State regulation and China's administrative system: A spatial perspective

This paper investigates China's administrative system in an attempt to understand the country's changing method of governance during the era of economic reform. A spatial perspective is employed to provide a different understanding of China's governance and power decentralization. The significance of the administrative system will be highlighted to illustrate how the central state has intensified the administrative network to regulate local regimes in the reform era. A pivotal element of this development has been institution building and territory adjustment. Case studies of Guangdong province and its capital city, Guangzhou, will be used to demonstrate institutional expansion and territory adjustment including devolution of power and installation of regulatory mechanisms.