Northern China still has great growth potential

Some posts on social media platforms say the Chinese economy exhibits the phenomenon of "Hot South, Cold North", which means economic development in southern China is better than in northern China. But despite the recent economic experiences of northern China, we should not be pessimistic about the region's economic future.

The economic gap between southern and northern China is mainly because of the slow economic transition of the northern region in the past years. But northern China's economy has great potential to become a significant driving force of the country's high-quality development, by implementing supply-side structural reform and transforming its development model.

Divided by the Qinling Mountains-Huaihe River line, southern and northern China have many differences in terms of geography, climate and the environment. As such, they have developed different industrial structures. The southern region has had higher GDP than the northern since the founding of New China. The economic gap between the two regions widened after the launch of reform and opening-up in 1978, especially after the establishment of special economic zones in cities such as Shenzhen in southern China. And although the gap narrowed after 2000, it widened again after 2014 in terms of growth rate and economic aggregate.