# **Appendix A: Data Appendix**

# **A.1. Economic Data Sources**

# _Data sources_

The main sources for our prefectural level data are the _Regional Economic Statistical Yearbook 2008_ and the _China Statistical Yearbook 2008_ , both of which are published by the National Bureau of Statistics of China. We also draw upon the statistical yearbooks of various provinces, most notably, the _Chongqing Statistical Yearbook 2008_ , which are published by the provincial statistics bureaus. Our final dataset consists of 331 prefectural level regions (prefectures for brevity), which account for 86.2 % of China's total land area, 96.2 % of aggregate Chinese population, 93 % of aggregate employment and 99 % of aggregate GDP.<sup>29</sup> Unless otherwise stated, all data is for 2007.

# _Prefectural level regions in China_

Within China, there are four tiers of administrative region. These correspond to: (a) the provincial level, (b) the prefectural level, (c) the county level, and (d) the township level. Restricting our attention to mainland China, the provincial level consists of the 22 provinces, the five autonomous regions (Inner Mongolia, Guangxi, Tibet, Ningxia and Xinjiang), and the four municipalities (Beijing, Chongqing, Tianjin and Shanghai). The municipalities are "cities" under the direct control of central government.

Included at the prefectural level are prefectural cities, prefectures, ethnic minority autonomous prefectures, leagues and districts under municipalities. In 2007, there were 333 prefectural level regions<sup>30</sup> ; of which 283 were prefectural cities.<sup>31</sup> Given that a prefectural city typically has a significant rural component, the word "city" differs in its meaning from Western usage. A prefectural city more closely resembles a Christaller-style central place system, which comprises a size distribution of settlements. At the county level, a typical prefectural city consists of three types of territorial unit: (i) districts, (ii) counties, and (iii) county-level cities. A prefectural city's districts are contiguous areas which, collectively, represent its "city proper" ( _Shiqu_ in Chinese). Although, in many cases, still possessing some agricultural and rural population, they constitute the urban core of a prefectural city. A prefectural city's counties, by contrast, account for the bulk of its rural area. Nevertheless, many counties have their own urban centers. Finally, county-level cities are counties which have been officially renamed as "cities" on account of their urbanization levels. On average, in 2007, 65.4 % of a prefectural city's population was registered as being agricultural. For counties and county-level cities under prefectural cities, the corresponding percentage was around 80 %. 15.5 % of a prefectural city's GDP is, on average, derived from the primary sector, while, for counties and county-level cities under prefectural cities, the percentage is 23.2 %.<sup>32</sup>

> 29 All of these figures relate to mainland China.

> 30 The 4 municipalities and their sub-regions are not counted.

> 31 Among these 283 prefectural cities, there are 15 sub-provincial cities, which have greater independence in the administration of economy and law than other ordinary prefectural cities. These cities are:  Wuhan, Chengdu, Xi’an, Harbin, Changchun, Shenyang, Dalian, Jina, Qingdao, Nanjing, Hangzhou, Ningbo, Xiamen, Guangzhou and Shenzhen.

> 32 13 prefectural cities do not have any counties or county-level cities.  The averages reported therefore exclude these cities.

33