Publisher's Synopsis
Changing economic, institutional and market environments have turned upside down the spatial inter-relationships thought to exist in China. Through a comprehensive and in-depth investigation of the beef industry, this book builds a picture of where regionalization and integration are heading in China. Features such as a contrasting localized mass-market and specialized interregional premium market, a widespread but changing distribution, and targeting as a new industry to raise household and regional incomes make the beef case particularly enlightening. - - The book untangles the impacts of market forces, industry characteristics, relative factor endowments and government influence on the spatial organization of activities. It reveals the subtle but pervasive and changing influence of government as priorities are re-assessed and as markets and industries develop. It explores the extent of regional co-ordination and co-operation and how central and local government policies and strategies reconcile. - - The volume also contains detailed regional assessments of the beef industry in twelve key producing provinces and the key consumption centres of Beijing, Shanghai and Hong Kong. It will interest academics, industry leaders and policy-makers seeking an understanding of the interplay between regionalism and development in modern China.
