Forging Ahead and Falling Behind: Changing Regional

Inequalities in Post-reform China

Max Lu

Department of Geography

Kansas State University

Manhattan, KS 66506. USA

Email: maxlu@ksu.edu

Enru Wang

Department of Geography

University of Washington

Seattle, Washington 98195-353550, USA

Email: erwang@u.washington.edu

Abstract

This study analyzes the evolution of China's regional inequalities during the reform period of 1978-1998 based on three geographical scales, both output and livelihood indicators of economic wellbeing and three measures of inequality. The results indicate that interprovincial and regional inequalities declined between 1978 and 1990, but have widened steadily since 1990. Urban-rural disparity diminished before 1984, then experienced a decade-long surge afterwards to peak in 1994 at a much higher level and since 1994, it has been declining again. The levels of regional inequalities in China appear to be sensitive to changes in government development strategies and regional policies. Differential growth of the provincial economies shaped by the coast-oriented and urban-biased development strategies as well as selective open-door policy implemented by the Chinese government after the reform is the key to understanding the wax and wane in China's regional inequalities. This paper discusses the factors that account for the changing regional inequalities in post-reform China and argues that government policies are likely to continue to influence the future trajectories of inequality change.