Revitalizing old industrial base of Northeast China: Process, policy and challenge

Northeast China is the largest old industrial base of China that endured persistent influence of the past planned economy system. This region has lost its leading place since the reform and opening up, and became a backward region by contrast with the coastal areas. This paper elaborates the evolutionary process of the old industrial base of Northeast China, analyses the main reasons for the decline, gives a preliminary evaluation on the revitalizing polices in recent years, and points out major long-term challenges for future revitalization. It concludes that for Northeast China, a relative declining area: 1) it is indispensable to get the long-term policy support from the central government; 2) system reform and structure adjustment are the crucial strategies, particularly the reform of the large and medium state-owned enterprises; and developing new industries is as important as upgrading traditional advantaged industries; 3) the local governments should play an indirect role, avoiding from any unnecessary intervention on economic activity; and 4) social security and investment climate must be improved simultaneously In addition, the author stresses that the lack of knowledge on the nature of old industrial base had led to failures of the past initiatives, and revitalizing the old industrial base should be treated as a holistic regional project including economy growth, society progress and environment improvement.