Returning passengers wait in a long line for the subway at Beijing Railway Station on February 8. Photo: CFP

Editor's note:

Global Times editorials recently proposed the concept of "national integration"(quanguohua), a change that globalization is bringing to China. "National integration" envisages the closing of China's economic and regional gaps to create a unified economic system. But what does this concept mean in practice? How can China adopt both globalization and national integration? Global Times (GT) invited seven scholars to discuss these issues.

GT: What is "national integration?"

Zhang Yiwu (a professor at the Peking University): "National integration" actually extends an idea from the past. In the time of the planned economy, the whole country was seen as a single entity. But at present, the realization of national integration relies on the flow and evolution of market factors as well as the government's macro-control regulation.

In my opinion, national integration has two implications.

The first is the large-scale flow of a huge labor force, including migrant workers and white-collar workers, into the metropolises. The trend of labor force aggregation in the past 30 years has had close links with globalization. The labor divisions that started from "globalization" have accelerated greatly the national integration of the huge Chinese population.

Simultaneously, China's national integration supports the further proceeding of globalization. The world must admit that "Made in China" has changed the life of people worldwide. Luxury goods are unprecedentedly popular with the rich in China. Obviously, China's national integration has become a pillar of globalization.

The other implication is the springing up of the 3rd and 4th-tier cities, where the entertainment industry is very popular and raw materials and energy sources are re-valued.

As a result the economy has bounced higher, especially in some parts of western China since 2009. An increasing number of migrant workers and young graduates fled away from 1st-tier cities and swarmed to the 3rd and 4th-tier cities, forming a new development force there.

Jin Canrong (deputy director of the School of International Studies of the Renmin University of China): To my mind, "national integration" can be understood in the following respects. Initially, the spontaneous flow of three elementary economic factors, namely labor force, technology and capital, has never been better than now.

Second, the lifestyle is unified as more domestic cities have their own downtown, shopping centers, libraries, sport centers and so on, as in the US.

The third is that a new national awareness and sense of national identity is gradually growing stronger.

The fourth is the alteration of thinking patterns as more businessmen are willing to start their businesses all over the country rather than in a limited area.

Finally, an increasing number of people believe in getting rid of their regional prejudices through travel.

GT: What is the relationship between national integration and globalization?

Zhang Shengjun (deputy director of the School and Political Science and International Studies of the Beijing Normal University): Whether we follow the Western pattern of culture and development or inherit and create ours is a big question. These two various models might be perfectly united during the process of national integration. However, I dimly feel that our globalization has been a little bit overdone.

Anyway, we should balance the relationship of national integration and globalization. National integration means filling in the "trenches" of China, like the gap between the urban and the rural areas and the gap between the poor and the rich, with the water of globalization. But we should still rely on government's leveraging function as the capital and technology acquired through globalization cannot spontaneously boost China's balanced development.

Sima Nan (a well-known independent scholar): We should promote national integration whether we need globalization or not. National integration means maximizing China's national interests when the country is obliged to become internationalized.

The essential connotation of globalization is that whether the nation submits to it or not, every country has to accept the unreasonable international labor division system headed by the US. National integration does not adopt such a passive or servile manner but works in a more positive, confident and autonomous mode, during which the benefits to nation are promoted and the harmful effects are abolished.

As a result, China should make great effort to optimize the system in all regards. We should focus on observing a citizen-supported working principle, orientated at maximizing the national interest, through advocating all departments to perform their respective duties and form an ordered social structure autonomously.

GT: What might be the effects of national integration?

Ding Yifan (deputy director of the Institute of World Development of the Development Research Center of the State Council): I would like to air my opinions on national integration from the perspective of capital.

In recent years, there have been enormous changes to China's enterprises. Some relatively internationalized enterprises have emerged.

Take the Shenzhen-based Huawei Technologies Co Ltd, a famous telecommunication producer and seller in China. Huawei expanded its market initially from China to Asian, African and American nations and is now taking up a greater market share in Europe and the US.

The impressive expansion of Huawei depends not only on the national and global capital market but also on the national integration of the domestic technologies, capital, labor force and brand impact in China.

As the capital integration proceeds, development based on technological innovation and the domestic market is expected to greatly boost China's economy.

GT: How can national integration be realized?

Li Qiang (director of the School of Humanities and Social Sciences at the Tsinghua University): In modern China, national integration should be first the integration of citizens' rights. At present, the hukou (permanent registered residence) system, and the resource distribution for gaokao (national college entrance examination), to name two prominent examples among many, are not nationally integrated yet.

Therefore, China's national integration should first equalize citizens' rights within the legal system, which is the prerequisite for the realization of citizens' equal rights in politics, economy and other fields. Such a national integration will largely whet each citizen's initiative to accelerate social unity.

Bai Yiming (director of the National Association of Japanese Economy under the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences): To realize national integration, China should unite the domestic independent national enterprises, no matter whether they are State-owned or private, to form financial groups to cope with the foreign companies, rather than pulling down our own "fences."

The market in big cities has been occupied by foreign capital. If we tear down the "fences" ourselves and adopt a laissez-faire policy that allows foreign investment to swarm to the 2nd and 3rd-tier cities, our national integration will probably face a backlash.