China’s policy of opening the door to foreign business has sometimes aroused excessive expectations. Both in China and abroad, overoptimism has now been replaced by a more realistic appraisal of what can be achieved in economic terms. Nonetheless, Deng Xiaoping’s aim of quadrupling industrial and agricultural output1 by the year 2000 is still being pursued. Urban regions have been allocated a key role in this as the powerhouse of development. In the light of regional economic analyses,2this article examines whether the intended economic reforms go far enough to enable the conurbations to perform this function.