Rural Development Patterns in Post‐Reform China: The Pearl River Delta Region in the 1990s

Abstract

Since the reforms that began in 1979, economic development in China has been marked by four major policy initiatives: the re‐integration of the Chinese economy with the global economy, the decentralization of economic decision making away from the central state to lower levels, and, especially in the coastal regions, the shift away from subsistence agriculture towards rural industrialization and increasing commercialization. In this article, the effects of the reform policies are discussed in the context of the Pearl River delta region, the economic core of the southern Chinese province of Guangdong. Closely proximate to Hong Kong, with many Overseas Chinese connections, the province was given opportunities to innovate within the new policy option and has been marked by rapid economic growth. The article focuses on the impact of industrialization, commercialization, and globalization in four contrasting areas of the Pearl River delta in the 1980s and 1990s. At a general level, what McGee has called desakota zones have emerged and follow a development process which is similar to that observed in parts of East and Southeast Asia in the 1970s. When examined from the perspective of villages and localities, the blending of government policies, geographical location, and market forces with an array of local social values has resulted in separate and distinctive patterns of development.

Evolving Spatial Form of Urban-Rural Interaction in the Pearl River Delta, China

“…Two of China's four Special Economic Zones were established in the region in 1979, and the entire delta was designated an Open Economic Region in 1985. Taking full advantage of both the given economic freedom and its rich natural endowments, the PRD has moved "one step ahead" of the nation as a whole, and has experienced accelerated economic growth and urbanization (Lo 1989;Vogel 1989;Johnson and Woon 1997; 1997). During the years between 1980 and 1995, the PDR's gross domestic product grew at an accelerated rate of 18.6% per annum, significantly higher than both the provincial average of 14.5% and the national average of 10.2% (GPSB 1995, 6-8;CSSB 1996, 22-27;GPSB 1996, 93, 53-61).…”

“…Their regional share in industrial and agricultural production, retail sales, foreign investment and in-migration dropped significantly from 1980 to 1990 (Table 6). This pattern may have been caused by a variety of factors, including government regulation, growing congestion in the cities, the nature of industrialization in the region, and the widespread existence of social capital (Xu and Li 1990;Leung 1993;Fan 1996;Hsing 1997;Johnson and Woon 1997). Whatever the reason, the slow growth of the central cities in the delta region appears to contradict the neoclassic theoretical expectation of polarization, in which economic activities and population are said to concentrate in major urban centers at an early stage of economic growth (Myrdal 1957;Hirschman 1958).…”

State Policy and Spatial Restructuring in Post‐reform China, 1978–95

“…With a gateway location and favorable conditions for seaport transportation, South China was one of the earliest regions in the country to be brought into the world economy by western colonial powers before the 1949 Communist revolution (Skinner, 1977;Vogel, 1989). The region was also the main origin of overseas Chinese and had extensive kinship ties with Chinese communities not only in Hong Kong and Taiwan, but also in Europe, North America and Southeast Asia (Smart and Smart, 1991;Leung, 1993;Hsing, 1997;Johnson and Woon, 1997). South China was, however, unable to make use of its extensive international connections in the Maoist era when the state practiced a 'self-reliant' policy which effectively deprived the region of its opportunities for active economic exchange with the outside world.…”

A comparative case study of cultivated land changes in Fujian and Taiwan

“…The introduction of the household production responsibility system in 1978, followed by the replacement of the commune system by a township and village system in 1983, decentralized the decision-making process in agricultural production and allowed farmers to engage in a variety of nonagricultural activities. Starting in 1983, the TVEs grew rapidly and became an important source of China's economic growth (Eng, 1997;Johnson and Woon, 1997;Kirkby and Zhao, 1999;Fan et al, 2003). At the same time, these nonagricultural activities, along with urban expansion, resulted in a severe loss of cultivated land during the years 1984-1986(Ash and Edmonds, 1998Lin and Ho, 2005).…”