China-CPZ (Core Periphery Zones)

China-CPZ, the core periphery zones of China, circa 1990. Core-Periphery Zones are based on a regional systems analysis of China, drawing on data about population density and agricultural intensity for county level units (see the Regional Systems Index in the ChinaA datafile). Zones were delineated considering physical geographical features such as rivers, ridge-lines, slope, and the transportation network. China's core zones represent some of the densest populations and highest levels of agricultural productivity anywhere in the post-industrial world. Traveling outward from the metropolitan cores, these levels of intensity decline, reaching their lowest levels in the peripheries along regional boundaries. This analysis complements the central place analysis of cities and towns, represented in the ChinaT datafile, which identifies nested hierarchies of regional, greater, and local city systems.