Washing machines, like other consumer durables, have become prevalent in provinces across China. The use of home appliances is an indicator of the growing appetite for consumer goods in rural China. Provinces with significant number of washing machines in 1998 were generally coastal provinces. The adoption of technologies like washing machines, refrigerators and TVs was also aided by improvements in the provision of public goods in rural areas.
Rahul Karan Reddy is a Senior Research Associate at Organisation for Research on China and Asia (ORCA). He works on domestic Chinese politics and trade, producing data-driven research in the form of reports, dashboards and digital media. He is the author of ‘Islands on the Rocks’, a monograph about the Senkaku/Diaoyu island dispute between China and Japan. Rahul was previously a research analyst at the Chennai Center for China Studies (C3S). He is the creator of the India-China Trade dashboard and the Chinese Provincial Development Indicators dashboard. His work has been published in The Diplomat, East Asia Forum, ISDP & Tokyo Review, among others. He can be reached via email at rahulkaran.reddy@gmail.com and @RahulKaranRedd1 on Twitter.
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