By Shi Hongda, General Office of DRC

Research Report, No.124, 2018 (Total 5399) 2018-8-8

Abstract: Since 2012, the economic development in northeast China has witnessed a notable decline, and the pressure for transformation development is relatively high. The agglomerate economic effect in the major cities in northeast China has increased dramatically whereas the gap between central and non-central cities along the vertical line from Harbin to Dalian in northeast region has become tangibly widened to some extent. This change is not only the result of the common rule of regional development, but also due to the difference of industrial structure and population flow among different cities. In light of horizontal comparison, the driving force of core cities in northeast China and their functions of absorbing population transfer have not been brought into full play. In the future, to push ahead with the coordinated development in northeast China, work should be done to promote the functions of the major cities, and further improve the driving force of the core cities for the region and their comprehensive service functions so as to let them guide the flow of population, resources and industries to the middle and southern part of Liaoning province as well as to Harbin and Changchun city clusters in a bid to establish a better mechanism for regional coordination and cooperation as well as benefit sharing.

Key words: northeast China, economic pattern, core cities