The Provincial Economy

Abstract

The Central-South Region is one of the administrative and military regions of China which consists of Henan, Hubei, Hunan, Guangxi and Guangdong provinces. These five provinces account for about 270 million of population out of the total Chinese population of 996 million for 1981, or 27 per cent (see Table 1.1). Of this, 27.7 million or 20 per cent is urban population, and 242 million or 28 per cent is rural population. Thus the region is predominantly rural. Of the five provinces, three, namely Guangxi (autonomous region) Henan and Hunan are largely agricultural. While Guangxi and Hunan are mainly rice-growing, Henan is a leading producer of wheat. The remaining two provinces, Guangdong and Hubei, are relatively more industrial. However, in spite of these economic differences between provinces, the region does not form any natural or continguous economic unit. The regional boundaries are arbitrarily drawn on administrative instead of economic lines.