ABSTRACT
In the past decades, China has undergone dramatic economic and social changes. Following a ‘catch-up’ strategy to the leading economies in the world for nearly 30 years, the country achieved an average annual growth rate of 9.8 percent. China has overtaken Japan to become the second strongest economy after the US. Despite the remarkable performance of its economic engine and the resulting pace of growth, the distribution of reform benefits have been uneven across Chinese regions (Feng et al., 2009, Guan et al., 2010). China can be perceived as a group of co-evolving, disparate economies rather than a homogenous entity. On the one hand, China has fast-developing urban growth centers in the coastal areas, but on the other hand, there are vast rural areas in internal regions associated with distinct income, lifestyle and expenditure patterns (Hubacek et al., 2001). Citizens living in the coastal mega-cities increasingly gain in wealth and adopt energy-intense Western lifestyles, whereas regions in western China still lag behind in economic development and living low-carbon lifestyles (Chen, 2010; Guan et al., 2008).
