Abstract
Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) was a critical component of the Chinese government’s efforts to modernize the economy during the early reform period. Through a statistical analysis of infrastructure density and case studies of Jiangsu and Liaoning province, this thesis investigates the policy options available to provincial governments for promoting inward FDI, as well as their limitations and potential dependency on central and local government actions. I find that although provincial governments had many choices for how to encourage investment across both fiscal and non-fiscal means, they were rarely successful without coordination or permission from central and local actors, and the initial presence or lack of large state-owned enterprises (SOEs) at the beginning of reform was a major influence on the province's FDI success.