Uncertain Paternalism: Tensions in Recent Regional Restructuring in China

This paper explains the reform of the regional structure of the Chinese economy in the late 1970s and 1980s in light of the concept of uncertain paternalism. This qualified state protectivism encourages local dependence on the central government but also trains localities in tactics of encapsulation, self-reliance, and hoarding. The concept of uncertain paternalism is used to elucidate the dynamics operating in four classes of spatial economic reforms, and the progress and problems of these reforms are discussed, as well as their potential contribution to the modernization of the Chinese economy.