ABSTRACT
Historically, national development policies of the People’s Republic of China have encouraged balanced development by sector and by region. China’s future spatial development plans and policies, however, are not yet clear, particularly since China adopted a limited market economic system in the late 1970s, after decades of a centrally controlled economic system with a heavy emphasis on equity in the distribution of economic activities. In the Third Plenary Session of the Eleventh Central Committee in December, 1978, China adopted an open door policy on economic development, which resulted in rapid changes in economic growth in the coastal provinces in China. Because of this past tradition and new trends, China provides an interesting opportunity for an analysis of the impact of the central government’s key economic policies on regional development and the spatial dispersion of economic activities (Li, 1989a). China had implemented this equitable and balanced development policy since its liberation in 1949, but recently China has pursued a policy that focuses on readdressing spatial and/or sectoral disparities that have resulted from past centuries.
