Makeeva S.B. Population and national economy of the Chinese province of Gansu in the context of the implementation of the policy of "reforms and openness" from 1978 to 1999. Oriens. 2025. No. 1. Pp. 112-123.

Abstract

The article attempts to examine the evolution of the population and national economy of the Chinese northwestern province of Gansu in the initial period of implementing the "reform and openness" policy from 1978 to 1999. During the introduction of market relations and the implementation of socialist modernization in the PRC, special attention was paid to the economic strengthening of the eastern provinces. By 1978, the northwestern province of Gansu completed the implementation of the "three-line construction" projects and entered the era of reforms. The basis of the provincial economy was the mechanical engineering, oil refining, food, textile industries, whose enterprises underwent transformations during the transition to market relations, suffered losses, restructured and were able to maintain their production potential. The leading position in the national economic complex of Gansu was assigned to the agricultural sector. The transition to market relations in Gansu agriculture through the creation of individual private farms and effective spatial and economic differentiation of agricultural activity in the province made it possible to increase production volumes in poultry farming, livestock farming, grain growing, vegetable growing and fruit growing to an unprecedented extent in the history of Gansu. The successes in transforming the national economic complex of Gansu during the reform years were reflected in the demographic development of the province. Despite the decline in the birth rate under the one-child policy, the number of residents in Gansu increased annually, mortality decreased, the working-age population predominated, the population aging at a low level was recorded, and incomes and wages grew.