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Despite growing scholarly attention on the role of urban networks for understanding regional dynamics, there has been limited research examining the impact of cities' transportation network connections on regional market integration. This paper analyzes China's four major urban agglomerations: the Yangtze River Delta, the Pearl River Delta, Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei, and Chengdu-Chongqing. Applying a spatial Durbin model to cross-sectional datasets for 2019, we provide insight into the role of cities' transportation network connections in promoting regional market integration, considering both the potentially heterogeneous impact of network connections and the interplay between network and agglomeration externalities. Our results indicate that: (1) cities' transportation network connections have an inverted 'U'-shaped effect on regional market integration; (2) transportation network connections have spatial spillover effects; (3) the positive impact of transportation network connections on regional market integration becomes more pronounced as city size decreases; and (4) there are neither complementary nor substitution effects between network and agglomeration externalities. We reflect on the broader implications of our empirical findings for regional development strategies and discuss possible avenues for further research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the continuous socio-economic development, the Chinese government has readjusted its poverty alleviation and development strategies, and established the targeted poverty alleviation policies in an attempt to holistically build a well-off society. Based on the panel data of nine national poverty-stricken counties (districts) in Chongqing in the Three Gorges Reservoir Region from 1998 to 2015, this paper quantitatively analyzed the effect of the national poverty alleviation policies in the context of targeted poverty alleviation by adopting the methodologies of a break-point regression and a panel regression. The results show that: (1) The national policy for targeted poverty alleviation has a significant effect on poverty reduction, and this effect has manifested since the beginning of its implementation, i.e. the net income of farmers in 2012 increased by 12.41%, as against that during 2010–2011. The per capita net income of farmers has increased by 33.64% from 2011 to 2015 during the implementation period of the targeted poverty alleviation policy, as against that during 1998–2010. The policy effect during 2011–2015 is also evident, for the net income of farmers increased by 21.23% compared with that from the beginning of the policy implementation in 2012; (2) Economic activity of the market and gross value of agricultural product in the poverty-stricken areas have significantly increased farmers' net income, specifically, for every 1% increase in the degree of market economic activity, farmers' net income will increase by 48.74%; Furthermore, for every 1% increase in gross value of agricultural product, the farmers' net income will increase by 3.7%. Finally, this paper proposed corresponding policy recommendations based on these findings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In China, there is a growing number of urban renewal projects due to the rapid growth of the economy and urbanization. To meet the needs of urban development, urban renewal requires a sound decision-making approach involving various stakeholder groups. However, current urban renewal decision-making is criticized for poor efficiency, equity, and resulting in many unintended adverse outcomes. It is claimed that high-level transaction costs (e.g., a great deal of time spent on negotiation and coordination) are the factors hidden behind the problems. However, few studies have analyzed urban renewal decision-making in a transaction costs perspective. Using the case of Chongqing, this paper aims at adopting transaction costs theory to understand the administrative process of urban renewal decision-making in China. This research focuses on four key stakeholder groups: municipal government, district government, local administrative organizations, and the consulting parties. A transaction costs analytical framework is established. First, the decision-making stages of urban renewal and involved key stakeholder groups are clarified. Second, the transactions done by different stakeholder groups in each stage is identified, thus to analyze what types of transaction costs are generated. Third, the relative levels of transaction costs among different stakeholder groups were measured based on the interview. The empirical analysis reveals how transaction costs occur and affect urban renewal decision-making. Finally, policy implications were proposed to reduce transaction costs in order to enhance urban renewal. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Changes in cultivated land in China are related to food security for nearly 1.4 billion people. Administrative ruling has decomposed the goal of cultivated land protection in China and implemented it from top to bottom, so that cultivated land data have nested attributes. Although related research on cultivated land changes has achieved fruitful results, these studies have neglected the scale effect created by the nested structure of cultivated land data, and it is easy for the policy to lose its effect in scaling. A two-layer linear model of the hierarchical linear model is constructed in this paper based on spatial autocorrelation and scale variance analyses to analyse the different spatial scales for cultivated land changes and reveal the interaction mechanism of the driving factors at different spatial scales. The results show the following: (1) The smaller the spatial scale of the study area, the easier the spatial correlation of the cultivated land quantity distribution. (2) An analysis of the driving factors of cultivated land change in Chongqing finds that 33.80% of the differences are from the functional block scale and 66.20% are from the district or county scale. (3) We found that the spatial scale has a certain impact on the effectiveness of the driving factors of cultivated land changes. Large-scale driving factors will change the correlation between small-scale driving factors and cultivated land change. In the future, the problem of scale effects should be considered in the field of cultivated land management, the effects of different driving forces at various scales should be considered and the scientific decomposition of cultivated land protection tasks according to the spatial scale should be carried out to improve the efficiency of the protection of cultivated land. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent events have shifted the way the Chinese state responds to organized crime and corruption. The re-definition of organized crime, improved judicial oversight and the re-assessment of 'strike-hard' style police campaigns are key reforms. This paper discusses the recent changes in law, practice and oversight in the context of a brief overview of criminal groups in China and the Chongqing policing model. Revisions to the criminal law are described and the likely outcomes are assessed in the context of the key struggle to contain corruption and organized crime. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research examines residential satisfaction in a large Public Rental Housing (PRH) program in the developing municipality of Chongqing, a city located in western China. Twenty-three critical factors were identified through intensive literature review and incorporated into a large-sample survey of eight residential estates of PRH in Chongqing. The survey data were analysed using factor analysis, one sample T-test, stepwise multiple regression analysis, and ANOVA. The results showed generally, the residents neither expressed satisfaction nor dissatisfaction with their current housing situation in the estates sampled. Five domains of residential satisfaction were identified ranging from dwelling features, dwelling facilities, public facilities, neighbourhood environment to housing policy. Factors in the domain of dwelling features, dwelling facilities and housing policies were found to make positive contribution to the residential satisfaction, while negative contributions were made by the factors in the domains of public facilities and neighbourhood environment. Three key determinants of overall residential satisfaction were identified using multiple regression, namely public facilities, neighbourhood environment and housing policies. In addition, the results revealed that age, education, family income, residence length and housing type have significant impact on residential satisfaction with PRH programs. Consequently, related policy interventions could be introduced to improve the residential satisfaction in public rental housing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study explores the role of a traditional tillage method, i.e., compensatory hoeing, for sustainable agro-ecosystem management in the hilly areas of the Chongqing municipality, south-western China. To validate the effects of compensatory tillage on the terraced slopes, the tillage method of noncompensatory hoeing was conducted on a linear slope. To acquire information about Cs inventories and soil texture, soil samples were collected by a core sampler with a 6.8-cm diameter at 5.0-m intervals along the toposequence and the linear slope in the dry season (March) of 2007. Meanwhile, a tillage erosion model was used for evaluating the spatial pattern of tillage erosion. The Cs data showed that on the terraced slope, soil was lost from the upper slope, and soil deposition occurred at the toe slope positions on each terrace. As a result, abrupt changes in the Cs inventories of soil were found over short distances between two sides of terrace boundaries. Results obtained from the tillage erosion model and the Cs data indicate that soil redistribution mainly results from tillage erosion in the terraced landscape. Consecutive non-compensatory tillage caused soil redistribution on the linear slope, resulting in thin soil profile disappearing at the top and soil accumulating at the bottom positions of the linear slope. This result further validates that compensatory tillage could avoid the complete erosion of the thin soil layer at the summit position. Therefore, this traditional tillage method, i.e., compensatory tillage, has maintained the soil quality at the summit of the slope in the past decades. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rural migration and its relationship to the rural environment have attracted increasing research interest in recent decades. Rural migration constitutes a key component of human population movement, while rural areas contain most of the world's natural resources such as land and forests. This study empirically evaluates a conceptual framework incorporating rural household livelihoods as an integrative mediating factor between rural migration and the rural environment in the context of rural-to-urban labor migration in Chongqing Municipality, Southwest China. The analysis draws on data collected through household surveys and key informant interviews from four villages. Results confirm the hypothesis that labor-migrant and non-labor-migrant households differ significantly in livelihood activities including agricultural production, agricultural technology use, income and consumption, and resource use and management. Implications for the subsequent environmental outcomes of rural labor out-migration and corresponding natural resource management and policy in rural origin areas are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A new fern species, Polystichum kungianum (sect. Mastigopteris, Dryopteridaceae), is described from Chongqing, China. The new species, occurring on limestone walls near a small karst cave, is the fourth species known so far in the section Mastigopteris. It is morphologically most similar to P. erosum, but its pinnae are deltate-lanceolate, and those below the middle of lamina are profoundly pinnatifid. It has an inconspicuous terminal bulbil at the apex of the rachis which never elongates, and its basal pair of pinnae is never reflexed. These differences are obviously distinct from P. erosum and make it clear that it could not merely be a variant population within that species, but must be a distinct species. Morphological and geographical features of the accepted species in sect. Mastigopteris are discussed, and a key to all four species is given. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]