Chinese Industry: Management Systems and Regional Structures

Abstract

Since Liberation, Chinese industry has enjoyed a long phase of privilege under the direct management of national and provincial bureaucracies. It has experienced almost continuous growth, and now occupies a range of locations which represent stages in that growth. Material is presented which illustrates the importance of industry in the interior, in the cities, in a northern 'zone of opportunity', and in the Shanghai area, and to a much less extent in the rural south and the countryside. Specific causative factors, including those which arose within successive political phases, are identified and analyzed. Some of these factors relate in addition to markedly differing levels of productivity in industry, which are also analyzed. Reforms introduced since 1978 are intended to rationalize Chinese industry, partly through administrative changes, partly through market forces. These reforms and their consequences are illustrated and discussed, together with their implications for industrial location. Ultimately, it is argued, the reform of mainstream industry is likely to wait upon reform in the industrial bureaucracy.