Transport And Communications 2026, 14(1):26-37 | DOI: 10.26552/tac.C.2026.1.4

Structural Patterns and Multi-Path Development of China’s Regional Digital Economy

Mengsi Li1, György Iván Neszmélyi2
1 Budapest University of Economics and Business, Budapest, 1149, Hungary
2 Milton Friedman University, Budapest, 1039, Hungary

This research is about the structural characteristics and regional differences of digital economy development in 31 provinces of China from 2014 to 2021. The entropy weight-TOPSIS technique is used to identify the main reasons for regional differences in the digital economy through a four-dimensional evaluation framework of 20 variables. The results show a significant structural variation across regions. The basic sources of regional differentiation are the volume of telecommunication services, the turnover of the technology market, and the revenue from the software business, although indicators of digital finance are relatively modest. The East region has better industrial and innovation capability; the Central mainly depends on the communication-scale expansion; the West region focuses on the technological transformation; and the Northeast provides a hybrid infrastructure-technology framework. The results indicate that the development of China's digital economy has a multi-path structural feature, rather than a simple hierarchical structure.

Keywords: Digital economy, Regional heterogeneity, Structural characteristics, Entropy-weighted TOPSIS, Regional development
JEL classification: C44, O18, O33, R11

Received: May 27, 2026; Revised: May 27, 2026; Accepted: June 10, 2026; Prepublished online: June 30, 2026; Published: June 28, 2026  Show citation

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Li, M., & Neszmélyi, G.I. (2026). Structural Patterns and Multi-Path Development of China’s Regional Digital Economy. Transport And Communications, 14(1), 26-37. doi: 10.26552/tac.C.2026.1.4
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