The Function of the Township Enterprises and the Regional Disparities in China

Abstract

In China, there are big disparities in economy between eastern region, middle and western region. It is said that, the big disparities are caused mainly by non-state-owned enterprises, especially township enterprises. Whether this conclusion is correct or not, let us take a deep look on it.It fact, until 1979, the state-owned enterprises in former developed region take up to 39% of the country's state-owned industry, about two times of that in the former undeveloped region. In contrast to this situation, the non-state-owned industry, about one and half times of that in the former developed region. Moreover, from 1979-1994, the non-state-owned enterprises increased by 22.2% in former developed region, this figure ranks the top in China. However, in former developed region, the non-state-owned enterprises only increased by 2.9% about the half of the average increasing rate all over the country. Furthermore, considering of the contribution of the industry development to economy. In the former developed region, the development of the state-owned enterprises contribute 17.5% only. Contrary to this figure, in the former undeveloped region, the development of the non-state-owned enterprises contribute about 53%.Then, whether the development of the non-state-owned township enterprises has played the major role in former the big disparities between eastern, middle and western regions in China? Subsequently, whether the development of the non-state-owned township enterprises is the key factor that causes the big disparities of the revenue in eastern, middle and western regions in China?In this study, I analyzed the relationship between the regional disparities and the development of the township enterprises in the later 80′ Also, I discussed the importance of the development of the township enterprises in reducing the regional disparities. This paper is divided into five parts. Part one: the overview of the township enterprises in China. Part two: analysis of the regional disparities. Part three: the status of the township enterprises in different regions. Part four: relationships between the development of the township enterprises and the regional differences. Part five: conclusion.