Spatial Economics and Development Strategy

Abstract

A glance at modern Chinese history reveals that China’s economic development has been concentrated in three geographical areas: the Bohai Sea rim (BSR) area, the Pearl river delta (PRD) area, and the Yangtze river delta (YRD). In terms of physical environment, the three areas are mutually complementary. For example, most of the BSR area (including Beijing, Tianjin, the coastal Hebei, and the peninsulas of Shandong and Liaodong) belongs to the semi-arid zone, while the PRD area (including Guangdong, and northern Hainan, Hong Kong and Macau)1 is classified as tropical. Nevertheless, the YRD area (including Shanghai, Zhejiang, and southern Jiangsu) has a semi-tropical temperature. Culturally, the three areas are dominated by the ethnic Han community. But there also exist some differences. For example, although written Chinese is used widely throughout the country, people in the BSR area speak Mandarin, while those in the PRD and YRD areas use Cantonese and Wu as their native spoken languages, respectively. Daily food is also cooked differently in the three areas.KeywordsForeign Direct InvestmentPearl River DeltaState CouncilChinese EconomySilver IodideThese keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.