Regional Division and Statistics in China
Regional Division and Statistics in China
Peng, Zhang
National Bureau of Statistics of China, 57 Yuetan Nanjie, Xichengqu, Beijing China. E-mail: [email protected]
I. Regional Division of China Regional division is the base of researching regional economy, the precondition for exploring regional
Sessions development, and the foundation for formulating regional policies. As China is a country with vast territory, Posters there is great difference in the development condition and developmental level among different regions.
Therefore, regional division is an important way for China, a country with relatively vast territory, to adjust
and control the regional economic development. Thus a complete set of regional division system is an
important support for setting down and executing regional policies of China.
Regional division includes three aspects: (1) natural division; (2) administrative division; (3) economic regional
division. Natural region, administrative region and economic region are three physiographical regional concepts
with different nature but close relationship. Natural region is a geographic unit with relatively consistent natural
features and ambiguous boundary. Administrative region, belonging to superstructure, is the administrative
jurisdiction scope of governments at all levels, and is the region divided as per systems, so it has clear legal
boundary line. Economic region is the region strategically divided as per the feature of social production
geographic division. As it belongs to economic activity region, the boundary line may change with the
Sessions development of economy. Posters If administrative division is largely consistent with economic regional division, it can be called
administrative-economic regional division. If administrative division is not consistent with economic
regional division, then it can be called non-administrative - economic region, i.e. cross-administrative
economic region. Natural region can be consistent with administrative-economic region, but in many cases,
they are not consistent, or the natural region is only consistent with economic region rather than administrative region. Usually, if natural region, administrative region and economic region are consistent or
largely consistent with each other, it will be convenient to conduct scientific and reasonable regional
planning in this natural-administrative-economic region, so as to harmonize and sustainably develop the
population, resources, environment, economy and society in this region. However, as China has wide area,
with complicated landform and geography as well as diversified climate, it is impossible to make the
administrative division, natural division and economic regional division consistent with each other.
i. Natural Division of China Sessions Located in the north of the eastern hemisphere, and southeast of Asian-European continent, China faces the Posters Pacific Ocean on the east, and extends into the hinterland of Asian-European continent in the northwest,
which makes it a country with sea and land (with an area of 9.6 million km2). The territory of China begins
from the center line of the main channel of Heilongjiang River in the north (about 53°34′ of north latitude),
and extends to Zengmu Ansha of the Nansha Islands in the south (about 3°51′ of north latitude), as well as
begins from the joint of the main channels of Heilongjiang River and Wusuli River in the east (about 135°05′ of east longitude), and extends to the Pamir Mountain Area in the west (around 37° of east longitude). The
south-north span of China is about 50 latitudes, with a distance of about 5500 km, and the east-west span is
more than 60 latitudes, with a distance of more than 5200 km. Most of the territories are in the North
Temperate Zone, with clearly four seasons, while a small part of territories in the south are in the tropical
zone, where trees and grass are green all over the year. As so large span of longitude and latitude, China is
featured with diversified climate and great discrepancy on natural condition.
Sessions The whole country can be divided into three natural regions, i.e. the eastern monsoon region, northwest arid
Posters region and Qinghai-Tibet Plateau region according to the comprehensive factors such as natural condition,
geographic entity and climate. Based on this, 7 natural regions (i.e. the Northeast Region, North China
Region, Center China Region, South China Region, Inner Mongolia Region, Northwest Region, and
Qinghai-Tibet Region) are further divided into according to the condition of both temperature and moisture,
as well as the soil and plant which are reflections of temperature and moisture. Moreover, 35 sub-regions are
also divided into as per the integral indicators of zonal factor and non-zonal factor. (See table 1) Table 1: System Division of Natural Regions.
Eastern Monsoon Region Northwest Arid Region Qinghai-Tibet Plateau Region
Mountains in the north of Great Inner Mongolian Plateau East Himalayas South Foot Xingan Mountains
Northeast Region Mountains in the east of the South of Great Xingan Mountains Mountains and plateau in Inner MongoliaRegion Northeast Region and Yinshan Mountains east Tibet and west Sichuan Plateaus in the southeast of Plains in the center of the Ordos Plateau and Hetao Plain Qinghai and Northwest of Northeast Region
Qinghai-Tibet Region Sichuan Hills in Shandong and eastern and Xiliaohe Plain and Loess Plateau Sessions Mountains and valleys in southern parts of Liaoning land at the north side of Yanshan
Posters south Tibet province Mountains
North ChinaRegion Plain in Huanghe River and Huaihai, as well as the lower Altai and adjacent mountains Northern Tibet Plateau Northwest Region reaches of Liaohe River Loess Plateau Zungeer Basin Kunlun Mountains
Hilly Area of North Hebei Qilian Mountains and Altyn Tianshan Mountains Province mountain Qinling-Daba Mountains and Tarim basin Qaidam Basin Huaiyang hills Plains at Middle and Lower Alxa Plateau and Hexi Corridor Reaches of Yangtze River Center ChinaRegion Mountains and hills of south of the lower reaches of the Yangtze River Mountains and hills in Zhejiang and Fujian Sichuan Basin Yun-Gui Plateau Sessions Taiwan Posters Hong Kong Macao South ChinaRegion Leizhou Peninsula and Hainan Island South China sea islands Lingnan hills and plains Mountain and valley in south Yunnan The basic features of the three natural regions are:
1. The northern monsoon region occupies about 46% of the total area of China. There are wide constructional
plains, with a few of mountain ridges with the altitude exceeding 2000m. There is distinct monsoon influence,
as well as obvious substitution of wind direction, precipitation and temperature as the change of seasons. It is
mainly covered by forest, with a few grasslands. Human beings have cultivated nearly all the land suitable
for farming in this region, which brings broad and deep influence of human being on this region. Therefore,
it is the utmost agricultural region in China.
Sessions
Posters 2. The Northwest arid region is in the inland of China, occupying about 27.3% of the total area. There are
wide high plains with the altitude of around 1000m in this region. Most parts of this region are surrounded
by mountain ridges which block the reaching of summer monsoon, so there is little aqueous vapor from sea.
Most parts of the area are covered by desert, while a few of which are covered by desert steppe and steppe.
Forests and downlands are distributed in vertical zoning of high mountains. Most parts of the area belong to
endorheism, with relatively plentiful of lakes, bust most of which are saltwater lakes. There is insufficient water resource, serious soil desertification and salination in this area. Activities of Human beings can be seen
in the contiguous area of this region with the Eastern Monsoon Region and areas with flowing water for
irrigation although the influence of human beings here is far less broad than the Eastern Monsoon Region.
3. Qinghai-Tibet Plateau area occupies about 26.7% of the total area of China. This area consists of high
plateaus with the average altitude of more than 4000m, with rarefied air, low temperature, strong solar
radiation, and strong wind power. It is mainly covered by desert, mesophorbium shrub and a few forests.
Sessions Most of the areas here belong to endorheism, with major glaciers and lakes. Influence of human beings on
Posters this region is less than the Northwest arid region. The industry here is mainly animal husbandry, and forestry
and agriculture can be developed in a few regions.
ii. Administrative Division of China
Administrative division is a kind of space arrangement of the national system, indicating that a country
divides its territory into regions with different hierarchical structures according to the needs of political and economic development and administrative management, and as per certain standards. Administrative division
is a local administrative management system and government management behavior, and the reflection of
local administrative power on regions.
The first Constitution of PRC issued in 1954 specifies that the first-level administrative regions of China
shall be province, autonomous region, and municipality directly under the Central Government. It is
specified that three-level administrative division system of province, county, and township shall be executed,
Sessions i.e. the country is divided into province, autonomous region, and municipality directly under the Central
Posters Government; province and autonomous region are divided into autonomous prefecture, county, autonomous
county, and city; county is further divided into township, autonomous township of ethnic minorities, and
town. Autonomous region, autonomous prefecture, autonomous county and autonomous township of ethnic
minorities shall all be national autonomous regions. This regional national autonomy system not only meets
the multinational feature of China, which can solve the nation problems, but also combines economic factor
and national factors, which can promote the equality, solidarity and co-prosperity of the nations. In order to accelerate the urbanization of China, and solve the long-term problem of separate management on
city and countryside, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China decided to establish city
between province and county to promote the economic development of countryside via the way of city
leading countryside from 1982. In this way, the current organizational system of China is actually four levels
of “province—city—county—countryside town”. With the return of Hong Kong and Macao, special
administrative regions are set up.
Sessions After more than 50 years’ adjustment and reform, the current administrative division structural system has
Posters been formed in China, i.e. the combined structural system of conventional administrative division, national
autonomous administrative division and city-type administrative divisions. Up to the end of 2005, there are
totally 32 provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities directly under the Central Government, 2
special administrative regions, 333 cities, 2862 counties and 41636 townships in China (see Table 2).
At the early time of New China, in order to make management convenient, the country divided its territory
into 30 provinces (except for Taiwan), autonomous regions, and municipalities directly under the Central
Government (Chongqing was still a part of Sichuan Province at that time), as well as six regions, i.e. the
Northeast Region, North China Region, East China Region, South Central China Region, Southwest Region
Sessions and Northwest Region with the consideration of natural divisions. At that time, the six Regions were both
Posters administrative regions and economic regions. With the development of social economy, the division of the
six Regions became un-adapted with the actual condition, so it was cancelled in 1954.
Table 2: Administrative Division of China. (Year 2005) Population at the End of No. of Prefecture-level No. of County-level Land Area Region the Year Divisions Divisions (10k km2) (10k people) (No.) (No.)
Nationwide 960 130756 333 2862
Beijing 1.68 1538 18 Tianjin 1.13 1043 18 Sessions Hebei 18.77 6851 11 172
Posters Shanxi 15.63 3355 11 119 Inner Mongolia 118.30 2386 12 101
Liaoning 14.59 4221 14 100 Jilin 18.74 2716 9 60 Heilongjiang 45.46 3820 13 130
Table 2. Cont’d.
Population at the End of No. of Prefecture-level No. of County-level Land Area Region the Year Divisions Divisions (10k km2) (10k people) (No.) (No.) Nationwide 960 130756 333 2862 Shanghai 0.63 1778 19 Jiangsu 10.26 7475 13 106 Zhejiang 10.18 4898 11 90 Anhui 13.96 6120 17 105 Fujian 12.14 3535 9 85
Sessions Jiangxi 16.69 4311 11 99
Posters Shandong 15.67 9248 17 140
He’nan 16.70 9380 17 159 Hubei 18.59 5710 13 102 Hunan 21.18 6326 14 122 Guangdong 17.79 9194 21 121 Guangxi 23.60 4660 14 109 Hainan 3.39 828 2 20
Table 2. Cont’d. (10k km2) (10k people) (No.) (No.) Nationwide 960 130756 333 2862 Chongqing 8.24 2798 40 Sichuan 48.50 8212 21 181 Guizhou 17.60 3730 9 88 Yunnan 39.40 4450 16 129 Tibet 122.84 277 7 73 Shaanxi 20.56 3720 10 107 Gansu 45.40 2594 14 86 Qinghai 72.12 543 8 43 Sessions Ningxia 5.18 596 5 21 Posters Xinjiang 165.00 2010 14 99
Note:
1. Data of special administrative regions of Hong Kong and Macao as well as Taiwan is not included in this table.
2. Number of soldiers in active service is included in the population of the whole country at the end of year, but not included in the figure of each region.
3. The national data has been corrected as per sampling error and survey error.
4. Population of each region is given after sufficiently considering the number of floating population according to 1% population sampling survey, so the population of
some regions can not be directly compared with the data of the last year.
iii. Economic Regional Division of China Economic regional division means to strategically divide the territory according to the rule of social regional
division based on the situation of China, to reveal the advantages and disadvantages on the development of
each region, and to identify the specializing development direction and the feature of industrial structure of
each economic region. It is the general deployment frame of national economy, as well as the base of
developing horizontal economic union and reasonable arrangement of productivity. Through economic
regional division, the relation between population and portion, short-term and long-term as well as
population growth and resources and environment during the economic development can be coordinated. Sessions
Posters
The formation and development of economic area is in a certain space and time, and is limited by the factors
such as local natural resource, ecological environment, population, nation, developmental level of science
and technology, features of regional division, nature of production relations, as well as political and
economic management systems and conditions among regions. These factors will influence the formation
and development of economic region during the interaction among them. The influence is a dynamic process rather than static, and it will change as the development of economic regions and change of factors. During
the more than 50 years after the establishment of New China, the formation and change of economic regions
are the true evidence of this dynamic process.
1. Economic Regional Division History of China
Early when New China was founded, it divided its territory into 6 large Regions based on province,
autonomous regions and municipality directly under the Central Government, i.e. the Northeast Region,
Sessions North China Region, East China Region, South Central Region, Southwest Region and Northwest Region.
Posters The 6 large Regions are both administrative regions and economic regions, but are mainly administrative
areas based on province (district, city). This kind of economic regional division within administrative
division provincial boundary resulted in highly consistent of administrative region and economic region,
which had great influence on the later development of regional economy of China. While dividing the 6 large
Regions, the government divided the whole country into two main areas of coastal area and inland area. In
1959, the First Five-year Plan began to be executed in China, and the system of 6 large administrative regions became un-adapted to the condition at that time, so it was cancelled in 1954.
In 1958, the above South central Region was further divided into two regions of Center China and South
China, which resulted in 7 economic cooperation regions, i.e. Northeast Region, North China Region, East
China Region, Center China Region, South China Region, Southwest Region and Northwest Region, with
the main purpose of organizing economic cooperation.
Sessions In 1961, the Central Government readjusted the economic cooperation regions into six, i.e. Northeast Region,
Posters North China Region, East China Region, South central Region, Southwest Region and Northwest Region.
Central Bureau and Large Region Planning Commission were set up in each cooperation region for
coordinating the economic relationship among provinces, cities and autonomous regions, and organizing all
kinds of economic cooperation. The 6 economic cooperation regions played a certain role in adjusting the
national economy at that time. After the beginning of the Great Cultural Revolution, the 6 economic
cooperation regions were cancelled one after another in 1966. From the Third Five-year Plan period (1966-1970), the territory has been divided into regions of the first
national defense line, the second national defense line and the third national defense line according to the
economic development and geographical distribution of the different sectors of the economy at that time. The
"large three lines” mainly includes provinces such as Yunnan, Guizhou, Sichuan, Shaanxi, Gansu, Shanxi
(west), Henan (west), and Hunan (west).
From 1980s, as the allocation of productive force has been transferred from the coastal area to inland area,
three economic zones have been formed throughout the whole country, i.e. the East Economic Zone, Center
Sessions Economic Zone and West Economic Zone. The East Economic Zone includes totally 12 provinces and cites, Posters i.e. Liaoning, Hebei, Beijing, Tianjin, Shandong, Jiangsu, Shanghai, Zhejiang, Fujian, Guangdong, Hainan
and Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. The Center Economic Zone includes 9 provinces, i.e.
Heilongjiang, Jilin, Inner Mongolia, Shanxi, Henan, Anhui, Hubei, Jiangxi, and Hunan. The West Economic
Zone includes totally 10 provinces and cities, i.e. Shaanxi, Gansu, Ningxia, Yunnan, Guizhou, Sichuan,
Chongiqng, Qinghai, Tibet, and Xinjiang. This kind of regional division is the foundation of the current
economic regionalization of China. In the middle of 1980s, the State Council established three planning offices to plan and organize for the
establishment of Shanghai Economic Region (including Shanghai, Jiangshu, Zhejiang, Anhui, and Jiangxi),
Northeast Economic Region (including the three northeast provinces of China and the east of Inner
Mongolia), and Economic Region of the Pan-Bohai Sea (including Beijing, Tianjin, Tangshan, and
Qinghuangdao). However, due to many reasons, the plan was not executed at last.
During the Ninth Five-year Plan period (1996-2000), economic regional division of 7 regions was presented,
Sessions i.e. the East Region, Region of the Pan-Bohai Sea, Yangtze River Delta Region, Southeast Coastal Region,
Posters Central Region, as well as some provinces in the Southwest Region and Southeast Region, and the
Northwest Region.
During the Tenth Five-year Plan period (2001-2005), the government restored the three-region divisions (the
East Region, Central Region and West Region).
2. Status Quo of Chinese Economic Regional Division
According to the history and actual situation of Chinese economic regional division, the economic region
means the nationally-specialized territorial economic complex taking comprehensive big and medium-sized
cities as the core. The economic region has following features: 1. Objectivity: The economic region exists
objectively like regional division, as a manifestation that the regional division has developed to a certain
stage. 2. Stagewise: The economic region is an objective physical body that develops step by step with the
features of inheritance and development stage. 3. Interim: The economic region has different development
Sessions stages in respect of time and interim spatial distribution as it is the sub-system of national economy system.
Posters The boundary line between economic regions is impossibly obvious. 4. Integrity: The economic region is a
complex integrating many elements. Geographic environment, natural resources, population, nationality,
science and technology, social economy and historical tradition influence the formation and development of
economical region. The resultant force resulting from interacting of these important factors decides the
development of economic region.
The experience of more than 50 years shows that the economic region shall be divided based on the
following aspects: (1) spatial adjacency, (2) similar natural condition and resource endowment structure, (3)
similar economic development level, (4) close economic ties or similar development problems, (5) Similar
social structure, (6) appropriate regional scale, (7) history continuation, (8) keeping the integrity of
administrative division, (9) facilitating the regional research and regional policies analysis.
Based on the above principles and the demands of the Eleventh Five-year Plan, the four economical regions
Sessions of East, Middle, Western and Northeast China gradually form (sea Table 3), connected with the two
Posters strategies in process- “Western Region Development” and “Revitalization of Traditional Industrial Base in
Northeast Region”. Meanwhile, a series of grade 2 or grade 3 economic regions are established officially or
non-officially within the four economic regions or between the regions, such as the economic circle of
Yangtze River Delta, economic circle of Pearl River Delta, Pan-Bohai Sea Economic Circle. Table 3: Four Economic Regions of China
East Middle West Northeast
Hebei Province Shanxi Province Shaanxi Province Liaoning Province
Beijing Anhui Province Gansu Province Jilin Province
Tianjing Jiangxi Province Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region Heilongjiang Province
Shandong Province Henan Province Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region (partial) Eastern region of Inner Mongolia
Jiangsu Province Hubei Province Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region
Shanghai Hunan Province Yunan Province Sessions Zhejiang Province Guizhou Province Posters
Fujiang Province Sichuan Province
Shandong Province Chongqing
Hainan Province Qinghai Province
Tibet Autonomous Region
Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region
3. Basic Features of Four Economic Regions Unbalanced development between coastal and inland China, one basic feature of Chinese national conditions,
forms in the process of long-term development. The three economic regions of East, Middle and West China
gradually extend from the coastal area to inland China, and the economic development levels shows obvious
Sessions grade difference; the northeast economic region was once the center of heavy industry, but now it gets behind
Posters with the eastern economic region. For the basic situations of four economic regions, refer to Table 4.
Table 4: Basic Situations of Four Economic Regions (2005).
East China Middle China West China Northwest China
National Index Absolute Ratio to the Absolute Ratio to the Absolute Ratio to the Absolute Ratio to the Total Number Country (%) Number Country (%) Number Country (%) Number Country (%)
Land area (ten thousand 960.0 91.6 9.5 102.8 10.7 686.7 71.5 78.79 8.2 square kilometers)
Total population at the end of 2005 (ten 130756 46388 36 35202.0 27.4 35976 28.0 10757 8.4 thousand persons)
Sessions GDP (regional) (RMB
Posters one hundred million 183084.8 109924.6 55.6 37230.3 18.8 33493.3 16.9 17140.8 8.7 Yuan)
Per capita GDP 14040 23768 10608 9338 15982 (regional) (RMB Yuan)
Total investment in fixed assets (RMB one 88773.6 45626.3 52.4 16145.6 18.5 17645.0 20.3 7678.8 8.8 hundred million Yuan)
Table 4: Cont’d.
East China Middle China West China Northwest China National Index Ratio to the Total Absolute Absolute Ratio to the Absolute Ratio to the Absolute Ratio to the Country Number Number Country (%) Number Country (%) Number Country (%) (%)
Local fiscal revenue (RMB one hundred 14884.2 8955.0 60.2 2263.7 15.2 2464.8 16.6 1200.6 8.1 million Yuan)
Local fiscal expenditure (RMB one 25154.3 11564.4 46.0 4713.9 18.7 6252.7 24.9 2623.3 10.4
Sessions hundred million Yuan)
Posters Disposable income of 10493 13375 8809 8783 8730 towner (RMB Yuan)
Per capita net income of rural household 3255 4720 2957 2379 3379 (RMB Yuan)
Notes: If the sum of regional data in the table is not equal to the national total index, the denominator shall be the sum of 31 provinces (regions and cities) during calculation of the ratio of East, Middle, West and Northwest China to the whole nation.
(1) East Economic Region East Economic Region includes ten provinces and cities, i.e. Hebei (Yi), Beijing (Jing), Tianjin (Jin),
Shandong (Lu), Jiangsu (Su), Shanghai (Hu), Zhejiang (Zhe), Fujiang (Min), Guangdong (Yue), Hainan
(Qiong). In this region, the coastal economy is developed, economic strength is powerful, and the population
density and economic density rank the first in the four economic regions. The gross regional product of the
ten eastern provinces (cities) is RMB 12.75 trillion Yuan in 2006, accounting for 55.6% of GDP. The
geographical position of East Economic Region is superior, the transportation system is developed, and the
advantages in respect of technology, talents, funds, resources and information are very obvious. The industry Sessions foundation is powerful and opening degree is very high. Posters
In East Economic Region locate main grade-2 economic regions of China, such as Yangtze River Delta
Economic Circle, Pearl River Delta Economic Circle, and Pan-Bohai Sea Economic Circle. The Yangtze
River Delta Economic Circle include Shanghai, Nanjing, Jiangsu, Wuxi, Changzhou, Zhenjiang, Nantong,
Yangzhou, Taizhou of Jiangsu Province, Hangzhou, Ningbo, Jiaxing, Huzhou, Shaoxing, Zhoushan, Taizhou of Zhejiang Province (16 cities in total). The Pearl River Delta Economic Circle includes Guangzhou,
Shenzhen, Zhuhai, Fushan, Jiangmen, Dongguan, Zhongshan, Huizhou city proper, Huiyang, Huidong
County, Boluo County, Zhaoqing city proper, Gaoyao and Sihui (14 cities, counties and districts). Pan-Bohai
Sea Economic Circle includes Beijing, Tianjing, Hebei, Shandong Peninsula and Liaodong Peninsula. The
three economic circles are the main body of national economy and the most vigorous areas in China.
(2) Middle Economic Region
Sessions Middle Economic Region is located at the inland China, including six provinces, i.e. Shanxi (Jin), Anhui
Posters (Wan), Jiangxi (Gan), Henan (Yu), Hubei (E), Hunan (Xiang). The six provinces have obvious location
advantages, with the functions of introduction from four directions and influencing on the adjacent regions;
they play an important role in the national territorial division. Middle Economic Region is the largest
commercial grain base, important industrial base of energy and raw materials, important transportation
region, and transport and distribution center of both travelers and goods. About 1/4 railways, roads and rivers
of China lie at this region. However, as the starting points of development and environment are different, the economic development level of Middle Region gets behind the developed east area, and its speed of growth
is lower than West China.
(3) West Economic Region
West Economic Region includes 12 provinces and regions, i.e. Shaanxi (Shan), Gansu (Gan), Ningxia (Ning),
Inner Mongolia (Meng), Guangxi (Gui), Yunan (Yun), Guizhou (Gui), Sichuan (Chuan), Chongqing (Yu),
Qinghai (Qing), Tibet (Zang), Xinjiang (Jiang). The region is wide, but the regional distribution of
population and economy is unbalanced. Generally, the population and economic development level are close Sessions to Middle Economic Region to the east of the east longitude 100°; to the west, the area is mostly of high Posters
mountain, desert and arid grassland with few people, laggard economy and poor natural conditions. West
Economic Region is the main gathering place of ethnic minorities. There are abundant natural resources and
mineral resources in this region. The development of characteristic agriculture and animal husbandry is sure
to haves prosperous future.
(4) Northwest Economic Region
Northwest Economic Region includes three provinces, i.e. Liaoning (Liao), Jilin (Ji) and Heilongjiang (Hei),
Hulunbeier, Xinganmeng, Tongliao, Chifeng, Xilinguolemeng of Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region (land
area:1.45 million square kilometers, total population: 0.12 billion). It is the traditional industrial base of
China. In the era of planned economy, Northwest Economic Region played an important role in Chinese
economy. The natural condition and resource endowment structure of the three northwest provinces are
similar, and the historical links are very close. Currently, they face many common problems, such as resource
Sessions depletion, single ownership structure, and the update of industrial structure.
Posters
From above, it can be noted that the current economic regional division reflects the Chinese economic
development conditions: East China has the economic and technical advantages; Middle and West China has
resource advantages; Northwest China has different industrial foundation advantages. The economic
development level is unbalanced, i.e. high in the east and low in the west. The stage of economic
development is asynchronous; the East keeps ahead, the Middle and Northwest ranks the second, and the West is laggard. The economic benefit is different, i.e. decrease from east to west.
II. Regional Statistics of China
The regional statistics under existing Chinese statistical system just starts and is not sound.
i. Government Statistical System of China
The traditional Chinese economic management mode is the combination of trade management by competent
authorities and regional management of administrative region. To adapt to this management mode, the
Sessions existing statistical management system was established in the 1980s. According to the Law of Statistics of
Posters China, centralized statistical system is established and the statistical management system of unified
leadership and hierarchical responsibility management are implemented. The “centralized statistical system”
refers to the Chinese official statistical system, including comprehensive statistical system of the government
and statistical system of the government department. The comprehensive statistical system of the government
means the statistic institutions established by the state and the government of province (region, city), city and
county for regional management. The statistical system of the government department means each department of the State Council and local government at all levels, the statistic institutions established as per
the statistical tasks, and the statistical persons arranged in some institutions, for industrial management.
National Bureau of Statistics of China is responsible for the operational management and direction of local
statistics bureau and statistical institutions. The survey organization set in each province (region, city) and
some cities is under the vertical leadership and unified management of National Bureau of Statistics.
Therefore, from the view of statistical system of the government, China should be classified as the mixed
Sessions statistical system of the government with decentralized professional statistics and local statistics between
Posters centralization and decentralization.
Under the statistical management system, the submittal and collection channels of statistical data are divided
into two: one is department (industry) submittal and collection, the other is the submittal and collection of
local government’s statistical department. The department (industry) collection data can not reflect the local
conditions, and the collection data of local government’s statistical department neither cover the data of a certain department (industry) data, nor reflect real local situation. Therefore, China has no real regional
statistics for a long period.
ii. Regional Statistics under Existing Statistical System
Chinese existing regional statistics is classified into five categories.
1. Regional Statistics Carried out by the Statistical Department of a Local Government
With the development of social economy and the reform of economic management system, the statistical
Sessions mode of existing statistical system no longer adapts to the demand of situation development, the ownership Posters structure becomes more complex, the statistical channels of some departments (industries) are interrupted,
and the data quality is affected adversely. Therefore, since 2000, many big and medium-sized cities, such as
Beijing, Tianjin, Shanghai, Xian, Chengdu, Wuhan, Nanjing, Zhengzhou, Taiyuan and Changsha,
successively carry out the regional statistics. The regional statistics is the statistical institution of local
government takes statistics of all types of economic institutions within the administrative area, without
reference to their relationship of administrative subordination, the nature of ownership and modes of business operation, according to the existing administrative division, and the regional statistics is realized in
the scope of administrative divisions.
2. Special Regional Statistics for Special Demand
Some provinces and cities break the administrative division and carry out the regional economy planning
according to the requirement and features of economic development. For example, according to the
development target, Beijing has divided the whole city into four functional areas, i.e. Core Area, Extended
Sessions Area, Newly-developed Area and Eco-conserving Area, and further been divided into six functional areas of
Posters top industries, i.e. Zhongguancun, CBD, Financial Street, Olympic Center, Aviation Economic Zone, and
Economic-technological Development Area. To conduct economic management of functional areas, Beijing
Statistics Bureau and Beijing Survey Organization of National Bureau of Statistics carry out
cross-administrative regional statistics and monitoring of functional areas. And the databases are established
respectively for 19 development areas of Beijing, the enterprise data of development areas are reported
directly, and the statistics system of development areas has been established. The regional statistical data of Beijing are abundant, and Beijing Statistical Yearbook has been specially published in recent years.
3. Regional Statistics Jointly Carried out by the Statistical Departments of Local Governments
The local governments have to know the importance of mutual communication with the rapid development
of regional economic integration. The statistical departments of local governments, breaking the man-made
market division and blockage, try to form a new interactive regional coordination mechanism and regional
statistical information communication organizations, such as Statistics Joint Meeting of North China,
Sessions Statistics Joint Meeting of East China, and Statistics Joint Meeting of West Coast of the Taiwan Strait. In this
Posters way, each province and city can conclude the needed regional statistical data. Forty-nine cities have
established “Shenzhen Network” statistical data exchange platform to gather required regional statistical
data.
4. Regional Statistics in Conformity to Regional Planning
With the development of regional economy, all levels of government and all sectors of society pay more
attention to and have more demand on regional statistical data. Especially, in the process of “Grand West Development” and “Revitalization of Traditional Industrial Base in Northeast Region”, the demand becomes
much stronger. As the grade-2 economic regions of Yangtze River Delta, Pearl River Delta develop rapidly,
the demand is also strong. Therefore, National Bureau of Statistics has collected and prepared the statistical
data in conformity to the economic regional division scope, including China Statistical Yearbook for
Regional Economy and Yangtze River Delta & Pearl River Delta and Hong Kong & Macao SAR Statistical
Yearbook, and relevant data publicized in China Statistical Yearbook.
5. Regional Statistics in Minority Autonomous Regions
Sessions Chinese Government always thinks much of the economic development of ethnic areas. To know the Posters economic condition of ethnic areas and reflect the social economic construction achievements of these
regions, National Bureau of Statistics has collected and prepared the statistical data of each autonomous
region, and specially published the statistical data about social and economic development in minority
autonomous regions in China Statistical Yearbook and China Statistical Yearbook for Regional Economy.
(The author serves for National Bureau of Statistics of China)