Analysis of regional development in China with the tools of spatial autocorrelation

The purpose of this work is to analyze the spatial relationship of economic development levels between prefecture - level cities (including prefecture - level administrative regions) in China from 2001 to 2019, and to study the impact of new urbanization policies on regional economic development. The results of the study show that, for a long time, the cities/regions along the eastern coast of China have a high level of economic development and close economic ties. They are located in: the Greater Bay Area, the Yangtze River Delta urban agglomeration, the Shandong Peninsula urban agglomeration, and the Central - South urban agglomeration in Liaoning Province. The level of economic development of western cities/regions is low, and the spatial relationship of economic development has weakened, but this trend has weakened in recent years. The scientific novelty of the research results lies in clarifying the spatial characteristics of China's regional economic layout and putting forward policy recommendations for improving new - type urbanization.