China Western Development

China Western Development (simplified Chinese: 西部大开发; traditional Chinese: 西部大開發; pinyin: Xībù Dàkāifā; literally: "Western Part Great Development"), also China's Western Development, Western China Development, Great Western Development Strategy, or the Open Up the West Program is a policy adopted for the western regions.

The policy covers 6 provinces (Gansu, Guizhou, Qinghai, Shaanxi, Sichuan, and Yunnan), 5 autonomous regions (Guangxi, Inner Mongolia, Ningxia, Tibet, and Xinjiang), and 1 municipality (Chongqing). This region contains 71.4% of mainland China's area, but only 28.8% of its population, as of the end of 2002, and 19.9% of its total economic output, as of 2009.

Under the leadership of Deng Xiaoping, the People's Republic of China began to reform its economy in 1978 by changing from a command economy to a market economy. The coastal regions of eastern China benefited greatly from these reforms, and their economies quickly raced ahead. The western half of China, however, lagged behind severely. In March 1999, General-Secretary Jiang Zemin proposed a developmental strategy for the western region at the Ninth National People's Congress. He would elaborate on the plan in June 1999, during which the phrase great western development was used, marking the start of the policy. Premier Zhu Rongji visited the western region to gather western officials' views of the plan. Consequently, the State Planning Commission drafted an early plan for the proposal before submitting it to the Politburo Standing Committee in November 1999. A Leadership Group for Western China Development (西部地区开发领导小组) was created by the State Council in January 2000, led by Zhu.

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