Can the north hold?
In the 1980s, China's prosperous cities were evenly spread across the north and the south of the country. Today, the list is dominated by southern cities
"Economic growth is only one side of the picture," Fan said. "What the north is going through now will help it realize high-quality development in the future."
It should be noted that infrastructure in the north has also developed, the structure of the economy has been optimized and the environmental protection has been markedly strengthened. That, experts argue, lays a solid foundation for developing the economy in the country's north in a way that fits its practical conditions.
The people should show more foresight when analyzing the economic gap between the north and the south, which is a byproduct of historical, political, geographical and economic factors, said Fan.
Lu Ming, a researcher in city administration at the Shanghai Jiaotong University, attributes the economic disparities between the north and the south to China's integrating into the global market system, as well as the market reform the country carried out.
He said the major cities in the country are mostly major sea ports or big river ports, leading the country's opening-up. On the one hand, migrant workers provide them with sufficient cheap labor forces; on the other hand, foreign investment and technology found not only a huge workshop but also a large market in the country by turning the port cities into their footholds in East Asia.
"After more than three decades of development, the south has a better business environment than the north, as local governments there attach greater significance to IPR protection and the rule of law than their counterparts in the north," Lu said.
