Implementation of the strategy for coordinated regional development of the PRC in the 1990s-2010s: Modern Chinese historiography

Modern Chinese historiography of the regional development of China in the late 20th - early 21st centuries covers all the problems of coordination of the spatial organization of China's economy. The article aims to describe the position of Chinese researchers in the field of history, regional studies, and regional economics on experience in developing and implementing a strategy for coordinated regional development of the PRC since the 1990s until today, based on an analysis of modern Chinese-language literature. A systematic approach, problem-chronological and comparative-historical research methods were used to analyze the works of modern Chinese researchers (Wang Jianin, Wei Hukai, Gao Goli, Gao Yuwei, Li Na, Liu Yang, Sun Juven, Xiao Jincheng, Fan Hengshan, Huang Hua, Jia Shen, Zhao Qigo, Cheng Bo). Based on the analysis, the main patterns in the implementation of the strategy for coordinated regional development of the PRC were identified. The analysis showed that most Chinese authors (Li Lin, Liu Ying, Sun Juven, Fan Hengshan, Chen Xuanqing) in their works explore the premises and reasons for the transition from an unbalanced regional development strategy (1978-1990) to a coordinated development strategy regions. The main reason for the transition was the problem of uneven socioeconomic development, which aggravated in the 20th century, as well as the need to achieve the goals of building “socialism with Chinese characteristics” and the stability of the national economy of the PRC. Based on the analysis of Chinese works on coordinated regional development, the author highlights the main components of the positive experience in implementing the strategy for coordinating the regions of the PRC: strengthening centers of economic growth to accelerate the PRC's economic growth (Northeast, Central, East, West regions of China; the National Capital Region; the Greater Bay Area; the Yangtze River Economic Belt); a set of measures for a balanced spatial development of large urban agglomerations; measures to reduce low-productivity and low-tech industries in the Chinese regions; modern ecological modernization of urban agglomerations to solve the problems of unsatisfactory environmental conditions in cities. The analysis of Chinese-language works showed that, in the process of implementing the strategy for coordinated regional development of the PRC, the following difficulties and contradictions arose: the outflow of population from the Northeast of the PRC to the eastern and southern regions of China, despite the implementation of plans for coordinated regional development to revive old industrial bases in Northeast China; fully unrealized potential of interregional interaction; maintaining significant intraregional differences in the level of socioeconomic development between individual regions, between rural and urban areas. All the works of Chinese researchers on the problems of coordinated regional development are distinguished by a systematic analysis, supported by a theoretical and methodological substantiation of the experience of the PRC's regional development.

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