasingly severe spatial crises. As China enters a new stage oriented toward urban modernization with Chinese characteristics, urban development must move beyond its path dependence on the capitalization of space. Grounded in China's local practice and institutional context, this article proposes "spatial circuits" as an analytical lens for understanding and promoting the transformation of Chinese cities. It argues that space plays an unusually proactive regulatory role in China's urban development. A theoretical and practical shift is therefore needed from "capital circuits" to "spatial circuits", through the coordinated advancement of three major circuits: urban-rural integration, regional coordination, and the global system. Under this orientation, spatial planning must also transform from "planning of space" to "planning with space as the strategic lever". The article offers a new perspective for building a localized theoretical system of Chinese planning, advancing Chinese urban modernization, and promoting a paradigm shift in spatial planning.