TNAG-1873-FCO40-2661-Relations-between-Hong-Kong-and-China-1989 — Page 188

G.F. 326

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22.

15

Guangdong officials are quite proud of this

policy of "industrialising the rural areas" which enables "farmers to leave the land (i.e. they cease to earn their living by farming) but not the village (i.e. they do not

The have to go to the cities for industrial employment)". origins of this policy can be traced to the PRC's long history of restricting internal migration from villages to cities and the fear that free movement will result in a haphazard shift of population to the cities and the growth of urban slums. Also it may be considered politically desirable to avoid too great a concentration in the cities.

23.

The fear of internal migration leading to a disorderly industrial sprawl around the cities may have been exaggerated because, unlike some other developing third world countries, China's agricultural sector has been fairly prosperous and in Guangdong at least, the farmers are reasonably well off by Chinese standards.

24.

Regardless of whether such a dispersal is a consequence of inefficient planning or has been deliberately brought about for socio-political reasons, dispersed industrial development is not normally economically efficient. This is because

services and facilities

(30)

infrastructural

which are already far from adequate in Guangdong, have to be stretched thinly over a large area, thus preventing the enjoyment of possible scale economies. For instance, the provincial electricity supply system has been supplemented to a considerable extent by smaller supply systems at the county level and

(30) of greatest importance among these are energy supply

and transport facilities.

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