Since the introduction of economic reform and an "open door" policy in 1978, China has witnessed considerable development, primarily in big cities in the coastal areas of the country. However, social and economic disparities between the coastal areas and inland provinces have widened. Since 1992, UNCRD has implemented several socioeconomic-related programmes and projects under the auspices of respective Chinese authorities. The more recent projects, which have been conducted in collaboration with the Ministry of Land and Resources (MLR), Government of China, and the China Association for Science and Technology (CAST), are designed to support the country's Western Region Development Policy, in particular from the human-development-side, in order to eliminate poverty in Western China and correct regional disparity.

As a component of these projects, UNCRD conducted the Third Training Seminar on "Land Planning and Integrated Rural Development in Western China" in Guangzhou City, Guangdong Province, China from 20 to 23 December 2005. This is the third in the series of in-country seminars under the theme of sustainable development, following the first one which was held in Xi'an City, Shaanxi Province in March 2002 and the second held in Zhengzhou City, Henan Province in April 2004. The Guangzhou seminar was attended by 109 participants, most of whom were involved in land planning and regional development and were from eighteen provinces including Sichuan and Guangdong, the three cities of Beijing, Tianjin, and Chungging, and four autonomous regions such as Hsinchiang Uighur Autonomous Region, in Western China. Twenty-three resource persons including central/regional government officials and experts from academic institutes from China, the Republic of Korea, and Japan including UNCRD also participated in this seminar.

The four-day event consisted of presentations on development planning in Japan and the Republic of Korea as well as advanced cases from China. UNCRD introduced the "One Village, One Product" movement which has also been introduced in Thailand and other Asian countries in order to demonstrate endogenous regional development policy as a possible alternative in rural areas of China. Participants were able to deepen their understanding of regional development, in particular the importance of formulating a development plan which can fully utilize the local resources available in each region increasing the potential for sustainability. Participants also realized that collaboration between central/regional government officials and local residents is an indispensable prerequisite for implementation of such a plan.