Research of Regional Development in the Inner Region of China : An Interdisciplinary Analysis

点击翻译按钮获取中文摘要

We conducted the field studies in Guangyuan city, Sichuang province, in December 2002, and March and November 2003. The supplementary field studies were done in Kaxgar city, Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, in August 2003, and in Nanchong city, Sichuan province, in December 2003. In addition we held an international symposium at Dujiangyan city, Sichuang province, on November 4-5, 2004 and we published a collection of articles in China.The results of our research revealed four new findings.1.The process of globalization has increased regional disparity between inner and coastal region in China. It has become a critical situation for medium and small-sized cities in inner region in particular. More government investment in infrastructure has not always been able to narrow the gap.2.There were four serious problems which county, town and village governments in the inner region faced. They were : (1)a severe financial situation where almost all of the government budgets had gone to pay s … More alaries, a situation called "Chi fan cai zheng"; (2)lack of budgets from formal sources ; (3)severe cumulative debt ; and (4)lack of man power and materials to perform public services like medical care and education.3.It became clear that the role which education spending plays in developing area is important. While it was necessary to transfer the financial burden for disbursement of education from township and village governments to county governments to maintain the standard of education in poor areas, policy makers must pay considerable attention to how to increase rate of returns to education to better utilize limited resources effectively.4.We found new controversies about the policy of incentives to promote land transactions. While circular migration between rural and urban areas has increased because of globalization, the transfer of land operation rights to active farmers has become more important for a more effective use of uncultivated lands. However, according to our field studies, the rate of return on agriculture is so low that these transfers have been ineffective in improving farmland use. As a result, the amount of neglected farmland increased.This survey focused mainly on the activities of county governments, enterprises and intermediate organizations. It made us keenly realize that we need to use microeconomics in order to analyze how village governments and rural households determine production and consumption. Such further studies are needed. Less