Abstract
In this study, I have conducted a principal component analysis on the economic strength and social environment of China's 35 major cities, using 40 recompiled and standardized economic indices based on annual statistical data from 1995-2000. The results confirm that disparities in economic strength exist in the "geographic dual structure" of China's eastern seaboard region and the central and western interior regions, caused by disparities in income and consumption among urban areas. In the social environment, with some exceptions, comparative advantages exist in the postal and telecommunications sector and the water, gas and electric utilities sector in eastern cities; in environmental quality in central cities; and in the transportation sector in central and western cities. These results suggest that central and western urban development will play a significant role in eliminating economic disparities in China, in the meantime, the harmful influence of the existing concentration of populations and urban functions damage the urban social environment, and the rapid increase in environmental burdens from prior urban development has impaired the natural environment's capacity to regenerate, causing urban environmental quality to deteriorate.
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