ABSTRACT
Jiangsu is unquestionably one of China's most important provinces. With the fourth largest provincial population, Jiangsu is China's leading province in both agriculture and industry 1 as well as a key provider of human resources for the nation. Yet summary descriptions mask significant regional variegation within the province. Wealthy southern Jiangsu, the home of the famous ‘Sunan [Southern Jiangsu] model’ of Township and Village Enterprises (TVEs), is one of China's richest regions — an area where reform has taken root. Leaders in northern Jiangsu, an area of considerable poverty, have found it difficult to implement reform. This regional disparity within Jiangsu, which concerns Jiangsu's provincial leadership, forms an underlying theme of this chapter.
