Effects of Industrial Relocation on Chinese Regional Economic Growth Disparities: Based on System Dynamics Modeling

The economic growth of China has led to increasing growth disparities between regions. Such disparities are uncontrolled and are severely negative symptoms in the process of economic development. On the basis of system dynamics （SD） modeling and the rela- tionship between industrial relocation and regional economic growth, we construct a model of the interrelationship between the two aforementioned phenomena. The model is an effective and creative exploration for examining effects of industrial relocation on Chinese regional economic growth disparities. The SD model is employed in this study to build an inter-regional labor migration SD model, an inter-regional capital migration SD model, an intra-industry SD model, an intra-regional population SD model, and an intra-regional SD model which are based on realities in labor and capital flow from the view of industrial relocation. VENSIM software is utilized to per- form a system simulation based on the data of the eastern, middle, and western regions from 2000 to 2010. Results show that indus- trial relocation gradually narrows the relative disparity in GDP among the three regions. Moreover, the absolute one is enlarged con- tinuously. The absolute and relative disparities in per capita GDP among eastern, middle, and western regions generally exhibit de- creasing trends.     

Regional Economic Efficiency and Its Influencing Factors of Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei Metropolitans in China Based on a Heterogeneity Stochastic Frontier Model

Using a heterogeneity stochastic frontier model(HSFM),we empirically investigated the economic efficiency of Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei from 2003 to 2016 and its influencing factors.The key findings of the paper lie in:1)in Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei,the overall economic and technological efficiency tended to increase in a wavelike manner,economic growth slowed down,and there was an obvious imbalance in economic efficiency between the different districts,counties and cities;2)the heterogeneity stochastic frontier production functions(SFPFs)of Beijing,Tianjin and Hebei were different from each other,and investment was still an important impetus of economic growth in Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei;3)economic efficiency was positively correlated with economic agglomeration,human capital,industrial structure,infrastructure,the informatization level,and institutional factors,but negatively correlated with the government role and economic opening.The following policy suggestions are offered:1)to improve regional economic efficiency and reduce the economic gap in Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei,governments must reduce their intervention in economic activities,stimulate the potentials of labor and capital,optimize the structure of human resources,and foster new demographic incentives;2)governments must guide economic factors that are reasonable throughout Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei and strengthen infrastructure construction in underdeveloped regions,thus attaining sustainable economic development;3)governments must plan overall economic growth factors of Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei and promote reasonable economic factors(e.g.,labor,resources,and innovations)across different regions,thus attaining complementary advantages between Beijing,Tianjin,and Hebei.     

Chinese Marine Economy Development: Dynamic Evolution and Spatial Difference

This study focuses on China's coastal area and its marine economic development. Applying the information diffusion method, the study establishes a kernel density function and its decomposition using a marine economic per capita as the index of the model to depict the dynamic evolution law and the internal influential factors of the Chinese marine economy during 1996–2013. The relative development rate was introduced to analyze the spatial differences in the marine economy's development. In this way, space and time dimensions fully characterized the evolution of the Chinese marine economy. Additionally, the influence of growth and inequality in the process of its development can be analyzed. The study shows that the Chinese marine economy as a whole has been growing, and regional marine economic development is relatively coordinated. In addition, the marine economy began to develop even more rapidly after 2004. There are three factors affecting the dynamic evolution of China's marine economy: first, the most influential mean effect, followed by, second, the variance effect, and third, the least influential residual effect. The biggest influence on the dynamic evolution of the marine economy is the improvement of the development level of the marine economy in the coastal area. Meanwhile, due to the existence of inequality, provinces at higher development levels are more dispersed. Furthermore, the existence of the residual effect weakens the influence of the mean effect, and the influence on the dynamic evolution of the marine economy continuously increases. In the analysis of the influencing factors of the evolution and spatial difference of marine economic development, the level of opening to the outside world, the level of investment in fixed assets and the industrial structure have a positive role in promoting economic development. However, capital investment in scientific human research has a negative correlation with economic development, and does not pass the significant test. The difference in regional development levels and development speed is also very apparent; namely, the provinces with higher development levels generally displayed faster development speeds while those with lower development levels showed slower development speeds across the four periods analyzed.     

THE REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT IN THE PEARL RIVER DELTA IN NEW TERM

Since China opening to outside world, the economy in the Pearl(Zhujiang) River Delta(PRD) has been dou-ble digit growth. It has been known as one of mature fast growth areas in the world and become the model and hope of Chi-nese reform and opening to outside world. The regional development in PRD is the outcome of polarization effects. The polar-ization effects actually are extension of international regional division and a combination of Hongkong‘‘s influence and re-form and open-door policies on the mainland. Since the 1990s, driven by knowledge-based economy, the PRD has furtheradjusted the industrial structure and achieved good progress in upgrading industrial structure. Its high technology industryhas developed quickly and the economic internationalization has deepened, meanwhile, the region is going through transforma-tion and some new trends have begun to appear, which include: university towns springing up, industrial globalization andthe construction of Hi-tech development zones. The paper suggests that with the economic growth changing from relying onthe low level production elements to relying on high level production elements, the regional policies in GuangdongProvince should develop correspondingly: 1) make a plan to prohihite the blind construction in innovative spatial construc-tions; 2) make measures to attract the overseas talents to establish a pool of talent; 3) work out the favorable policies forabsorbing larger capital; 4) formulate the policy of attracting a cluster of industries to speed up the upgrade of industrialdevelopment.     

Understanding Relationship Between Accessibility and Economic Growth:A Case Study from China(1990–2010)

China′s economy and transport infrastructure have both experienced rapid development since 1978, and especially since 1990. Today, China is the second-largest economic entity in terms of GDP and has the largest high-speed rail(HSR) network and the second-largest expressway network in the world. This paper explores the relationship between accessibility and economic growth in China from 1990 to 2010. In the study, the basic research units include 333 prefecture-level cities and four municipalities. We explore a bivariate analysis framework of accessibility and economic growth, and their increase rates, to examine this relationship using long-term panel data. The results indicate that, first, accessibility and economic growth show a significant positive relationship using both cross-section and panel data, while the increase rate in accessibility and GDP indicate no significant relationship using cross-section data and a poor significant relationship using panel data. Second, the distributions of local advantage are uneven. Cities with low local advantage with respect to accessibility and GDP are mainly located in China′s eastern coastal region or the provincial capitals, while those with low local advantage in terms of their increase rates are located in the western region. Third, as China′s economic growth and transport networks have evolved, the distribution of local advantage shows little change in terms of accessibility and GDP, but a greater change in terms of their increase rates, which is largely influenced by the distribution of expressway and HSR networks.     

Changing rural development inequality in Jilin Province, Northeast China

Rural development inequality is an important practical issue during the course of full establishment of a ′moderately well-off society′ in modern China,and the objective understanding and evaluation of the status and regional inequality of rural development can provide scientific basis for ′building a new countryside′ and coordination development of rural-urban regions.Based on the county-level data of 2000,2005 and 2009,this paper examines the rural development inequality of Jilin Province in Northeast China by establishing a rural development index.The spatio-temporal dynamic patterns and domain factors are discussed by using the method of exploratory spatial data analysis and multi-regression model.The results are shown as follows.Firstly,most of the counties were in lower development level,which accounted for 58.3%,62.5% and 66.7% of the total counties in 2000,2005 and 2009,respectively.The characteristics of spatial inequality were very obvious at county level.For example,rural development level of Changchun Proper and the proper of seven prefecture-level cities were much higher than that of the surrounding regions.The counties in the eastern and northern Jilin Province were the lowest regions of rural development level,while the middle counties were the rapid growth areas in rural economy.Secondly,Moran′s I of rural development index(RDI) was 0.01,–0.16 and –0.06 in 2000,2005 and 2009,respectively,which indicated that spatial agglomeration of RDI was not obvious in Jilin Province,and took on the characteristic of random distribution.The counties of both the units and its adjacent units have higher development level(HH) were transferred from the western areas to the eastern areas,while the countries of both the units and its adjacent units have lower development level(LL) were diffused from the eastern to middle and western Jilin Province.Finally,the result of multi-regression analysis showed that the improvement of agricultural production condition,development of agricultural economics and the adjustment of industrial structure were the domain factors affecting rural development inequality of Jilin Province in the later ten years.     

LOCATION AND ECONOMIC GROWTH： CASE STUDY IN CHINA

This paper explores how location could affect economic growth and it has always been omitted in economic analysis. Geographic factors can affect economic activities. Three mechanisms of location affecting economic growth have been studied: consumption, production and migration. The initial superior location will take such advantages as lower transport costs and lower price level, so it could have higher consumption utility, higher productivity, and attract more human capital, then lead higher growth. Those regions with the superior location will have higher utility due to more product varities and the comparative lower price, and higher wage due to the production technology, and it would attract more individuals with higher human capital to move to this location. It is a kind of agglomeration, meaning the superior location will hold more advantages and higher growth rate, otherwise those locations with poor geographic factor will be even worse. Based on Chinese provincial economic growth experiences of these years, this paper does some empirical analysis by regressing on some variables including the geographic ones. In this paper, the dummy variables and population density are used to measure the location factor. And we find evidences supporting the view that dominant locations such as coastal areas grow faster, on the contrary,middle and western provinces grow slower. Location does affect economic growth.     

Revisiting the Relationship Between Urbanization and Economic Development in China Since the Reform and Opening-up

The relationship between urbanization and economic development has become a hot topic in the scientific community due to its great practical significance,and economic and social value.However,this relationship continues to change dynamically.In the new stage of urbanization,it is urgent to reveal the causal relationship quantitatively and diagnose the future direction systematically.Based on this,this paper calculates the contribution rate of China’s urbanization to economic development from 1978 to 2019 and uses the panel data cointegration test method to explore the causal relationship between urbanization and economic development in China.The study has three principal results.First,the contribution rate of urbanization to economic growth has maintained the overall growth trend from1978 to 2019,but the growth rate of urbanization’s contribution to economic growth has been relatively low since 2012.It is an important reason that the real estate sector has moved into a new stage of transformation.Second,the cointegration test shows that economic development is a significant factor in advancing urbanization and the urbanization is the product of economic development.Urbanization has a positive feedback effect on economic development,but this effect does not pass the 5%significance level test.The impulse response function shows that the impact of urbanization on economic development is relatively small and stable,indicating that it is limited that the boost of economic development by land-centered urbanization.Third,China’s urbanization and economic development have both shown rapid growth for some time,but their relationship is still the low level of coordination,which has also led to a downward trend in the contribution of new-type,people-oriented urbanization to economic growth in recent years.In the future,China’s urbanization and economy need to maintain relatively medium-low speed growth in the medium-long term,and we should boost the coordinated development of urbanization and economy from low level to high level.     

EVOLVEMENT AND CONTROL OF VULNERABLE ECOLOGICAL REGION——A Case Study in Ongniud Banner and Aohan Banner, Inner Mongolia

The evolvement of a vulnerable ecological region is a dynamic process, which is affected by various factors. During the evolvement process, human activities have a decisive effect. The purpose of studying vulnerable ecological region is to control human economic activities and to develop a negative feedback modulation mechanism.This paper established a model of vulnerable ecological region‘s evolvement by considering four synthetic variables.These synthetic variables are ecological carrying capacity, ecological resilience, economic development intensity, and economic development velocity. Finally, Ongniud Banner and Aohan Banner in North China were taken as study cases to simulate the evolvement processes of vulnerable ecological regions under different conditions of economic development. The results show that human activities have an important influence on the evolvement trend of vulnerable ecological region.     

Regional distribution and sustainable development strategy of mineral resources in China

This paper summarizes the distribution and production layout of the major mineral resources in China,including coal,iron ore,copper and bauxite,from a national perspective.It also identifies the incompatibility between the mineral resources distribution and regional economic development.Significant issues with China’s mineral resource industry cause challenges for the sustainable development of both the mining industry and the national socio-economy.The sustainability of regional mineral resources and the environmental pollution by mining in the western China were also analyzed.Results show that the distribution of China’s mineral resources is misaligned with its regional layout of economic development.China’s mineral resources have been over-exploited,and the mineral resources production in the eastern China is unsustainable.The continuously expanding production of mineral resources in the western China has heavily endangered the ecological environment.We propose strategies to boost the sustainable development of mineral resources,including measures to accelerate economic development and enhance the sustainability of domestic mineral resources.We also offer suggestions for scientifically planning the mineral resource prospecting and exploitation and regional economic layout,as well as for proactively undertaking industry transfer in the eastern China and raising the environmental benchmark requirements for the mineral industry in the central and western China.     

SOME PROBLEMS ON REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT IN XIAMEN CITY

Xiamen is an important coastal harbour and tourist city. Since the establishment of the Xiamen Special Economic Zone in 1980, great changes of developments in economy and urban construction have taken place. The comprehensive development is most important to Xiamen's future. Xiamen has favorable geographical location, high level of economy opening to the outside world and close relation with Xiamen-Zhangzhou-Guanzhou economic area. The Xiamen Special Economic Zone should play the role of central city in the south Fujian Province.     

An integrated spatial planning of the mountainous landscapes for ski sports in a case area at the eastern Türkiye

Mountainous regions have disadvantages in economic development because of harsh physical and climatic conditions. However, winter tourism activities are one of the key components for supporting economic development in the highlands. Establishing a ski resort area supports direct and indirect employment in a region, and it stops immigration from mountainous regions to other places. This research aimed to assess the potential ski areas using a multi criteria evaluation technique in the Van region ...     

SPATIAL-TEMPORAL ANALYSIS OF REGIONAL DISPARITIES OF INTERNET DEVELOPMENT IN CHINA

This paper attempts to summarize the disparities of lnternet development in China spatially-temporally. The major objective is to measure the differences between Eastern, Central and Western China. Methods of map presentation, correlation, Lorenz curve, Gini Coefficient and location quotient analysis are conductcd in this study.For convenience, the indicator of regional lnternet development is simplified as the number of domain names registered under .CN in each province. The data used are collected from the semi-annual surveys of the Statistical surrey Report on the Internet Development in China since 1999. There are several findings: 1)The number of domain names in each province (city) declines gradually from the east to the west. 2) The gap between the highest growth provinces (cities) and the lowest ones is rather large. 3) Although the absolute differences between the eastern, ccntral and western China have been enlarged, the relative diffcrences in each province (city) have remained constant.4) Provinces (cities) are classified into three types according to location quotient changes, namely, rising type,changeless type and declining type. Compared with industrial and economic growth, lnternet sector in the eastern and western China is relatively ascending, while that in the central China is descending. 5) The number of domain names at provincial level is not statistically consistent with GDP.     

A heat budget study on the mechanism of SST variations in the Indian ocean dipole regions

By using a new heat budget equation that is closely related to the sea surface temperature （SST） and a dataset from an ocean general circulation model （MOM2） with 10-a integration （1987-1996）, the relative importance of various processes determining SST variations in two regions of the Indian Ocean is compared. These regions are defined by the Indian Ocean Dipole Index and will be referred to hereafter as the eastern （0^＊-10^＊S, 90^＊-110^＊E） and western regions （10^＊S- 10^＊N, 50^＊-70^＊E）, respectively. It is shown that in each region there is a falling of SST in boreal summer and a rising in most months of other seasons, but the phases are quite different. In the eastern region, maximum cooling rate occurs in July, whereas in the western region it occurs in June with much larger magnitude. Maximum heating rate occurs in November in the eastern region, but in March in the western one. The western region exhibits another peak of increasing rate of SST in October, indicating a typical half-year period. Net surface heat flux and entrainment show roughly the same phases as the time-varying term, but the former has much larger contribution in most of a year, whereas the latter is important in the boreal summer. Horizontal advection, however, shows completely different seasonal variations as compared with any other terms in the heat budget equation. In the eastern region, it has a maximum in June/November and a minimum in March/ September, manifesting a half-year period; in the western region, it reaches the maximum in August and the minimum in November. Further investigation of the horizontal advection indicates that the zonal advection has almost the opposite sign to the meridional advection. In the eastern region, the zonal advection is negative with a peak in August, whereas the meridional one is positive with two peaks in June and October. In the western region, the zonal advection is negative from March to November with two peaks in June and November, whereas the meridional one is positive with one peak in July. Different phases can be clearly seen between the two regions for each component of the horizontal advection. A detailed analysis of the data of 1994, a year identified when the Indian Ocean dipole event happened, indicates that the horizontal advection plays a dominant role in the remarkable cooling of the eastern region, in which zonal and meridional advections have the same sign of anomaly. However, in the western region in 1994 no any specialty was shown as compared with other years, for the SST anomaly is not positive in large part of this region. All these imply that the eastern and western regions may be related in a quite complex way and have many differences in dynamics. Further study is needed.     

Risk Prevention and Control for Agricultural Non-Point Source Pollution Based on the Process of Pressure-Transformation-Absorption in Chongqing,China

According to China's second national survey of pollution sources, the contribution of agricultural non-point sources(ANS) to water pollution is still high. Risk prevention and control are the main means to control costs and improve the efficiency of ANS, but most studies directly take pollution load as the risk standard, leading to a considerable misjudgment of the actual pollution risk. To objectively reflect the risk of agricultural non-point source pollution(ANSP) in Chongqing, China, we investigated the influences of initial source input, intermediate transformation, and terminal absorption of pollutants via literature research and the Delphi method and built a PTA(pressure kinetic energy, transformation kinetic energy, and absorption kinetic energy) model that covers 12 factors, with the support of geographical information system(GIS) technology. The terrain factor calculation results and the calculation results of other factors were optimized by Python tools to reduce human error and workload. Via centroid migration analysis and Kernel density analysis, the risk level, spatial aggregation degree, and key prevention and control regions could be accurately determined. There was a positive correlation between the water quality of the rivers in Chongqing and the risk assessment results of different periods, indirectly reflecting the reliability of the assessment results by the proposed model. There was an obvious tendency for the low-risk regions transforming into high-risk regions. The proportion of high-risk regions and extremely high-risk regions increased from 17.82% and 16.63%in 2000 to 18.10% and 16.76% in 2015, respectively. And the risk level in the main urban areas was significantly higher than that in the southeastern and northeastern areas of Chongqing. The centroids of all grades of risky areas presented a successive distribution from west to east, and the centroids of high-risk and extremely high-risk regions shifted eastward. From 2000 to 2015, the centroids of highrisk and extremely high-risk regions moved 4.63 km(1.68°) and 4.48 km(12.08°) east by north, respectively. The kernel density analysis results showed that the high-risk regions were mainly concentrated in the main urban areas and that the distribution of agglomeration areas overall displayed a transition trend from contiguous distribution to decentralized concentration. The risk levels of the regions with a high proportion of cultivated land and artificial surface were significantly increased, and the occupation of cultivated land in the process of urbanization promoted the movement of the centroids of high-risk and extremely high-risk regions. The identification of key areas for risk prevention and control provides data scientific basis for the development of prevention and control strategies.     

Spatial effect of mineral resources exploitation on urbanization: A case study of Tarim River Basin, Xinjiang, China

Mineral resources exploitation significantly affects the spatial structure and evolutive trend of urbanization in arid areas.In this study,the spatial autocorrelation method and the spatial computation model were used to investigate the spatial impacts of mineral resources excavation and processing on comprehensive level of urbanization in the Tarim River Basin,Xinjiang,China for the years of 2000,2006 and 2008.The results are as follows:1)There was a spatial correlation of the development of mineral resources industry and the comprehensive level of urbanization in 2006 and 2008,with the spatial concentration trend rising significantly in 2006 and decreasing in 2008.2)The patterns of local spatial concentration of mineral resources industry and of the comprehensive level of urbanization were relatively stable,and the two patterns showed signs of spatial correlationship.The higher was the degree of the concentration of mineral resources industry,the stronger was its impact on the spatial clustering of urbanization.3)In 2000, mineral resources excavation and processing had a significant positive impact on the comprehensive level of urbanization in the region but not in its adjacent regions.However,in 2008,mineral resources excavation and processing significantly raised the comprehensive level of urbanization not only in the region but also in its neighboring regions.This research demonstrates that the development of mineral resources industry can strongly affect the trends and spatial patterns of urbanization.     

The Evolution and Differentiation of Economic Convergence of Resource-based Cities in Northeast China

A key target of the overall strategy implementation for regional development since the 18th Party Congress of China has involved taking measures to narrow regional disparities. This is because resource-based cities' economic development has fallen below general levels due to resource exhaustion and an unbalanced industrial structure, among other factors. Further, an economic gap has long existed between Northeast China's large number of resource-based cities and non-resource-based cities. This article comprehensively studies the economic convergence of Northeast China's resource-based cities and non-resource-based cities from 1996 to 2015 by using a dynamic panel to analyze not only the economic development of different industries and types of cities, but also the main factors that influence economic development. The empirical results demonstrate that economic convergence exists in both resource-based and non-resource-based cities, but the economic gap between them has clearly narrowed since the implementation of a strategy to revitalize the Northeast's old industrial base. Shrinking cities are the fastest to converge, as mature cities are slower and regenerating cities are the slowest; regarding industry structure, the secondary industry dominates the economy in mature and shrinking cities, and the tertiary industry in regenerating cities. The primary stimulus in resource-based cities' economic development involves upgrading the industrial structure and investing in human capital. As China faces a ‘new normal' economy, resource-based cities in Northeast China should restructure the economy and perfect their market system to avoid again widening the economic gap.     

ANALYSIS OF CAPITAL FLOW WITH GIS——Two Approaches for Regional Investment in China

GIS technology has been mostly concerned with handling physical data and modeling physical environment. However, the requirements of GIS for handling socio-economic information in many cases are different from those concerning phenomena in the physical environment. Analysis of capital flow among regions requires the transitions both from economic values to physical landscape and from physical surface to economic explanation. Rapid growth of Chinese economy conies mainly from investment. There are two main ways for obtaining high growth of investment. One is government expenditure which usually invests in regional facility and amenity block, which is regarded as stimulus for attracting investment. The other is the creation of investing center and corresponding capital source areas, both of which need the central city with the highest growth rate of investment among regions. This paper presents the cluster areas of both government revenue and total investment, the potential situation of capital flow betwe     

Spatial Pattern and Influencing Factors of Regional Ecological Civilisation Construction in China

Ecological civilisation construction is a strategy for regional sustainable development based on a regional system of human-land relations. The comprehensive measurement and regional differentiation in construction levels are the key issues of ecological civilisation construction. This study aims to build 35 index systems that coalesce on four aspects: ecological economic adjustment and operation, ecological and social development and progress, ecological resources and environmental security, and ecological institutional and cultural awareness. We measured and evaluated the level of ecological civilisation construction of 329 cities(prefecture-level cities, autonomous prefectures and leagues) in 2018 using a comprehensive evaluation system and a spatial autocorrelation method to assess spatial differences in the level of ecological civilisation construction across China. This approach takes ‘the humanities-economic geography' comprehensive perspective and uses a GWR(geographically weighted regression) model to analyse 10 influencing factors. Results show that: 1) the level of ecological construction can be divided into five types: higher, high, medium, low, and lower levels, according to the evaluation score. The five types are spindle-shaped in quantity and there is a significant imbalance in their spatial distribution, mainly trending from the southeast coast to the northwest. The land is decreasing, and the southern region is higher in level than the northern region. 2) The results of the spatial autocorrelation method show obvious spatial differences in ecological civilisation construction across China and that the level of ecological civilisation construction is positively autocorrelated. From east to west, the hot zone gradually transitions to a cold zone. A high-high type is mainly distributed in eastern coastal cities of China, and the number of high-low and low-high types are small. The low-low type is mainly distributed in the northwestern and northeastern regions. 3) The effect of influencing factors is heterogeneous in their spatial distribution, and the abundance of ecological resources is the most influential factor. According to the main influencing factors, each region should adhere to the principle of differentiation according to local conditions when choosing its ecological civilisation construction path and establishing an assessment mechanism. This study provides a scientific basis for enriching the regional level measurement of ecological civilisation construction, clarifying the current level of ecological civilisation construction in China, and implementing the regional differentiation path of ecological civilisation construction.     

CHINA＇S REGIONAL DISPARITY IN 1981-2000：OPENNESS AND DEVELOPMENT OF NON-STATE-OWNED ENTERPRISES AND FISCAL DECENTRALIZATION

While China‘s economic growth has been impressive since 1978, regional disparity in terms of provincial per capita GDP has been increasing. On the other hand, this rapid but uneven growth was accompanied by China‘s deepening openness and structural reforms including the development of non-state-owned enterprises (non-SOEs) and fiscal decentralization. Based on quantitative analyses, this paper tries to explore the features of regional disparity in China and the relationships between regional growth and China‘s openness and economic structure reforms in the period from 1981 to 2000, The paper finds that the catching-up of the coastal region to the initially rich provinces, which are mainly located in inland areas, brought about a convergence of the growth pattern across provinces in the 1980s. The subsequent divergence in the provincial growth rates between the coast and the interior generated an enlarging regional disparity in China in the 1990s. The ever-faster growth in the coastal region was benefited by China‘s openness and the development of non-state-owned enterprises. The development of non-state-owned enterprises underlies the higher operational efficiency in the coastal region. Additionally, with the insignificant regression results, fiscal decentralization was observed to facilitate faster growth in the coast region. The findings justify the initiative of the “West Region Development Strategy“ and offer some policy implications for China.