China today is rediscovering its historical geographic limits. A part of Chinese economic growth over the last decade has in fact been determined by strong exports. Nevertheless, while the coastal regions appear ever more integrated within the global capitalist system, the inland regions still present a relatively low propensity to consume. The recent tendencies of the Chinese government to compensate exports with an increase in domestic consumption, to reduce progressively the economic dependence of China on the international economy, envisions the transfer of important resources and investments from one part of the country to another. This delicate transition phase involves variables that risk being not completely controllable by the Communist Party, and include the efficiency of the bureaucratic apparatus, the potential dissent of the emerging urban bourgeois classes and the role of the military.
