The Developmental Chronicles of China’s Northeast

Abstract

The thesis will analyze China’s northeast, the once so-called “Manchuria”, its evolution and the changes undergone by its economic and political role from the beginning of its developmental history until today. After the opening up period, China’s Northeast has become the Chinese “Rust Belt”. This region is economically outdated compared to the special economic zones and other coastal areas, and it is oppressed by decadent firms and a high level of unemployment. Nevertheless, at the beginning of the 19th century this area was the crux of the first real form of industrialization in Eastern Asia, and its huge economical potential even drew both Russian and Japanese expansionist interests. Essentially, Manchuria’s economy once had a critical role in the geopolitical competition among various countries, and it later became the industrial backbone of Mao’s China. Nevertheless, after China’s opening to the outside world, its historical inheritance has been ignored by the new dominant policy, and its economy has become the representation of an obsolete, mediocre economical system. Since the beginning of the new millennium, however, the central government has chosen to deal with the problem and to try to restore the economic situation of this area with new "revitalizing" policies. The question is whether such policies are effectively working or not.