In the last two decades, China's western inland region has largely been left out of the nation's economic boom. While its 355-million population accounts for 28% and its land area for 71% of China's total, the region's share of the national GDP is under 20%. Since 1999, Beijing has implemented the West China Development Program to boost the region's growth. To study the major domestic issues and the global implications of this program, the University of Victoria's Centre for Asia-Pacific Initiatives organized and hosted a multidisciplinary international conference on March 6-8, 2003. This volume of papers presented at the conference offers perspectives on the issues by leading experts of diversified academic disciplines from China, Canada, the US, and other countries. Sample Chapter(s). Introduction: West China Development Issues and Challenges (3,355 KB). Contents: Goals and Objectives: Designing a Regional Development Strategy for China (D Perkins); Eco-Environmental Protection and Poverty-Alleviation in West China Development (Y Zheng & Y Qian); Western China: Human Security and National Security (R Bedeski); Coordinating Institutions and Mechanism: A New Pattern of Regional Co-operation in China: Four Economic Belts Across East to West (S Li et al.); The Political Logic of Fiscal Transfers in China (S Wang); An Introductory Environmental Macroeconomic Framework for China: Implications for West China Development (D Thampapillai et al.); Enhancing the Western China Development Strategy (WCDS): Innovative Approaches (N C Stoskopf et al.); Effectiveness and Efficiency: On the Urban-Rural Relationship in Western Region Development Program (Y Shi & P Du); The Western Region's Growth Potential (D Lu & E Thomson); Measuring the Impact of the "Five Mega-Projects" (L Lin & S Liu); Education and Development: A Historical Experience of Sichuan (Y Li);

Distribution of Benefits and Costs: The New Challenges Facing the Development of West China (S Liu & L Lin); Migration Scenarios and Western China Development: The Evidence from 2000 Population Census Data (S Bao & W T Woo); Gender Relations, Tourism and Ecological Effects in Lijiang, China (G Kelkar); Sources of Interregional Disparity: The Relative Contributions of Location and Preferential Policies in China's Regional Development (S Demurger et al.); Urbanization and West China Development (D Lu & W T Woo); China's Regional Disparities in 1978-2000 (Z Lu & S Song); and other papers. Readership: Researchers, academics, students and business consultants interested in China and its development.