Historical Experience of the PRC in the Implementation of the Strategy «Rise of the Central Region»

The purpose of the article is an attempt to summarize the historical experience of implementing a regional policy to strengthen one of the key Chinese regions – Central China based on the study of Chinese-language documents and monographs of Chinese scientists. Consistent course of the Chinese government at the beginning of the 21st century was focused on the coordinated development of four key Chinese macro-regions. Separate strategies were developed for strengthening Western China, reviving the industrial Northeast of the PRC, and maintaining the pace of economic growth in the Eastern Coastal Region. A special role was assigned to the implementation of the strategy of the rise of the Central Region, concerning the creation of a key grain region of the country, a manufacturing center, a transport and logistics hub in the six central provinces of Henan, Hubei, Hunan, Anhui, Jiangxi and Shanxi. This strategy fit into the main vector of the five-year planning of the Chinese state and was supplemented by a whole range of spatial transformation projects corresponding to the specifics of the territory of the Central Region of the PRC. The Central Region has made significant progress in using the advantages of its location to achieve economic results. The development of strategic new industries, such as the innovative production of new types of materials has accelerated, the competitiveness of the industrial system of the Central Region has increased, and the amount of foreign investment in projects for the spatial transformation of Central China as well. The central provinces are included in the priority interregional projects.