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China and India are two major contributors to the growth of global energy demand. As energy is one central part of the geopolitics, the energy security for both countries get complicated by the political environment. The paper investigates the positions of China and India in the trading relationships with different regions of the world. The paper also examines recent events that affect the energy security of China and India. The conclusion is that during the past decade, China and India have diversified sources of energy, especially from the Middle East, though China demonstrates a higher level of diversification and occupies a less passive position in its trading relationships. Shale revolution, the US energy sanctions on Iran and Venezuela and the US-Chinese trade conflicts, can bring China, India and Russia closer to each other due to the shrinking market influence of Russia in Europe and the needs of India and China to further diversify import sources so that energy supplies will not be disrupted by political chaos. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In many countries, national governments deploy city-regionalism not simply as a domestic policy tool but also as a geopolitical device enabling the internationalization of state territory and economy. Focusing upon the evolution of Yangtze River Delta (YRD) region in China, this paper offers new insights into the close associations between Chinese city-regionalism and the geopolitical orchestration of national development. Rather than conceived as an inevitable outcome of contemporary globalization processes, the development of YRD region is instead examined against the changing geopolitical dynamics and national objectives of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) from 1949 to the present day. In the early phase of CCP rule, the development of regional urban centres, such as Shanghai in YRD region, was an instrument of national territorial integration and class unity. Following economic reforms in the 1980s, the formal designation of YRD as a city-region reflected the Chinese state's aspiration for accelerated economic growth and the internationalization of the domestic economy. Now confronted with widening regional inequalities, the Chinese state has greatly expanded YRD region to incorporate peripheral cities and provinces for the sake of regionally coordinated development. Even as YRD transforms into a global city-region, Shanghai seemingly separates itself functionally and discursively from the rest of the region. In departing from contemporary post-Westphalian or hyper-globalist perspectives on the rise of global city-regions in a stateless world, the paper provides a new interpretation of Chinese city-regionalism as a case of countervailing geopolitical processes at work within and beyond national state borders. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• The correlation between the economic development and the HSR construction is analyzed. • Uses a GWR model to examine the implications of HSR to the economic developments of Chinese cities. • The Cities obtaining HSR benefits are identified. Based on the situation of high-speed railway (HSR) construction in the past decade in China, as well as China's latest national railway network planning proposal, this paper studies the correlation between the economic development and the opportunity of obtaining HSR infrastructure investment for Chinese cities in different periods over time span 2007–2030. The "winners" and "losers" of obtaining HSR infrastructure investments are determined and the reason is explained by a geographically weighted regression (GWR) model. According to the findings, the spatiotemporal development strategy of China's HSR is revealed. Further, the implications of the HSR for the economic development of Chinese cities are presented. It hopes that the results presented in this paper could facilitate Chinese cities with the appropriate urban developing policies for both the economy promotion and HSR infrastructure construction; moreover, the rapid development of China's economy and HSR can bring a good example to other countries in the world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Evaluate the comprehensive carrying capacity of water resources of 31 provinces in China. • Divides the comprehensive carrying capacity of water resources into three aspects. • Combine the classification method of system theory with pressure-state-response model. • Discuss the direct and indirect effects of different variables on the carrying capacity of water resources. There has been a series of water resource problems, such as imbalances of the water supply and demand and serious water pollution, in China. It is important for the Chinese government to formulate a sustainable development strategy for water resources and to effectively guarantee the national water resource security. This paper divides the comprehensive carrying capacity of water resources into the following three aspects: the water resource balance capacity, the water resource pressure and driving force, and the water resource development and utilization capacity. Taking 31 provinces, municipalities and autonomous regions of China as research objects, the catastrophe progression method is adopted to evaluate the comprehensive carrying capacity of interprovincial water resources in China from 2010 to 2016. The direct effects and spatial spillover effects of different factors on water resources are discussed by constructing a spatial Durbin model (SDM). The results show that there are obvious spatial differences in the water resource balance ability, pressure and driving force, and development and utilization ability. The spatial distribution follows a decreasing trend from east to west and from south to north. The water supply, water demand, investment in environmental management, economic development and balance of the ecosystem have obvious direct effects on the carrying capacity of water resources. The spatial spillover effect of the water supply and demand, energy consumption, the proportion of protected areas and the newly increased areas of soil erosion control are significant and will have a strong impact on the water resource carrying capacity of surrounding areas. The conclusion of this paper can provide a reference for the government in making water resource management policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Poverty remains one of the long-term chronic dilemmas facing the sustainable development of human society during the 21st century. The spatiotemporal dynamics of poor regions, particularly in developing countries, is crucial for realizing fundamental sustainable development goals (SDGs). For decades, many scholars have sought to accurately measure, identify and alleviate poverty at different geographical scales. However, reliable data about the estimation of poverty remain scarce for developing countries, hindering efforts to accurately identify poverty. This paper utilizes the Defense Meteorological Satellite Program Operational Linescan System (DMSP/OLS) sensor nighttime light imagery to identify poor counties in China from 1992 to 2013. Using 16 statistical and spatial features extracted from this nighttime light imagery and using 96 poor counties and 96 nonpoor counties from 2010 as the classification sample, we describe the spatiotemporal dynamics of poor counties based on a random forests approach. Our study finds that the number of poor counties is decreasing in a fluctuating pattern and that contiguous poverty-stricken areas are becoming fragmented. The reduction in poor counties exhibits a manner of moving horizontally from the eastern regions to the central and western parts of China, while the number of poor counties in the central and western regions has decreased around the central cities or areas. The Aihui-Tengchong Line is not the dividing line in the distribution of poor counties in China, which means that China's poor can also be found in areas with relatively high population density. Together, the findings reveal that the key to reducing regional poverty is the development of regional economies and the implementation of national macro policies. This paper provides references for formulating antipoverty strategies for each county and offers new insights into poverty estimation and regional sustainable development for other developing countries. Image 1 • A new research framework is proposed to identify poverty. • Imagery and random forests are used to classify poor counties. • Spatiotemporal dynamics of poor counties are monitored in China. • Poverty dynamics generate implication for poverty policy and sustainable development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Examines how urban conservation unevenly incorporates peri-urban village land and housing. • Details how uneven incorporation shapes social differentiation. • Shows how uneven incorporation shapes experiences of rural-urban transitions. • Develops a volumetric conceptual framework including multiple dimensions of space and time. • Reorients approaches to agrarian and urban questions through attention to their interconnections. A central feature of China's "green" development plan has been the creation of conservation zones across the peri-urban fringes of major cities. In these conservation zones, rural land and housing are being unevenly incorporated into urban space, leading to a diverse set of experiences for dislocated villagers. In this paper, I develop a volumetric approach to analyze the spatial politics of agricultural and urban transitions in China's conservation zones. I advance theories of vertical and volumetric space, which consider relations across heights, depths, and surfaces, through attention to the temporalities and everyday experiences of volumes. My volumetric approach provides a foundation for delineating how the uneven valuation and compensation of rural land and housing shapes social differentiation, as well as how villagers navigate and experience rural-urban transitions. Furthermore, I argue that a volumetric account of three-dimensional space exposes the interconnections between agrarian and urban questions, which are usually considered discretely. The central contribution of this paper, therefore, is to reorient the agrarian and urban questions in relation to one another across horizontal, vertical, and temporal axes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The metal industry (MI) in China is energy and emissions intensive. This paper tries to provide guidance for the green development transformation of China's MI, by investigating the green total-factor productivity (GTFP) and its influencing factors using a global data envelopment analysis and a spatial Tobit regression model. The estimation results show that: (1) from 2000 to 2015, GTFP of China's MI enjoyed a considerable improvement. However, the current value of GTFP of China's MI is still less than 0.5, indicating that GTFP of China's MI is far from efficient; (2) the spatial correlation test shows that GTFPs of China's provincial MIs have positive spatial correlations. Most of the provinces scattered in "high-high" and "low-low" agglomerations; (3) GTFP of China's MI is significantly positive related to the degree of marketization, fiscal decentralization, environmental regulation, industrial scale, is significantly negative related to resources endowment and product structure, and has "U" shaped relationship with the level of economic development. The above results suggest that China already has made remarkable achievements in promoting green development of its MI. However, there is much room for further improvement. Policy options for the green development transformation of China's MI include but are not limited to promoting market-oriented and financial system reforms, strengthening environmental supervision, and optimizing industrial scale and product structure. Finally, recommendations for the effective implementation of these policies are provided at the end of the study. • This paper analyzed the historical performance and influencing factors of GTFP of China's MI. • Results show that GTFP of China's MI achieved considerable improvement in the past few years. • However, the current level of GTFP of China's MI is still very low. • There are many effective policy options for further promoting GTFP growth of China's MI. • Some implications for the implementation of these policies are provided in this paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates a grassroots Chinese movement called the New Rural Reconstruction Movement (NRRM). Drawing on field visits, surveys, interviews and social media posts regarding a NRRM project and relevant literature I link the NRRM to the degrowth movement. This is likely the first research analysing a Chinese grass-roots movement from a degrowth theoretical perspective. This link is designed to bring greater awareness of the NRRM to western environmentalists and greater awareness of degrowth to Chinese scholars, in the expectation that the two movements will find it beneficial to engage in collaborative research. This paper demonstrates similar progressive environmental based arguments are being debated in places with different geographical and socio-political contexts. It suggests there is the possibility that the NRRM and degrowth could work together to help achieve shared goals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Gully land consolidation (GLC) could contribute to the optimization of land use structure and landscape pattern. • GLC could also help to guarantee the ecological security of watershed. • Limited development capacity and collective action could restrict local community's social-economic response to GLC. • Land consolidation should be seen and evaluated in a broader rural development context. • The theory of human-environment system provides new perspective for analyzing the effects of land consolidation. Exploring the impact of land consolidation on the evolution of rural human-environment system (HES) is of positive significance for optimizing land consolidation model and innovating rural development policy. Taken a typical small watershed in Yan'an city as case study area, this paper explored the impact of gully land consolidation (GLC) on local HES from the perspectives of land use, landscape pattern, ecological security, social-economic response and comprehensive evaluation, based on high-resolution remote sensing image data, landscape pattern analysis and household surveys. The results showed that: (1) GLC could contribute to the improvement of land use structure. The terraces, sloping fields, shrub land and grassland at the bottom and both sides of the gully were mostly converted to high quality check dam land. Some of the shrub land were converted to more ecologically suitable native forest due to biological measures. (2) GLC could also help to optimize the landscape pattern. The average patch area and patch cohesion index of the check dam land increased, which indicated that the function of production improved. The landscape shape index and patch cohesion index of forestland and shrub land kept at a high level, and thus their ecological function was stable. At the watershed level, the fragmentation degree of landscape decreased, the landscape tended to be more diversified and balanced, and the anti-jamming capability of landscape and stability of ecosystem improved. (3) GLC have positive effects on the ecological security. Vegetation cover, ecological environment and capacity of flood control improved significantly, and soil erosion decreased by 55%. And (4) human activities responded to the changes of geographical environment. The scale of agricultural production, agricultural mechanization, diversity and non-agriculturalization of employment increased. However, the structure of agriculture is still unitary, the efficiency of agriculture is still low, and rural development is still relatively lagging. Field investigations showed that insufficient public participation, and lack of leadership and overall planning for sustainable utilization of resources and environment are the main reasons. A ladder model has been proposed for better understanding the impacts of land consolidation on territorial human-environment system in rural China. This paper suggests that land consolidation should be seen and evaluated in a broader rural development context, and more efforts should be made to innovate the rural governance mechanism of "common consultation and collective action", thereby exerting the comprehensive effectiveness of land consolidation and promoting the transformation development and revitalization of territorial rural HES. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Currently, wind and solar energy have not been well utilized in China, and the rate of abandoned wind and solar facilities in China is increasing annually. Renewable portfolio standards (RPS) are an effective system for promoting large-scale renewable energy integration and consumption and realizing the goal of renewable energy development. To clarify the interactive relationship between the different levels and multiple actors in RPS, this paper uses policy network theory to analyze the interactive relationship of stakeholders from the three aspects of network subject, network structure and network interaction. The policy network of the RPS consists of the policy community, professional network, intergovernmental network, producer network and issue network. Under the RPS, to meet their own needs, participants affect the formulation and implementation of the RPS through the actions of confrontation, alliance, competition and cooperation. In different stages of developing the RPS, the openness and integration of policy networks change accordingly. This study overcomes the limitations of past simple analyses of the actor relationship in the policy process and thereby offers certain reference significance. Highlights • The actors of RPS policy networks are analyzed. • This paper analyze the game relationship of the stakeholders from three aspects. • This research reveals the network relationship between multiple stakeholders. • This study breaks through the limitations of past analysis of actor relationship. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract To satisfy the huge energy demand of China, a rapid development rate of hydropower system was undertaken over the past decades. Currently, thousands of hydropower reservoirs with a total installed capacity of more than 330 GW have provided approximately 20% of China's gross electricity generation, ranked number 1 in the world. Besides, it is foreseeable that in the coming decades, the same development speed of hydropower will be maintained in order to effectively handle the increasing environment and energy problem. The dimensionality problem caused by booming system scale, unprecedented development speed and operational complexity are posing a giant challenge to the operation of large-scale hydropower system in China. Thus, after giving an overview of China's large-scale hydropower system, this paper deeply analyses the key operation characteristics leading to the dimensionality problem and highlights the possible dimensionality reduction strategies to sharply alleviate the optimization difficulty, providing necessary technical support to achieve the goal of energy conservation and emission reduction of China. To sum up, this paper could be a good and inspiring example, contributing to the sustainable development of worldwide countries with a high proportion of hydropower integration. Highlights • An unprecedented large-scale hydropower system is forming in China. • The main operation characteristics of large-scale hydropower system are given. • The dimensionality problem is a great challenge to China's hydropower operation. • Several dimensionality reduction strategies are used to reduce modeling difficulty. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, the Chinese government has committed additional resources in promoting research and development (R&D). At the same time, China has started implementing a more targeted foreign direct investment (FDI) policy. Using firm level panel data from China's iron ore mining industry, this paper aims to evaluate the performance differences between the firms that undertake R&D and those who do not. We also examine the role of FDI, which has not been the subject of an in-depth investigation. In addition, we use a relatively recently developed coarsened exact matching technique. We find that domestic firms in China's iron ore mining industry that conduct R&D are on average 0.3937% more productive and their sales are 0.0253% higher. While this industry attracts less than 1% of the total FDI in China, FDI has a positive and sizable impact on both productivity and profitability of domestic firms in China's iron ore mining industry. The results presented in this paper suggest that investment in China's iron ore mining industry offers attractive returns to foreign investors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract This paper builds an environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) multiple logistic regression model to analyze how socio-economic development impacts mainland China's coastal waters environment. China's coastal provinces have significantly different seawater quality at different stages of the seawater's EKC. Jiangsu and Hebei are still at the early stage of the seawater's EKC because of the large quantity of pollution-intensive industry, whereas the coastal provinces at the late stage of the seawater's EKC have presented obviously improved seawater quality based on adjustments in the industrial structure since 2001. Urbanization has a severe impact on the seawater quality of Shanghai and Zhejiang at the middle stage of the seawater's EKC. Furthermore, this paper proposes an overall strategy and several "tailored" strategies to address coastal waters environment improvement for current poorly targeted policies at different stages of the seawater's EKC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract The recent recurrence of wind curtailment in China underscores the rigidity and vulnerability of China's electricity regulatory regime. Using the theory of "fragmented authoritarianism", this paper identifies key institutional barriers causing wind curtailment in China and develops a framework for analyzing China's electricity regulatory regime. Specifically, the fragmented institutional authorities and responsibilities lead to departmentalism and coordination problems, both vertically and horizontally. The resulting mismatches in the investment, generation, and distribution of the electric power sector reflect direct causes for China's wind curtailment. This paper recommends that an electric power system reform with established regional spot markets is needed to fix China's wind curtailment problem. Highlights • Complex reasons lie behind serious wind curtailment in China. • Wind curtailment has its roots in the electricity regulation regime of China. • Fragmented authority causes coordination problems in the power sector. • Mismatches permeates the investment, generation and distribution of power. • A regional power spot market is needed to fix the wind curtailment problem. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights • This paper explores the effects of four dimensions of social exclusion on self-rated health and depression among older people in China. • Lower level of exclusion from social relationships was associated with less likely to report fair or poor SRH. • Lower level of subjective feelings of exclusion was associated with less likely to report fair or poor SRH. • Lower level of subjective feeling of exclusion was associated with less likely to report depression. • Lower level of exclusion from financial products was associated with less likely to report depression. Abstract Background It is well established that social exclusion is a key social determinant of health; however, such association between social exclusion and health outcomes among older people remain a relatively under-researched area. This paper explores the effects of four dimensions of social exclusion on self-rated health and depression among older people in China. Methods This paper includes 8038 individuals aged 60 and over from the first wave national multi-stage probability sample (2014) from the China Longitudinal Aging Social Survey (CLASS). Descriptive univariate information for individual variables and four dimensions of social exclusion are presented. Multinomial and binary logistic regression models are used to examine the associations between social exclusion and self-rated health and depression. Results Older people who were in the lower level of exclusion from social relationships or subjective feelings of exclusion were significantly less likely to report fair or poor self-rated health than people in the higher level of exclusion (lower level of exclusion from social activities was significantly associated with being less likely to report poor SRH only). Older people who were in the lower level of subjective feeling of exclusion or exclusion from financial products were significantly less likely to report depression. Conclusions Different dimensions of social exclusion have different effects on self-rated health and depression. Social policies need to reflect this and efforts of services could usefully be oriented to prevent multi-dimensions of social exclusion. Ultimately, such policies should have the potential to enhance the health of older people in China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Given the ongoing "mobility turn" in social science research, a more comprehensive understanding of segregation is needed. Activity-space-based segregation studies have aroused renewed interests in geography and urban planning research. Most of the existing studies utilized the differences in spatial characteristics of people's actual activity space to identify the segregation among social groups. However, few studies have examined activity-space-based segregation in terms of individuals' potential activity space and the temporal variations in their segregation experiences. This paper aims to help fill these two research gaps by implementing an empirical study in Beijing. We examine the activity-space-based segregation of the residents of different types of housing in a Beijing suburb in terms of both actual activity space and potential activity space. We further investigate the temporal variations of the residents' segregation experiences during a week. A 7-day individual GPS tracking dataset, combined with the activity diary data and the socioeconomic attributes data of 422 participants is used for the study. The major finding is that residents of different types of housing in Beijing do experience activity-space-based segregation, while the characteristics of segregation vary with respect to actual activity space and potential activity space. Also, participants' segregation experiences varies between different days of the week. This paper offers some empirical evidence on enriching the understanding of activity-space-based segregation research as well as improving the understanding about social segregation among the residents of different types of housing in Chinese cities. It also generates some nuanced knowledge for future policy recommendations in a broad context. Highlights • Residents of different housing types in Beijing do experience activity-space-based segregation, while the characters of segregation varies in AAS and PAS. • The residents of affordable housing have both the smallest AAS and PAS on weekdays, which makes them the most isolated group. • With respect to the residents of market housing and institutional housing, they have relatively large AAS on weekdays while having relatively moderate PAS. • As for the residents of resettlement housing, their PAS are relatively large, although their AAS are small. • Significant differences in the extensity of both the AAS and PAS of the residents in different housing types can only be identified on weekdays. In weekends, differences in the extensity of the activity spaces are not significant. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights • This paper investigates the relationship between tourism seasonality, online user rating and hotel prices. • A hedonic price model with OLS and quantile regressions was conducted using the online dataset of hotels in Sanya, China. • Hotel prices are highly related to the seasonality of tourism, and high-priced hotels are less sensitive to that seasonality. • The online user rating shows heterogeneous impacts on both location and time dimensions in hotel pricing. Abstract The paper aims to investigate the relationship between tourism seasonality, online user ratings and the determinants of hotel prices based on the hedonic price model using the online dataset of hotels in Sanya, China. The empirical results of ordinary least squares (OLS) and quantile regressions both show that hotel prices are highly related to tourism seasonality. Compared to the low season, hotel prices increase by 23.1% in the high season and by 159.9% during Chinese New Year. Online user ratings demonstrate heterogeneous impacts on both location and time dimensions in hotel pricing. The quantile regressions further indicate that hotels with higher prices are less sensitive to seasonality and that the online user rating plays a more important role for mid- and low-priced hotels by mitigating the negative seasonal effects on hotel prices. Our findings provide new evidence supporting the current literature and offer useful implications for hospitality management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract China has a long history of mariculture and is host to abundant marine bioresources. The annual output of China's mariculture industry has ranked first worldwide. However, the unsustainable development of mariculture in China has caused many problems in terms of marine environmental protection, utilization of marine resources and coordinated development of marine industries. This paper starts by describing the current situation of China's mariculture and the potential for promoting mariculture and then proposes that sustainable development of mariculture requires all relevant stakeholders' engagement involving government, aquaculture farmers, mariculture enterprises and related associations. This paper reviews the main challenges in stakeholder engagement in mariculture, including the pressure of industrial transformation, backward technology, risks of extending the industrial chain, and the lack of discursive power. Recommendations are proposed for a division of roles among the stakeholders in mariculture management for promoting the sustainable development of mariculture in China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Wastewater discharge is a burden on environmentally sustainable development, especially in the water-deficient area. Existing Studies on wastewater discharge is not comprehensive for lacking analysis of mutual flow and necessary components. In this study, a wastewater metabolism input-output model is developed to achieve sustainable development through a novel perspective to depict the industrial wastewater flow among sectors. Since chemical oxygen demand and ammonia nitrogen are indicators for studying the degree of wastewater pollution, this paper also considers their wastewater to make the research synthetic and systematic. A case study of Guangdong Province, China, is conducted to further illustrate the potential benefits of the model in investigation of the sectors interactions. The results show that the wastewater discharge of Guangdong Province is considerable, with industrial wastewater, chemical oxygen demand wastewater and ammonia-nitrogen wastewater being 7.53 billion tons, 852 thousand tons and 69 thousand tons respectively. Some typical sectors have been distinguished based on ecological network analysis and input-output analysis for mitigating wastewater discharge, such as electronic equipment manufacture, chemical materials and paper manufacture, and tertiary industry. The implementation of the "Replace Subsidies with Rewards" policy is conducive to the discharge reduction of the system. Graphical abstract Image 1 Highlights • Establishing a wastewater metabolism input-output model for Guangdong, China. • Industrial wastewater discharge is large and exploitation relationship is dominant. • Comparing the discharge status of cod wastewater and ammonia nitrogen wastewater. • Proposing some policies and regulations for main sectors to optimize the model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Most existing studies on environmental regulations and the location dynamics of pollution-intensive industries regard new environmental procedures as an incremental development process, and neglect the influence of sudden changes in environmental regulations triggered by a pollution crisis. Using the drinking water crisis in the Taihu Lake Watershed (TLW) in 2007 as an example, this paper examines the spatial behavior of pollution-intensive firms across the TLW, and pays special attention to the regional differences in the effectiveness of enforcing environmental regulations. We find that the pollution haven hypothesis works efficiently in the short term after an unexpected pollution crisis because of the immediate strengthening of environmental regulations by local governments under pressure from the central government and the public. However, the effect of strict environmental policies was compromised by differences in the effectiveness of policy enforcement across the watershed. Specifically, when other regions (for example, Huzhou) were compared with Wuxi (the site of the crisis in the present study), these regions were found to be relatively insensitive to the effects of the pollution incidents and the environmental regulations that were triggered. Highlights • This paper examines spatial behaviors of pollution-intensive firms across the Taihu Lake watershed in response to the water crisis. • The paper pays special attention to the regional difference in enforcement effectiveness of environmental regulations. • Pollution haven hypothesis works efficiently in the short run. • The effect of stringent environmental policies was compromised by differences in policy enforcement effectiveness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Whilst a plethora of literature has viewed technological progress as one of the critical influencing factors in relation to energy consumption and CO 2 emissions, little effort has been made to identify the sectoral differences in the relationship between technological progress and CO 2 emissions. Thereby, this paper remedies the inadequacies in the extant literature by empirically investigating the impact of technological progress on CO 2 emissions, specifically taking into account its heterogeneous effect in various economic sectors. This paper first decomposes the effect of technological progress as taking place in heavy industry, in light industry, in construction industry, and in service industry. A panel quantile regression approach and a balanced city panel data model are then applied, covering the period 2001–2013 in China. The empirical results show that technological progress in heavy industry and light industry surprisingly facilitates a higher level of CO 2 emissions, despite its prominent contribution to energy efficiency improvement. Meanwhile, as distinct from the effect it shows in the heavy and light industries, technological progress in construction and service industries exerts a negative effect on CO 2 emissions. Additionally, this paper further discovers that the strength of the multiple impacts of technological progress also varies with the level of emitters. By studying the heterogeneous effect brought about by technological progress in different economic sectors and emitters, this paper provides a comprehensive understanding of the relationship between CO 2 emissions and technological progress. Highlights • The study considers the sectoral and scale heterogeneity of technological progress in relation to CO 2 emissions. • We apply a panel quantile regression approach to balanced city-level panel data. • Technological progress within different economic sectors exerts different effects on CO 2 emissions. • The role of technological progress in moderating energy intensity varies across emitters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Graphical abstract Highlights • Thirty-four diffuse fraction and eleven diffuse coefficient models were reviewed and compared. • Nine new diffuse fraction and eight new diffuse coefficient models were developed and validated. • Diffuse fraction and diffuse coefficient general models for climates were established. Abstract In this paper, nine new diffuse fraction and eight new diffuse coefficient models were developed by introducing precipitation as one of the model parameters. Concurrently, thirty-four existing diffuse fraction and eleven existing diffuse coefficient models were reviewed. The existing and proposed models were compared to assess their applicability in different climate zones in China. According to the best models and climate zones, general models were established. Overall, introducing precipitation could effectively improving the underestimation problems of daily diffuse solar radiation; for diffuse fraction models, precipitation had stronger correlation with diffuse radiation than relative humidity in humid areas and weaker correlation in arid areas. For diffuse coefficient models, the models incorporating precipitation could obtain better accuracy than temperature and relative humidity in all climate zones under similar meteorological parameters. Therefore, precipitation should be preferentially adopted, followed by temperature and relative humidity. The general models developed in this paper performed well in estimating the daily diffuse solar radiation. The average coefficient of determination, root mean square error and mean absolute bias error of diffuse fraction general models were 0.82, 1.44 MJm−2 d−1 and 1.04 MJm−2 d−1, respectively; while the corresponding values of diffuse coefficient general models were 0.69, 1.98 MJm−2 d−1 and 1.54 MJm−2 d−1, respectively. The general models could represent the daily diffuse solar radiation estimation of stations without diffuse solar radiation records. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract The joint force of social media and marketization has transformed university communication in terms of style, discourse structure, and communicative purpose. To understand its new features in comparison with print media, this paper analyzes a corpus of universities' recruitment posts on WeChat in China. Using the method of genre analysis, the study identifies 8 moves which serve 5 different communicative functions. Each move is analyzed in terms of its salient semantic features and linguistic/visual strategies of realization. Analysis shows that WeChat recruitment posts are characterized by (1) an interdiscursive mix of a wider range of communicative functions, particularly the coexistence of policy discourse and promotional discourse, (2) sophisticated hierarchies of talents wanted and highlighted remuneration information, (3) the use of personalized language and multimodal resources such as photographs and tables to engage readers' interest and to build solidarity. The new features are then discussed critically in relation to the ongoing 'recruitment hype' in China and the affordances of WeChat. Highlights • The paper analyzes new features of universities' recruitment posts on social media. • They are an interdiscursive mix of policy discourse and promotional discourse. • With sophisticated hierarchies of talents and highlighted remuneration information. • Personalized language, visual images and tables are prevalent in most posts. • It provides new understanding of the recruitment hype and the affordances of WeChat. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Conflict is inevitable in public-private partnership (PPP) due to the long-term agreement and multiplicity of stakeholders with varying beliefs and interests. However, a thorough understanding of the root causes of conflict beforehand helps to minimize conflict occurrence, thereby ensuring a smooth PPP process. This paper aims to explore and evaluate the root causes of conflicts in PPPs through a comparative study between Ghana and China. Further, the most suitable conflict resolution mechanisms are explored from the Ghanaian and Chinese perspectives. Results show that causes of conflict ranked higher in Ghana directly relate to poor governance and contract arrangement, whereas causes related to poor risk management and communication are ranked higher in China. Further, arbitration and negotiation are the most suitable conflict resolution mechanisms for PPPs in Ghana and China respectively. The outputs of this study inform international private investors interested in PPPs in Africa and China of the possible sources of disputes and resolution mechanisms in PPPs. This will enable international investors to develop strategic measures before entering into the PPP markets of both regions. Highlights • Conflict is inevitable in public-private partnership arrangements • This paper explores the root causes of conflicts and conflict resolution mechanisms in PPPs • Causes of conflicts related to poor governance and contractual arrangements emerged as critical in Ghana, whereas causes related poor risk management and communication emerged as critical in China • Arbitration and Negotiations are the most suitable resolution mechanisms for conflicts in PPPs in Ghana and China respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract This paper aims to explore the influencing factors that facilitate sustainable energy transitions in China. For this purpose, this paper assumes that the impact of the energy transition is from three main factors, energy technology innovations, the energy market, and socio-technical regimes, which can be subdivided into 11 subfactors. To empirically test the proposed hypotheses, questionnaire survey data collected from Chinese energy enterprises are statistically analysed by structural equation models (SEMs). The results show that, first, energy technology innovations, the energy market, and socio-technical regimes are the major forces in the transition to sustainable energy in China. Second, the effects of the three main factors on the energy transition vary according to 11 different subfactors. Some subfactors, i.e., innovation strategy, innovation factors, innovation policy, innovation network, and new energy competitiveness, have very important positive effects on the energy transition. Some subfactors, i.e., competitiveness of the coal industry, customer habits and coal-based infrastructure, have negative effects on the transition to sustainable energy in China. Third, the influence of the subfactors on the transition performance is diminished as a result of the joint intermediate effects of transition behaviours. Highlights • The aim is to explore the influencing factors of China's sustainable energy transition. • Data was collected from Chinese energy enterprises through a questionnaire survey. • Results reveal energy technology innovation is the most important dynamic for transition. • Effects on energy transition vary according to 11 different subfactors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: A number of empirical methods have been developed to study China's sectoral carbon emissions (CSCE). Measuring these emissions is important for climate change mitigation. While several articles have reviewed specific methods, few attempts conduct a systematic analysis of all the major research methods. In total 807 papers were published on CSCE research between 1997 and 2017. The primary source of literature for this analysis was taken from the Web of Science database. Based on a bibliometric analysis using knowledge mapping with the software CiteSpace, the review identified five common families of methods: 1) environmentally-extended input-output analysis (EE-IOA), 2) index decomposition analysis (IDA), 3) econometrics, 4) carbon emission control efficiency evaluation and 5) simulation. The research revealed the main trends in each family of methods and has visualized this research into ten research clusters. In addition, the paper provides a direct comparison of all methods. The research results can help scholars quickly identify and compare different methods for addressing specific research questions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract With the development of agricultural industrialization, the environmental issues of intensive animal farming are attracting increasing attention. Using survey data from 313 Chinese households living near large-scale broiler farms of an international food company, this paper employs a contingent valuation method and discrete choice experiment to quantify the willingness to accept an air pollution compensation scheme. The findings are as following: (1) 42% of respondents have a nonmonetary preference for compensation; thus, the conventional contingent valuation method is unsuitable for application to them. (2) The results of a sample selection model show that in addition to income, trust and subjective factors dominate decision-making based on willingness to accept; however, the effect of actual distance is weak. (3) The combination of nonmonetary options is feasible and beneficial for both the company and local residents in the long term. This paper distinguishes between the WTA with regard to monetary and nonmonetary ecological compensation measure (ECM). And it develops a methodological approach that allows the development of WTA-based monetary and non-monetary to establish compensation guidelines for international food companies. Our study focuses on a case study of a major foreign company, providing an example to other similar multi-national businesses for sustainable development strategy in developing countries. Graphical abstract Image 10882 Highlights • Some respondents have a nonmonetary preference for compensation. • Income and subjective factors are the key factors in the decision-making process. • The combination of nonmonetary compensation options is feasible. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract The change in urban construction land (UCL) and rural residential land (RRL) and their coupling relationship are the main manifestation of urban-rural construction land transition (URCLT) and the mapping of urban-rural factor flow. It is of great significance to systematically understand and master its laws for expanding the theory of land use transition (LUT) and adjusting the man-land relationship between urban and rural area. This paper constructs a theoretical model of URCLT, analyses the spatial and temporal characteristics of urban and rural construction land (UARCL) scale, elasticity and structure transition in Shandong Province from 1996 to 2015, reveals the transition process and coupling mechanism of UCL and RRL by using the method of geographic detector. The research shows that the UCL and RRL in Shandong Province have evolved along a coordinated track of increase and decrease as a whole, but with certain periodic fluctuations, resulting in insufficient elasticity and structural transition of URCLT. The rationalization degree of UCL growth was reduced, the low synchronization and non-synchronization of RRL reduction predominates, while the dominant type of urban-rural human-land relationship changed from urban-rural (UR) increase or decrease coordinated to both urban (U) and rural (R) increase uncoordinated. The URCLT had obvious spatial differences. The UARCL in the "blue-yellow" economic zone and the provincial capital urban agglomeration was active, but was dominated by uncoordinated transition, and the non-synchronization reduction of RRL was dominant. The factors influencing the transition of URCL were complex, diverse and unstable, and the transition mechanism was the interaction process of self-regulation of population, industry and land elements within the urban and rural system and intervention of external natural environment, science and technology and institutional policies. Highlights • The paper constructs a theoretical model of URCLT. • The paper reveals the transition process and coupling mechanism of URCLT. • The factors influencing the URCLT were complex, diverse and unstable. • URCLT was driven by the interaction of natural background, economic development, social progress and policy innovation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the recent surging economic and social development in China, midwifery has undergone transformation. A narrative review of literature relating to midwifery in mainland China was undertaken to examine the characteristics of midwifery's potential development within relevant historical, economic and sociopolitical contexts. The aim was to assist future planning and the setting of strategic directions in policy in China. Online bibliographic databases from 2000 to 2015 were searched including MEDLINE, WanFang Data and Chinese National Knowledge Infrastructure. A process of narrative synthesis was used to analyse the selected papers and major issues were identified. Twenty-one papers were included in the review. Two overarching issues were identified in relation to midwifery in mainland China: the history and status of midwifery education; and the practice and regulation of the midwifery profession. In recent decades, midwifery education, regulation and practice have occurred within systems that view midwifery as a specialisation of nursing. This means that there continues to be little opportunity for midwives to practise according to the international definition and scope of practice of the midwife. Midwifery in China must continue to develop in parallel with international trends. Investment in midwifery education alone will not suffice; it will have to operate within strong government policy regarding regulation, effective human resources management, visibility of the role of the midwife and development of the service delivery environment in which future midwives will work in China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Interregional carbon compensation is an important part of ecological compensation. An accurate accounting of the interregional carbon compensation cost is the foundation for establishing a carbon compensation mechanism. Corresponding to the actual carbon deficit, this paper advances, for the first time, the concept of the theoretical carbon deficit and, improves the calculation method of the interregional carbon compensation cost based on the theoretical carbon deficit. Additionally, this paper, forecasts the carbon compensation cost among 30 provinces in China from 2017 to 2026 by using the Stochastic Impacts by Regression on Population, Affluence, and Technology (STIRPAT) model and the gray prediction model GM (1, 1). Finally, this paper calculates the priority indexes of the carbon compensation among provinces. The results indicate that, first, from 2017 to 2026, the carbon emissions and carbon absorption in 30 provinces in China are generally on the rise, and the increase rate of carbon absorption is less than the increase rate of carbon emissions. Second, from 2017 to 2026, China's carbon compensation cost payment provinces and carbon compensation cost recipient provinces do not change position, and the flow of the carbon compensation cost is stable. The carbon compensation cost payment provinces are mainly located in the central and eastern regions, and the carbon compensation cost recipient provinces are mainly located in the northwestern region. Third, the priority indexes of carbon compensation in China's provinces are all small and declining, and the carbon compensation among regions has little impact on regional economic development. The research results in this paper can provide a reasonable reference for the cost calculation of interregional carbon compensation and the establishment and improvement of an interregional carbon compensation mechanism. Graphical abstract Unlabelled Image Highlights • Interregional carbon compensation can effectively promote emission reduction. • Carbon emissions and carbon absorption are affected by population and land area. • The calculation of carbon compensation is based on footprint method. • Economically developed regions are payers of carbon compensation cost. • Interregional carbon compensation has less impact on China's economy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract This paper describes an osmundalean stem from the Lopingian (upper Permian) Xuanwei Formation in eastern Yunnan Province, southwestern China. The stem of T. resinus sp. nov. is very small, only ca. 1 cm in diameter, and is characterised by the bi-zoned pith, pith cells typically vertically elongated, ectophloic siphonostele, primary xylem mesarch and 6–8 tracheid thick, a mass of sclerenchymatous cells in the adaxial concavity of the leaf trace and an arch-shaped secretory cell band surrounding the adaxial side of the leaf trace. The stem is compared with the member of Osmundales and is assigned into the genus Tiania of the extinct family Guaireaceae, where it represents the smallest member of the Guiariaceae. Distinctions from Tiania yunnanense include no sclerenchymatous and secretory cells in the primary xylem and the secretory cells in the cortex distributing around the adaxial side of the leaf trace and lead to the establishment of Tiania resinus sp. nov. T. resinus together with the three other species from three genera osmundalean trunk/stem have now been reported from the Upper Permian of eastern Yunnan and western Guizhou, southwestern China. Discovery of the new species enriches the diversity of osmundalean plants from the Cathaysian Flora and offers evidence that the area of eastern Yunnan and western Guizhou may be an centre for the distribution and the early evolution of extinct osmundalean family Guaireaceae. Highlights • This paper describes a new species of osmumdalean stem from Upper Permian of China. • The new species enrich the diversity of osmundalean plant of Cathaysian Flora. • The southwestern China is the center of distribution and early evolution of Guaireaceae. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Despite the fact that China is becoming increasingly urbanised, some Chinese cities have witnessed a loss of urban population. In recent years, with the extensive expansion of the Chinese High-Speed Railway (HSR) network, the reduction in travel time has greatly increased the mobility of people across cities, thus affecting the spatial redistribution of the urban population in China. An important question arises: for cities experiencing population loss, when they were connected to the HSR network, did the HSR further aggravate this urban shrinkage? Using cities experiencing population loss as a sample, the paper provides a quantitative assessment of population loss in HSR-served cities. A Difference-in-Difference (DID) method was adopted to investigate whether the HSR aggravated population loss in shrinking cities. On the whole, empirical results show that the phenomenon of urban shrinkage in China was further aggravated by the HSR. Furthermore, the results unveil the dynamic impact of the HSR on shrinking cities, and multi-stage DID results reveal that the impact of the HSR on urban population may have a certain time lag effect. The HSR has significantly contributed to the population loss of shrinking cities four to five years after it first started operating. The paper highlights that the HSR does not always yield growth opportunities; on the contrary, for cities suffering from population decline, the HSR may bring a serious challenge. Highlights • The phenomenon of urban shrinkage in China was further aggravated by the HSR. • The multi-stage DID results reveal that the impact of HSR on urban population may have a certain time lag effect. • The paper highlights that HSR does not always yield growth opportunities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Resident satisfaction with governmental environmental protection is of great significance to environmental governance by the Chinese government. However, the impact of internet use on resident satisfaction with governmental environmental protection is complex, and the relevant empirical evidence is far from sufficient. Based on data from the Chinese Social Survey for 2013 and using OLS and ordered probit regressions, this study finds a significant negative relationship between internet use and resident satisfaction with governmental environmental protection. Further study suggests that an increase in different online content frequencies could reduce resident satisfaction with governmental environmental protection. Nevertheless, residents who are conservative or skeptical about internet information are more satisfied with the government's environmental protection. The conclusions of this study are consistent with the "negativity bias" theory, indicating that netizens focus greater attention on negative news related to environmental protection. Finally, this paper performs two analyses to ensure the robustness of the research results. First, considering the possible "self-selection" problem, this paper conducts a robustness test using the method of propensity score matching (PSM) and finds that the results are still consistent. Second, the sample is subdivided to analyse the regional differences in the impacts of internet use on resident satisfaction with governmental environmental protection. The results show that internet use has a significant negative influence on resident satisfaction with governmental environmental protection in eastern China, central China but has no significant effect in western China. In addition, the impact of internet use on urban resident satisfaction with governmental environmental protection is significantly greater than that of rural resident. Highlights • The effect of internet use on resident satisfaction with the governmental environmental protection is studied for China. • Internet use has significant negative impact on resident satisfaction with governmental environmental protection in China. • Residents who are skeptical about internet information are more satisfied with the governmental environmental protection. • Conclusions are consistent with "negativity bias theory", indicating that netizens pay more attention to negative news. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Public participation in urban planning has become a legal requirement in China since the 2008 Urban and Rural Planning Law prescribed to collect the opinions of the public in preparing plans. The way in which this participation is organized is left to local governments and current practices are still in a stage of experimentation. Drawing on Western experience various participatory tools have been explored, including in some instances Web-based planning support systems (PSS). The current literature has identified several potentials and shortcomings in the performance of PSS that define their usefulness. However, these have been identified in the context of democratic societies and communicative planning paradigms. To what extent do these potentials and shortcomings also pertain to the emerging practice in China? This paper aims to widen the understanding of the usefulness of Web-based PSS when these are applied in a Chinese context. To do so, the paper first presents a conceptual framework that divides usefulness into utility and usability, and thereafter, it analyzes the "East Lake greenway planning project" in Wuhan. The results show that the Wuhan PSS provides new functionalities in eliciting ideas from independent citizens in the early stage of the planning process. In terms of usability, the system meets many of the criteria, but requires a high level of computer experience and domain knowledge restricting its use to "professional citizens". From the point of view of western planners this would seriously limit the usefulness as a participatory tool, but it is legitimate in China. Given the low level of computer literacy, limited access to the internet and a lacking tradition of public involvement in state affairs, it is nevertheless clear that there is a need to improve Web-based PSS and combine them with other participatory methods, both online and offline, to facilitate the participation of a diverse group of target users. Highlights • Web-based Participatory Planning Support Systems have potential to be applied in the Chinese context but the usefulness differs from Europe • Technologies can readily be transported to China, but will be used to different ends • Chinese planners use participatory tools foremost to make better plans, not necessarily to engage citizens in the decision making • With nearly 50% of the population not having access to the internet and low levels of computer illiteracy, the usefulness is restricted to a very selective group of users • This lack of representativeness is further exacerbated by weak 'learnability' of the system [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights • Examines how gentrification could serve as an analytic lens for rural changes in China. • Expands the analysis of 'marginalized' groups from the household level to the individual level. • Calls for a lived-experience approach to capture the dynamics and complexities of the gentrification process. • Adds evidence to the diversification and abstraction of displacement. Abstract After decades of scholarship, gentrification as a concept has gone global, spreading to diverse geographic and socio-cultural contexts. Drawing upon discussion and debate about this concept, this paper seeks to explain how local villagers in Dali, in southwest China, have been engaged in bringing about 'gentrification.' I refer to gentrification in quotation marks because the process analyzed in this paper is not the same as the one typically written about in most of the gentrification literature, in the sense that some villagers are not displaced victims but 'assistant gentrifiers' actively pushing forward 'gentrification' in the countryside. This paper argues that, though the gentrification framework enables researchers to investigate the cause, outcome, and everyday character of a similar process in a non-western context, it has to be applied with caution, without overlooking contextual specificities and other processes that are mingled with gentrification. Besides noting the spatiality and temporality of the rural gentrification process, this paper expands the discussion of displacement by recognizing its variegated nature within a household and making it explicit that displacement is more than eviction from original housing and includes sociocultural impacts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper takes China Ocean Shipping Company (COSCO)'s investment in the Piraeus Port as a case study to explore the development of the sensemaking of its CEOs in taking key strategic decisions. The extant literature assumes that decisions by CEOs of Chinese state own enterprises are informed by the interests of the State. This paper employs social constructionist organisation theory to investigate COSCO's then CEO Wei Jiafu's social interaction with various Chinese and Greek stakeholders from his multiple social identities in the Chinese corporate and political realms. It shows that the synergy of these identities was a driving factor behind the first encounters between Mr Wei and the Greek government officials and behind the initiation of the idea to invest in Piraeus during those first encounters. The following encounters gradually enlarged the critical mass of supporters for the investment, ending in the signing of the agreement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights • Explore the self-selection issue from the perspective of households. • Examine how two partners' attitudes affect residential and car ownership decisions. • Husbands' travel attitudes have more influence in these decisions than wives'. • The travel attitudes of two household heads can affect each other's travel behaviors. Abstract Residential self-selection has been acknowledged as a key issue underlining the link between the built environment and travel behavior. Existing studies often implicitly assume that residential choice is a decision of an individual and the influence of intra-household interactions is not considered. In reality, residential choice is a decision often made at the household-level involving more than one household members. Similarly, car ownership is usually a household-level decision incorporating views of different household members. In both cases, the travel related attitudes of more than one household members may play a role in the decision making. In other words, there is an issue concerning residential self-selection (similarly car ownership self-selection): whose self-selection? This paper makes an attempt to probe into this question by examining the self-selection issues concerning residential location choice and car ownership decision from the perspective of households, by incorporating the travel attitudes and travel behaviors of two household heads into an integrated self-selection framework. Data are derived from a household sample survey involving two-day activity-travel diaries conducted in 2016 in Beijing, China. Multivariate modeling results show that household members play different roles in household decisions with travel implications: in general husbands' travel attitudes have relatively more influence in residential choice and car ownership decision than wives'. Nevertheless, wives' travel attitudes have more power than husbands' in explaining the commuting distances of both husbands and wives. Some distinct features of the residential and car ownership self-selections in the Chinese context are also identified and discussed in this paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights • This article is the first systematic review and meta-analysis of nationwide BVDV seroprevalence in dairy cattle in China. • The pooled prevalence of BVDV in cattle in China was approximate 53% in dairy herds. • Continuous monitoring the prevalence of BVDV in cattle is recommended. • The BVDV prevalence in cattle varied considerably in different regions. Abstract Bovine viral diarrhea virus (BVDV) infection causes significantly economic losses to cattle industry worldwide, also including China. The epidemiological prevalence of infection associated with BVDV in dairy cattle has not been systematically assessed in China. Therefore, we undertook this study to evaluate prevalent of BVDV infection. We conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis of data from papers on the BVDV incidence and prevalence in dairy cattle in China by searching China Science and Technology Journal Database, China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI), Wan Fang Database and PubMed for publication from March 2003 to March 2018. The 41 studies reporting the prevalence of BVDV in cattle in China were selected upon our inclusion criterion. The pooled BVDV prevalence in dairy cattle in China was estimated to 53.0% (95% CI 40.2–65.7) based on the data obtained from the 27,530 cows tested using serological or virological assay in the qualified papers published during the periods (χ² = 51,861.0, I2 = 99.9%). The highest BVDV positive rate in dairy flocks reached 90.0% in Fujian province of China, followed by Shaanxi (88.9%) and Shandong (83.3%). The prevalence in the six administrative districts of China was validated to be highly variable (25.7%–72.2%) and reached 72.2% in dairy cattle flocks of Northern China. Besides, the BVDV-RNA positive rate was estimated 27.1% (95% CI 17.3–37.0) based on 6 studies, comparatively, the pooled BVDV seroprevalence based on 35 studies was about 57.0% (95% CI 44.4–69.5) in China. This systematic review and meta-analysis firstly established an estimated prevalence of BVDV in dairy herds in China, indicating that the BVDV infection is escalating, though there is a bias in the number of studies between 2003–2009 and 2010–2018 timescales. This study may help understand the status of BVDV infection in dairy herds in China. Further extensive and comprehensive investigation is recommended, and effective intervention measures for preventing and controlling BVDV spread in dairy herds should be deployed, especially herds that have been exposed to BVDV. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights • Migrants face greater institutional barriers to civic engagement in China. • The mechanism underlying civic engagement varies between natives and migrants. • Place attachment directly impacts aspiration to participate in civic engagement. • Experience of participation mediates this relation to different extents. • Neighborhood governance policy should aim to better integrate migrants. Abstract China has experienced an unprecedented surge in rural-urban migration since the mid-1980s, leading to rapid growth in urban populations, especially in large cities. These floating populations pose a challenge to local authorities with respect to neighborhood governance. In particular, those lacking official registration status (hukou) are reported to possess lower place attachment to the destination neighborhood and seem to lack aspiration to participate in civic engagement. Against this background, the paper's first objective is to explore the determinants of residents' aspiration to participate in civic engagement, emphasizing the effects of their place attachment and experience of participation. Its second objective is to discuss the heterogeneity of residents' civic engagement rooted in the difference in their residential registration status. To this end, a group of hukou holders (native residents and migrants who transferred hukou) are contrasted with a group of non-hukou migrants with respect to the aspiration to participate and related mechanisms. Using evidence from a 2015 survey of 1273 residents in Guangzhou, a stepwise approach of linear probability models reveals two main empirical findings. First, residents' place attachment has a direct positive impact on their aspiration to participate in civic engagement, mediated by residents' experience of participation behavior. Second, compared to the native residents group, migrants possess lower place attachment and participate less in civic engagement (both actual behavior and future aspiration), and the mediation effect of migrants' participation experience is much weaker. This implies that, without hukou status, migrants lack positive feedback from their participation experience and so are less eager to participate in civic engagement. Based on these findings, the paper outlines the heterogeneity in residents' place attachment and the institutional barriers to civic engagement. The hukou system still restricts migrants' participation, so neighborhood governance policy-makers should seek to address this hukou constraint in urban China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract This paper explores the effects of enforced Chinese policies regarding environmental matters at the provincial level. The paper proposes several features and explores datasets from the last four Five-Year Plans, which extensively covered the period from 1995 to 2015. As the datasets are multidimensional, dimensional reduction is applied with a control of information loss described by data variance preservation. A data-based clustering algorithm is applied to identify the similarities, and characteristics are explored in relation to the specific features. The use of this method makes it possible to identify the changes in the relevance of the features in the most recent Five-Year Plan, in which decarbonization is relevant instead of productivity. This method also makes it possible to identify specific efforts several provinces have made to introduce cleaner energy production. Following the analysis, it is concluded that the proposed features enable the proposed method to be considered a tool for analyzing the real-world effects of the adopted policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract This paper examines the diverse patterns and driving forces of the changing distribution of pollution-intensive industries (PIIs) in the Yangtze River Delta (YRD), China from 1999 to 2015. The results find the co-existence of the Pollution Haven Hypothesis (PHH) and the Porter Hypothesis (PH) at an industrial level. PIIs, especially the labor-intensive PIIs, become geographically more dispersed to the peripheral YRD, while capital-, tax- and technology-intensive PIIs are still highly concentrated in the core YRD. Uneven environmental regulations (ERs), such as pollutant emission controls and government supervision, have directly reshaped the spatial patterns of PIIs. The modelling results also suggest that regional differences in factor endowment, ecosystem, and upgrading and innovation milieu play an important role in PIIs (re)distribution, and PIIs with diverse industrial characteristics respond differently to the changes in ERs and other place-specific attributes. Relatively loose ERs, low production cost, and high environmental bearing-capacity can promote the formation of "pollution havens" for labor-intensive or low-end PIIs. However, local assets such as innovation milieu may heighten the effects of the PH on capital-intensive or high-tech PIIs. This study provides China's evidences about the co-existence of the PHH and the PH, and can advance our understanding of the restructuring process and mechanism of PIIs at finer geographical scales. Highlights • We examine how environmental regulations affect the distribution of polluting industries at a finer geographical scale. • Geographical dispersion of PIIs has taken place in developed regions, while relocation patterns vary across industries. • Polluters with different industrial characteristics respond differently to environmental regulations and location factors. • Industrial upgrading and well-designed regulations are more effective in discouraging the expansion of PIIs. • This paper confirms the co-exist of the Pollution Haven Hypothesis and the Porter Hypothesis at industrial level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights • Review the Chinese EIP development, modification courses of the standard system, and management mechanism. • Main changes and corresponding reasons among the series of EIP standards. • Shortcomings of the existing standard and outlook of EIP standard development. Abstract Eco-industrial Parks (EIP) have become a central element in China's industrial strategy to combine industrial development while minimizing environmental impacts and improving resource efficiency. National standard system has been developed as a main tool for assessing EIPs. This paper provides a review of the development of China's EIP standard system. The focus of the analysis is the new national demonstration EIP standard (HJ/T274-2015), including a review of calculation methods for some key indicators. The analysis also provides a comparison with previous standards to identify the main changes and improvements in the assessment of EIPs. Comparison findings illustrate that the new standard provides a more consistent indicator system by providing a consolidated standard system, and offering more comprehensive and quantitative indicators. Moreover, the new standard aims to better manage environmental issues by supplementing more comprehensive environmental indicators. The standard also strengthens the emphasis of the industrial symbiosis dimension in the evaluation of EIPs. By offering optional indicators and giving distinct targets based on contextual conditions for a number of indicators, the flexibility and rationality of the EIP assessments are also enhanced. Although many positive changes have been identified, there are still some shortcomings exist in the new EIP standard. The paper proposes a number of recommendations based on analyzing shortcomings, for instance further improving of the industrial symbiosis indicators, offering social benefit evaluation indicators, and strengthening the reduction action evaluation. China's experience of setting EIP standards and indicators may provide lessons for other countries' attempts to develop industrial estate indicators. In order to observe and effectively promote industrial estates at the global range, several remaining research questions that need further exploration are put forward in this study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights • Systematization of a qualitative comparative institutional governance analysis. • Presentation of the step-by-step application to different PES governance structures. • Discussion of QCA's suitability for CIA of ecosystem services governance structures. Abstract Designing environmental governance structures and in particular ecosystem services governance structures, means modifying, replacing, or creating institutional arrangements. Several scholars have tried to identify sets of functioning and particularly preferred institutional design principles for environmental governance. Comparative institutional analysis (CIA) plays a major role in this process and refers to comparing real-world institutions, organizations, decision-making structures, and coordination mechanisms. CIA attempts to determine preferred institutional arrangements among several possibilities. Within the paper, it is emphasized that the set-theoretic Qualitative Comparative Analysis (QCA) approach and technique may support CIA. Therefore, different institutional structures that regulate resource use may be understood and presented as sets of institutions and may be put into a relation. Correspondingly, the paper illustrates a qualitative comparative institutional analysis (QCIA) application procedure. It explains how QCA works, determines how it could be applied to CIA, and defines certain basic steps for QCIA application. The application of crisp-set and fuzzy-set QCA are presented step by step based on two examples – German agri-environmental payment schemes (AEM) and the Chinese Sloping Land Conversion Program (SLCP). Finally, challenges and benefits of QCA application to CIA of environmental governance structures are discussed. In sum, the paper shows that QCA may generally support the CIA of complex units, which are conducted by many institutional economists and institutionalists. QCA can help to facilitate the reduction of structural institutional complexity. Furthermore, QCA provides formalization for qualitative comparative aspects, and the generated results are highly policy relevant. However, there are certain challenges and limitations of QCIA that also cannot be neglected. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract In recent years, China's wind power industry has developed rapidly, and become the global wind power leader. At the same time, China's wind power industry is also facing many problems and challenges. In this paper, a comprehensive assessment is presented to reveal the development history of China's wind power industry, power demand and cost, regional distribution of wind power, wind turbine manufacturers, and government incentives to wind power industry. Subsequently, future development and challenges are proposed, focusing on the challenge of wind power integration and consumption, the challenge of management and market competition mechanism, and the challenge of large-scale and rapid development. Finally, the corresponding measures are put forward. The fundamental goal of this paper is to understand the history, current situation and future challenges of China's wind power industry. Highlights • A comprehensive assessment on the development of China's wind power industry is presented. • The development history of China's wind power and energy demand are introduced. • Multi factors related to China's wind power industry are investigated. • Future challenges and corresponding measures of China's wind power industry are proposed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract With the development of urbanization more focusing on quality and human-orientation in the transitional period, the mixed characteristics and challenges in peri-urban China are emerging. The emergence and promotion of Area Development PPP (ADP) as an effective and innovative development model in peri-urban areas offer a feasible way to address the development needs. This paper is trying to explore and examine this innovative model firstly by identifying the three main features of the mixed land development in peri-urban China in terms of properties, functions and the development patterns. Secondly, this paper tries to describe and review the practice and spatial pattern of PPP (Public Private Partnership) and ADP projects in China. Thirdly, this paper takes Gu'an Industrial Park PPP project as the typical case to further verify the effectiveness of the ADP model. Finally, this paper attempts to answer the question how to realize the mixed land use by discussing the rationale and key points of the ADP model in combination with the theory of urban growth coalitions. The research shows that the ADP model can be a successful solution for quality peri-urban development in terms of mixed land use. This model may lay the foundation for in-depth comparative study and provide useful references for other developing countries in their peri-urban development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract China has witnessed substantial and surging internal migration over the past three decades, and the ascendant trend of migration will continue within the New Urbanization in China, shaping drastically China's population redistribution, and inducing surge of crowded cities and "hollowing village". This paper analyzed the spatial-temporal patterns of migration at provincial level during 2000–2010, and found: (1) the migration pattern demonstrated increasingly strengthened polarity in migration pool and source regions/provinces and migration flows. (2) The interregional/interprovincial migration population was higher than the intraregional/intra-provincial, and the gap between them strengthened with time. (3) The migration population grew with time, but the migration distance almost kept unchanged. To analyze the determinants of migration, this paper adopted an improved gravity model which introduced environment variables and included five types of variables, and found: (1) the path dependence variable had the most significant impact on migration, and the wages of staff and workers followed in 2000 and 2010. (2) The wages of origin provinces exerted a strong "push" to migrants, larger than the "pull" from the destination provinces in 2000, and the "push" changed to smaller than the "pull" in 2010. (3) Natural environment gradually became an attractive factor that migrants took into consideration, and the obstruction of distance to migration gradually reduced. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract The implementation of Increasing Block Electricity Prices (IBEPs) aims to guide residents towards electricity savings and rational energy use, but there are questions over the effectiveness of the IBEPs to achieve these goals. To this end, this paper uses residential IBEPs policy implemented in Sichuan Province of China in 2006 as a natural experiment to answer the question of whether IBEPs effectively regulate residents' electricity demand. Synthetic control method (SCM) was used to evaluate the treatment effect of the policy. The paper finds that the IBEPs policy significantly reduces urban and rural residential electricity consumption. The per capita electricity consumption of urban residents fell by 26.87–100.76 kWh/year with an average of 51.40 kWh/year, equivalent to a decrease of 5.93%–17.50% and average of 11.17%. On the other hand, the per capita electricity consumption of rural residents decreased by 20.86–48.28 kWh/year with an average of 26.28 kWh/year, which is equivalent of a decreased of 7.8%–16.79% and average of 12.75%. Electricity demand in urban areas decreased more than in rural areas, but rural residents are more sensitive to IBEPs than urban residents. In order to achieve "equity" and "efficiency", China needs to further improve the design mechanism of residential IBEPs. Highlights • Synthetic control method is used to evaluate the treatment effect. • The impact of the implementation of IBEPs on residential electricity demand is studied. • IBEPs policy significantly reduces urban and rural residential electricity consumption. • Rural residents are more sensitive to IBEPs than urban residents. • China needs to further improve the design mechanism of residential IBEPs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Chinese government has made significant effort to promote biomass based electricity generation in recent years. Yet, little is known about consumers’ preferences for biomass electricity and associated environmental impacts. This paper uses discrete choice experiments (DCE) to investigate Chinese consumers’ preference for electricity generated from various biomass sources. Based on 548 responses, the paper finds that Chinese households are willing to pay a premium of around 27 Yuan per month or 0.20 Yuan per kilowatt hour (kWh) to replace coal-fired electricity. Among the various biomass sources, electricity generated from agricultural and forestry biomass is most preferred, followed by biogas electricity and waste-to-energy. It is also found that respondents have a significant willingness to pay for reducing haze. Consumers’ household structure and environmental awareness also affect their preference for biomass electricity. These results have significant implications for the prioritization, design and communication of biomass promoting schemes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bovine herpesvirus 1 (BHV-1), an important pathogen of cattle, can cause severe clinical syndromes including respiratory disease, genital disease, and late-term abortions, as well as neurological and systemic disease in cattle. For assessing the prevalence of BHV-1 infection in mainland China, a systematic review and meta-analysis was conducted. In this systematic review and meta-analysis, we searched English and Chinese literature databases for published paper regarding the prevalence of BHV-1 in cattle in China from inception to May 20, 2018. Search strings included if they reported the cattle samples of more than 30 cattle and provided information that allowed us to establish the prevalence of BHV-1. Moreover, we excluded repeated studies, reviews, other hosts studies, as well as studies with inconsistent data, incomplete information or only provided prevalence data, and out of mainland China data. We extracted how many cattle have BHV-1 infection from the obtained studies, moreover, and calculated pooled prevalence of BHV-1 infection in cattle. The data of 41 articles (including data on 43,441 cattle) are compliant with the standards. The pooled prevalence of BHV-1 in cattle in China was 40%, the pooled prevalence of BHV-1 in cattle from Northeast China (24%) was significant lower than those from other regions. In addition, the prevalence of BHV-1 was associated with publication time of paper, detection methods, age of cattle, and clinical symptoms (pneumonia, abortion etc.).Our findings suggest that BHV-1 is common in cattle in mainland China. It is necessary to monitor the prevalence of BHV-1 in cattle and the powerful and effective regulatory measures should be taken out to prevent the spread of BHV-1. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlight • Care work is bodily work, dirty work, and emotional work. • Caregivers are required to be ethical when providing care. • Caregivers are put in a "prison of love" situation. Abstract Recently, feminist geographers have been calling for research that contributes to a more ethical geography of care that is responsible to society. However, after thoroughly examining the care ethics of attentiveness, responsibility, competence, and responsiveness, this paper argues that adhering to these ethics in caring relations actually exploits caregivers, instead of contributing to a more just society. Based on empirical research in Shanghai and Beijing, this paper examines the nature of caregivers' work and provides three significant insights: (1) Care ethics embedded into job requirements demands that caregivers conduct not only bodily and "dirty" work, but also emotional work. (2) The involvement of care ethics in care work establishes different social relations between caregivers and care-recipients, which produces a different subjectivity that blurs the boundary between life and work. (3) The new subjectivity formed when operating under care ethics tends to put caregivers in a "prison of love" situation, where being ethical means being willing to work long hours for low wages. By theorizing the ethics of care work from the three aspects indicated above, this paper challenges the geography of care agenda that seeks to promote the care ethics of attentiveness, responsibility, competence, and responsiveness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]