SPATIAL DISPARITIES OF URBAN SOCIOECONOMIC-DEVELOPMENT IN THE PEOPLES-REPUBLIC-OF-CHINA

A multi-variate analysis applying factor analysis for 353 Chinese citi es based on 1986 data culminated in a three-factor solution. The elite factor, consisting of five indices in science, education, health care , communication and urbanization, is spread out all over the country. The high values of the investment priority factor, encompassing three variables related to current policy, are concentrated in certain areas -East Coast, Central Coal and Metallurgy Belts, and West Yellow River Coal and Metallurgy Belt. The established industrial development facto r, involving five economic components, has a high-value concentration mainly in the east. These findings show that there is an evident contr adiction between the recent Chinese policy of high-speed economic grow th and the orthodox socialist strategy of balanced regional developmen t.