Search

This study quantitatively analyzes the patterns and impact of collaboration at author and country levels in China's social sciences from 1998 to 2017. Chinese Social Sciences Citation Index (CSSCI) and Social Sciences Citation Index (SSCI) are combined as data sources to show a comprehensive picture of collaboration in China's social sciences, and to compare the differences in the way Chinese social scientists work when publishing nationally and internationally. Results show that there are huge differences in patterns and impact of collaboration between China's national and international publications in social sciences. Specifically, non-collaboration dominates in China's CSSCI papers while collaboration dominates in China's SSCI papers; two-authored is the main form of collaboration in China's CSSCI papers but the teamwork of three or more authors is the main form in China's SSCI papers; few of China's CSSCI papers are published in international collaboration but Sino-foreign cooperation is very common in China's SSCI papers; collaboration benefits citations of China's SSCI papers in all disciplines but international collaboration doesn't work well for citations of China's CSSCI papers. Besides, similarities between China's national and international publications can also be observed, e.g., disciplines more cooperative in China's CSSCI papers are also those more cooperative in China's SSCI papers; the top ten countries collaborate with China in CSSCI and SSCI are the same, and the USA accounts for about half of Sino-foreign collaborations in both CSSCI and SSCI. Finally, the usage of bibliometric databases and possible reasons for collaboration differences are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Contemporary scientific exchanges are international, yet language continues to be a persistent barrier to scientific communication, particularly for non-native English-speaking scholars. Since the ability to absorb knowledge has a strong impact on how researchers create new scientific knowledge, comprehensive access to and understanding of both domestic and international scientific publications is essential for scientific performance. This study explores the effect of absorbed knowledge on research impact by analyzing the relationship between the language diversity of cited references and the number of citations received by the citing paper. Chinese social sciences are taken as the research object, and the data, 950,302 papers published between 1998 and 2013 with 8,151,327 cited references, were collected from the Chinese Social Sciences Citation Index. Results show that there is a stark increase in the consumption of foreign language material within the Chinese social science community, and English material accounts for the vast majority of this consumption. Papers with foreign language references receive significantly more citations than those without, and the citation advantage of these internationalized work holds when we control for characteristics of the citing papers, such as the discipline, prestige of journal, prestige of institution, and scientific collaboration. However, the citation advantage has decreased from 1998 to 2008, largely as an artifact of the increased number of papers citing foreign language material. After 2008, however, the decline of the citation advantage subsided and became relatively stable, which suggests that incorporating foreign language literature continues to increase scientific impact, even as the scientific community itself becomes increasingly international. However, internationalization is not without concerns: the work closes with a discussion of the potential problems associated with the lack of linguistic diversity in scientific communication. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The top-1% most-highly-cited articles are watched closely as the vanguards of the sciences. Using Web of Science data, one can find that China had overtaken the USA in the relative participation in the top-1% (PP-top1%) in 2019, after outcompeting the EU on this indicator in 2015. However, this finding contrasts with repeated reports of Western agencies that the quality of China's output in science is lagging other advanced nations, even as it has caught up in numbers of articles. The difference between the results presented here and the previous results depends mainly upon field normalizations, which classify source journals by discipline. Average citation rates of these subsets are commonly used as a baseline so that one can compare among disciplines. However, the expected value of the top-1% of a sample of N papers is N / 100, ceteris paribus. Using the average citation rates as expected values, errors are introduced by (1) using the mean of highly skewed distributions and (2) a specious precision in the delineations of the subsets. Classifications can be used for the decomposition, but not for the normalization. When the data is thus decomposed, the USA ranks ahead of China in biomedical fields such as virology. Although the number of papers is smaller, China outperforms the US in the field of Business and Finance (in the Social Sciences Citation Index; p <.05). Using percentile ranks, subsets other than indexing-based classifications can be tested for the statistical significance of differences among them. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this study is to investigate whether diffusion through social media can help to improve the international visibility of Chinese papers and thus increase their citation impact. After analysing 160,233 Chinese papers published in 2012, as well as the number of tweets and citations received, the results indicate that tweeted Chinese papers published in the same year and journal received around 15% more citations than Chinese papers not mentioned on Twitter. The citation advantage of tweeted Chinese papers is also found within various disciplines and by the different citing countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Papers that have received 1,000 or more citations, referred to as champion works here, pertaining to China and India have been studied. China had its first champion work 4 years after India had its in 1983. While India was ahead of China in the initial years, China increased its tally of champion works during 2001-2010 and has raced ahead of India during that decade. All the champion works of both the countries have been published in foreign journals except for the one Indian paper that has been published in an Indian journal. Most champion works of India have been in physics whereas it has been in biological/biomedical sciences for China. USA, Japan, Germany, England and France are some of the leading countries that India and China have collaborated with for their champion works. Leading institutions of both countries are also listed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Global science is set to experience different times in the 2020s. China surpasses the USA in terms of the number of scientific papers in 2020 in most scientific databases. This scenario is expected to have implications not only in East Asia but also beyond the region. Against this backdrop, this paper investigates the scientific influence of the US-China competition on six major Muslim-majority science systems. Multiple data sources are used to collect data for the bibliometric analyses, which include the trend analysis of collaboration patterns, discipline-based collaborations, authorship patterns for responsibility in collaborations, and citation premium of collaborations with the USA versus China. All the analyses consistently demonstrate that the USA is losing its scientific influence on the selected Muslim-majority science systems to China. Analysis results indicate an astonishing increase in collaborations with China-based scientists in the last decade. Half of the selected Muslim-majority science systems collaborate more with China-based scientists, whereas the other half collaborate more with the USA in 2021, indicating a fifty-fifty split. The collaborations with China-based authors garner higher citation premiums for the selected Muslim-majority science systems than the collaborations with the USA. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Patriotic education in China is a state project that serves the Chinese government. However, current discourse on Chinese patriotic education basically views inward and outward aspects of patriotism as separate and incompatible, which downplays the intricate relationship between them. Arguably, a more nuanced understanding of patriotism is needed to better explore patriotic education in the context of China. This paper begins by elaborating the differences between inward and outward patriotism as illustrated by Marianna Papastephanou's Janus-faced nature of patriotism. It then proceeds to give background information on Chinese patriotic education and illustrate how inward patriotism has been intrinsic to patriotic education in China from its beginnings. The paper further reveals that outward patriotism has been increasingly emphasized in today's China. Finally, it proposes that the risks and potentials of both inward and outward patriotism should be realized and given full consideration and explains how balanced patriotism can help accommodate diverse needs and make Chinese development more sustainable. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Compared with financial information, whether corporate social responsibility disclosure has impacts on debt financing cost has obviously become a heated topic in the academic. This paper selects A-share listed companies in Shanghai and Shenzhen stock markets of China from 2013 to 2017 as sample to study the impact of corporate social responsibility disclosure on debt financing cost, including bond financing cost and bank loan cost. In addition, this paper divides the sample into voluntary corporate social responsibility disclosure group and mandatory corporate social responsibility disclosure group and studies whether the effects of voluntary corporate social responsibility disclosure and mandatory corporate social responsibility disclosure on bond financing cost and bank loan cost are different. The empirical results are presented as follows: Firstly, enterprise disclosing high-quality corporate social responsibility report is more conducive to reducing the debt financing cost. Specifically, corporate social responsibility disclosure significantly lowers both the bond financing cost and bank loan cost. Moreover, the reduction impact of corporate social responsibility disclosure on bond financing cost is greater than that of bank loan cost. Secondly, enterprises voluntarily disclosing corporate social responsibility reports are more conducive to reducing the debt financing cost than that of enterprises mandatorily disclosing corporate social responsibility reports. Thirdly, non-state-owned enterprises are more conducive to reducing debt financing cost than that of state-owned enterprise. The enterprises with more market competition are more conducive to reducing the debt financing cost than the oligopolistic enterprises. Finally, this paper concludes and gives policy implications. This paper amplifies the literature regarding the economic consequences of corporate social responsibility disclosure and improves the understanding of the impact of corporate social responsibility disclosure on debt financing cost. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

How did Chinese leaders Deng Xiaoping and Zhao Ziyang feel about Hong Kong? The existing literature has tended to see the Sino-British negotiations over the future of Hong Kong through the economic lens favoured by the British side and described the Chinese side as primarily motivated by nationalism. However, 'nationalism' remains a vague concept in need of further definition. This paper focuses on the Chinese side of the negotiation table. It unpacks what 'nationalism' meant to Deng and Zhao within the context of the negotiations by examining three interrelated components: history, identity and emotion. This paper then analyses how the Chinese side used history, identity and emotion strategically during the negotiations, focusing on the September 1982 leaders' meetings as a case study. Adopting a constructivist lens, this paper examines historical documents against frameworks and theories from the social sciences, producing an interdisciplinary analysis of Chinese negotiation tactics. It unravels how China's leaders used the country's past to broadcast the Party's stance to the people, bolster their leadership position and win the advantage over Britain in the Hong Kong negotiations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper considers how 'knowledge' of China was presented for Victorian and Edwardian children in The Boy's Own Paper ( BOP) between 1879 and 1914. It considers how genre affects the representation of China in the BOP by comparing travel narratives and adventure stories. First, it focuses on non-fiction about China, examining the rhetorical strategies employed by the authors of travel narratives. The travellers express confidence in their ability to survey the land and present readers with the idea that China is abundant in resources awaiting British discovery. Second, the article discusses adventure stories about opium and piracy written during a period when the tension between the British and the Chinese was particularly fraught over these issues. While the authors of the adventure stories created a strong contrast between the Chinese as villains and the British as heroes, the BOP travel writers provide contradictory statements within their narratives, reflecting an ambivalence about China and the Chinese. However, because the BOP contributors sought to instil a sense of patriotism, to inspire their readers to serve the British Empire, both the non-fiction travel narratives and the fictional adventure stories related to China were published not only to entertain readers with exotic facts and thrilling stories, but more importantly, to persuade them of the necessity of British intervention. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In past 15 years, haze has become one of the most concerned environmental problem in China. This study examines China's performance on haze research using scientometrics indicators such as China's global publication share, rank, growth rate and citation impact, its publications in various areas, top journals based on last 15 years (2000-2014) publications data obtained from ISI Science citation index expanded database. Chinese share with international collaborative papers, h-core papers and high-cited papers were also determined. The results indicated a constantly rise in the amount of published papers, the average citations per paper and the presence of Chinese researchers and institutions in top journals. However, the impact and quality of the papers were far to satisfactory. There was still a great gap for impact between China and developed countries (G7 countries) in haze research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Comparing with cities, rural communities especially those declining rural communities have become vulnerable to natural disasters owing to their backward socioeconomic conditions. Taking Xun County of China's Henan Province as the study area, the paper aims to evaluate rural community resilience to flood by unveiling the connection between individuals' cognition, follow-up actions and the community resilience. Research results show that: (1) The logic chain exists as individual's cognition to disaster leads to their constructive actions to cope with disaster, which contribute to community resilience. (2) At the cognition dimension, individual's knowledge reserve of disaster prevention and their recognition to local authority are playing an important role in their decision making and follow-up behaviors when disaster occurs. (3) At the action dimension, individual's familiarity with the disaster preparedness, efficient information transmission when disaster occurs and villagers' following order and their unity of action all contribute to community resilience to disaster. The paper proposes ways to improve rural community resilience to disasters based on the research findings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since 1990, a large and dynamic global science system has evolved, based on grass roots collaboration, and resting on the resources, infrastructure and personnel housed by national science systems. Euro-American science systems have become intensively networked in a global duopoly; and many other countries have built national science systems, including a group of large- and middle-sized countries that follow semi-autonomous trajectories based on state investment, intensive national network building, and international engagement, without integrating tightly into the global duopoly. The dual global/national approach pursued by these systems, including China, South Korea, Iran and India, is not always fully understood in papers on science. Nevertheless, China is now the number two science country in the world, the largest producer of papers and number one in parts of STEM physical sciences. The paper investigates the remarkable evolution of China's science funding, output, discipline balance, internationalisation strategy and national and global networking. China has combined global activity and the local/national building of science in positive sum manner, on the ground of the nationally nested science system. The paper also discusses limits of the achievement, noting that while China-US relations have been instrumental in building science, a partial decoupling is occurring and the future is unclear. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper uses the exogenous shock of China's formal implementation of the environmental information disclosure system in 2008 to construct a quasi-natural experiment. Based on the panel data of prefecture-level cities from 2003 to 2019, the propensity score matching and difference in difference (PSM-DID) approach was used to systematically evaluate the impact of environmental information disclosure on energy efficiency. Overcoming the difficulties in measuring environmental information disclosure and the endogenous problem, this paper investigates the energy-saving effect of environmental information disclosure and illustrates its mechanism for the first time. The results show that environmental information disclosure significantly improved energy efficiency, and public participation played an important role in energy conservation, a conclusion that remained true after a series of robustness tests. The test of the impact mechanism shows that environmental information disclosure can achieve the goal of improving energy efficiency by promoting industrial structure upgrading and technological innovation. This paper enriches the discussion on the relationship between environmental information disclosure and energy efficiency, and provides useful policy inspiration for improving the level of energy efficiency and achieving sustainable economic development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We examined the use of ecosystem service (ES) approaches at the landscape scale to assess two major ecological restoration programs (ERPs) in China. We found 68 papers highlighting four aspects: (1) most papers considered only one ES, and all ES categories were not covered equally; (2) regional-scale and short-term assessments dominated the reviewed papers, and few papers evaluated the impacts of ERPs on ESs at multiple spatial scales; (3) the majority of datasets were from global and national databases; and (4) 40% of studies used mostly proxy models and did not report model validation. Finally, we identify four needs: (1) for a deeper understanding of the interactions between multiple ESs; (2) to establish multiple temporal and spatial scales on ERP assessments including future scenarios and balanced efforts of ERP assessments over the entire territory; (3) to establish multiple data scales; and (4) to develop robust modeling approaches. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the past 30 years, the research behavior of Chinese scholars has continually evolved. This paper studied the citing behavior of Chinese scholars by employing three indicators of citation concentration from the perspective of citation breadth analysis. All the citations from 2,338,033 papers from the Chinese Citation Database (1979-2008) covering four disciplines-Chemistry; Clinical Medicine; Library, Information and Archival Science; and Chinese Literature and World Literature-were analyzed. Empirical results show a general weakening tendency towards citation concentration: (1) decreasing percentage of uncited published papers within a given year; (2) a higher percentage of papers required to account for the same proportion of citation than before; and (3) the steady decline in the Herfindahl-Hirschman index (HHI) of citation distribution. All three measures indicate a decline in citing concentration or an increase in citation breadth. This phenomenon may be the result of increased access to materials, perhaps because of the ease with which scholarly materials can be accessed through the Internet. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The evolution of territorial space is intrinsically linked to economic growth, societal welfare, and ecological preservation. In the context of escalating spatial conflicts and stringent resource limitations, resource efficiency has emerged as a fundamental pillar for the scientific optimization of territorial space layout. Drawing upon resource efficiency metrics from cities nationwide, this study constructs scenarios for territorial space development and conservation, assesses developmental capacity under varying preferences, and subsequently delineates strategic blueprints using an integrated "point-axis-area" approach. The findings reveal the following: (1) Resource efficiency in China has witnessed a consistent uptick, yet remains modest overall, with marked regional disparities. (2) Throughout the investigation period, developmental capacity has seen progressive enhancement, with a pronounced capacity in scenarios favoring development, radiating axially from urban conglomerates. (3) The layout of pivotal points and developmental axes has transitioned from a "tri-pillar" to a diamond configuration, with the coastal corridor, Harbin-Beijing-Guangzhou corridor, and the corridor along the Yangtze River standing out. (4) Strategic points progressively converge along key axes, whereas dominant regions exhibit clear differentiation on either side of the Hu Huanyong Line. By integrating elements of the territorial spatial structure, this paper proposes blueprints for "five horizontal and three vertical zones with eight cores and three areas," "four horizontal and three vertical zones with six cores and three areas," and "three horizontal and four vertical zones with five cores and three areas," corresponding to scenarios of prioritizing development, status quo maintenance, and prioritizing conservation, respectively. The outcomes of this research offer a technical foundation and theoretical guidance for the pursuit of high-quality territorial space development and a vision of picturesque landscapes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the 1990s, China created a research evaluation system based on publications indexed in the Science Citation Index (SCI) and on the Journal Impact Factor. Such system helped the country become the largest contributor to the scientific literature and increased the position of Chinese universities in international rankings. Although the system had been criticized by many because of its adverse effects, the policy reform for research evaluation crawled until the breakout of the COVID-19 pandemic, which accidently accelerates the process of policy reform. This paper highlights the background and principles of this reform, provides evidence of its effects, and discusses the implications for global science. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

High-quality development plays a crucial role in China’s economic progress in the new era. It represents a new concept of advancement and mirrors the increasing aspirations of the populace for an improved standard of living. In this context, the role of artificial intelligence (AI) in promoting sustainable development cannot be overemphasized. This paper explores how AI technologies can drive the transition to a green, low-carbon and circular economy. We have established an index system to measure the development level of the artificial intelligence industry and the high-quality development of the economy, which is relevant to the current state of the artificial intelligence industry and the advancement of the economy. Panel data from 2008 to 2017 has been utilized for this purpose. Global principal component analysis method and entropy value method are employed in the evaluation. Through in-depth analysis of the application of artificial intelligence and environmental protection in various provinces and cities, we clarify that artificial intelligence promotes innovation, saves resources, and is conducive to the development of green economy in the new era. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The carbon emission trading pilot policy is an important initiative to achieve synergistic economic-environmental development. Based on the data of 268 cities in China from 2006 to 2020, this paper analyzes the impact of carbon emission trading pilot policy on urban innovation capacity by using a time-varying difference-in-difference model. The study shows that, first, the implementation of the CETP improves the innovation capacity of cities, and the robustness test confirms the above findings. Second, the effect of the policy on enhancing urban innovation capacity is heterogeneous between the type of innovation and city type: the promotion of innovation capacity is stronger for utility model patents and non-capital cities. Third, there is a positive spillover effect of the implementation of the CETP on the promotion effect of the urban innovation capacity, which can lead to the improvement of the innovation capacity of neighboring cities. This paper has some reference value for building a unified carbon emission trading market and promoting low-carbon economic development within China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper documents the increase in the number of global billionaires from mainland China between 2004 and 2018. One of the key findings is that under conditions of an open economy, grassroots billionaire entrepreneurs (e.g., Jack Ma) could mitigate political economy as well as financial frictions via capital injections from foreign venture capitalists. By building a unique database, I report that (i) the politically unconnected billionaire entrepreneurs financed by foreign venture capitalists are more likely to go public their companies outside mainland China (mainly in Hong Kong and the USA), use offshore financing vehicles, and enter the innovation sector and (ii) the politically connected global billionaire entrepreneurs, however, are closely associated with a record of state-owned enterprise (SOE) restructuring. Plain English Summary: The increase in the number of billionaire entrepreneurs (e.g., Jack Ma) from mainland China between 2004 and 2018 is a new phenomenon, which necessitates a reassessment of the crony capitalism arguments, the types of entrepreneurs, and the sources of innovation. This paper has important implications for future research on entrepreneurship in a global economy and the design of relevant policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To provide an overview of the characteristics of research in China, a bibliometric evaluation of highly cited papers with high-level representation was conducted during the period from 1999 to 2009 based on the Essential Science Indicators (ESI) database. A comprehensive assessment covered overall performance, journals, subject categories, internationally collaborative countries, national inter-institutionally collaborative institutions, and most-cited papers in 22 scientific fields. China saw a strong growth in scientific publications in the last decade, to some extent due to increasing research and development expenditure. China has been more active in ESI fields of chemistry and physics, but more excellent in materials science, engineering and mathematics. Most publications were concerned with the common Science Citation Index subject categories of multidisciplinary chemistry, multidisciplinary materials and science, and physical chemistry. About one half China's ESC papers were internationally collaborative and the eight major industrialized countries (the USA, Germany, the UK, Japan, France, Canada, Russia, and Italy) played a prominent role in scientific collaboration with China, especially the USA. The Chinese Academy of Sciences took the leading position of institutions with many branches. The '985 Project' stimulated the most productive institutions for academic research with a huge funding injection and the universities in Hong Kong showed good scientific performance. The citation impact of internationally collaborative papers differed among fields and international collaborations made positive contributions to academic research in China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

During the past decades, Chinese science policy has emphasized the international dissemination of research. Such policies were associated with exponential growth of English-language publications and have led China to become the largest contributor to international scientific literature. However, due to the paywalls and language barriers, China's international publications are less accessible to local Chinese scholars, which suggests that the dissemination to the international scientific community may come at the expense of dissemination to the local Chinese community. This paper investigates the local accessibility of China's international publications and finds that publishing internationally limits the visibility of Chinese research for the national Chinese scientific community, and the restriction is even worse for immediate access. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A carbon emission factor (CEF) database is required for the basis of carbon emission calculation in construction projects. However, the default values for existing CEF databases cannot cover the complex resources involved in a construction project. Therefore, this paper proposes a three-step method to guide the establishment of an extensible CEF database for the construction industry, including (1) data collection and parser, (2) data extension, and (3) data encoding and storage. The data extension mechanisms provide the supply chain perspective considering temporal issues and the accounting perspective to streamline the process. Aiming to address the lack of a comprehensive CEF database for the construction industry in China, this paper uses this method to establish a carbon emission factor database for the Chinese construction industry (CEFD for CCI). This database is open and free with 646 CEFs, including five parts: energy, human, material, machinery, and greenspace. This paper provides a way for developing and less developed countries to establish an expandable CEF database, which benefits the parser, extension, encoding, and storage of new resources, as well as computer access. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research interest in organic food consumption has increased significantly worldwide, but a systematic analysis of this phenomenon in China is still lacking. The existing studies in this area are wide-ranging and fragmented, and there is a lack of comprehensive research into the drivers and barriers specific to the Chinese context. Based on a literature review of 26 articles spanning from 2011 to 2021, this article employs the consumption values theory and the innovation resistance theory to discern patterns on the drivers and barriers of organic food consumption in China. The findings show that the most explored drivers include the functional values of healthiness and safety. Within the social value realm, environmental concern and symbolic value emerge as important influences on Chinese consumers. Conditional values shed light on factors such as perceived healthiness and certification/organic labeling. Regarding barriers, an aspect of research less analyzed, the article finds key obstacles being price sensitivity, perceived uncertainty, lack of knowledge or information, lack of reliability, and lack of availability or visibility. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines the financial determinants that influence research and development (R&D) investments, using a sample of 3588 Chinese listed firms over the period 2009–2021. Based on a concise theoretical framework, three hypotheses are proposed, with a particular emphasis on the role of commercial credit in driving R&D investment. Then, a multi-model identification strategy is adopted to control for sample selection bias and the endogeneity issue. This paper concludes that commercial credit and bank loan both act as impediments to firms' R&D investment, irrespective of investment selection or intensity. In contrast, internal financing is beneficial to firms' R&D investment. Moreover, some firm-level characteristics, such as firm size, age, capital intensity, productivity, ownership, and geographical location, matter for firms' R&D investment. The findings have important policy implications for new emerging economies that seek to implement financial reform and innovation-driven strategies. Firstly, more efforts are needed to broaden financing channels and reduce financing discrimination against small- and medium-sized enterprises. Secondly, governmental authorities should undertake the responsibility of supervising credit rating agencies to ensure that they adhere to principles of transparency, fairness, and equity. Finally, policymakers should take an active role in advancing innovation-driven strategies by increasing financial support and enhancing the endogenous driving force of innovation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the constant increase in China's stock pledge transactions, controlling shareholders' equity pledges may result in inadequate investment, which government regulatory authorities, investors, and financial management departments should be aware of. Taking China's A-share listed companies from 2013 to 2019 as a sample, this paper examines the impact of controlling shareholder pledge on equity capital cost. It is found that the equity capital cost of listed companies increases significantly after controlling shareholder pledge, and high-quality audit reports help reduce the influence of controlling shareholder pledge on it. In addition, the mechanism test shows that controlling shareholder pledge impacts the equity capital cost by reducing stock liquidity and increasing the tunneling behavior of large shareholders. Further research shows that under controlling shareholder pledges, improving the quality of information disclosure can help reduce the equity capital cost, while stock price risk can increase the equity capital cost. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the built heritage studies, the intricate web of social and selective processes that define heritage is evident. These processes are, in many cases, intertwined with the notion of scale, examplified through the production of heritage sites at the local, national, and transnational scales. While heritage and geography scholars have articulated the role played by scale in heritage-making and argue against a rigid, fixed, and hierarchical understanding of scale, they highlight the constant reproduction of scale. There is, so far, limited explanation of how the perception of scale gets reproduced and how crucial actors manipulate scalar power and resources for heritage making and the reproduction of scale. To fill this gap, this paper delves into mainland China's heritage-making, using the southern Anhui historical villages as an example. Based on intensive 5-month field research, this paper has three findings: 1) The nomination process for a World Heritage Site is notably influenced by politics and selectivity; 2) Diverse stakeholders are pivotal in shaping heritage narratives; 3) Individual contributions to heritage creation directly interact with, and subsequently reshape, 'scale', an entity that is simultaneously discursive and tangible. By integrating the notion of 'scale' into heritage discussions, we illuminate two concurrent processes: creating hierarchies through rule assimilation by interpreting the UNESCO standard internally and evolving socio-spatial dynamics via the manifestation of individual agency with resource manipulation, scale jumping, and reproduction of scale. This approach aligns with the material orientation in human geography and repositions 'scale'. Here, it's not just an epistemological framework but also a tangible force that steers individual perceptions and actions and yields measurable material impacts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this position paper we discuss the current status of the core scientific journals in China. Based on discussions of journals' relation to a small group of full-text database providers, open access publishing and copyright problems, we conclude that China's digital publishing industry is not yet in a healthy state and some key issues related to revenue, digital piracy and copyright must be solved. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, environmental, social, and governance (ESG) have been extensive concerned. However, few studies have focused on the impact of situational factors on corporate ESG practice decisions. Based on this, using 9428 observations of Chinese A-share listed companies from 2009 to 2019, this paper attempts to explore the impact of local official turnover on corporate ESG practices, and analyzes the boundary effects of this impact from three aspects: region, industry, and corporate. Our results suggest that (1) official turnover can lead to changes in economic policies and redistribution of political resources, which can stimulate companies' "risk aversion motivation" and "development motivation" and thus promote their ESG practices; (2) this effect is more significant in the high degree of government intervention, the high level of industry competition and private corporates. (3) Further test finds that only when the official turnover abnormally and the regional economic development well, official turnover can significantly contribute to corporate ESG. This paper enriches the relevant research on the decision-making scenarios of corporate ESG practices from the macro-institutional perspective. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Climate policies could improve air quality, thereby generating health benefits and thus increasing labour input for economic growth. Nevertheless, health benefits are usually overlooked in evaluation frameworks of climate policies. In this paper, a dynamic recursive computable general equilibrium (CGE) model is adopted to define how climate policies are related to air pollution, namely PM 2.5 concentrations. Health benefits of climate policies are divided into reduction of PM 2.5 -related morbidity and mortality. The CGE model results show that both carbon tax and emission trading scheme (ETS) decrease morbidity and mortality; therefore, under climate policies, PM 2.5 -related labour loss decreases, and thus increasing labour input triggers an economic boom. Carbon tax generates more health benefits in short term, while health benefits of ETS policy will gradually increase in long term. Hence, we conclude that regarding health benefits, a long-term ETS policy is preferable to a long-term carbon tax. This finding implies that the recently established nationwide ETS market in China is meaningful, as it will generate more health benefits in future. Nevertheless, the quantified health benefits in this paper still cannot compensate GDP loss induced by climate policy implementations, implying that it is a challenging task to unbiasedly model health benefits of climate policies. Hence, we have recommended that the scopes and contents of health benefits should be expanded in evaluations of climate policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper studies the relationship between leadership, team size, and citation impact in China's international research output from 1980 to 2016, measured in terms of number of authors, institutions, countries, and citations. Distinction is here made between leading and non-leading Chinese international collaborations, which respectively refer to papers whose first or corresponding author is affiliated to a Chinese institution and papers co-authored by researchers from a Chinese institution but whose first and corresponding authors are not. Analysis at the individual, institutional, and country level show that while average team size by paper increases over the period, the main collaboration mode remains bilateral at the country level. We also observe a positive relationship between team size and research impact up to a certain point, but Chinese-led international collaborations tend to imply smaller teams and have lower impact than non-leading collaborations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The establishment of the China-ASEAN Free Trade Area has prompted closer cooperation in aquatic products trade between China and Vietnam. Studying the aquatic trade situation and export trade growth dynamics of China and Vietnam can help clarify the aquatic trade relationship between China and Vietnam and promote the sustainable development of bilateral aquatic trade cooperation. This paper analyzes the trade growth dynamics of aquatic products exported from China and Vietnam from 2002 to 2020 using the ternary marginal method. The trade growth pattern of aquatic products exported from China to Vietnam is "both quantity and price growth," and the trade growth pattern of aquatic products exported from Vietnam to China is "quantity growth mainly, extensive growth supplemented." The two countries have apparent differences in the growth dynamics of aquatic products export trade. Moreover, there is a higher complementarity when exporting Vietnam's aquatic products to China than China's aquatic products to Vietnam. Based on these, analyze the factors affecting the growth dynamics of Vietnam's aquatic products export to China: Vietnam's economic development level negatively affects the price index and quantity index of Vietnam's aquatic products exported to China, and Vietnam's aquatic product output affects the price index. China's trade freedom positively affects the price index and negatively affects the quantity index. Finally, this paper put forward suggestions to promote the sustainable development of bilateral aquatic products trade between China and Vietnam to facilitate the formulation of relevant policies between the two countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

China claims that the Belt and Road Initiative is a cross-regional comprehensive initiative covering the economy, social and environmental pillars. When it was first proposed, it identified five main areas which call for cooperation priorities, i.e. policy coordination, interconnection of facilities, unimpeded trade, financial integration and people-to-people bond. Scholars globally are focusing on the development of the Belt and Road Initiative as it has gone through several development stages. The Belt and Road Initiative initially focused on economic development, equal dialogue and cultural interchange between the Belt and Road Initiative partners and China, and now it has added the concept of green development. This paper reviews the Belt and Road Initiative documents since 2013 and analyses the changes of environmental policies in the Belt and Road Initiative, aiming to identify the challenges and implications of green development. The outcome of this paper provides insight into how the Belt and Road Initiative can contribute towards sustainable development with its partner countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The double-carbon goal proposal has made it imperative for China's power industry to address the urgent issue of reducing greenhouse gas emissions from coal-fired power plants and promoting their clean and efficient use. A new approach to achieving peak-shaving and improving grid stability is the combination of carbon capture and storage (CCS) facilities with coal-fired power plants, which offers a strategic solution for mitigating climate change. Nonetheless, the viability of CCS retrofitting for coal-fired power plants in China hinges on its economic feasibility. The technical characteristics, economic analysis, and policy implications of clean coal-fired power plant equipped with CCS (CCP-CCS) technologies are evaluated in the paper. A comparison of the characteristics of different clean coal power generation technologies, including capacity, efficiency, coal consumption, and environmental performance, is conducted. The paper analyzes the economic feasibility of four typical clean coal power generation technologies, namely Supercritical (SC), Ultra-supercritical (USC), Integrated Gasification Combined Cycle (IGCC), and Circulating Fluidized Bed (CFB), both with and without CCS, using the levelized cost of electricity (LCOE) model. Financial parameters, investment parameters, operation and maintenance parameters, tax parameters, and capacity parameters are all considered in the LCOE model. The results indicate: (1) If CCS is not installed, the LCOE of USC power plants is the lowest at 0.37 yuan/kWh, while the LCOE of IGCC power plants is the highest at 0.44 yuan/kWh. (2) If CCS is installed, the LCOE of CFB units is the highest at 0.74 yuan/kWh, while the LCOE of USC units is the lowest at 0.60 yuan/kWh. (3) In sensitivity analysis, coal prices have the most significant impact on LCOE, followed by expected annual operating hours, while the cost of carbon capture equipment is the least sensitive. (4) The cost of retrofitting CCS on clean coal-fired power plants (CCP) is currently high, with an LCOE increase of around 40 to 70%, which is comparable to that of renewable energy electricity. This paper presents policy recommendations, including preferential loans, tax incentives, and R&D funding, to promote the development of CCP in China based on the economic analysis results and challenges faced by CCP. Additionally, the paper proposes relevant policy implications such as preferential loan policies, a diversified financing system, R&D and innovation, and the establishment of a carbon trading market for CCS in China to provide practical guidance for the promotion of CCP-CCS technologies in China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Food waste has become a significant challenge faced by the community with a shared future for mankind, and it has also caused a considerable impact on China's food security. Scholars across disciplines, international organizations, and especially policymakers are increasingly interested in food waste. Policies are seen as a powerful factor in reducing food waste, but current research on related policies is more scattered. This paper summarizes and analyzes the experiences of food waste policy development and implementation by systematically reviewing the studies on food waste reduction policies. The results of this paper's analysis show that current global food waste policies are focused at the national strategic level, with approaches such as legislation, food donation, waste recycling, awareness and education, and data collection. At the same time, we find that the current experience of developed countries in policy formulation and implementation is beneficial for policy formulation in developing countries. And taking China as an example, we believe that developing countries can improve food waste policies in the future by improving legislation, guiding the development of food banks, promoting social governance, and strengthening scientific research projects. These policies will all contribute strongly to global environmental friendliness. In addition, we discuss some of the factors that influence the development of food waste policies and argue that in the future, more consideration needs to be given to the effects of policy implementation and that case studies should focus more on developing countries. This will contribute to the global sustainable development process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since the successful containment of COVID-19 in Wuhan in late March 2020, China had implemented a nationwide highly stringent and restrictive zero-COVID policy to manage the pandemic until the sudden swift away from it in early December 2022. How did the Chinese Communist Party discursively construct it as a 'normal' and legitimate policy? Using interpretivism and poststructuralist political theory, this paper examines how Chinese political elites constructed a discourse of danger for the COVID pandemic, with the dominant discursive narratives full of xenophobic and nationalist languages. The discourse framed 'foreigners' as 'threats' to Chinese people's health, advocated that China should rely on home-made vaccines and medicines and, more importantly, argued that the Chinese Communist rule demonstrates 'institutional superiority' over Western governance. This xenophobic and nationalist discourse has lingered on after the dismantling of the zero-COVID policy. There are grounds for us to concern whether China is seeking self-reliance rather than integrating itself with the world. A Chinese decoupling from the world—a nationalist self-reliance policy similar with that in the Mao era—is not unthinkable. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The persistent gender inequalities in higher education are an ongoing concern among academics. This paper investigates how male and female academics perceive the need for gender-related changes to support academic women's career advancement in China. Drawing on 40 interviews with male and female academics at a leading Chinese research university, this paper finds that attitudes among male academics were overwhelmingly negative toward the necessity for gender-related changes, whereas the female academics' responses varied. Two underlying issues cause the relatively similar degrees of unwillingness of men and women to make gender-related policy changes at universities. First, these academics had a strong belief in merit-based rules for promotion, which embedded gender blindness in the name of 'fairness'. Second, the power of individual choice was the determining factor for women's career progression, although both men and women acknowledged that their traditional cultural beliefs were rooted in processes and practices that systematically disadvantaged women. The findings expose academics' low expectations for the successful creation or implementation of institutional policies that support academic women's career development, considering that male academics did not support gender-related changes, and female academics were not united in their perspectives. In addition, socio-cultural norms were a critical obstacle. The findings suggest that the successful implementation of any gender policies must meet two conditions: they should stress equal opportunities for both sexes and should not jeopardize the perceived 'fair' meritocracy in academia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Green consumption has become an important part of an environmentally friendly society. Policy guidance can effectively promote green consumption. Green consumption policies are extensive because of the diversity of green consumption objects. However, the various objects are not completely isolated, and policy must have a certain level of consistency. Therefore, from the perspective of green consumption objects, this paper first uses the text mining method to mine 308 green consumption policies in China, analyzing the objects covered in China's green consumption policies. Then, the evaluation system of green consumption policy consistency was built, seven key policies were selected, and the PMC-index method was used to measure policy consistency. The results show that (i) the main objectives of China's green consumption policy are the promotion of green products and the efficient use of energy. Green services and green recycling have been subject to fewer policy efforts. (ii) In terms of the links involved in green consumption, China pays more attention to the supply and the consumption chain and less attention to the recycling chain. (iii) The quantitative evaluation results of the seven typical policies show that the policy consistency is good but not perfect. The policy shortcomings are mainly reflected in the incentive methods. Therefore, it is recommended to further improve the green consumption objectives and enrich the means and methods of green consumption guidance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Water has remained a source of contentious and cooperative politics among states since the Sumerian civilization. The field of hydro-politics, since its emergence in the 1990s, had taken note of dams as both a source of conflict between riparian neighbors owing to their threat to the life and property along the transboundary banks, and as a source of cooperation through effective water and knowledge sharing and infrastructural development, promoting peaceful negotiations in good faith in these matters. In this regard, the narrative and practice of infrastructural development by the great powers in their weaker riparian states to enhance their growth has emerged as a new means to increase great power states' power and influence in the international arena. China, in its race against the United States, has emerged as the world's largest dam builder, having extended its construction footprints across many parts of the globe. As rapid industrial development and resultant climate change intensifies the hitherto prevalent water crises, China, through a spate of dam-building among other things, has ensured its water, and consequently food, supply through the accumulation of real and virtual water networks, in a world where basic necessities are gradually becoming scarce. Through a descriptive study, this paper attempts to answer the question of what the implications of China's domestic, regional and global behavior of extensive hydro-infrastructural development are beyond the contemporary economic and political gains for itself. It argues that the objectives of China's dam-building transcend short-term economic and political gains, as it attempts to ensure the possibility of China's long-term hydro-stability in its quest to emerge at the lead of the evolving global order. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Hydrogeology Journal is the property of Springer Nature and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Comparing 5 publications from China that described knockdowns of the human TPD52L2 gene in human cancer cell lines identified unexpected similarities between these publications, flaws in experimental design, and mis-matches between some described experiments and the reported results. Following communications with journal editors, two of these TPD52L2 publications have been retracted. One retraction notice stated that while the authors claimed that the data were original, the experiments had been out-sourced to a biotechnology company. Using search engine queries, automatic text-analysis, different similarity measures, and further visual inspection, we identified 48 examples of highly similar papers describing single gene knockdowns in 1-2 human cancer cell lines that were all published by investigators from China. The incorrect use of a particular TPD52L2 shRNA sequence as a negative or non-targeting control was identified in 30/48 (63%) of these publications, using a combination of Google Scholar searches and visual inspection. Overall, these results suggest that some publications describing the effects of single gene knockdowns in human cancer cell lines may include the results of experiments that were not performed by the authors. This has serious implications for the validity of such results, and for their application in future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Japan has a longstanding history of shadow education, which has evolved, transformed, and extended beyond its borders. Japanese shadow education institutions, known as juku, have expanded worldwide, including in Asia, the US, and Europe, offering offline and online tutoring services mainly for Japanese expatriates. This study examines the role and features of juku, specifically in Beijing, Hong Kong, and Shanghai. It identifies 20 different juku, analyzes their types, and explains a different type of juku, the "Japanese cultural supplementary school," that caters to expatriate parents aiming to nurture Japanese culture and traditions in their children. Although the Japanese juku phenomenon has previously attracted the attention of scholars, there is a gap in the literature when it comes to transnational juku and its operation outside Japan. This paper contributes to informing scholars, policymakers, and the public on the transnational movement of shadow education as a global phenomenon. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the intricate interactions between heritage and religion in modern China, as well as the broader social and political implications of these interactions in relation to national heritage policies and local developmental practices. By conducting a longitudinal analysis of the social history of Baosheng Temple, this research traces its transformations over the past hundred years from a historically religious site to a local built heritage dedicated to preserving and displaying religious relics. This transformation highlights a shift in the role of religious relics from carriers of practice and thought to focal points for heritage preservation, aimed at supporting nation-building and, more recently, promoting local development through the tourism industry. These changes reflect continuous local responses to broader social transformations towards a modern nation-state as well as the influence of Western ideas and practices. The findings of this research illuminate the evolving values associated with religious heritage and the corresponding implications for Chinese modernity within a secular state context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Previous research shows that domestic unrest, and especially violent conflict, raises political risk and discourages foreign direct investment (FDI). However, prior work primarily has studied private Western multinational corporations, not authoritarian China, the second largest overseas investor, which has both state-owned enterprises (SOEs) and privately-owned enterprises (POEs). This paper investigates the effects of domestic conflict on overseas Chinese FDI. We first compare Chinese SOE and POE investments in host states facing political unrest. Next, we disaggregate political unrest, examining the effect of violent and non-violent campaigns on Chinese SOEs and POEs. We then disaggregate the sector of FDI inflows. Contrary to prior conflict studies, we find host states under political unrest, and specifically violent campaigns, attract Chinese SOEs no matter the economic sector, whereas POEs are more risk averse. Our findings show that Chinese SOEs favor higher risk investments, suggesting the need for theoretical nuance in the domestic conflict and FDI literature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores how civic food networks (CFN) use public forums to engage with other initiatives and stakeholders in civil society. It develops the concept of social infrastructure to capture the assemblages of discourses, networking and spaces around agrifood forums. The research then examines how social infrastructures support CFNs' capacity to organize communities and challenge power relations in the agrifood system. Two cases are compared: News&Market, a Taiwan-based agrifood news platform which also sells organic food products, and Foodthink, a collective blog created by a farmers' market in China. Both started in the late 2010s but one focuses on policy critiques while the other focuses on market critiques. A comparison finds that CFNs develop different critiques to address the specific challenges facing local alternative food networks (AFNs), and use networking and space creation to promote social dialogue with other stakeholders or build networks across AFNs and NGOs. The paper argues that a social infrastructure such as that built around agrifood forums enables CFNs to shape food democracy and food citizenship practices in new ways. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper introduces the status of the sugar industry in China, especially the production of sugarcane, sugarbeet and sugar, as well as achievements in sugarcane breeding, farming technology exploitation and value chain-added by-product development. In recent years, China has planted about 1.6–1.8 Mha of sugar crops and produces about 9–11 MT of sugar, with about 85–91% from sugarcane. Guangxi is an enormous cane and sugar producer, which provides about 60–70% of the total sugar in the country. The production of sugarcane and cane sugar decreased dramatically in the recent two milling seasons, especially in Guangxi, because of continuous severe drought during the fast-growing season, leading to a considerable decline in cane sugar and total sugar production. However, beet sugar production recovered to the level 10 years ago. The sugarcane-planting area is relatively more stable, especially in Guangxi, than sugarbeet production. The sugar recovery has been improved in recent years because of the dramatic progress in sugarcane breeding and new technology development. At present, the elite sugarcane varieties GT42 and GL05136 occupied 28.66% and 28.48%, respectively, of the total sugarcane-growing area in China in 2023, and other main sugarcane varieties, i.e. GT44, GT46, GT49, GT55, GT58, YT93-159, YT55, YZ05-51, YZ08-1609, etc. The domestic breeding sugarcane varieties occupied over 95% of the total sugarcane-growing area in 2023; among them, more than 80% were bred in Guangxi, and GT varieties covered the more extensive sugarcane-planting area in China. For sugarcane production, drought is still the most important abiotic limit. At the same time, smut and borer continue to be the most critical biotic constraints, production cost needs to be lowered, and machine harvest is not popular. The R&D priorities for sustainable sugarcane production in China include creating elite parents by utilizing wild germplasm, breeding high-yield, high-sugar, highly resistant and nitrogen-efficient sugarcane varieties with strong ratoon ability by conventional and biotechnological approaches, promoting the commercial supply of healthy seedcane for millable cane production, and developing mechanical operation for field management, especially for harvest, and applying low-cost and efficient cultivation technologies for sugarcane production, etc. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: China has made great progress in ecological restoration. However, there have been no analyses on ecological restoration for specific terrestrial ecosystems. This study identified the important knowledge gaps and advances related to terrestrial ecological restoration in China. Results: 7973 papers published between 1978 and 2020 were investigated and about 962 articles were used in this analysis after manually screening. Since the first large national ecological restoration project in 1978, the most frequently studied ecosystem has shifted from farmland ecosystems in 1978–2000 to forest ecosystems after 2000. Forests were the most common ecosystem type investigated, while less attention was paid to wetlands and riparian systems. Meanwhile, the most common ecological issue shifted from environmental pollution in 1978–2000 to the declining resource-carrying capacity of ecosystems after 2000. Studies of ecoregions on the Loess Plateau catchment accounted for more than 40% of papers reviewed in this study, with predominant emphasis on soil and water conservation functionality. Besides, revegetation and afforestation characterized most ecological restoration projects in China, but the natural restoration was relatively less adopted. Additionally, the important tool of reference ecosystem was only used in four studies. Conclusions: Ecological restoration has made significant progress in China. We investigated how the ecological restoration can be implemented more effectively. More projects should be implemented for restorative work in wetlands and riparian systems in future. The tradeoff between restorative activities, water resources, and carbon sink needs further research efforts. More emphasis on biodiversity conservation is warranted. Newly developed theory (e.g., stepwise ecological restoration) and the recently issued Chinese National Guidelines for Ecological Restoration Projects should be more effectively implemented in future restorative works. This study provides essential information for future restorative work in China. It also provides insights into the development of policy relevant to restoration and adaptive management during the U.N. restoration decade. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the expansion of China's automobile market and the increase in the proportion of electric vehicles, the influence of the automobile industry on water resources has been increasingly, and as a result, water resources will become an important factor restricting the development of the electric vehicle industry in China. Until now, there are still no in-depth studies on the influences of the water footprint of electric vehicles. The paper establishes a life cycle assessment model by which to analyze the reduction potential of the water footprint of various types of passenger vehicles in their operation. The paper also compares the water footprint of passenger vehicles under different power structures, revealing the potential influence of developing electric vehicles on the demand of water resources. The results show that at the base year (2019), the plug-in hybrid electric vehicles and battery electric vehicles consume more water than the gasoline-based internal combustion engine vehicles do, while water consumption of the hybrid electric vehicles and fuel cell vehicles is lower than that of the gasoline-based internal combustion engine vehicles; as for the year 2035, even after the proportion of renewable energy generation increases, the water withdrawal and consumption of the battery electric vehicles and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles will still be larger than those of the gasoline-based internal combustion engine vehicles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the case of China, there is a need of green energy system to boost growth and environment. However, the current growth of urbanization is putting high pressure on energy system through financial capital. Hence, it is a need to develop such path through renewable energy consumption, capital development, and urbanization to enhance the performance of development and environment. Therefore, this paper contributes to the literature by adding the asymmetries between renewable energy, urbanization, economic growth, and capital investment by covering the period from 1970 to 2021. For this purpose, we apply the nonlinear autoregressive distributed lag model to find the nonlinearities between the variables under study. The findings confirm the asymmetric short- and long-term relationships between the variables. In this sense, capitalization shows the short- and long-term asymmetric impacts on renewable energy consumption. In addition, urbanization and economic growth have long-term asymmetric and positive impacts on renewable energy consumption. At last, this paper provides applicable and practical policy implications for China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]