Intraprovincial Disparities in Post-Mao China: A Multidimensional Analysis of Fujian Province

Journal of Developing Areas

Volumn 32, Issue 1, 1997, Pages 1-28

  Lyons, Thomas P ^a  

^a Department of Obstetrics Gynecology   (United States)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

COUNTY-LEVEL ANALYSIS; DEVELOPING COUNTRY; DEVELOPMENT INDICATORS; INTERREGIONAL DIFFERENCE; POST-MAO; REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT;

CHINA, FUJIAN PROVINCE;

EID: 0031371436     PISSN: 0022037X     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: None     Document Type: Review

References (38)

1. The literature on interregional disparities and regional policy in China has become quite extensive. For sources through 1989, see the citations in Thomas P. Lyons, "Interprovincial Disparities in China: Output and Consumption, 1952-1987," Economic Development and Cultural Change 39 (April 1991). See also Tsui Kai-yuen, "China's Regional Inequality, 1952-1985," Journal of Comparative Economics 15 (March 1991): 1-21; Chor-Pang Lo, "The Geography of Rural Regional Inequality in Mainland China," Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers, n.s., 15, no. 4 (1990): 466-86; and Wei Houkai, "Lun woguo jingji fazhan zhong de quyu shouru chayi" (On regional income inequality in China's economic development), Jingji kexue, no. 2 (1990): 10-16. For more recent analyses see, for example, John Knight and Lina Song, "The Spatial Contribution to Income Inequality in Rural China," Cambridge Journal of Economics 17 (June 1993): 195-213; Tsui Kai-yuen, "Decomposition of China's Regional Inequalities," Journal of Comparative Economics 17 (September 1993): 600-627; Jian Chen and Belton M. Fleisher, "Regional Income Inequality and Economic Growth in China," Journal of Comparative Economics 22 (April 1996): 141-64; and Tianlun Jian, Jeffrey D. Sachs, and Andrew M. Warner, "Trends in Regional Inequality in China," China Economic Review 7 (Spring 1996): 1-21.
2. The literature on interregional disparities and regional policy in China has become quite extensive. For sources through 1989, see the citations in Thomas P. Lyons, "Interprovincial Disparities in China: Output and Consumption, 1952-1987," Economic Development and Cultural Change 39 (April 1991). See also Tsui Kai-yuen, "China's Regional Inequality, 1952-1985," Journal of Comparative Economics 15 (March 1991): 1-21; Chor-Pang Lo, "The Geography of Rural Regional Inequality in Mainland China," Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers, n.s., 15, no. 4 (1990): 466-86; and Wei Houkai, "Lun woguo jingji fazhan zhong de quyu shouru chayi" (On regional income inequality in China's economic development), Jingji kexue, no. 2 (1990): 10-16. For more recent analyses see, for example, John Knight and Lina Song, "The Spatial Contribution to Income Inequality in Rural China," Cambridge Journal of Economics 17 (June 1993): 195-213; Tsui Kai-yuen, "Decomposition of China's Regional Inequalities," Journal of Comparative Economics 17 (September 1993): 600-627; Jian Chen and Belton M. Fleisher, "Regional Income Inequality and Economic Growth in China," Journal of Comparative Economics 22 (April 1996): 141-64; and Tianlun Jian, Jeffrey D. Sachs, and Andrew M. Warner, "Trends in Regional Inequality in China," China Economic Review 7 (Spring 1996): 1-21.
3. The literature on interregional disparities and regional policy in China has become quite extensive. For sources through 1989, see the citations in Thomas P. Lyons, "Interprovincial Disparities in China: Output and Consumption, 1952-1987," Economic Development and Cultural Change 39 (April 1991). See also Tsui Kai-yuen, "China's Regional Inequality, 1952-1985," Journal of Comparative Economics 15 (March 1991): 1-21; Chor-Pang Lo, "The Geography of Rural Regional Inequality in Mainland China," Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers, n.s., 15, no. 4 (1990): 466-86; and Wei Houkai, "Lun woguo jingji fazhan zhong de quyu shouru chayi" (On regional income inequality in China's economic development), Jingji kexue, no. 2 (1990): 10-16. For more recent analyses see, for example, John Knight and Lina Song, "The Spatial Contribution to Income Inequality in Rural China," Cambridge Journal of Economics 17 (June 1993): 195-213; Tsui Kai-yuen, "Decomposition of China's Regional Inequalities," Journal of Comparative Economics 17 (September 1993): 600-627; Jian Chen and Belton M. Fleisher, "Regional Income Inequality and Economic Growth in China," Journal of Comparative Economics 22 (April 1996): 141-64; and Tianlun Jian, Jeffrey D. Sachs, and Andrew M. Warner, "Trends in Regional Inequality in China," China Economic Review 7 (Spring 1996): 1-21.
4. The literature on interregional disparities and regional policy in China has become quite extensive. For sources through 1989, see the citations in Thomas P. Lyons, "Interprovincial Disparities in China: Output and Consumption, 1952-1987," Economic Development and Cultural Change 39 (April 1991). See also Tsui Kai-yuen, "China's Regional Inequality, 1952-1985," Journal of Comparative Economics 15 (March 1991): 1-21; Chor-Pang Lo, "The Geography of Rural Regional Inequality in Mainland China," Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers, n.s., 15, no. 4 (1990): 466-86; and Wei Houkai, "Lun woguo jingji fazhan zhong de quyu shouru chayi" (On regional income inequality in China's economic development), Jingji kexue, no. 2 (1990): 10-16. For more recent analyses see, for example, John Knight and Lina Song, "The Spatial Contribution to Income Inequality in Rural China," Cambridge Journal of Economics 17 (June 1993): 195-213; Tsui Kai-yuen, "Decomposition of China's Regional Inequalities," Journal of Comparative Economics 17 (September 1993): 600-627; Jian Chen and Belton M. Fleisher, "Regional Income Inequality and Economic Growth in China," Journal of Comparative Economics 22 (April 1996): 141-64; and Tianlun Jian, Jeffrey D. Sachs, and Andrew M. Warner, "Trends in Regional Inequality in China," China Economic Review 7 (Spring 1996): 1-21.
5. The literature on interregional disparities and regional policy in China has become quite extensive. For sources through 1989, see the citations in Thomas P. Lyons, "Interprovincial Disparities in China: Output and Consumption, 1952-1987," Economic Development and Cultural Change 39 (April 1991). See also Tsui Kai-yuen, "China's Regional Inequality, 1952-1985," Journal of Comparative Economics 15 (March 1991): 1-21; Chor-Pang Lo, "The Geography of Rural Regional Inequality in Mainland China," Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers, n.s., 15, no. 4 (1990): 466-86; and Wei Houkai, "Lun woguo jingji fazhan zhong de quyu shouru chayi" (On regional income inequality in China's economic development), Jingji kexue, no. 2 (1990): 10-16. For more recent analyses see, for example, John Knight and Lina Song, "The Spatial Contribution to Income Inequality in Rural China," Cambridge Journal of Economics 17 (June 1993): 195-213; Tsui Kai-yuen, "Decomposition of China's Regional Inequalities," Journal of Comparative Economics 17 (September 1993): 600-627; Jian Chen and Belton M. Fleisher, "Regional Income Inequality and Economic Growth in China," Journal of Comparative Economics 22 (April 1996): 141-64; and Tianlun Jian, Jeffrey D. Sachs, and Andrew M. Warner, "Trends in Regional Inequality in China," China Economic Review 7 (Spring 1996): 1-21.
6. The literature on interregional disparities and regional policy in China has become quite extensive. For sources through 1989, see the citations in Thomas P. Lyons, "Interprovincial Disparities in China: Output and Consumption, 1952-1987," Economic Development and Cultural Change 39 (April 1991). See also Tsui Kai-yuen, "China's Regional Inequality, 1952-1985," Journal of Comparative Economics 15 (March 1991): 1-21; Chor-Pang Lo, "The Geography of Rural Regional Inequality in Mainland China," Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers, n.s., 15, no. 4 (1990): 466-86; and Wei Houkai, "Lun woguo jingji fazhan zhong de quyu shouru chayi" (On regional income inequality in China's economic development), Jingji kexue, no. 2 (1990): 10-16. For more recent analyses see, for example, John Knight and Lina Song, "The Spatial Contribution to Income Inequality in Rural China," Cambridge Journal of Economics 17 (June 1993): 195-213; Tsui Kai-yuen, "Decomposition of China's Regional Inequalities," Journal of Comparative Economics 17 (September 1993): 600-627; Jian Chen and Belton M. Fleisher, "Regional Income Inequality and Economic Growth in China," Journal of Comparative Economics 22 (April 1996): 141-64; and Tianlun Jian, Jeffrey D. Sachs, and Andrew M. Warner, "Trends in Regional Inequality in China," China Economic Review 7 (Spring 1996): 1-21.
7. The literature on interregional disparities and regional policy in China has become quite extensive. For sources through 1989, see the citations in Thomas P. Lyons, "Interprovincial Disparities in China: Output and Consumption, 1952-1987," Economic Development and Cultural Change 39 (April 1991). See also Tsui Kai-yuen, "China's Regional Inequality, 1952-1985," Journal of Comparative Economics 15 (March 1991): 1-21; Chor-Pang Lo, "The Geography of Rural Regional Inequality in Mainland China," Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers, n.s., 15, no. 4 (1990): 466-86; and Wei Houkai, "Lun woguo jingji fazhan zhong de quyu shouru chayi" (On regional income inequality in China's economic development), Jingji kexue, no. 2 (1990): 10-16. For more recent analyses see, for example, John Knight and Lina Song, "The Spatial Contribution to Income Inequality in Rural China," Cambridge Journal of Economics 17 (June 1993): 195-213; Tsui Kai-yuen, "Decomposition of China's Regional Inequalities," Journal of Comparative Economics 17 (September 1993): 600-627; Jian Chen and Belton M. Fleisher, "Regional Income Inequality and Economic Growth in China," Journal of Comparative Economics 22 (April 1996): 141-64; and Tianlun Jian, Jeffrey D. Sachs, and Andrew M. Warner, "Trends in Regional Inequality in China," China Economic Review 7 (Spring 1996): 1-21.
8. The literature on interregional disparities and regional policy in China has become quite extensive. For sources through 1989, see the citations in Thomas P. Lyons, "Interprovincial Disparities in China: Output and Consumption, 1952-1987," Economic Development and Cultural Change 39 (April 1991). See also Tsui Kai-yuen, "China's Regional Inequality, 1952-1985," Journal of Comparative Economics 15 (March 1991): 1-21; Chor-Pang Lo, "The Geography of Rural Regional Inequality in Mainland China," Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers, n.s., 15, no. 4 (1990): 466-86; and Wei Houkai, "Lun woguo jingji fazhan zhong de quyu shouru chayi" (On regional income inequality in China's economic development), Jingji kexue, no. 2 (1990): 10-16. For more recent analyses see, for example, John Knight and Lina Song, "The Spatial Contribution to Income Inequality in Rural China," Cambridge Journal of Economics 17 (June 1993): 195-213; Tsui Kai-yuen, "Decomposition of China's Regional Inequalities," Journal of Comparative Economics 17 (September 1993): 600-627; Jian Chen and Belton M. Fleisher, "Regional Income Inequality and Economic Growth in China," Journal of Comparative Economics 22 (April 1996): 141-64; and Tianlun Jian, Jeffrey D. Sachs, and Andrew M. Warner, "Trends in Regional Inequality in China," China Economic Review 7 (Spring 1996): 1-21.
9. Certain demographic variables of interest are available only for census years (1982 and 1990). The latter year also offers an unusually rich variety of output indicators, since both net material product (NMP) and gross output value (GV) were still being reported, in addition to gross domestic product (GDP), as explained in the next section; this permits thorough cross-checking for the transcription and printing errors that frequently mar official Chinese data. All of the data used in this paper have been published on diskette in The Economic Geography of Fujian: A Sourcebook, vol. 1, by Thomas P. Lyons (Ithaca, NY: Cornell East Asia Series, 1995).
10. This section is based upon Thomas P. Lyons, "Intraprovincial Disparities in China: Fujian Province, 1978-1995," Economic Geography, in press, which examines the evolution of intercounty disparities in output and rural incomes. The current paper, by contrast, is primarily concerned with examining disparities during a single year and in greater depth (using a larger set of county-level variables and a wider variety of techniques). For county names and locations, see the appendix.
11. Fujian, along with Guangdong, pioneered China's reopening. See, e.g., Peter T. Y. Cheung, "Relations between the Central Government and Guangdong," in Guangdong: Survey of a Province Undergoing Rapid Change, ed. Yue-man Yeung and David K. Y. Chu (Hong Kong: Chinese University Press, 1994), pp. 19-51. More general studies include David Wall, Jiang Boke, and Yin Xiangshuo, China's Opening Door (London: Royal Institute of International Affairs, 1996); Susan L. Shirk, How China Opened Its Door (Washington, DC: Brookings Institution, 1994); Kiichiro Fucasaku and David Wall, China's Long March to an Open Economy (Paris: Development Center of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, 1994); and Nicholas R. Lardy, China in the World Economy (Washington, DC: Institute for International Economics, 1994).
12. Fujian, along with Guangdong, pioneered China's reopening. See, e.g., Peter T. Y. Cheung, "Relations between the Central Government and Guangdong," in Guangdong: Survey of a Province Undergoing Rapid Change, ed. Yue-man Yeung and David K. Y. Chu (Hong Kong: Chinese University Press, 1994), pp. 19-51. More general studies include David Wall, Jiang Boke, and Yin Xiangshuo, China's Opening Door (London: Royal Institute of International Affairs, 1996); Susan L. Shirk, How China Opened Its Door (Washington, DC: Brookings Institution, 1994); Kiichiro Fucasaku and David Wall, China's Long March to an Open Economy (Paris: Development Center of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, 1994); and Nicholas R. Lardy, China in the World Economy (Washington, DC: Institute for International Economics, 1994).
13. Fujian, along with Guangdong, pioneered China's reopening. See, e.g., Peter T. Y. Cheung, "Relations between the Central Government and Guangdong," in Guangdong: Survey of a Province Undergoing Rapid Change, ed. Yue-man Yeung and David K. Y. Chu (Hong Kong: Chinese University Press, 1994), pp. 19-51. More general studies include David Wall, Jiang Boke, and Yin Xiangshuo, China's Opening Door (London: Royal Institute of International Affairs, 1996); Susan L. Shirk, How China Opened Its Door (Washington, DC: Brookings Institution, 1994); Kiichiro Fucasaku and David Wall, China's Long March to an Open Economy (Paris: Development Center of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, 1994); and Nicholas R. Lardy, China in the World Economy (Washington, DC: Institute for International Economics, 1994).
14. Fujian, along with Guangdong, pioneered China's reopening. See, e.g., Peter T. Y. Cheung, "Relations between the Central Government and Guangdong," in Guangdong: Survey of a Province Undergoing Rapid Change, ed. Yue-man Yeung and David K. Y. Chu (Hong Kong: Chinese University Press, 1994), pp. 19-51. More general studies include David Wall, Jiang Boke, and Yin Xiangshuo, China's Opening Door (London: Royal Institute of International Affairs, 1996); Susan L. Shirk, How China Opened Its Door (Washington, DC: Brookings Institution, 1994); Kiichiro Fucasaku and David Wall, China's Long March to an Open Economy (Paris: Development Center of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, 1994); and Nicholas R. Lardy, China in the World Economy (Washington, DC: Institute for International Economics, 1994).
15. Fujian, along with Guangdong, pioneered China's reopening. See, e.g., Peter T. Y. Cheung, "Relations between the Central Government and Guangdong," in Guangdong: Survey of a Province Undergoing Rapid Change, ed. Yue-man Yeung and David K. Y. Chu (Hong Kong: Chinese University Press, 1994), pp. 19-51. More general studies include David Wall, Jiang Boke, and Yin Xiangshuo, China's Opening Door (London: Royal Institute of International Affairs, 1996); Susan L. Shirk, How China Opened Its Door (Washington, DC: Brookings Institution, 1994); Kiichiro Fucasaku and David Wall, China's Long March to an Open Economy (Paris: Development Center of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, 1994); and Nicholas R. Lardy, China in the World Economy (Washington, DC: Institute for International Economics, 1994).
16. Throughout this paper, "county" means county-level administrative unit, whether nominally county, city, or urban district. Urban districts are grouped: all districts of Xiamen, for example, are grouped into a single "county." The number of such "counties" changed from 67 in the 1970s to 68 in 1983 and to 69 in 1987, as shown in the appendix. In table 1, n = 68 throughout; adjustments have been made here for consistency over time, as noted in the table. See Lyons, "Intraprovincial Disparities: Fujian," for further explanation of the data used in table 1.
17. The coefficient of variation is the ratio of the standard deviation to the mean; hence, it is a measure of average deviation from the mean, across all of the observations in the data set, relative to the mean itself. If every observation were to double, the coefficient of variation would be unchanged.
18. Of course, the precise patterns in the maps will vary somewhat with changes in the number of classes (here, four) and class boundaries; the broad trends noted in the text are not sensitive to moderate changes.
19. GV (gross value of agricultural and industrial output) is a component of social gross value (SGV). The former covers only the two largest sectors; the latter also covers construction, commerce, and transportation related to material production.
20. The "rank-size rule" was originally deduced from observation of city sizes. For a given country or region, the relationship between the log of city population and city rank (by population) is usually very nearly linear.
21. For GNP, NMP, and SGV the coefficients of variation are 0.64, 0.65, and 0.82 for n = 69 and 0.40, 0.42, and 0.51 for n = 65. (Trimming more than four counties has a much less pronounced effect on these coefficients.)
22. The correlation between primary and secondary is very close to zero, and that between primary and tertiary is slightly negative. These are Spearman rank-order coefficients, rather than Pearson product-moment, because the relationships are not linear. Coefficients of variation (n = 69) are 0.37, 1.15, and 0.93 for the three sectors.
23. United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), Human Development Report 1990 (New York: Oxford University Press, 1990).
24. The UNDP sets these desirable levels at the highest observed (for life expectancy), at 100 percent (for literacy), and at the mean of the official poverty line in nine of the most developed countries (for GDP per capita).
25. 1k is defined as the negative of the reported infant mortality rate in county k.
26. The curves fitted to the data are "locally weighted scatterplot smoothers" (LOWESS), with smoothing parameter 0.7, two iterations, and linear fitting. For a description of LOWESS, see William S. Cleveland, The Elements of Graphing Data (Monterey, CA: Wadsworth, 1985), pp. 167-78.
27. The correlation coefficient is .05. This is not entirely an artifact of the temporal mismatch between the two variables (1981 for infant mortality, 1990 for GDP). No GDP data are available for the early 1980s; for 1981 infant mortality and 1982 GV, the correlation coefficient is .37 (n = 67).
28. On the other hand, these observations also point to the arbitrary nature of the UNDP index. Because the various indicators are not highly correlated, changing the weights in the HDI formula (fixed here at 1:1:1) could easily yield quite different results. (Section 4, following, returns to this point.)
29. This figure returns to the familiar equal-area base map of figure 5.
30. A standard reference on factor analysis is Harry H. Harman's Modern Factor Analysis, 3d ed. revised (Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press, 1976). Shorter and more accessible descriptions can be found in works by Joseph F. Hair Jr., Rolph Anderson, Ronald Tatham, and William Black, Multivariate Data Analysis, 4th ed. (Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1995); A. A. Afifi and Virginia Clark, Computer-Aided Multivariate Analysis, 2nd ed. (New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold, 1990); and Dennis Child, The Essentials of Factor Analysis, 2d ed. (London: Cassell, 1990).
31. A standard reference on factor analysis is Harry H. Harman's Modern Factor Analysis, 3d ed. revised (Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press, 1976). Shorter and more accessible descriptions can be found in works by Joseph F. Hair Jr., Rolph Anderson, Ronald Tatham, and William Black, Multivariate Data Analysis, 4th ed. (Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1995); A. A. Afifi and Virginia Clark, Computer-Aided Multivariate Analysis, 2nd ed. (New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold, 1990); and Dennis Child, The Essentials of Factor Analysis, 2d ed. (London: Cassell, 1990).
32. A standard reference on factor analysis is Harry H. Harman's Modern Factor Analysis, 3d ed. revised (Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press, 1976). Shorter and more accessible descriptions can be found in works by Joseph F. Hair Jr., Rolph Anderson, Ronald Tatham, and William Black, Multivariate Data Analysis, 4th ed. (Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1995); A. A. Afifi and Virginia Clark, Computer-Aided Multivariate Analysis, 2nd ed. (New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold, 1990); and Dennis Child, The Essentials of Factor Analysis, 2d ed. (London: Cassell, 1990).
33. A standard reference on factor analysis is Harry H. Harman's Modern Factor Analysis, 3d ed. revised (Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press, 1976). Shorter and more accessible descriptions can be found in works by Joseph F. Hair Jr., Rolph Anderson, Ronald Tatham, and William Black, Multivariate Data Analysis, 4th ed. (Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1995); A. A. Afifi and Virginia Clark, Computer-Aided Multivariate Analysis, 2nd ed. (New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold, 1990); and Dennis Child, The Essentials of Factor Analysis, 2d ed. (London: Cassell, 1990).
34. In factor analysis, an object/variable ratio of at least 5:1 is desirable to reduce the likelihood of unstable or spurious results. Here, there are 69 objects and 10 variables.
35. There is no hard and fast rule for deciding upon the number of factors to be extracted. Extracting four factors yields sensible results, and is not greatly at variance with the widely used eigenvalue and scree criteria. The particular technique used here - principal components extraction and varimax rotation - is one of the simplest and most widely used.
36. This sort of mapping was popularized by, among others, Robert A. Murdie, in his Factorial Ecology of Metropolitan Toronto, 1951-1961 (Chicago, IL: University of Chicago, Department of Geography, 1969); see also D. Clark, W. K. D. Davies, and R. J. Johnson, "The Application of Factor Analysis in Human Geography," Statistician 23 (September-December 1974): 259-81.
37. This sort of mapping was popularized by, among others, Robert A. Murdie, in his Factorial Ecology of Metropolitan Toronto, 1951-1961 (Chicago, IL: University of Chicago, Department of Geography, 1969); see also D. Clark, W. K. D. Davies, and R. J. Johnson, "The Application of Factor Analysis in Human Geography," Statistician 23 (September-December 1974): 259-81.
38. Small-scale maps showing elevation contours are available in Fujian sheng ditu ce (Fujian provincial atlas) (Fuzhou: Fujian sheng ditu chubanshe, 1990); and Fujian shifan daxue dili xi, Fujian ziran dili bianxie zu, Fujian ziran dili (Fujian's natural geography) (Fuzhou: Fujian renmin, 1987). Point elevations for some of the higher peaks in each county are also shown in Fujian sheng ditu ce. Small-scale maps showing population densities are available in Fujian jingji nianjian bianji weiyuanhui (ed.), Fujian jingji nianjian 1985 (Fujian economic yearbook 1985) (Fuzhou: Fujian renmin, 1985), and Fujian jingji nianjian 1987 (Fujian economic yearbook 1987) (Fuzhou: Fujian jingji nianjian bianji bu, 1987); these maps are based on township-level data and so show the distribution of population within counties.