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The increasing globalization of the Chinese economy has been enabled by both Chinese financial institutions operating globally as well as international firms operating within China. In geographical terms, this has been organized through a number of strategic cities serving as gateways for the exchange of financial functions, products and practices between China and the global economy. Drawing on location data of financial service firms in China listed on stock exchanges in Shenzhen, Shanghai and Hong Kong, this paper shows that Chinese financial firms are expanding globally and how Chinese financial centers are positioned and connected in the urban networks shaped by these financial service firms. It is found that Hong Kong, China, holds strategic positions in the integration of Chinese cities into global financial center networks, and that establishing a foothold in global financial centers such as New York and London has been a priority for Chinese financial institutions. The increasing capital flows directed by Chinese financial institutionssuggests a shifting global financial geography, with numerous Chinese cities playing increasingly important roles within global financial center networks.

This article discusses the challenges facing China＇s economy and assesses the likelihood of China falling into the ＂middle-income trap.＂ In the view of this author, an upper middle growth rate of 6.5% to 7% can be achieved if China undertakes further economic reforms in the areas of agriculture, household registration system, urbanization and social insurance system.

The lack of capital stock statistics for empirical research of the Chinese economy has for a long time been one of the major impediments in the profession. Professor Gregory Chow is one of the pioneers who attempted to deal with this matter. His seminal paper on China＇s capital formation and economic growth was published in 1993 （Chow, 1993）. Since then many authors have estimated their own capital stock data series. However, most authors have focused on investigations at the national level and their findings are not without controversies. In particular, few studies have provided estimates of capital stock for China＇s regional economies. This paper adds to the existing literature in several ways. First, it presents a critical review of the methods and findings in the existing literature. Second, it proposes an alternative approach to estimate China＇s capital stock series by region as well as across three economic sectors （agriculture, industry and services）. Finally, preliminary analyses of the derived capital stock statistics are conducted to examine growth, disparity and convergence in China＇s regional economies.

Balanced regional development is essential to China＇s economic stability and efficiency and achievement of the goal to build a moderately prosperous society in all respects. Based on the DMSP/OLS nighttime lights data of 291 cities at or above prefecture level during 1992-2013, this paper examines the regional disparities and trends of Chinese mainland＇s economic development. The findings are as follows： （1） During sample observation period, China＇s overall regional disparities generally declined despite some volatility; China＇s intra-regional disparities have been curbed yet a consistent framework for inter-regional economic coordination is lacking. （2） Southern coastal region contributes a significant share to China＇s overall regional disparities as the developed cities of Guangdong Province did not create a significant spatial spillover effect on neighboring regions. （3） According to the result of spatial Markov transition probability estimation, spatial factor has played a remarkable role in the evolution of China＇s regional economy and proximity to high-level regions will accelerate a region＇s transition toward higher levels.

This paper creates an analytical framework for ongoing China＇s economic slowdown and reveals the major.factors affecting potential growth rate. First, proceeding from the factors that led to a decline in China ＇s potential growth rate, this paper demonstrates that the slowdown since 2012 is not caused by demand-side shock.s＇ but is a natural result of the demographic transition and the change of economic development stage that stemmed from supply-side factors. It is therefore suggested that the demand- side perspective for cyclical analysis must be abandoned and the supply-side perspective for growth analysis ought to be followed Secondly, this paper argues that it is theoretically unjounded and empirically unconvincing for existing literature based on the growth perspective to simply apply the statistical pattern of ＂regression towards the mean＂ to forecast China ＇s growth outlook and thus arrive at pessimistic conclusions. On this basis, this paper identifies a host of initiatives that can significantly increase potential growth rates and proposes policy recommendations for deriving reform dividends foom supply-side structural reform.