A Frontier in the Middle of China: Qinghai és a Nagy Nyugati Fejlesztési Stratégia előzményei

Abstract

As a result of Deng Xiaoping’s policy of reform and opening, in the 1980’s China’s economy started to grow an an unprecedented rate, but this growth was, and to a considerable extent still is, restricted to the coastal regions. The central and western parts of China benefited much less from the changes and thus – in terms of social and economic life - a huge gap emerged between China’s east and west. In order to offset this inbalance and speed up the sluggish economic life of western China, in 1999 the central government announced, and in 2000 launched the Great Western Development Strategy (GWDS). Even if the Strategy can be understood as a set of measures rendered necessary by the coastal region’s rapid development, it is important to note that the development and integration of the country’s western part has long been a concern in China’s internal affairs. The whole western region, as defined by the GWDS, covers more than 70% of China’s territory, comprising a number of sub-regions with very different natural characteristics and conditions. Qinghai, a province situated near to China’s geographical center, played an especially interesting role in earlier attempts at developing and integating the remote northwesterrn frontiers of the country. Today the reasons for and the conditions of development are somewhat different, but the aim is the same and the main problem – to bring Qinghai closer to the heart of Chinese civilization – still seems to be unsolved.