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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]

A questionnaire which provides desirable reliability and validity has been previously developed to assess the disease awareness of diagnosed chronic kidney disease (CKD) patients. However, conventional paper questionnaires often have disadvantages, including recall bias. To substantially improve this, we therefore aimed to explore the feasibility of developing a smartphone-based electronic version (e-version) based upon its original paper version and subsequently tested its validity, reliability, and applicability. A pilot study was conducted at Guangdong Provincial Hospital of Chinese Medicine in Guangzhou, China, during August 2019. The e-version had identical content to the paper version and was adapted in terms of layout and assisted functions via the Wechat-incorporated Wen-Juan-Xing platform. Eligible patients with diagnosed CKD were invited to participate and were assigned the e-version. Randomly selected respondents received a test-retest of the same e-version 2 weeks after their first completion. In some instances, psychometric properties, including validity and reliability of the e-version, were examined. In others, its clinical application was also tested, which included comparisons among the clinical profiles of patients who had/had not responded to the questionnaire as well as patients with above or below average questionnaire scores. Of the 225 patients screened, 217 were enrolled to participate, with a response rate of 52.5%. Desirable reliability (Cronbachα = 0.962, ICC for total scores = 0.948), while good convergent validity (Cronbachα = 0.962) and low discriminant validity (one extracted component), of the e-version were detected. Performing inter-group comparisons highlighted statistical differences in terms of higher education level (z = −2.436, P = 0.015) and earlier CKD stages (z = −1.978, P = 0.048), with these patients often preferring to respond. No significant differences were detected in the clinical profiles between respondents who obtained an above or below average questionnaire score. The e-version is reliable but was not shown to be a valid approach. Audiences with higher education levels and less advanced disease condition may prefer to respond to the e-version. Adaptation of this e-questionnaire, from its original paper version, may not be a direct transition and meticulous modifications may be required during the transition process. Chinese Clinical Trial Registry (ChiCTR1900024633). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Canton (present-day Guangzhou) has long flourished as a port city. As the city expanded in the nineteenth century, the risks of conflagrations increased; streets became more crowded, buildings were more often made of wood, and there was more use of open fires. The reconstruction of Canton after conflagrations provides an excellent way to observe the resilience of urban space, understood here as the result of interactions among different stakeholders. This paper explores how authorities, local communities, foreigners, and Hong merchants addressed fires and rebuilt through laws, regulations, technologies and cooperation, and how responses to fire destruction shaped urban space. Divers stakeholders affected the reconstruction of buildings and streets. The government made laws to widen streets, communities built watchtowers, and foreigners made new plans for Thirteen Factories, a neigbhorhood along the Pearl River. At the same time, conflicts between communities and foreigners obstructed plans for urban transformation and maintained the stability of urban structures. The communities kept the traditional local community organizations the 'Kaifong' (local organization in street) who opposed the widening streets and fought against proposed fire zones around Thirteen Factories, thus pitching local interests against those of the foreigners in a complex social, political, and cultural context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the influence of major events on urban development and change across two city contexts (i.e. Guangzhou and Birmingham). Considering cities as new international actors, a theoretical modal was proposed, and qualitative evidence was gathered to examine the cities' decision to bid for the hosting of the 2010 Asian Games and the 2022 Commonwealth Games respectively, the urban development–related pressures faced, and the ways in which urban development occurred as a result of event production. In response to intercity competition and globalisation, both cities fought for development opportunities and actively sought international and national attention through major events. However, urban governance becomes complicated, in terms of managing city–market–society relations; as such, particularly for Guangzhou, it led the city government to adopt an entrepreneurial approach to urban governance. This study suggests future research interrogating whether major events provide a sustainable means to achieve urban development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hydro-meteorological monitoring systems are essential sources of information for designing sustainable water management and developing equitable policies. In this paper we discuss the role of a regional monitoring network in Switzerland, Canton Ticino, and identify a list of challenges and actions to be considered to address future expected issues. The identification is based on a retrospective review of the monitoring network and analysis of the state of the art. Based on our experience, the most critical aspects relate to data density and quality, improvement of archiving and dissemination, modernization of the network for increased quality of service and better interoperability to foster the transition towards an innovative and interdisciplinary water resources management. [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]

The presence of Africans in China has been phenomenal since the late 1990s. In recent years, there has been a dramatic uptick in people from Africa coming to the major cities of China such as Guangzhou, Hong Kong, Macau, Yiwu, Shanghai, and Beijing. They are in the process of building linguistic, cultural, and economic bridges between their source communities and their host communities. In this process, communication problems are inevitable, since Africans and Chinese do not share a common lingua franca in most cases. However, these communities have succeeded in devising some interactive strategies that turn out to be quite effective, especially in market situations, one of them being calculator communication (CM). This paper looks at these strategies in the context of contact linguistics and the emergence of some hybrid language that has elements of African languages, Chinese, and English. [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]

In 1982, the Chinese government approved the status of 'National Famous Historical and Cultural City of Guangzhou'. This recognition acknowledged the value of the historical urban fabric and traditional streets of Guangzhou. This paper considers the morphological and physical characteristics of Xiguan area inside Guangzhou and analyses its urban fabric, traditional building typology, and daily social activities. The case study examines the Enning Road Historical Conservation Area and the Micro-renovation project of the Yongqing Fang Community. The value of heritage and urban characteristics became the source of the revival of local identity and cultural traditions. [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]

Motivated by the fast-emerging literature on African immigrants in new destinations, this paper examines the role of religion in the African immigrants' perceived attitudes of Chinese people toward them. Building on the triple-market model, we identify different ways Islam and Christianity influence African immigrants' perceived attitudes in Guangzhou, the most popular gateway city for African immigrants to China. Using both survey and in-depth interview data, we find that Muslim Africans tend to perceive better attitudes of local Chinese toward them than their Christian counterparts. African-dominated congregations, where Christian Africans are used to participating, are negatively associated with African immigrants' perceived attitudes. We argue that the mechanism underlying the relationships reflects how religion influences immigrants' social experiences in China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

PEM-based electrolyte dehumidification is suitable for small-space and high-precision occasions, but the influencing level of various operating conditions is still unclear. This paper investigated the four factors (air temperature, humidity, flowrate, and applied voltage) that affect the dehumidifier's performance (moisture removal rate and current density). Through orthogonal experiments, it was found that process air temperature was the most significant parameter affecting performance, followed by air humidity and applied voltage. The moisture removal rate and current density rose almost linearly as the air temperature increased. Through parameter analysis, the best working conditions of the dehumidifier were found as: applied voltage = 3 V, air flowrate = 2.7 × 10−2 g/s, air temperature = 35°C and air humidity = 90%. Then, by fitting empirical formulas of the PEM conductivity and water content difference on both sides of the membrane, an operation simulation of dehumidification process was established by MATLAB Simulink. Compared with experiments, the deviations (~10%) were acceptable. This simulation used a 100 L box and a 3.5 × 3.5 cm2 membrane dehumidifier as a case study, and the optimized parameters derived from the experiment were used. Under typical air conditions in Guangzhou, to reduce the inside humidity to 60%, the dehumidification time for the cabinet was the shortest in autumn, about 5.6 hours. Besides, dehumidification energy consumption was the highest in summer, at 39.4 kJ. And energy consumption was the lowest in winter under the same dehumidification time. This research contributes to the operation optimization of electrolyte dehumidifiers. [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]

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]

Pneumonia is the leading cause of death worldwide for children under 5 years of age. For pneumonia diagnosis, chest X-rays are examined by trained radiologists. However, this process is tedious and time-consuming. Biomedical image diagnosis techniques show great potential in medical image examination. A model for the identification of pneumonia, trained on chest X-ray images, has been proposed in this paper. The compound scaled ResNet50, which is the upscaled version of ResNet50, has been used in this paper. ResNet50 is a multilayer layer convolution neural network having residual blocks. As it was very difficult to obtain a sufficiently large dataset for detection tasks, data augmentation techniques were used to increase the training dataset. Transfer learning is also used while training the models. The proposed model could help in detecting the disease and can assist the radiologists in their clinical decision-making process. The model was evaluated and statistically validated to overfitting and generalization errors. Different scores, such as testing accuracy, F1, recall, precision and AUC score, were computed to check the efficacy of the proposed model. The proposed model attained a test accuracy of 98.14% and an AUC score of 99.71 on the test data from the Guangzhou Women and Children's Medical Center pneumonia dataset. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since 2008, the Chinese state has been developing new public housing programs, which are widely used to distribute public housing among talent workers. This paper examines public housing allocation to talent workers, especially to talent migrants. It argues that local governments have established a unique housing allocation approach best described as a state-employer model and that this model demonstrates a state-market hybridity in urban governance. The hybridity largely results from the "Chinese characteristics", the party-state's use of socialist institutions and management of the market based on these institutions. Although local governments have significantly improved migrant housing conditions, this hybrid model of housing allocation has inevitably resulted in both inequity and inefficiency in urban housing provision. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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]

On the basis of gravity and potential models combined with GIS spatial analysis method, this paper analyses the change characteristics of the urban innovation spatial correlation effect in China and its driving factors. The main conclusions are as follows: first, the density of urban innovation spatial correlation in China has increased from 1990 to 2014. Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Chengdu are the most important node cities in China's urban innovation spatial correlation network. Second, in 1990, seven innovation correlation zones formed around Beijing, Shanghai, Shenyang, Guangzhou, Chengdu, Wuhan, and Xi'an. Among them, Beijing has the largest innovation correlation radiation intensity. In 2014, the innovation correlation intensities of Guangzhou and Shanghai have exceeded that of Beijing. Relying on good scientific research resources and military infrastructure, the innovation correlation intensities of Chengdu, Xi'an and Wuhan is also increase gradually under the guidance of innovation-driven and military-civilian integration strategies. The innovation correlation intensity of Shenyang shows a certain degree of decline because of the rigid mechanism and other reasons. Third, the geographical adjacency and similarity in marketization degree, economic development level, and human capital significantly positively affect the urban innovation spatial correlation and spillover effect. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Social & Cultural Geography is the property of Routledge 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.)

The interplay between key stakeholders in urban development is one of the key concerns in contemporary international theory on urbanism and planning. This paper seeks to contribute to this concern, addressing the interplay between three key stakeholders (the state, the market and society) in the bottom-up planning processes of Tangxia Village, a typical 'village in the city' in Guangzhou, China. The mosaic spatial structure of Tangxia Village has been produced and overlapped by different planning processes, each created by various key stakeholders. The socio-spatial structure of the traditional rural settlement formed the basic layer of Tangxia Village, while newly added layers have resulted largely from the intertwining of regulated city development and unregulated self-development. Recently, a bottom-up process has generated a wide range of attention, as it has functioned very well in reshaping the space in Tangxia Village. This paper concludes that the integration of bottom-up processes and micro-strategies would strengthen the performance and efficiency of redevelopment strategies for Tangxia Village. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Information about several papers discussed at the Ninth Biennial Pan Ocean Remote Sensing Conference (PORSEC) in Guangzhou, China in December 2008 is presented. Topics include fisheries and biological activity, atmospheric and oceanic circulations and synthetic aperture radar (SAR) applications. The conference also examined the potential use of level set algorithm in SAR ocean operations.

This paper presents the results of acase study on the causes and effects of typical service disruptions in aHigh-speed rail (HSR) system in China–Wuhan–Guangzhou High-speed railway (WH-GZ HSR). With acause-specific approach, seven delay causalities leading to primary delays (PDs) are identified, and the properties and consequences of each primary delay (PD) factor is derived. The comparison of candidate distributional forms shows that the Log-normal distribution model can approximate better the length of all identified PDs. For each PD cause, the distribution of delay duration is estimated and tuned. Next, cause-specific distributional models for PDs severity are discussed. The models for the number of affected trains are presented in the form of inverse regression models with specific domains. Then, comparing five different kinds of candidate models, the results show that the Cubic is the best to approximate the distributions of total-affected time. [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]

Copyright of Social & Cultural Geography is the property of Routledge 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.)

Identifying the spatial distribution of travel activities can help public transportation managers optimize the allocation of resources. In this paper, transit networks are constructed based on traffic flow data rather than network topologies. The PageRank algorithm and community detection method are combined to identify the spatial distribution of public transportation trips. The structural centrality and PageRank values are compared to identify hub stations; the community detection method is applied to reveal the community structures. A case study in Guangzhou, China is presented. It is found that the bus network has a community structure, significant weekday commuting and small-world characteristics. The metro network is tightly connected, highly loaded, and has no obvious community structure. Hub stations show distinct differences in terms of volume and weekend/weekday usage. The results imply that the proposed method can be used to identify the spatial distribution of urban public transportation and provide a new study perspective. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

International communication and global cooperation have greatly accelerated the worldwide spread of dengue fever, increasing the impact of imported cases on dengue outbreaks in non-naturally endemic areas. Existing studies mostly focus on describing the quantitative relationship between imported cases and local transmission but ignore the space-time diffusion mode of imported cases under the influence of individual mobility. In this paper, we propose a comprehensive framework at a fine scale to establish the disease transmission network and a mathematical model, which constructs 'source-sink' links between the imported and indigenous cases on a regular grid with a spatial resolution of 1 km to explore the diffusion pattern and spatiotemporal heterogeneity of imported cases. An application to Guangzhou, China, reveals the main flow and transmission path of imported cases under the influence of human movement and identifies the spatiotemporal distribution of transmission speed according to the time lag of each source-sink link. In addition, we demonstrate that using individual-based movement data and socio-economic factors to study human mobility and imported cases can help to understand the driving forces of dengue spread. Our research provides a comprehensive framework for the analysis of early dengue transmission patterns with benefits to similar urban applications. [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]

There is now a substantial literature on various aspects of contemporary Chinese urbanization. There are, however, few recent studies of Chinese cities which examine social change and social interaction at the level of the urban neighbourhood. This paper seeks to fill some of this gap in current knowledge. It draws on a social survey of three contrasting neighbourhoods undertaken in Guangzhou in the Pearl River Delta, one of the most economically dynamic and rapidly urbanizing areas in the world. The paper explores inter alia the meaning of neighbourhood, sense of local belonging and community, and patterns and incidence of mutual assistance. The paper reflects on the extent to which market reforms are transforming patterns of local social interaction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reports on a translation impact study project in the Chinese city of Guangzhou. The project involved firstly presenting two renditions (presumably a foreignised one and a domesticated one) of one and the same English source text to a group of subjects and inviting them to respond to 10 preconceived statements about each rendition. Their responses were then statistically processed in order to answer these two research questions: (1) are the responses to the two renditions significantly different? and (2) if so, are there any significant correlations between responses to statements about the same rendition? The first half of this paper deals with the research design of the study, while the second half discusses its findings. With this study, we hope to contribute to an enhanced understanding of the impact of foreignised and domesticated translations - in this case on Chinese readers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

'Guangdong is the province one step ahead in China and Guangzhou is the city one step ahead in Guangdong.' Being one of the most economically active cities in China, Guangzhou citizens have generally experienced improved living standards and a better quality of life since the economic reform started in the late 1970s. What is also true is that economic modernization has changed the social structure, allowing far more social mobility in the post-Mao society. Nowadays, people living in Guangzhou have more job choices in a relatively free labour market. This paper is set in such a socio-economic context to examine the job preferences and work ethics of Guangzhou citizens, with particular reference to what changes have taken place in people's work values after the adoption of a market economy in the mainland. The paper is based on our current research projects conducted in the Guangzhou area to examine how socio-economic changes have affected people's value orientations and is confined to discussion of whether people living in Guangzhou have changed their attitudes towards work in the 1990s. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Enning Road redevelopment project has been controversial in Guangzhou as the site possesses many vernacular buildings that are not officially recognised by the authorities as significant but are nevertheless highly regarded by non-state stakeholders as important entities that embody the unique essence and culture of local neighbourhoods. This paper examines the positive role led by the press media,the New Express, in bringing about changes in the government-sanctioned Enning Road redevelopment project plan through the lens of the Advocacy Coalition Framework (ACF). The significance of this paper lies in detailing how the news group has helped shift the project priority from being property-led to conservation-led. Its reports have gained a wide audience in appreciating and recognising the conservation value of non-designated vernacular architecture in inner city areas. Nonetheless, this paper raises question about the sustainability of civil mobilisation in subsequent conservation efforts, due to a general lack of enthusiasm. Neither urban redevelopment strategies nor conservation agenda have been subject to a major overhaul due to the impact of this individual redevelopment project. Therefore, the promise of change is at best a tactical compromise adopted by the municipal authorities to nullify opposing public voices in Guangzhou. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Understanding residents’ perception and reaction to vehicle restriction policies is significant for transportation management. However, few studies have examined it from a behavioral and disaggregated perspective, particularly from people’s responses to uncertainties in choices, and their consequent behaviors under potential risks. This paper proposes a multi-level nested logit method to model sequential choice behaviors considering uncertainties under a vehicle license restriction policy. Prospect theory is applied, where a novel reference point is proposed based on instances of ‘whether a risk happens’ rather than a hard number which is difficult to obtain in reality. A case study in Guangzhou, China is presented, where a vehicle restriction policy has been applied for three years. Residents’ attitudes and preferences under uncertainties and different risks are revealed, and these factors are significant in predicting people’s future decisions while policy changes. [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]

Increasing attention has been paid to the analysis of street greenery using the Green View Index (GVI). Current methods of vegetation extraction are not suitable for processing large amounts of data. This study introduces Visible Difference Vegetation Index (VDVI) to process Baidu Map panoramic static images which is relatively convenient for GVI calculation. The method is used to analyse the spatial distribution of street greenery in Guangzhou city in China. The results show that: (1) The spatial distribution of GVI values in Guangzhou show obvious agglomeration. (2) The average level and evenness of street greenery distribution is analysed. Tianhe and Yuexiu districts had high levels of evenly distributed street greenery; Liwan, Haizhu, Huangpu, and Panyu districts had good levels of street greenery but uneven distributions; Baiyun and Nansha had low levels of street greenery. (3)There is a significant correlation between road grade, house price, building age, land use and GVI values, which reveals the driving factors of GVI value distribution in Guangzhou. The GVI calculation method in this method is relatively convenient and accurate. GVI can be a new evaluation tool for street greenery in urban planning, additionally used as an index for urban environmental research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates how the plural needs of different groups are handled by redevelopment planning. Investigating the redevelopment of villages-in-the-city in Guangzhou, this paper examines how the differing interests of indigenous villagers are being considered and resolved through a local initiative – ‘one village one policy’. Case studies from three villages are drawn upon to examine how local conditions and concerns are being tackled in each village's respective redevelopment plan. Different degree of government intervention in the planning of the three villages suggests that local distinctiveness is defined by the authorities in accordance with their agenda. Further, the exclusion of migrant workers suggests their needs and interests are totally overlooked in the redevelopment process. The attempt to cope with the needs of different social groups, therefore, has remained insufficient. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

China has experienced and is experiencing expeditious urban expansion in the recent decades, especially in the coastal areas and big cities. Rapid urban expansion and dramatic changes of landscape have caused great economic, environmental and social impacts consequently. It is crucial to understand urban temporal, spatial expansion patterns and their related effects. In this paper, urban expansion of Guangzhou, a rapid growing city in south-east China, from 1979 to 2003 is studied temporally and spatially. Four time ranges including 1979-1990, 1990-1995, 1995-2000 and 2000-2003 are designed and the urban expansion area, expansion rate and the spatial expansion pattern are discussed by using remote sensing data and Geographical Information System (GIS) tool. Two transects are designed along two axes of Guangzhou expansion and the structural of urban expansion patches at different orientations are compared in order to quantitively understand the urban expansion of Guangzhou during the past 24 years. The gradient analysis integrating multi-temporal data is performed in order to analyze and compare the spatial and temporal dynamics of urban expansion. Two indices of compactness and fractal dimensional index are used to describe the urban developing pattern in the study time durations. And the influence of different types of traffic roads to urban expansion is evaluated using the buffer analysis of GIS. The results show that: (1) temporally, urban area of Guangzhou increase 296.54 km2 from 141.15 km2 in 1979 to 437.70 km2 in 2003 and the increasing rate is up to 210.08%; (2) spatially, Guangzhou has different urban expanding directions in different stages and the general expanding directions are towards northeast, north, southeast and north in four studied time ranges; (3) transportation lines play a very important role in urban expansion of Guangzhou, but different types of road have different impacts. National roads and highways exhibit stronger control to urban expansion than provincial roads; and (4) expansion of Guangzhou has gradually changed from a compact pattern to leapfrogging and disordering patterns. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, China's major trading cities have witnessed rapid social, cultural and physical change which has accompanied the country's boom in manufacturing and exports. A small but increasingly significant element of this growth has been the China-Africa trade in small-scale manufactured goods. The opening of China's economy has created new spaces for migrant entrepreneurs capturing a share of international value chains, transforming social and business relations, and reconfiguring urban space. This paper draws on a pilot study by the authors of African migrants in Guangzhou in 2007, active in the exports to the African sub-continent. Findings challenge established models of global city growth, identifying the collective importance of individual entrepreneurs in promoting a trade which has significant impacts on African cities, while creating new interactions with identifiable, distinctive and unanticipated impacts on this dynamic host city. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper proposes a framework of three dimensions for implementing sustainable concepts in residential landscapes in the urban context. This includes ecological planning and design, which seeks to build upon the ecological characteristics of the site, and socio-economic dimensions which concern the relationship between man and the landscape while conserving natural capital. The framework is used to evaluate the landscape quality of Riverside Garden, a modern housing estate in Guangzhou, China. The results reveal that Riverside Garden has achieved certain goals in line with the sustainable residential landscape framework within particular conditions and constraints. Through a preliminary case analysis of work in progress, this paper discusses the issues which arise from this case study in relation to future housing development. [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]

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This paper examines the history of published Cantonese from the Ming dynasty through to the 1980s. Early 'Cantonese literature' was Cantonese only in the sense that it contained occasional Cantonese dialect words. However, over the years, Cantonese literature not only came to include more Cantonese dialect, but also to become more regional in its subject matter and the assumptions Cantonese writers held about the background knowledge of their audience. In recent years, much Cantonese writing has become an in-group literature in both its language and subject matter, and the author suggests that it is this in-group focus that is an important distinguishing mark of a true dialect literature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Megaregion has emerged as a global urban form, typically based on the polycentric strategy to enhance regional development. How to measure megaregional spatial structure and discriminate different roles of cities has become increasingly important to enrich the knowledge of the formation of a megaregion. Meanwhile, various indices have been used to identify vital nodes in the field of complex network. Which indices, however, are suitable for megaregion analysis remain unsolved. To address this requirement, this study first reviewed the typical indices for identifying vital nodes in the complex network theory, and pointed out that in a weighted city network scenario, weighted degree centrality, hub & authority score, and S-core decomposition (which represent network centrality, connectivity, and structures, respectively) are suitable for analyzing megaregional spatial structures. Then, we explored the city hierarchies and spatial structure in Guangdong Province, China, using the three indices. The hierarchical structure of the weighted city network in Guangdong Province had been identified using S-core decomposition. From the perspective of polycentric structure, Guangzhou and Shenzhen have the strongest node degrees and strength of mobility flows, while the Guangzhou-Dongguan-Shenzhen corridor has been identified via the hub & authority score which is designed to evaluate the connectivity in a weighted network. Moreover, we conducted a comparison analysis of three indices. The findings of this study not only enrich the understanding of city hierarchies and the structure of a megaregion, but also highlight that although various indices are available, they should be applied selectively in accordance with the study context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on fieldwork in Guangzhou, this paper documents the activities of a group of African women traders, highlighting their role in constituting globalisation from below or a counterhegemonic globalisation that emanates from China. It further builds on previous studies on women and development to show how neoliberal economic changes in Africa since the 1980s have forced African men into the traditionally feminine role of (informal) traders between Africa and China. Struggles for economic power between African women and men traders and representations of gender in such struggles as well as the construction of a hyper-masculine discourse in the Guangzhou context are analysed in discussing how women and men are engaged in a continual process of ‘making gender make sense’ outside of Africa. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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]

The article offers information on the 18th conference of the International Association for World Englishes that was held on December 6 to 7, 2012 in Hong Kong, China and from December 8 to 9, 2012 at Sun Yat-sen University in Guangzhou, China. The conference highlighted the growth of English language in China and also discussed the influence of English on China's economic growth. The speakers also highlighted the historical aspect of the growth of English as a language in the region.

The Beijing Olympics were a global media event that marked China's arrival on international political and economic stages. The Chinese authorities made great efforts, and with much success, to present to the world the face of a strong, competent, efficient, welcoming and unified China. Political dissent was suppressed, although not eliminated, Beijing residents and taxi drivers were issued with guidelines of acceptable behaviour and dress, and broadcasters throughout the country celebrated the country's outstanding sporting achievements in the Games. However, although centripetal forces of national unification behind the spirit of the Games were undeniably strong, there were nonetheless countless centrifugal forces arising through media practices that disturbed this sense of imagined national unity. With new media in particular, audience fragmentation has become an established feature of China's media landscape. This paper draws on fieldwork conducted before and during the Beijing Olympics to demonstrate the tension between these two opposing sets of forces. Through discussion of various media examples it suggests that both the notion of a China unified behind the forceful media representations of the Games and the notion of straightforward audience fragmentation need careful rethinking to take account of the complex interrelations between pressures encouraging national identification on the one hand and those of social, technological and mediated division and diversification on the other hand. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyzes the role of the prevalent formal and informal institutions in Guangzhou in alleviating deteriorating water quality in the Pearl River. In addition to the dominating role of the local government, it examines the influences of other relevant factors such as the role of environmental non-governmental organizations, the media, and the impact of social and cultural norms. It concludes that the current institutional framework is not sufficiently competent to handle water pollution problems and that a multi-dimensional and cross-sectoral approach is necessary for water pollution control in the Pearl River in Guangzhou. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper investigates the representation of micro-narratives in contemporary Chinese art by examining the multi-layered narratives in Cao Fei's Pearl River Delta Anti-heroes performed at the opening of the 2nd Guangzhou Triennial in 2005. I consider Cao's work as a hyper-realistic portrayal of the micro-narratives of the Pearl River Delta region in a mediated form highly influenced by the media, entertainment industry and popular culture of the region and Hong Kong. Theatricality, kitsch and the distinctive local essence of South China are revealed in the form of a TV soap opera and the use of colloquial Cantonese throughout the performance, along with occasional Putonghua or Mandarin. Language as a signifier of cultural politics has been deployed as an indispensable tool to empower the region within the broader body politic of the People's Republic of China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Under the slogan of 'weiquan' (defending our rights), homeowners in urban China are increasingly prepared to stand up for their rights of ownership, often through non-confrontational actions organized by homeowners' associations (yeweihui). There is also a growing concern for the need to create collective platforms on which homeowners' associations can support one another, muster their collective resources against powerful developers and lobby for status as legitimate organizations. The activists involved in this work are well aware of its political sensitivity in a regime that is antagonistic towards autonomous organizations, which are seen as posing a threat to its hegemony. Based on a case study in Guangzhou, this paper traces the tactics that housing activists have employed to create horizontal cooperation among homeowners' associations to defend their rights and devise 'boundary-spanning' strategies that exploit divisions within the state apparatus. The Guangzhou union of homeowners' associations can be regarded as an experiment in organizational infrastructure which has far-reaching implications. This study sheds light on the complexities as well as the institutional fluidity of state-society interactions in contemporary urban China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]