Neoliberalism ‘with Chinese Characteristics’

financed investments in huge mega-

projects to transform physical infrastructures. They are proposing

a far more ambitious project (costing at least $60 billion) than the

already huge Three Gorges Dam to divert water from the Yangtze

to the Yellow River. Astonishing rates of urbanization (no fewer

than forty-two cities have expanded beyond the 1 million popula-

tion mark since 1992) required huge investments of 

fixed capital.

New subway systems and highways are being built in major cities,

and 8,500 miles of new railroad are proposed to link the interior to

the economically dynamic coastal zone, including a high-speed

Figure 5.1 The geography of China’s opening to foreign investment in

the 1980s