Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-r5fsc Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-01T03:54:42.022Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Sichuan: Driving Capitalist Development Westward

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 July 2004

Christopher A. McNally
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The central government's Open Up the West campaign has failed to reach one of its primary objectives in Sichuan: to diminish the large developmental gap between poor and affluent regions. In fact, most investment flows, policy initiatives and infrastructure projects initiated under the campaign concentrate on localities in or adjacent to the Sichuan basin, therefore widening the gap between Sichuan's poor western mountain regions and affluent basin cities. Notwithstanding this deficiency, significant effects have resulted from the campaign's initiation. First, the campaign is facilitating central government approval for large-scale environmental protection and infrastructure projects, thereby quickening the national integration of Sichuan's economy and society. Secondly, it is prodding government and business leaders to ameliorate the investment climate and regulatory structure. As a result of these two effects, the campaign is accelerating processes of economic reform, urbanization and globalization already under way. It is putting in place the infrastructure for accelerated capital accumulation, thus extending capitalist development from China's seaboard towards the interior.

Type
Research Article
Information
The China Quarterly , Volume 178 , June 2004 , pp. 426 - 447
Copyright
© The China Quarterly, 2004

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Footnotes

Research for this article benefited from the generous support of the East-West Center and was undertaken in Sichuan during 2002. Assistance received from the faculty of the Sichuan Academy of Social Sciences, especially from Liu Shiqing, Guo Hong, Hu Guangwei and Fu Shi, is gratefully acknowledged. Neither they nor any of those interviewed in connection with this project are responsible for any of the views or comments expressed in this article.