Abstract:
Qinghai is one of China’s poorest provincial-level jurisdictions, least
internally integrated and least integrated with the rest of the People’s Republic. Its
social complexity and fragile environment repeatedly created significant political and
economic problems during the first half-century of the PRC, which were then
exacerbated by policies that rapidly proved over-simplistic and counter-productive.
Since January 2000 the PRC government’s new policy initiative to develop the
Western Region – the call to “Open Up the West” – has provided the provincial
leadership with the opportunity to resolve some of the province’s long-term
difficulties through adopting markedly different perspectives on development. A more
gradual approach has emerged, concentrating on the development of the province’s
infrastructure and environmental sustainability. Nevertheless, there remains a danger
that in concentrating on economic solutions to the province’s problems its inherent
political, social and cultural contestations may be ignored to the detriment of the
leadership’s wider goals.
