Spatial restructuring of financial centers i mainland China and Hong Kong: a geography of finance perspective

Abstract

The rapid progress of globalization and information technology has stimulated profound changes in the global financial landscape and attracted growing interest in the geography of finance. Although there is apparently remarkable stability in the ordering of financial centers over time, the spatial changes of regional, national, and even global financial centers are an ongoing process. The newly developed subdiscipline of the geography of finance examines and evaluates these spatial changes among financial centers. This study explores the possible changes in China's information hinterland and the spatial restructuring of financial systems in the region, including the spatial switching in importance among the financial centers of Hong Kong, Beijing, Shanghai, and the major Guangdong cities of Guangzhou and Shenzhen. China's landmark World Trade Organization accession will certainly have a tremendous impact on China's information hinterland and induce profound organizational and spatial restructuring of the financial systems in the region.