Among most western China provinces,the proportion of industrial value added to GDP is relatively low,while that of services is high.This phenomenon is often referred to as "virtual height".Based on data from 1979 to 2007,this paper employs Granger causality test to the industrial and services value added of China's 12 western provinces.Empirical results show that the development of services does not heavily rely on industry in western China.Thus the so called "virtual height" is not a matter of fact.To be specific,some western traditional services,including tourism,have tight relationship with non-western region.Location quotient method is also employed to support this argument.