Abstract Since the reforms and the implementation of the open door policy in 1978, industrialization and urbanization has greatly contributed to the rapid economic development in China. A continuously high rate of economic growth has resulted in vast increases in GDP and a sharp upward trend in per capita income over the period from 1978 to the present. Despite a nearly tenfold increase in per capita income across all provinces over the last three decades, regional disparities have evidently increased since the reforms. The collected data shows that the income disparities in China mainly demonstrate themselves as interregional disparities instead of intraregional disparities. The rapid urbanization in China has led to farmers losing land, resulting in new types of urban and rural poverty. Around many big cities in China, people can see the metropolitan city life coexisting with poor county life. However, Zhejiang province has been maintaining a good balanced development within its region by relying on the booming private sector and the integral/concrete urbanization, and the regional disparities and rural-urban inequality have been successfully controlled and effectively eliminated. Welfare and economic development have been traditional alternatives for the elimination of the regional disparities. Specifically, inter-regional and intra-regional integration is important for reducing regional disparities and pursuing income equality. As far as China is concerned, the central government should take more responsibilities to improve the social security rights for citizens, while the local governments should spend more efforts in stimulating the local development. The successful experiences in Zhejiang and Jiangsu have demonstrated that the development of the private sector is the best measure in tackling the issues of regional imbalanced development. In combination with a more perfect regional market system, urbanization and rural-urban integration, we will be able to gradually reduce and restrain regional disparities and income disparities.
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