Regional Industry of the PRC during the Implementation of the Strategy of Equalizing and Balanced Spatial Development in the 1950–1970s

Introduction. The chronological framework of the article includes the period of China’s development in the 1950–1970s, when the strategy of equalizing and balanced spatial development was being implemented; this had a significant impact on the formation of industrial complexes and main production sectors of the PRC. The aim and objectives of this study are to examine the characteristic features of the implementation of the strategy of equalizing and balanced spatial development of the PRC in the 1950–1970s, to identify the main trends in the dynamics of the Chinese regional industry; and to analyze key regional projects, concepts, ideas for the development of the mining and processing industry in China during the period under study. Data and research methods. The article draws on the main sources on the economic history of the PRC, including statistical collections, materials of five-year plans, and collected works of Mao Zedong. Special historical methods such as thematic chronological research method and retrospective method were applied to the study of the data. Results. Deformations in regional industrial transformations during the Great Leap Forward campaign in China (1958–1960); activities since 1964 in preparation to a war, which was being expected at the time; and the period of Cultural Revolution significantly influenced the formation of the system of regional industry in China.  In the period under study, the implementation of five-year plans for the socio-economic construction of the Chinese national economy (1953–1957, 1958–1962, 1966–1970, 1971–1975, 1976–1980); the formation of regional zones for economic cooperation;  the implementation of the objectives for regional «three lines» transformations; and an active scientific-technological and financial assistance of the Soviet Union laid the foundations, fostered further development and modernization of regional industries in China, such as electric power industry, metallurgy, production of building materials, mechanical engineering and metalworking, fuel and chemical industries. Conclusions. For the first time in the history of China, the period of equalizing and balanced regional development of the PRC saw the implementation of measures designed to narrow the gaps in the development of inland and coastal regions; these would help to solve the problems of the country’s reconstruction within the framework of industrialization of the PRC at large.

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