Despite Decentralization: Disadvantages, Dependence and Ongoing Central Power in the Inland - the Case of Wuhan

The decentralization of fiscal and administrative powers to lower echelons of government is arguably the most outstanding facet of the economic reforms of the past decade and a half. Following this move, the relationship between the centralgovernment and the localities – which has certainly undergone shifts of some sort since 1980 – has been the subject of endless analysis and conjecture, both scholarly and in the press.