Intraprovincial Disparities in China: Fujian Province, 1978–1995

This paper extends the recent discussion of spatial disparities in China, by focusing upon disparities within a single province, rather than across provinces. The primary purposes of this research are to (1) gauge the extent of disparities among counties within Fujian as of the late 1970s and mid-1990s and to examine the spatial patterns of such disparities; (2) trace the evolution of disparities, with special attention to the low ends of the output and income distributions and the impact of the post-Mao reforms; and (3) suggest possible causes of the observed spatial and temporal patterns. Intraprovincial studies have been hampered by the paucity and questionable quality of relevant data; a secondary purpose of this research is to assemble a set of county-level data that are consistent over space and time and to assess the usability of such data. In keeping with these objectives, the methods adopted are mainly exploratory, rather than confirmatory. This research shows that intraprovincial disparities in China—at least in the case of Fujian—were already large at the beginning of the reform era, have since widened significantly, and have widened relatively as well as absolutely. Nevertheless, every county in Fujian has experienced substantial growth in output and income per capita (at real rates in excess of 5 and 3 percent per annum, respectively) and substantial alleviation of poverty (as measured against an absolute threshold). The observed spatial patterns appear to reflect the initial spread of modern growth over much of the province, a spread driven in part by policies to create income opportunities for the poor and closely correlated with access to transportation.