Problems of Uneven Development of China in the Works of Chinese Area Studies Scholars

Abstract

Introduction. Based on the analysis of Chinese scholars’ works in the field of area studies, such problem as the uneven development of the territory of China has been identified. Intense social and economic transformations in China at the end of the 20th century influenced the emergence of regional problems, the solution of which was possible only through the competent regional policy of the Chinese leadership. As part of the study of regional disproportionality, Chinese researchers highlight the characteristic features inherent in each of the provinces and autonomous regions of the Northeast, North, East, Central South, South West and North West regions of China. These research are based on the study of economic agglomeration, regional division and features of regional management. Methods. On the basis of the method of logical analysis, the features of the formation of regional knowledge in China within the framework of borrowing the theoretical and methodological base of Western European and American science of the region have been determined. The use of a systematic approach in the analysis of Chinese-language scientific literature revealed one of the key problems in the field of national regional studies of China, namely the problem of uneven regional development of China. Analysis. Analysis of Chinese-language scientific literature allows the author to identify four main groups of reasons: geographical, historical, cultural, economic, underlying the disproportionate regional development of China. The author analyzes scientific articles and monographs of leading Chinese scholars published not only in China, but also in the United States. The works of Chinese authors Bao Yuan, Wang Xuanxuan, Wei Yehua, Li Zhuni, Luo Yu, Lu Zunhua, Wu Peng, Hu Zhaoliang, Zhang Wei, Chiang Lexiang contain a comprehensive analysis of the imbalance of the socioeconomic development of China’s regions. Results. Results of this paper can be summarized in the following points: the study of the causes of uneven development of the territory of China will allow to more objectively perceive the origins of modern domestic regional problems in China and identify the features of the use of the results of scientific work of Chinese scientists in the formation of regional policy to eliminate socio-economic disproportion in the development of China.