China International Research Group
The China International Research Group "Economic Development and Rural Equilibrium in Rural China" is tasked with structural and sustainable international intercommunication of IAMO’s research activities relating to analyses of the dynamics of agrarian developments, as well as socio-economic and ecological processes in China’s rural regions.
Economic development in China has significantly accelerated since the beginnings of market liberalization and deregulation in the late 1970s. Simultaneously, disparities between developed eastern coastal regions and less developed western regions, and between urban and rural regions have deepened. This disequilibrium is even more distinctive in terms of infrastructural supplies, e.g. public health services and school education. Ecological damage caused by industry and agriculture are substantial threats to livelihoods and production bases.
Such disequilibria and undesirable developments have frequently led to social unrest, and prompted the Chinese government to place high political priority on improvements in agriculture, rural education, as well as environmental and resource protection. The China International Research Group was established in 2008 and supports such endeavors through its research work.