%0 Journal Article %A GUAN Wei-hua %A ZHOU Jing %A LU Yu-qi %T Study on the regional pattern change of social consumption levels in China since the reform and opening up %D 2012 %R 10.11821/yj2012020004 %J GEOGRAPHICAL RESEARCH %P 234-244 %V 31 %N 2 %X Since the reform and opening up started in 1978,with the establishment and improvement of socialist market economy and the rapid development of commodity circulation in China,the scale of social consumption has been greatly improved.At the same time,some things are changing,such as the regional differences of consumption levels and the regional consumption patterns which results from the differences.In this paper,we firstly analyze the differences of social consumption levels between provinces in China since the reform and opening up based on the variation coefficient and Taylor's index and indicate that since 1978,the difference of social consumption levels between provinces in China in general presents widening trend,but there are some fluctuations.By the analysis of change-point based on Mann-Kendall method,since reform and opening up the differences' changes of social consumption levels in China can be divided into two phases,from 1978 to 1987 and from 1987 to 2008.Using the cluster and discriminate analysis methods,we compare the regional patterns of social consumption levels in China in 1978,1987 and 2008.The results are as follows: in 1978,the social consumption levels in China had prominent north-south regional difference;in 1987,the social consumption level in China not only had north-south difference but also had east-west difference;in 2008,the social consumption level in China in general presents east-middle-west differences in the pattern of ladder.We can find that the regional pattern of social consumption level has been shifted from north-south difference to east-west difference.Finally,we study such indexes which are in connection with the regional social consumption level as the population,economic development level,and investment in fixed assets,income level,savings,financial levels,traffic convenience and industrial structure.By stepwise regression analysis,we analyze the formation mechanism of regional consumption patterns in China in 1978,1987 and 2008.The results are as follows: in 1978,regional pattern of social consumption level was mainly affected by per capita savings of urban and rural residents,per capita expenditure and the proportion of primary industry output value;in 1987,it was mainly affected by per capita GDP,transport accessibility levels and the proportion of tertiary industry output value;in 2008,it was mainly affected by per capita GDP,per capita income and per capita savings of urban and rural residents. %U https://www.dlyj.ac.cn/EN/10.11821/yj2012020004