Wei Yehua Dennis - Regional Development in China

Regional inequality is an issue of concern for many countries, creating problems of national disunity and social instability. In China, the issue has been of particular importance, as a result of its role in debates concerning the nature of socialism, central control, and local autonomy. This book systematically examines uneven regional development in China, and places it in a global and theoretical context.

The book illuminates our understanding of the issue in three key areas:

An exhaustive case study of Jiangsu province in East China provides a wealth of new empirical source material.

By explaining uneven development in terms of the interaction of three central agents (the foreign investor, the state and the region), the book opens up a new theoretical approach to the subject.

The author's conclusions have important implications for policy, and will be of vital interest for governments and businesses involved in China.

Regional Development in China is a vital source of reference for those with an interest in transition economies, and makes a substantial contribution to the study of globalization and liberalization in the developing world.

Yehua Dennis Wei is Assistant Professor of Geography at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee (UWM), and is affiliated to the Urban Studies Program, the Asian Studies Program and the Center for International Studies at UWM. He has published widely on China's regional and urban development, urbanization, population, and political economy.

Routledge Studies on China in Transition

Series Editor: David S. G. Goodman

1 The Democratisation of China

Baogang He

2 Beyond Beijing

Dali Yang

3 China's Enterprise Reform

Changing state/society relations after Mao

You Ji

4 Industrial Change in China

Economic restructuring and conflicting interests

Kate Hannan

5 The Entrepreneurial State in China

Real estate and commerce departments in reform era Tianjin

Jane Duckett

6 Tourism and Modernity in China

Tim Oakes

7 Cities in Post Mao China

Recipes for Economic Development in the Reform Era

Jae Ho Chung

8 China's Spatial Economic Development

Regional Transformation in the Lower Yangzi Delta

Andrew M Marton

9 Regional Development in China

States, Globalization, and Inequality

Yehua Dennis Wei

States, Globalization, and Inequality

Yehua Dennis Wei

First published 2000

by Routledge

11 New Fetter Lane, London EC4P 4EE

Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada

by Routledge

29 West 35th Street, New York, NY 10001

Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group

2000 Yehua Dennis Wei

Typeset in 10/12 pt Garamond by

Newgen Imaging Systems (P) Ltd., Chennai, India

Printed and bound in Great Britain by

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data

Wei, Yehua Dennis, 1963

Regional development in China: states, globalization, and inequality/Yehua Dennis Wei.

p. cm.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

1. ChinaEconomic conditions1976Regional disparities. 2. Regional

disparitiesChina. 3. ChinaEconomic policy1976- I. Title.

HC427.92.W436 2000

ISBN 0415-224489

I am indebted to many friends, colleagues, and teachers. I would like especially to thank Larry Ma and Cindy Fan for their careful guidance and constant support over the years. Many commented on or provided materials for my research, including Ashok Dutt, Jams Tong, Richard Baum, Andy Wedeman, and Dali Yang in the United States, and Hu Xuwei, Lu Dadao, Zheng Weiyuan, Yang Kaizhong, Wei Houkai, and He Denggao in China. At the University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee (UWM), I would like to express my gratitude to David Buck, Sunny Kim, Donna Schenstrom at the Cartographic Lab, and Ruihong Huang and Michelle Davis for research assistance. My appreciation also goes to David S.G. Goodman, whose expertise in regional development makes the series ideal for such a project.

I would like to acknowledge the financial support from UWM and UCLA. At UWM, my research and fieldwork were funded by the Graduate School Research Committee award, Department of Geography, Joint Center for International Studies, College of Letters and Sciences, and Office of International Studies. I am also grateful for UCLA's International Studies and Overseas program for funding my fieldwork in China.

I appreciate the following journals for granting me permission to draw on previously published materials: Fiscal Systems and Uneven Regional Development in China, 19781991, Geoforum 27(3) (1996), 329344; Determinants of State Investment in China, 19531990, Tijdschrift voor Economische en Sociale Geografie (Journal of Economic and Social Geography), 88(3) (1997), 211225 (with Larry Ma); Changes in Industrial Ownership Structure in China, Geography 84(3) (1999): 193203. Finally, I would like to thank my wife, Weimei Ye, for her support during my research.