DISCUSSING DEVELOPMENT IN WEST CHINA
NOTES FROM AN AUGUST 1991 CONFERENCE IN QINGHAI PROVINCE
In August 1991, China´s western provinces — rich in natural resources and home to many of China´s "national minorities" – were the subject of an international conference entitled "Development Strategy and Ecological Balance in West China." Sponsored by the Research Center for Rural Economy, the Ministry of Agriculture, and held in the town of Gonghe in the south-eastern part of Qinghai Province known to Tibetans as Amdo, the Conference represented a break from the traditional characterisation of policy formulation within China´s minority areas as an internal affair. Scholars and officials from China, Japan, and the United States met and exchanged ideas about the status of ecology and economic development in West China.
The focus of the Conference was on the eleven provinces of China, including Inner Mongolia, Gansu, Sichuan, Ningxia, Yunnan, Tibet, Sinkiang, and Qinghai. These provinces, which contain the majority of China´s ethnic minorities, are characterised by their rich resource base on the one hand, and low level of development on the other.