The Economic Characteristics And Social Development In Yong'an County

Regional development is a question that has often attracted much discussion,especially for those regions in Fujian province that show a rather imbalanced situation. In terms of economic development as well in many aspects of its social life, the Midwest mountain area region of Fujian was opened up much later in history than the coastal region. Therefore in the past, and even nowadays, there is a considerable disparity between the two parts of the province. In consequence, it is more than justified that not only scholars but also professionals of all branches pay increased attention to the problems of the areas. In the present paper, I have chosen to study the case of Yong'an County. Yong'an is a mountainous area situated in Midwest Fujian. For this purpose, I start out by examining the geographical situation, as well as the natural resources of this County. Next I try to evaluate the favorable elements of this geographical situation and the potential of its natural resources. In the second section of the present paper, I discuss the administration of Yong'an and its role in the region. Here the important questions are the establishment of the County as an administrative unit, and also the historical role of Yong'an as the provisional provincial capital. The geographical problems regarding these two questions are also discussed. In the third section, I describe the temporary period of prosperity that Yong'an experienced in modern times, especially because of the advantages procured by it being the provisional provincial capital. The social development of Yong'an county after 1949 is the subject of a fourth section. We see that during this period a suitable pattern of development, which takes into account the regional characteristic as well as the advantages procured by its natural resources, has been found. Thanks to this policy, Yong'an has become an important base of energy procurement and of raw material production for the entire Fujian province. At the same time there has been an important development of the local industry. A final section of the paper is devoted to the history and development of education in Yong'an county. As a general theoretical approach for the study of the society of Yong'an and its economic development, I have made use of the so-called "frontier thesis". This approach, which has been as yet little used in China, offers in my opinion a valuable conceptual and analytical framework for dealing with these questions. I hope my work will be of some use for those dealing with the problems of the socio-economic development of this and similar inland areas of China.