The Third Front: Defense industrialization in the Chinese interior

In: The China quarterly: an international journal for the study of China, S. 351-386

Abstract

Between 1964 and 1971 China carried out a massive programme of investment in the remote regions of south-western and western China. This development programme - called the "Third Front" - envisaged the creation of a huge self-sufficient industrial base area to serve as a strategic reserve in the event of China being drawn into war. The article describes and evaluates the origin, development and legacy of the Third Front. (DÜI-Sen)