Trans-regional Communities and External Coupling: A Geographical Perspective on Regional Development of the Chaoshan Region, China

Abstract

This research derives from dissatisfaction with the analysis of regional development in the new regionalism literature and the global production networks literature, which either lacks an extra-regional dimension or overemphasizes global-local connectivity. My thesis sheds light on a trans-regional dimension of regional development, and argues for three facilitating mechanisms of a region's external coupling: organization of production and marketing, transnational/trans-regional communities, and state instituitons. Particularly, this thesis focuses on the roles of communities in the external coupling process of regional actors by empirically examining the case of Teochews and the Chaoshan region in China. This research finds out that Teochew communities faciliate Chaoshan's external coupling through reducing information asymmetry, smoothing communication and building trust, as well as cooperating with state institutions. But these faciliating roles are evolving, conditioned by the organization and marketing, and intermediated by state institutions.