HU LINE: JOURNEY THROUGH CHINA’S HEARTLAND

In 1935, demographer Hu Huanyong traced a diagonal line through China, from the edge of Siberia to the steamy subtropics.

What he found was a frontier of asymmetrical growth between east and west.

After more than 80 years, despite the country’s tremendous economic and cultural transformation, the Hu Line still stands — and China must ask hard questions about its uneven development.