MODERNIZATION, REFORMS AND REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT IN CHINA

This article analyzes the relationship between China's modernization and reform process and the growing challenge of regional inequality. It examines how the post-Mao economic reforms, while unleashing unprecedented national economic growth, have also led to a significant widening of the development gap between the prosperous coastal provinces and the poorer inland and western regions. The study explores the key features of the reform-era development strategy, which prioritized the coastal regions as the engine of export-led growth. The research analyzes the consequences of this strategy, including the massive migration of labor to the coast and the concentration of investment and infrastructure in the eastern part of the country. The paper then examines the policy responses of the Chinese government in the late 1990s and early 2000s to address this growing regional disparity, particularly the "Develop the West" campaign. The analysis concludes that managing regional inequality has become a central and critical challenge for the long-term social stability and sustainable development of China.

China's economic miracle has been one of the most remarkable stories of the late 20th century, but it has also been a story of profoundly uneven development. This paper provides a detailed analysis of the growing problem of regional inequality that has accompanied the country's modernization and reform. The study begins by contrasting the relative regional equality of the Maoist era with the dramatic widening of the coastal-inland gap during the reform period under Deng Xiaoping. The core of the article is an examination of the causes of this divergence. It analyzes how the government's deliberate policy of prioritizing the coastal regions, through the creation of Special Economic Zones and other incentives, created a powerful dynamic of geographically concentrated growth. The paper provides statistical evidence of the widening disparities in income, investment, and social indicators between the prosperous east and the lagging west. The second part of the study focuses on the policy response. It provides a detailed analysis of the "Develop the West" strategy, a major national campaign launched by the government to channel investment and infrastructure into the poorer western provinces. The paper assesses the objectives, scale, and early results of this ambitious initiative. The findings suggest that the Chinese leadership had recognized that the vast regional inequalities posed a significant threat to national unity and social stability. The paper concludes that the management of regional development would be a defining governance challenge for China in the 21st century.