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This paper provides an overview of the trade in artists' materials in Canton between 1750 and 1842. Through an investigation of China's foreign trade archives and records, this study gives a picture of international trade in artists' materials, particularly pigments, during this period in Canton. Furthermore, it reveals a close trade in Western modern pigments between the West and China. The results of this research may be helpful to conservators and conservation scientists conducting treatments or technical studies on Chinese export paintings of this period. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

How do African migrants become stuck-in-place and experience stuckedness in China? This article interrogates the concepts of stuckedness and social navigation to examine what it means to be 'stuck-in-place' using the stories of four Nigerians—a woman and three men—in Guangzhou City. Two modes of stuckedness were observed: 'truncational stuckedness' and 'identity stuckedness'. While the former resulted from being spatially stuck in Guangzhou on their way to South Korea and Hong Kong, the latter was a product of identity appropriation, where a migrant uses the passport of another country. Despite the constraint of stuckedness and the precarity that those without valid immigration papers faced, migrants managed to reinterpret their situations and stayed put while being opened to emplacement in Guangzhou—albeit a transitory kind. In calibrating their practice of 'moving on' in Guangzhou, however, economic integration, the local and transnational networks of migrants, hope, prolonging one's stay and management of micro-mobilities of the everyday were deployed singly or in combination with one another. The article advances debates in China-African relations and Afro-mobilities in East Asia while also contributing to discourses on migrant trajectories, stuckedness, and mobilities studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Due to China's ongoing economic rise, recent studies in global (economic) history have moved away from the traditional Eurocentric view to a Sinocentric one. There is extensive literature focused on the introduction of Chinese goods to Europe, as well as on China's economic development within the framework of the great divergence debate. However, less research has centred on the introduction of European goods to Chinese markets, specifically the markets in Guangdong or other coastal regions (such as Fujian, Zhejiang and Jiangsu), before the First Opium War. This paper aims to side-step the Sinocentric approach, eschewing the current wave of national history in China, by analysing the international trade in Qing China from the Kangxi era until the Qianlong period. It provides new empirical evidence from the First Historical Archives of China (FHAC) by examining the impact on global trade of China's imperial edicts and interventionist policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although essential to successful environmental governance, public participation has been sporadic and fragmented in China. Drawing on in-depth interviews conducted in the southern Chinese cities of Shenzhen and Guangzhou, this paper explores how environmental non-governmental organizations (ENGOs) have carried out 'civilian river chiefs' projects as novel approaches to water governance. We propose a framework of 'double embeddedness', within which ENGOs have built political and social legitimacy, reciprocity, and networks that enable their sustained participation in water governance. Our findings suggest that new patterns of state–community–non-governmental organization relationships are key to understanding public participation in China's future environmental governance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Motivated by the popularity of 'Run away from Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangzhou' saying in China this paper tests the determinants of subjective well-being (SWB) of long-term migrants and the extent to which migrants make optimal locational decisions in terms of SWB. China's cities are divided into 4 core first-tier cities, 15 new first-tier cities, and non-first-tier cities (94 in the sample) reflecting different levels of economic opportunity and amenities. Migrants can only be observed in their present location. Hence, we use a semi-parametric marginal treatment effect method to compare actual and counterfactual SWB outcomes. Results shows that migrants' SWB is greater in non-first-tier cities than first-tier cities; the determinants of SWB differ for male and female migrants; and, female migrants with urban hukou are typically better off in the four core first-tier cities as well as other first-tier cities. Overall, there is thus a marked gender differences in migrants' optimal locational choice. From a productivity and social cohesion perspective, these results make it imperative that public policy in China addresses the gender and spatial sorting imbalances that arises from differences in SWB determinants and optimal location as ever more educated young people join the labour force. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper considers how African student migrants negotiate life in China through gastronomic practices and cultures. African migration to Chinese cities such as Guangzhou and Wuhan is part of internationalization processes that are transforming cities. A thoroughfare in Guangzhou known as Xiaobei is associated with the visible urban presence of African migration because of the ethnic restaurants and shops there. Such typecasting, however, masks more complex food practices that illuminate the social stratification contained within the category popularly referred to as “African.” Food practices also direct attention to migrants’ social interactions with Chinese residents in cities. This paper first highlights the impact of African migration on urban space in China and the social anxieties arising on the part of the Chinese state and residents. Second, the paper argues that even though the African students consume Chinese food as part of their lifestyle routines in China or African food that remind them of home, they also seek out “Western” food as a symbol of cosmopolitan identity to counter racialization in China. Their accounts of food signal colonial and postcolonial negotiations toward the wider global geographies of power in which African countries and the student migrants are situated. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The dynamic population distributions by activity type (e.g. working, shopping or in-home) are vital for resource allocation, urban planning and epidemic containment. Although studies have incorporated individual-level human mobility data to map population distribution by activity type, access to such data is hindered due to privacy issues and they rely on auxiliary data to provide priori activity knowledge. This paper presents a method for generating the population dynamics by activity type. We first introduce more readily available sequential snapshot data to construct the population mixture model, then decompose the population mixture, and finally estimate the dynamic population size for each activity. We test the method in the central districts of Guangzhou city, China, based on real-time Tencent user density data. Correlation analysis and accuracy assessment prove that our method can accurately estimate hourly distributions for populations engaging in working, stay-at-home, and socializing activities. The temporal distribution of the working population reproduces the regular work scenarios and socializing population displays complex spatial patterns. We also find that there is an underlying relationship between a region's function and its dynamic population structure. The presented method has great potential for application and could provide new insight for studying urban dynamic functions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In post-reform China, gated commodity housing estates play a crucial role in the provision of urban services. Such collective service provision is criticized in the urban studies literature, because ‘club goods’ are thought to exclude people that do not live in gated communities. This paper reflects on the global relevance of that argument with an exploratory study in Guangzhou, China. We argue that access to collective services is structured in local social practices, involving diverse actors and specific rules and resources. Discussions on the exclusionary effects of service provision through gated communities should therefore focus on the characteristics of these practices of access in specific cities. Employing this perspective, the paper shows that in Guangzhou at least two mechanisms partly ease the exclusion of non-residents from club goods. On the one hand, municipal government maintains a considerable role in service management, mediating exclusion from services for people who do not live in commodity housing estates. On the other hand, generally the management of services is separated from housing estate management, and service providers try to increase profits through service provision to non-residents. We discuss the consequences of such mediations for an adjusted research agenda on service provision by gated communities. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

There has been increasing interest in whether low carbon cities developed under Chinese institutional arrangements can facilitate a transformative change. Unlike their western counterparts, Chinese low carbon cities are mainly developed through a top-down approach characterized by strong regulatory influences and centrally-led pilots. Inspired by insights from institutional theory, this paper assessed the progress that has been made in Chinese low carbon cities through understanding urban actors' willingness and capacity to pursue more radical changes. Based on semi-structured interviews and documentary analysis, it is found that due to the low recognition of the intrinsic value of carbon reduction, low carbon transition was largely represented as a practical discussion around national binding targets and local economic development. Following this, it is suggested that any attempt to speed up urban low carbon transition should consider strengthening incentive structures for cultural or paradigm change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In contemporary China, public spaces are often sites for group leisure activities. In the last ten years, the most notable group leisure activity is Guangchangwu (广场舞) which translates as dancing in the public squares. It has become a unique leisure practice mainly for older women's participation in urban China. Guangchangwu (GGW) is a new form of daily leisure activity which has been overlooked by leisure scholars. By means of studying this unique leisure activity, this paper explores the spatial practice of older women engaged in GGW in the city of Guangzhou. Results reveal that older women engage in GGW to cope with the scarcity of public spaces, the commercialization of leisure spaces, the alienation of urban life, and the pervasive sense of meaninglessness amidst urbanization. Moreover, China's grooving grannies acquire many benefits from their participation in GGW, such as health benefits, self-actualization, intergenerational communication, and happiness; not to mention that, as a result of GGW's inclusivity, there is an increase on the sense of community, carnival atmosphere, and acceptance of diverse performers. Therefore, this study contributes to both leisure research and public research from a cross-cultural perspective, and shows that older women use GGW to practice and reconstruct their identities by embedding themselves within public spaces. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines 'intimate geographies' of everyday social encounters between African migrants and Chinese residents in Guangzhou, China. Based on interviews in an urban area represented as an 'African enclave', we document some of the banal, everyday sensory and corporeal encounters relating to housing, mobility, food, gender and trade. We suggest that African migration does not easily constitute an economic and cultural 'bridge' facilitating comprehension and appreciation between ordinary Chinese and Africans. Rather, we find racialized 'Othering' of African migrants to be a prevalent feature of encounters. We also find that African migrants are not voiceless and passive but proactive in questioning these views and practices, and in seeking to expand and deepen economic and broader social ties. These findings point to the importance of sensory perceptions and corporeal practices shaping racialization in many spheres of life, but do not preclude some forms of cultural bridging and positive interactions, demonstrating the ambivalences of embodied encounters in a globalizing city. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Smart card data provides a new perspective for estimating a metro passenger's path choice model in a large-scale urban rail transit network with multiple alternative paths between origin-destination pairs. However, existing research does not consider correlations of path travel times among alternative paths when using smart card data for estimation purposes, leading to biased estimations. This paper proposes an approach to estimating the path choice model considering path travel time correlations. In particular, a simplified form of measuring path travel time correlations caused by shared links is proposed to improve estimation efficiency. Then a framework for a linking path choice model and smart card data is developed based on a Gaussian mixture model; an expectation maximization-based estimation algorithm is also provided. Finally, taking the Guangzhou Metro in China as an example, the superiority of estimations based on smart card data considering correlations is observed in both statistical terms and predictions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

China is enlisting information communication technologies (ICTs) and citizens to address gaps in environmental management. In this paper, we empirically evaluate ICT-facilitated, citizen-generated data collection through China's "Black and Smelly Waters Program." Utilizing the app's citizen reports and water quality data in Guangzhou, we assess whether the reports led to significant improvement in four common water quality indicators. We found water bodies that received citizen reports had poorer levels of water quality than those that did not receive complaints. Through a fixed effects regression model, we find that COD levels decreased by 36.3% and 38.9% five and six months after reports were made. We did not observe a significant effect on other water indicators considered. We conclude that China's preliminary experience suggests ICT-enabled citizen engagement, combined with strengthening governance through political avenues, may enable governments to overcome challenges related to implementing top-down policies and fostering civic participation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While recent research on temporary clusters and temporary markets has emphasized the knowledge generation processes associated with trade fairs, little is known about the knowledge exchanges that are embedded in market relations at these events. This paper uses the case of the Canton Fair in Guangzhou, the largest trade fair in China, to illustrate that such events do not operate as a single market, but that they generate multiple dynamic market configurations, which entail different flows of knowledge, goods and people. In a typical case study, four types of market configurations are identified that simultaneously develop at this event. The findings contribute to a more comprehensive understanding of the dynamics of market relations, knowledge and transactions in temporary spatial settings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Located in Guangzhou, Shamian Island was leased as a foreign concession to the British and French forces in the mid-nineteenth century. The island has been granted the highest heritage protection status. Through the lens of the Fragmented Authoritarianism framework, this paper examines the bureaucratic structure of the Chinese state, bargaining activities, and policy outcomes related to conserving Shamian Island. The following conclusions are drawn: first, coordinated conservation efforts have been hamstrung by the fragmented heritage management system that is tier-differentiated and jurisdiction-based; and second, the two most concerned agencies – the Planning Bureau and the Cultural Bureau – have not been able to agree on the appropriate approach to conserving heritage and historic buildings on the site. Deadlock has resulted, as no agency can really push for better, and more compatible, policies. Nor have sustained conservation practices for the site been viewed as politically significant enough to prompt higher-level government officials to step in and end the bureaucratic squabbling. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Guangzhou is the most popular gateway city for African migration to China. Unlike stereotypical international migrants, Africans in Guangzhou are predominantly self-made entrepreneurs, doing business face-to-face with Chinese entrepreneurs who are mostly internal migrants with truncated citizenship rights. African-Chinese encounters in local markets and residential neighbourhoods offer a rare opportunity for studying interracial dynamics beyond the classic black-white dichotomy and traditional paradigm of ethnic entrepreneurship. In this paper, we draw from in-depth interviews and field observations to examine how interacting social forces shape interracial relations and mobility pathways for migrant entrepreneurs in an emerging city of opportunities. Our analyses suggest that interactions between African and Chinese entrepreneurs are economically interdependent and socioculturally contentious processes, and that these processes shape a myriad of intersecting identities and create room for cooperation that transcends race, class, and migrant status. We discuss the theoretical implications of these findings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]