"Hu Line" and the problem of imbalance in China's territorial development

Abstract

The article is devoted to such a phenomenon as the imbalance of the territorial development of China, which is based on the concept of the Chinese geographer Hu Huanyong. This concept was called the "Hu Line", which divided the country into western and eastern parts. On its basis, the development of China is shown within the framework of the Reform and Opening Policy, Development of Western China and other state plans. Based on the analysis of the territorial development of the PRC from 1979 to 2019, it is shown that the attempts of the PRC government to move the "Hu Line" westward for more than forty years have not led to success. The development of the eastern regions of China only led to an increase in the disproportionate development of the PRC and exacerbated the social problems of eastern China, which were caused by large internal labor migration. The article also examines the current concepts of China's development, the purpose of which is to break the "Hu Huanyong Line". Analyzed the main approaches of Chinese scientists, which are reduced to the formation of development belts. The development belt, according to Chinese researchers, should be formed either from biterritorial concepts of development, or from concepts that lead to the fragmentation of the "Hu Huanyong Line" into several regions, lined up in a belt. The article proposes the concept of "Four China", which was formed on the basis of demographic, economic and climatic factors. Comparing and superimposing these factors on the map of China has led to the emergence of four regions, showing the economic and social state of modern China. Within the framework of this concept, it was possible to demonstrate the specifics of the four regions within the framework of the modern territorial development of China. Each region has its own distinctive potential: Region I has economic potential, Region II - political and economic, Region III - resource and tourism, Region IV - traditional and tourism. Moreover, the concept shows that a shift in the "Hu Huanyong Line" within the framework of territorial features is practically impossible.