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There is now a growing interest in early-life influences on adult diseases in China. A number of birth cohorts have been established. This systematic review provided a better understanding of the development of mother–baby cohorts in China. Systematic review. We conducted a systematic review for research or profile papers in English/Chinese that reported data from mother–baby cohorts in mainland China, with ≥1y follow-up after birth. We identified 315 papers, corresponding to 31 cohorts from 19 provinces/megacities. All cohorts started in 1999–2017 (21 after 2010) and were set up with broad objectives or specific scientific focus. The baseline sample size varied, from <500 to >300,000 mothers. A majority of cohorts were initiated during pregnancy and followed children to <10y, only six to adolescence and none into adulthood. These cohorts mostly collected samples from mothers and babies, in addition to using interviews/questionnaires to collect information about pregnancy, birth and child health. Most cohorts were recruited from a single province/city. The large western region was understudied. Mother–baby cohorts have developed rapidly in China, but usually with a short follow-up duration. Extending the follow-up of children and developing cross-cohort collaboration will increase the diversity, size and coverage of the sample, allow studying early influences on life-course health and identify targets for early intervention in the Chinese population. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the linguistic landscape of refurbished historical streets to reveal the semiotic construction of antiquity and commodification of heritage. Based on signage data collected from four historical blocs in Shanghai, Hangzhou and Ningbo in East China, this study reveals how Chinese semiotic artifacts contribute to stylizing antiquity and reinvigorating the space of consumption. Results suggest that the fabricated historical streets sustain the tourism rhetoric of cultural pride and commercial profit by appealing to history, tradition, exoticism, and nostalgia. The study problematizes orchestrated heritage tourism and points to the use of English as potentially subversive in the Chinese linguistic landscape. • History is refabricated and commodified to satiate tourist desires. • Traditional Chinese language serves to authenticate ancient Chineseness. • Access to history-saturated semiotic resources is unequally distributed. • English potentially counteracts the spatial hegemony of historicity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Higher fertility rate induces more labor for childcare and thus crowds out labor for work. • The three-child policy slightly increases fertility intention. • The three-child policy increases emission abatement of the designed emission trading scheme. • In emission trading scheme, technological progress increases GDP and decreases total emissions. • The three-child policy strengthens technological impacts on GDP but weakens technological impacts on emissions. Although population growth plays a vital role in driving anthropogenic climate change, fertility impact on achieving mitigation target is usually overlooked in literature. This paper attempts to narrow the research gap by employing a Computable General Equilibrium (CGE) model to analyze the interrelations among fertility rate, fertility policy, and climate policy in China. The model results show that fertility rate negatively correlates with GDP and emissions because higher fertility induces more labor for childcare and thus crowds out labor for work. The three-child policy raises fertility intention; it does not unidirectionally influence the effects of the emission trading scheme (ETS) on employment and GDP, but it increases ETS emission abatement. Technological progress increases GDP and decreases emissions; the three-child policy strengthens technological impact on GDP but weakens technological impact on emissions. Hence, technological progress benefits emission mitigation; the three-child policy enhances economic benefits but impairs emission abatement of technological progress. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• A distribution dynamics approach is employed to examine the converge of TFEE across Chinese PAA level cities. • The findings show a clear convergence in TFEE. • Convergence comes more from efficiency drops in high TFEE cities than from efficiency gains in low TFEE cities. • The environmental protection polices in key cities improved energy efficiency. • Large-sized cities show better performance in energy efficiency than small- and medium-sized cities. Improving energy efficiency is considered the most direct route to reducing carbon emissions on a massive scale. To examine the long-run trend of China's energy efficiency, this paper employs a distribution dynamics approach to analyze the convergence of total-factor energy efficiency (TFEE) across 286 Chinese cities between 2002 and 2014. The result suggests the existence of convergence, which comes more from the efficiency declines in the high TFEE cities rather than the efficiency gains in the low TFEE cities. Despite the fact that a few cities have performed well in energy efficiency, the majority of cities have converged to a low-efficiency point. Further analyses show that the inefficiency was attributed to inefficient energy use in small- and medium-sized cities. Our analysis provides strong scientific support for China's ongoing energy conservation and environmental protection policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Part of UN sustainable development goal 9 is upgrading production capabilities. • Increasing economic complexity is a key driver for sustainable economic growth. • Sequential model selection used for robust generalised method of moments estimation. • Chinese FDI evidently shows a positive impact on host countries' economic complexity. • Global policy makers should deepen their relationships with the belt and road. Upgrading the production capabilities in all countries is a target of the UN's 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development Goal 9. Increasing economic complexity, that is, a country's ability to manufacture more sophisticated products and thus moving up the value chain, is a key driver for sustainable economic growth. This paper investigates whether Chinese Belt and Road investments have impacted the economic complexity of host countries — a topic not addressed in the literature to date, using a sequential generalised method of moments model selection approach. The research focuses on the countries whose economic complexities are below that of China. Our empirical results show significant positive effects of Chinese investments on such host countries' economic complexities. The inflows of Chinese investments have thus supported the upgrading of production capabilities in these countries. This is encouraging, especially for the Global South countries, to intensify their interactions with the Belt and Road initiative. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• We construct a multidimensional poverty index for chinese counties. • We establish a staggered DID model that controls for selection bias. • Highways significantly reduce county poverty. • The poverty-reduction effect of highways is conditional. • The poverty-reduction effect of highways diminishes with increasing altitude. This paper establishes a staggered difference-in-differences (DID) model to estimate the impact of highways on regional poverty using county-level panel data from China. We construct a multidimensional poverty index and use satellite-monitored night light brightness as a proxy indicator. The results demonstrate that highways significantly reduce county poverty and that the poverty reduction effect becomes increasingly pronounced over time. This result remains robust after controlling for non-random highway route selection. Furthermore, the poverty reduction effect of highways is conditional, with a significant poverty reduction effect in the less economically-developed western regions and non-municipal counties, and no significant poverty reduction effect in the economically-developed eastern and central regions and municipal districts. Moreover, the poverty reduction effect of highways gradually decreases as the average altitude of counties increases. Our tests provide empirical evidence for effective road investments in developing countries that incorporate poverty alleviation targets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Green Financial Reform and Innovation (GFRI) policy not only serves as a crucial tool for facilitating a comprehensive transition towards sustainable practices in economic and social development but also has a significant influence on the operational activities of companies. However, there is limited research on whether the GFRI policy can affect companies' overcapacity. To address this gap, we use data from the China Stock Market & Accounting Research Database and the Chinese Research Data Services Platform to evaluate the impact of green finance on companies' overcapacity. The results show that the GFRI policy can effectively alleviate companies' overcapacity. Moreover, the GFRI policy can alleviate companies' overcapacity by strengthening market competition, enhancing financing constraints, and promoting innovation. Further, the GFRI policy exerts a more pronounced effect on alleviating overcapacity in non-labor-intensive companies, companies in heavily polluting industries, and companies in regions with weak environmental supervision. This paper not only supplements the relevant literature on alleviating overcapacity but also provides more theoretical support for promoting a national green financial system in practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Conventional wisdom and evidence from democracies suggest that more education should increase voter turnout. This paper revisits this issue by analyzing turnout in China's rural elections. Employing an instrumental variable strategy, I find that more education reduces turnout in rural elections. I provide suggestive evidence that more educated people may face higher opportunity costs of voting, which explain about a quarter of cross-province variation in education-turnout links. I also discuss the role of other factors, including Confucian culture and election stakes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the effect of bilateral air connectivity on bilateral service trade flows. Our service trade data includes 'commercial', 'transport', 'travel', and 'government' services. We developed a reduced-form gravity-type model using the Chinese data. An instrument variable (IV) approach is adopted to address the endogeneity issue between bilateral air connectivity and the service trade variables. Our key results are: (a) increasing the number of direct routes can significantly promote bilateral service export and import trades; (b) the average route-level traffic density has only marginal positive effects; (c) improving air connectivity would enlarge China's overall service trade deficit, because the transport and travel services imports are promoted more than their exports; (d) The 'commercial' service exports can be stimulated more than the imports, making China achieve larger commercial service trade surplus by improving bilateral air connectivity. •Increasing the number of direct air routes significantly promotes bilateral service trades in China. •Improving air connectivity enlarges China's overall service trade deficit. •Enhancing bilateral air connectivity stimulates China's commercial service exports more than imports. •China's growing international air transport, facilitated by the Belt-and-Road Initiative, has had a substantial impact on bilateral service trade. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Amidst economic downturn pressures, major countries emphasized the manufacturing industry and increased research and development (R&D) investments to realize innovation in manufacturing. Manufacturing enterprises are the main performers of R&D investments, so it is imperative for policymakers to accurately evaluate the policy effect of different industrial tendency and policy intensity on growth. The impact of the overall R&D expenditure on macroeconomy or the effectiveness of enterprises' R&D investment on business profit has been reported in a great deal of literature, but so far, the impacts of enterprises' R&D have little been experimented at the macro level and industrial level. This paper improves the knowledge production function and structured a regional dynamic computable general equilibrium model to simulate the multi-dimensional macroeconomic impact of enterprises' R&D investment. The results show that enterprises' R&D investment has a significant role in promoting economic output, residents' welfare, price control, and international trade, and its impact is declining over time. The impacts of enterprises' R&D on different industries are heterogeneous; industries with lower knowledge capital are more sensitive to R&D investment. These findings contribute to the effectiveness of R&D policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The use of hydrogen fuel cell vehicles is an important way to achieve carbon emission reduction in China's commercial vehicle field. The development of the hydrogen automobile industry needs policy guidance. To determine the characteristics and effects of China's hydrogen automobile industrial policy, this paper first uses a text mining method to analyze policy characteristics from three aspects: potency rank, policy subject and policy objectives. Then, from the perspective of policy tools, a policy quantitative system and standards are constructed to quantify the policy. Then, the sales data of hydrogen fuel cell vehicles from August 2018 to December 2022 were collected to empirically analyze the effect of the policy. The results showed that policy comprehensiveness significantly promoted the use of hydrogen fuel cell vehicles, but the effects of the different policy tools differed. Finally, some policy suggestions are proposed for the development of the hydrogen automobile industry. • China's hydrogen vehicle industry policy focuses on technology upgrading and application demonstration. • The use of hydrogen fuel cell vehicles is the most concerned industrial chain link in the policy. • Policy comprehensiveness has a significant positive effect on the promotion of hydrogen fuel cell vehicles in China. • Different policy tools play different roles, with supply-based policy tools and demand-based playing a more prominent role. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Schizophrenia occurs worldwide, and the health, and economic burden is substantial. As one of the common proxies of socioeconomic status (SES), education was reported to be associated with the risk of developing schizophrenia. However, there is no causal evidence about the relationship. This paper explores the health benefits of college education for schizophrenia. Based on exogenous variation in college enrollment across regions and cohorts induced by college enrollment expansion policy, we use instrument variable (IV) estimate strategy to estimate impacts of college education on the risk of schizophrenia with the data from Second National Sample Survey on Disability. We find that college education reduces the risk of developing schizophrenia by 4.2 percentage points. Some further analyses suggest the causal protective effect is only found among men, rural, and low-income individuals. These findings provide new evidence for the causal relationship between college education and schizophrenia, and add to the literature on the health benefits of education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• This paper investigates the concept of suzhi in the context of museum education in China. • Prior research mostly focused on the realisation of suzhi education in formal schooling. • Findings indicate that visitors and museum professionals buy into suzhi in museum practice. Suzhi education, as a long-term promoted slogan, has been promulgated for over two decades by the Chinese government. There is a heated debate over its meaning, utilisation and evaluation, which is important in comprehending China's recent educational reform. The current discussion tends to concentrate on the politically and institutionally embodied educational reforms in school settings, whereas how the suzhi discourse informs and reshapes informal/non-formal educational settings like museums remains scarce. Drawing on these gaps, this paper presents a deconstruction of suzhi discourse in a major Chinese museum, by exploring how the promoted suzhi discourse has influenced the educational practices at cultural institutions. It further examines the practices and experiences of participants through the notion of suzhi. The study finds out that the museum practice is deeply affected by this notion and participants buy into the idea, fostering its impact across different life stages and generations in various ways. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While global production networks stress the role of lead firms, state entrepreneurialism highlights the role of the state in governing innovation-driven development. However, there is a gap in understanding how the state institution configures and operates to achieve its strategic development goals. This paper fills this gap by examining market means of park management. It shows that Zhangjiang Science City in Shanghai reinvented its development agency – a park development corporation to mobilize finance and govern development. Jiangbei in Nanjing focused on coupling with a multinational lead firm – the Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company. Rather than thinking of innovation governance as state-commanded, we reveal they are market-based operations. At the same time, they extend the state capacities into industrial governance. • A timely study of governing economic development under geopolitical challenges and in innovation spaces. • Builds a conceptual framework to comprehend state strategies and market mechanisms for China's innovation-driven development. • Fills the gap in understanding how the state institution configures and operates to achieve its strategic innovation goals. • Contributes to state entrepreneurialism by focusing on how innovation as a political agenda is achieved by market means. • Rather than thinking of innovation governance as state-commanded, this paper reveals that they are market-based operations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Building sustainable cities and communities is a key priority of the Sustainable Development Goals. However, the spatial mismatch of construction land (SMCL) poses a significant challenge to sustainable urban development. This paper presents a new framework for measuring the SMCL from the dual perspectives of planning deviation (PD) and economic mismatch (EM). Using a minimum deviation estimation model, a land-comparable correction method, and the extended HK model, this study focused on 285 cities in China from 2002 to 2021. The results revealed that the PD exhibited an "N"-shaped fluctuating trend, reaching a peak of 27.63 km2 in 2011, with the deviation direction generally characterized by over-planning allocation followed by lack of planning allocation. The eastern region had the highest PD, with an annual average of 35.06 km2, followed by the western region. In contrast, the central and northeast regions had relatively low PD. The EM fluctuated in a "W" shape, with an annual average of 0.37. The direction was always dominated by economic over-allocation and complemented by economic under-allocation. There was also heterogeneity in EM across regions. Furthermore, both PD and EM differed considerably between cities by size. In 2021, most cities in China still existed PD or EM, but EM was more widespread and severe. This indicated that SMCL was still a serious issue in China, and there was still a long way to go to achieve the vision of sustainable allocation of construction land. This paper enriches the relevant literature on SMCL and provides a decision-making reference for governments to implement optimal land allocation. • Provide a new framework for measuring spatial mismatch of construction land (SMCL). • Apply the framework to study the SMCL in 285 Chinese cities in 2002–2021. • Planning deviation (PD) or economic mismatch (EM) existed widely in Chinese cities. • EM is more serious and the pattern of land development needs to change urgently. • The vision of sustainable land allocation in China still has a long way to go. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Global environmental problems are worsening. Among various regulatory measures, market-oriented approaches are most favored by governments worldwide. Using provincial panel data from 2004 to 2020, a multi-period DID model was hereby constructed to empirically study the pollution reduction effects of the pilot policy for carbon emissions trading in China. Findings of this paper could be listed as follows: (1) The pilot policy has achieved notable reductions in waste gas and solid waste, although its effect on wastewater pollutants has been less pronounced; (2) Pollution reduction in the pilot regions can be achieved by optimizing the energy consumption structure; (3) Significant variations in pollution reduction effects are observed between the Northern and Southern pilot regions, with notably stronger policy effects in the north across various pollutants compared to the south. Overall, this paper offers pertinent policy recommendations to aid the Chinese government in enhancing its carbon market. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Through a study of the behaviour of already debt-ridden local governments in response to the Made in China 2025 policy, this paper explores whether local governments prioritized State interests over local interests, when their financial involvement was required. Deploying a panel data analysis for more than 280 prefectural-level cities, this paper finds that, despite having been subject to an "Administrative Subcontract" arrangement under which the Central Government appoints top local officials, local economic/debt interests were prioritized over national policy implementation under fiscal decentralization. Instead of promoting infrastructure development, the Made in China 2025 policy provided an opportunity for local governments to raise capital via Local Government Financing Vehicles (LGFV) primarily for debt refinancing, despite the State's numerous attempts to control the growth of local government/LGFV debt. Some policy implications concerning i) the effectiveness of national policy implementation on local levels under "Administrative Subcontract" and ii) the debt situations of prefectural-level Chinese cities and their effects on China's economy in general are then discussed. • National policy required local government investment under fiscal decentralization. • Local leadership faced with dilemma between career prospects and mounting debt. • Prefectural-level cities prioritized local interests over State interests. • The Made in China 2025 policy triggered further accumulation of local debt. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The extent and mechanisms of the influence of cultural factors on China's population flow have yet to be fully revealed compared to the influence of other factors, such as the level of socioeconomic development. From a network perspective, this paper examines the influence of cultural ties represented by dialect similarity on the tie formation and strength of China's population flow networks. The results are as follows: during the Spring Festival travel rush, dialect similarity increases the probability of tie formation but doesn't influence the strength of ties in China's population flow networks in 2019; however, dialect similarity hinders the tie formation and the increase in the flow intensity in the change of China's population flow networks from 2019 to 2022. During the daily period, more similar dialects between the two cities increase the likelihood of forming network ties and exhibiting stronger levels of population flow in 2019; dialect similarity significantly facilitates tie formation, but it does not affect the flow intensity in the change of China's population flow networks from 2019 to 2022. The results reveal the different influencing effects of dialect similarity in different periods, which is important for revealing the influence mechanism of cultural ties on population flow. • This paper examines the influence of cultural ties on the population flow networks in China in 2019–2022. • The dialect similarity represents the cultural ties. • Binary and valued exponential random graph model (ERGM) and stochastic actor-oriented model (SAOM) are applied. • Cultural ties have different influences on the population flow networks and their changes during different periods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper combines the meta-frontier analysis framework with the SBM-DEA model based on undesirable outputs to thoroughly reveal the mechanism of ecological efficiency differences in China's mariculture. This paper accurately identifies the weak links in ecological efficiency in various regions, thereby achieving a precise evaluation of mariculture ecological efficiency within the framework of technological heterogeneity. The results indicate that under the meta-frontier, the annual average ecological efficiency of mariculture in coastal areas of China during the sample period is 0.586, with a 41.4 % efficiency improvement space. However, under the group frontier, the annual average ecological efficiency is 0.783. The MEI in the BR economic zone and the YRD economic zone respectively stem from MI and TI, whereas in the PRD economic zone, the difference in the proportions of management inefficiency and technological inefficiency is not significant. Finally, this paper proposes four types of improvement paths. • Adopt a model combining meta-frontier analysis and SBM-DEA with undesirable outputs • Reveal the differences and mechanisms in China's mariculture ecological efficiency • Propose four improvement paths for different Chinese provinces • Emphasize promoting coordinated development of mariculture resources and ecology • Offer empirical & theoretical support for tailored mariculture efficiency strategy [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates how China's long tradition of wetland rice farming affects contemporary cooperative behavior. We exploit a discontinuity in rice farming generated by a natural geographic boundary in China and find a significant positive impact on cooperative behavior today. An increase in the percentage of farmland devoted to rice farming significantly increases the frequency of mutual help in terms of borrowing and lending money, caring for each other's family members, and helping each other with job seeking and house construction. We identify cultural transmission, labor exchange and irrigation networks as the likely driving forces behind this phenomenon. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Globally, co-production serves as a crucial approach to promote sustainable neighborhood rehabilitation. However, in China, where the governance system is characterized by strong state discourse power and a lack of public participation tradition, neighborhood rehabilitation encounters significant challenges, leading to project postponements or even failures due to unsuccessful co-production activities. To reveal the hidden problems, this paper aims to gain an in-depth understanding of the stakeholders' co-production roles and their participation structure in the co-produced sustainable neighborhood rehabilitation process from multiple dimensions. Using the case in Chongqing, the data was collected through questionnaire surveys and in-depth interviews. Social network analysis was utilized as the research method, and one-mode and two-mode networks were established to depict six relationship types with using diverse network indicators. This study revealed the high complexity of stakeholder structure, the awkward role of grass-rooted government, the dilemma of public voices and perceptions, uneven involvement in the co-production process, and the dynamic path of co-production formation. Drawing upon co-production theory, this paper elucidates the intricate mechanism of co-produced neighborhood rehabilitation in China. It offers valuable implications for policymakers and urban planners for project promotion, and contributes empirical insights to research in similar governance systems across the global context. • Stakeholder structure in co-produced sustainable neighborhood rehabilitation is highly complex. • Grass-roots government sectors have low discourse power in practice. • Resident-initiated organizations may not always accurately represent the views and interests of in-situ residents. • Uneven involvement of stakeholders can result in a downplayed co-design process and a weak role for investors. • Six network types are interconnected and interdepend. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Challenges to social, economic, and environmental sustainability are global in scale, yet sustainable development policies must be implemented locally. There has been a tendency for sustainable urbanism projects to engage in the conspicuous sustainability of spatially bounded and highly visible sustainability achievements, rather than spatially expansive, long-term achievements. China's complex system of multilevel governance encourages policy experimentation, but it is also frequently productive of entrepreneurial urbanism and intercity competition. This paper analyses spatial planning documents concerning Hengqin (Zhuhai Municipality, Guangdong Province), an island adjacent to Macao SAR, to show how the ambitions for a new-build district's contributions to sustainable development have become more spatially expansive and ambitious over time. This has occurred alongside changes in project leadership (from city, to provincial, to central government leadership) as well as a deepening awareness of the Greater Bay Area as a region for crossborder policymaking. The paper argues that crossborder perspectives are vital for genuine sustainable development but face certain obstacles in relation to the sites at which policy decisions are made. • Policymakers often prefer conspicuous sustainability to long-term achievements. • Innovative urban entrepreneurialism is common in China's multilevel governance. • Hengqin's spatial planning initially prioritised immediate, localised results. • Centralised leadership and regional awareness can raise sustainability ambitions. • Crossborder perspectives better reflect sustainable development needs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the domain of global socio-economic dynamics, the pivotal role of food production (FP) cannot be overstated. It constitutes the bedrock of fundamental human necessities while being inexorably linked with critical aspects such as economic expansion, societal equilibrium, and geopolitical interplays. The multifaceted nature of FP appears through its direct impact on macroeconomic indicators and its latent influence on international relations and policy-making. This critical nexus underscores the imperative for a comprehensive understanding and strategic management of food production processes to sustain and enhance global socio-economic stability and growth. Investigating the nexus between green finance (GF) and FP is pivotal for ensuring national security and promoting sustainable economic development. This research thus paper examines GF's impact on FP in China as outlined in the 2017 green finance policies. It employs the difference-in-differences (DID) method and analyzes a balanced panel dataset comprising 282 cities in China from 2009 to 2020. The results show that GF has an inhibitory effect on FP, and this remains valid after a range of reliability checks, including parallel trend assessments and placebo tests. Further findings of transmission mechanism analysis indicate that non-agricultural factors and financial exclusion are critical for GF's inhibitory effect on FP. Heterogeneity analyses show that GF's inhibitory effect on FP is more pronounced in the main food-producing areas, the main food-marketing areas, and cities with better infrastructure. The empirical results of this paper comprehensively illustrate GF's impact on FP and how it contributes to the achievement of food security objectives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Early childhood education programs have been found to effectively promote children's social and cognitive development. However, the health impact of these programs is less understood. Using a quasi-experiment of the first universal child care reform in China from 2010, this paper aims to identify whether the preschool reform produces any short-term effects on health-related outcomes of preschoolers (3-6 years old). Specifically, this reform expands access to affordable preschools that provide full-day center-based education, with school meals and essential health services on campus. I exploit the variation in the number of newly established preschools across provinces and implement difference-in-differences and triple-difference strategies. Results confirm the effectiveness of this reform by showing a strong and positive impact on preschool attendance. This paper then documents the benefits to alleviating underweight among preschoolers. Estimates show a larger effect in rural areas, suggesting that the reform narrows rural-urban disparities in education access and undernutrition prevention. I also explore the impact on caregivers' health consciousness and find improved health-seeking behavior when children get sick. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Discussed why can certain rural areas withstand the external impact of urbanization and thus maintain the vitality of development, while others cannot and eventually decline. • Use Coupled Infrastructure System framework to the internal mechanisms of the response of the rural social-ecological system to the impact of urbanization. • The key to ensuring the robustness of the rural social-ecological system under the impact of urbanization is to provide institutional rules to guarantee the operational processes through the collective-choice process. Urbanization is essential for achieving rapid development. In this process, the labor outmigration from rural areas to cities caused by urbanization has diversified the impacts on the robustness of the rural social-ecological system. However, existing research has rarely discussed the internal mechanism of the response of the rural social-ecological system to the impact of urbanization. Based on the coupled infrastructure systems framework, in this paper, the internal interactions of the rural social-ecological system responding to the impact of urbanization are discussed. An empirical test is conducted using survey data from 123 villages of 14 Chinese provinces. Focusing on the specific practice of China, this paper further discusses how the robustness of the rural social-ecological system can be ensured under external impact. The main conclusions are as follows: under the impact of urbanization, the internal interaction paths with which the rural social-ecological system maintains robustness at the operational level are not unique. These different internal interaction paths may not only make the rural social-ecological system automatically realize a virtuous and robust cycle under the impact of urbanization, they may also cause a gradual collapse of the rural social-ecological system. Further, the discussion of China's specific practice shows that it is key to provide institutional rules to guarantee the operational processes through the collective-choice process, thus ensuring the robustness of the rural social-ecological system under the impact of urbanization. The inspection of the interaction mechanisms in this study may obtain some restricted views on the general laws that may be contained in the complex interaction within the rural social-ecological system, and provide a theoretical basis developing countries can apply to realize rural revitalization when faced with the irreversible wave of urbanization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

After nearly three decades of "ICT for development", the rollout of ICT backbone infrastructure remains challenging throughout Africa. African states do not only depend on the technology of foreign companies but must also seek external finance to pay for it. This dual dependency puts African governments in a vulnerable position, leading us to inquire: to what extent does the dual dependency on foreign finance and technology affect African agency in ICT infrastructure provider choice? The paper proposes a model that distinguishes between the agency of higher and lower income countries. Elaborating on the latter, the model assumes that the source of foreign ICT-related finance (i.e., China, World Bank, both, internal) determines whether the recipient state can exercise a weak, medium, or strong degree of agency in its ICT infrastructure provider choice. The paper further argues that the link between foreign finance and degree of agency is shaped by the digital development agenda of the donor. For instance, the model predicts that countries which predominantly received Chinese ICT finance possess weak agency when choosing an ICT infrastructure provider because China's digital development agenda ties the provision of finance to hiring a Chinese contractor. By examining the ICT-related financial inflows and geographical distribution of network equipment providers in African states, the paper shows that the source of finance affects the degree of agency and, subsequently, the choice of ICT infrastructure provider. However, the analysis also suggests a divide in African agency along former colonial lines. In fact, the model holds only for countries without colonial ties to France whereas former French colonies all contracted Huawei, regardless of ICT finance flows. • Proposes a model for African agency in choice of network equipment provider. • Development finance determines African agency in ICT infrastructure provider choice. • Digital development agendas of donors affect ICT infrastructure provider choice. • Geospatial mapping of fiber-optic cables sets Francophone states apart from others. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Given its significant implications for the economy and society, this paper investigates the impact of housing supply regulation on household wealth inequality. Utilizing data from the China Household Finance Survey and land transaction records spanning from 2013 to 2019, we employ recentered influence function regression and two-way fixed effects models to analyze the effect of unexpected housing supply shocks on the wealth gap among households. Our findings reveal that positive unexpected housing supply shocks are crucial in reducing household wealth inequality. This reduction is attributed to the heterogeneous impacts of housing supply regulation on different wealth groups. By deregulating the housing supply, the upward trend in housing prices has slowed, which in turn makes homeownership more accessible and facilitates wealth accumulation for households that fall within the 20 % and 80 % wealth quantiles. Conversely, deregulation has a negative impact on property values for households in the 80–100 % wealth quantile, thus mitigating their overall wealth growth. Overall, this study emphasizes the significant role of housing supply regulation in shaping wealth inequality in China. • This paper examines the housing supply regulation's impact on wealth inequality in China. • Positive housing supply shocks play a vital role in decreasing household wealth inequality. • Deregulation boosts homeownership for 20 %–80 % wealth quantile households. • Wealthiest households face property value drops with deregulation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While chemical fertilizers and pesticides have significantly enhanced crop productivity per unit of land in China, the excessive utilization of these chemicals has led to a range of environmental issues that are not conducive to the sustainable development of China's agriculture. Controlling the use of fertilizers and pesticides in crop cultivation is therefore necessary and has been adopted as an action plan since 2015 in China. However, the effects of fertilizer and pesticide reductions have not been systematically investigated. This paper explores how yields and land use for rice, wheat, corn, and soybean cultivation shift when reducing their fertilizer and pesticide inputs using China's provincial crop-land integrated partial equilibrium model (the CPMCL model). Simulation results for different scenarios show that, among the studied crops, rice and wheat exhibit greater adaptability than corn and soybeans. Reducing the use of fertilizers and pesticides within the interval from 0% to 3.5% may increase the total demand of land resources for crop production from 0.220% to 4.21%. Limited land resources will be allocated to more profitable crops to maximize output, which means the land use for wheat production may increase over 20% while for rice, corn and soybean may decrease around 4% under the shock of fertilizer and pesticide reductions. Merely reducing fertilizer and pesticide inputs in crop cultivation may exacerbate the conflict between crop production and land resource conservation in China, which means the technology and efficiency of fertilizer and pesticide use needs to be improved. The findings of this paper can help formulate more province-specific and crop-targeted plans to properly reduce fertilizer and pesticide use, thus promoting sustainable land use while ensuring food security and protecting the environment. • China's provincial PE model integrates crop production and land use is formulated • Interrelationship between chemical inputs, land inputs, and crop yields is revealed • Impacts of fertilizer and pesticide reduction are analyzed nationally and provincially [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The rapid development of China's high-speed railway (HSR) has deeply affected the reorganization and reallocation of production elements, which has exerted a profound impact on the regional economic pattern. Existing research lacks attention to how HSR can impulse the regional pollution pattern. The operation of HSR serves a high-speed channel for knowledge spillover, which is an important mechanism to reshape the regional pollution pattern. Based on the data of 250 peripheral cities in China from 2004 to 2018, this paper utilizes a difference-in-differences model (DID) to investigate the impact of HSR opening on regional pollution gap, and provides a mechanism explanation from the perspective of knowledge spillover. It is found that the opening of HSR significantly helps to reduce the industrial pollution gap between HSR cities and central cities. The result remains unchanged after using instrumental variable method (IV) and a series of robustness tests. Heterogeneity tests show that the effect of HSR opening on narrowing the regional pollution gap is greater in the eastern region, areas with low pollution intensity and areas within the half-hour economic circle, and HSR service widens the pollution gap in the western region, areas with high pollution intensity and areas outside the one-hour economic circle. Further mechanism examinations reveal that HSR opening contributes to narrowing the regional pollution gap through knowledge spillover effects, and the knowledge spillover effects driving knowledge improvement to shrink the regional pollution gap is verified. This paper provides a new idea for the balanced regional development of cities in the aspect of environmental protection as well as empirical evidence for promoting environmental equity in China. • The HSR opening significantly helps to reduce the industrial pollution gap between HSR cities and central cities. • The effect of HSR opening on narrowing the regional pollution gap is greatly related to city factor endowments. • Both the direct and indirect mechanisms of knowledge spillover contribute to narrowing the regional pollution intensity gap. • Knowledge spillover effects of HSR opening driving knowledge improvement to shrink the regional pollution gap is verified. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hydrogen, as a clean and efficient energy source, is important in achieving zero-CO 2 targets. This paper explores the potential of hydrogen geologic storage (HGS) in China for large-scale energy storage, crucial for stabilizing intermittent renewable energy sources and managing peak demand. Despite its promise, HGS faces challenges due to hydrogen's low density and viscosity, and its complex interactions with geological formations and microorganisms. This review offers a comprehensive overview of the current research status for HGS, with a particular focus on highlighting the main challenges confronting China. These difficulties and challenges primarily arise from complex geological conditions and the absence of fundamental parameters within potential reservoirs, including depleted oil/gas fields, salt caverns, and brine aquifers. Additionally, we have synthesized the current applications of machine learning (ML)as a potential solution. Key challenges are examined, such as the effects of operational parameters (e.g., cyclical injection-production and injection rates) on HGS efficiency, which can influence phenomena such as hydrogen fingering and caprock integrity. This review also looks into the insufficiently understood hydrogen-water-rock geochemical reactions under diverse temperatures and pressures, a gap that hampers the development of predictive numerical simulations and raises concerns about hydrogen leakage due to changes in porosity and permeability. Additionally, the paper addresses the limited knowledge about the metabolic mechanisms of subsurface microorganisms under extreme conditions, highlighting potential risks of hydrogen leakage and groundwater contamination. These microorganisms can metabolize hydrogen, producing gases such as CH 4 and H 2 S, which may cause steel corrosion. Furthermore, the study assesses the distribution and prospects of three primary methods for pure hydrogen storage in China, considering the current state of hydrogen development and relevant government policies. The role of ML in advancing HGS is also discussed, offering insights into future research directions. This review not only scrutinizes the scientific challenges of HGS but also underscores its potential, guiding future simulation and practical engineering applications in this field. • HGS is feasibility in China through policy examination and potential site analysis. • Geochemical and microbial reactions jeopardize to reservoir integrity and H 2 quality. • Elucidating the present application and future prospective for ML in HGS. • Summarizing the key challenges associated with achieving large-scale HGS. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Decarbonising the heating sector is one of the key elements to realizing the ambitious dual carbon goals of China, which is the largest carbon emitter and energy consumer globally. Currently, district heating (DH) systems have penetrated approximately 88% of the urban heating areas in Northern China. Nevertheless, around 90% of the heating demand in China still relies on fossil fuels. A larger scale integration of renewable energy and waste heat sources into the DH systems is critical for decarbonising the entire heating sector in China. However, a deeper level of comprehension is required to harness its full potential. This paper provides a thorough investigation of the status, potential, and national policy schemes of renewable energy and waste heat recovery in the DH systems of China. Combined with a critical review of recent literature on relevant areas published in both international and Chinese domestic sources, the trends, challenges, and future perspectives are discussed from scientific research and practical implementation aspects. This paper highlights the synergy of the integration of renewable energy and waste heat sources in DH, the energy efficiency improvements as well as the use of thermal storage technologies through the implementation of 4th generation district heating and smart energy systems that could offer a more economically viable pathway forward. • Focus on renewable energy and waste heat (REWH) in the district heating (DH) systems in China. • A systematic review of REWH in Chinese DH systems from status, policy, and literature aspects. • Identification of research gaps based on the review of both international and Chinese journals. • Policy recommendations proposed to promote REWH in Chinese DH systems. • The introduction of international experiences on REWH in DH for analysis in the Chinese context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Taking China's provincial panel data from 2010 to 2020 as an example, this paper verifies that climate change, especially extreme climate change, can destabilize China's financial stability and explores the transmission path of climate risks with meteorological disaster losses as the channel variable. Our empirical results demonstrate that: (a) only after the extreme climate change breaks through a certain threshold, thus causing a significant impact on the financial system; (b) we cannot ignore the improvement of disaster prevention and reduction ability brought by the improvement of social and economic development level; (c) the impact of extreme climate change will spread to the financial system through the economic losses caused by meteorological disasters; (d) there is obvious regional heterogeneity in the spread of meteorological disaster losses to the financial system. Our results are robust to a wider battery of checks and have important policy implications. • This paper empirically tests the impact of climate change on financial stability. • Extreme climate change will damage China's financial stability. • The economic losses caused by climate disasters will spread to the finance. • The transmission of such losses has obvious regional heterogeneity. • This paper provides policy implication for coping with climate risks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As the rapid urban expansion and the rise of consumer society, urban fringe areas have become an essential place for urban capital to intervene and achieve spatial regeneration, and it has triggered the consumerization and transformation of space. Taking Guangming Town in the urban fringe area of Shenzhen as an example, this paper reveals the process and dynamics of spatial consumerization transformation under the influence of capital intervention. It examines the intricate mechanisms of capital operation underlie the production of space, and endeavors to explore a novel model of rural spatial regeneration in China's urban fringe areas. This paper found that the production of space in Guangming Town under the capital intervention includes the material production and social relations production. With the reconstruction of spatial form and relationships, new local products, spatial configuration, social services and organizational relations are generated, forming a consumption space with heterogeneous landscape, market institutionalized management, commercialization and symbolization. The realization of the production of consumption space in urban fringe areas is based on the joint action of core elements such as land, capital and government, which provide the material foundation, operational power and coordination organization for space consumption. These promote capital to complete the triple cycle of "acquiring land - creating space scarcity - realizing space consumption", and then realizing space reproduction and capital appreciation. In the Chinese context, the spatial transformation and production of urban fringe areas should not be regarded as a local practice of Western counter-urbanization or rural gentrification theory. Rather, it as a new spatial regeneration mode that harmonizes urban and rural production, lifestyles and development trajectories. This paper offers valuable practical insights and analytical perspectives for promoting integrated urban-rural development and fostering a new type of urbanization, thereby broadening the regional framework of rural development. • Capital intervention shapes space by material and social relations production, leading to space consumerization. • Land, capital and government are the core elements to achieve production of consumption space in urban fringe areas of China. • China's urban fringe areas realize space reproduction through land acquisition, creating space scarcity, and consumerization. • Space consumerization of China's urban fringe areas is a new spatial regeneration mode, coordinating urban-rural elements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The carbon neutrality agenda requires that carbon lock-in enters an endgame. A well-developed energy system, which is secure, equitable, and sustainable is paramount to getting rid of carbon lock-in and realizing decarbonization. We carry out systematic research to empirically study the possible carbon lock-in reduction effect of energy trilemma based on the instrumental variable-generalized method of moment (IV-GMM) model. We also detect heterogeneous effects in terms of geographical locations and endowments of capital, as well as the impact mechanisms. Moreover, this paper highlights the mediating and threshold role of environmental regulation. We thus get the following conclusions. (1) The paper's primary findings underscore that the continuous increase of energy trilemma exacerbates carbon lock-in and hampers the process of decarbonization; (2) Energy trilemma has a higher stimulating effect on carbon lock-in in provinces that lie in the central region and that have a comparatively low level of physical, social, and human capital; (3) Energy trilemma can also indirectly aggravate carbon lock-in by inhibiting technology innovation and exacerbating carbon emissions intensity; (4) The interaction of environmental regulation and energy trilemma can alleviate the energy trilemma - carbon lock-in nexus, and environmental regulation also shows a significant threshold effect. • We investigate the impact of the energy trilemma on carbon lock-in. • Energy trilemma eradication is an effective way to realize the carbon lock-in endgame. • The nexus between energy trilemma and carbon lock-in is more prominent in provinces with high capital endowments. • Environmental regulation shows significant mediating and threshold effects. • The exacerbate carbon lock-in effect of energy trilemma depends on technology and intensity effect. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Understanding the evolution of the urban spatial structure is of great significance for clarifying the stage and trajectory of urban development and formulating future urban development plans. Given that previous studies have marginally explored the long-term evolution of the urban employment spatial structure, this paper proposes a theoretical model hypothesizing five sequential stages of a complete evolution cycle from the perspective of mono- and polycentricity: mono-centralization, main-centralization, multi-centralization, de-centralization and re-centralization. Further empirical results based on 292 prefecture-level cities in China from 1997 to 2017 support the model and demonstrate that most cities present an evolution in line with the hypothesis, except a few cities experiencing short-term fluctuations, and approximately 60 % of cities are in the stage of multi-centralization, where subcenters have a growth advantage, and the main center has a scale advantage. Additionally, this paper reveals two characteristics of the evolution of the urban employment spatial structure in China: spatiotemporal compression and government intervention. • Propose a theoretical evolutionary model of urban employment spatial structure. • Empirically test the theoretical model based on a sample of 292 prefecture-level cities in China from 1997-2017. • The evolution of the urban employment spatial structure in China gradually tends to be polycentric. • Spatiotemporal compression and government intervention are features of China's urban employment spatial structure evolution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Measure the land dispute intensity (LDI) at the provincial level in China. • The geodetector model, OLS, and SDM models are used to explore the spillover effects of LDI. • Panel threshold model is applied to explore the non-linear relationship between socioeconomic factors and land disputes. Land disputes pose significant challenges to social stability and development. In this paper, land dispute intensity (LDI) is measured at the provincial level in China from 2009 to 2018 and its spatiotemporal evolution characteristics and influencing factors are explored. The ordinary least squares(OLS), spatial durbin model (SDM), geodetector model, and panel threshold model are used to explore the spatial spillover effects of LDI and its potential non-linear relationship with socio-economic factors. The results reveal that LDI is spatially distributed in a decentralized form, with local areas showing the structural characteristics of "single core, multiple clusters". The LDI exhibits a significant positive spatial autocorrelation and follows a "logarithmic" upward trend over time. The urbanization rate (UR), social security expenditures (SSE), and the number of land and resources institutions (NLRI) are important driving forces affecting LDI. The SSE and NLRI have a single threshold effect on the LDI, with a "V" shaped weakening trend, and the UR is an important factor causing nonlinear effects. Interestingly, the effect shifts from inhibition to stimulation when the SSE and NLRI cross the corresponding threshold value. This paper can provide new insights into the governance of land disputes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Global climate change is aggravating the occurrence of pests and diseases, however, pesticide residue caused by the abuse of chemical pesticides is emerging as a worldwide issue with a great threat to the ecological environment, human health, and food security. Biopesticide application, a component of climate-smart agricultural practices, is viewed as a vital alternative for agricultural sustainable development. Due to the additional cost attached to externalities and information insufficiency, the adoption rates of biopesticide are still quite low in most developing countries. By using panel data of 3143 rural households from 2020 to 2021 in Jiangsu Province, this paper builds a theoretical framework of whether and how specialized agricultural service (SAS) for specialized pest control affects farmers' biopesticide application, and then employs an Endogenous Switching Probit model to verify this effect and its channels empirically. The empirical results show that the SAS purchase can increase significantly the probability of smallholders' biopesticide adoption by 30.8%. Without consideration of the self-selection bias, this probability would drop to 16.2%. The potential channels of the SAS influencing farmers' biopesticide application are technology popularization (training) and machinery substitution resulting from SAS. Moreover, our findings also indicate that the effects of SAS on biopesticide adoption are heterogeneous, and vary with farmers' education level, cooperative members, and land size. This paper provides the first empirical evidence for the effect of SAS on biopesticide promotion, which is expected to contribute to agricultural sustainable development and food safety in most developing countries. [Display omitted] • Climate-smart agricultural practices play a vital role in global adaptation to climate change. • We examine the effects of specialized agricultural services on biopesticide application in China. • Theoretical framework and endogenous switching probit model are employed to identify these effects. • Specialized agricultural service affects biopesticide adoption mainly through two channels. • These effects are heterogeneous and vary with farmers' different characteristics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Photochemical air quality models (AQMs) are a vital tool for atmospheric pollution research and have been widely used in various applications, such as air quality prediction and evaluation of pollution control strategies. Before using these models for further studies, it is essential to thoroughly evaluate their reliability and accuracy. While previous guidelines and benchmarks have primarily focused on fine particulate matter (PM 2.5) and ozone (O 3), there is still a lack of benchmarks for evaluating the model performance on primary criteria pollutants such as sulfur dioxide (SO 2), nitrogen dioxide (NO 2), carbon monoxide (CO), and particulate matter with aerodynamic diameter less than or equal to 10 μm (PM 10). The use of air quality models in China has increased significantly in the past decades. However, there is still a lack of standardized benchmarks for the performance evaluation of these models. Building upon our previous work on PM 2.5 and its chemical species, we propose a set of benchmarks for evaluating the performance of the aforementioned four air pollutants. Initially, we identified a total of 475 papers published during 2007–2019 that utilized at least one of the five commonly used AQMs in China. From these papers, we selected 164 articles that provided model performance evaluation (MPE) results of the four primary air pollutants. The three most frequently used Model Performance Evaluation (MPE) metrics were selected to analyse the impact of different model configurations on the reported statistics, including modelling region, season, and emission inventory. Lastly, three commonly used statistical indicators, including normalized mean bias (NMB), normalized mean error (NME), and correlation coefficient (R), were proposed for the validation of simulated NO 2 , SO 2 , CO, and PM 10. Two sets of benchmarks are given, including the "goal" and "criteria". The "goal" represents the best range of performance that a model can be expected to achieve, and the "criteria" represents performance that the majority of studies have achieved. We recommend R values above 0.50, 0.35, 0.45, and 0.40 for NO 2 , SO 2 , PM 10 , and CO, respectively, in order to meet the "criteria" benchmark. If the "goal" benchmark is to be achieved, the corresponding R values are 0.60, 0.55, 0.60, and 0.60. The "goal" benchmarks of NMB for NO 2 , SO 2 , PM 10 , and CO are within ±20%, ±25%, ±20%, and ±25%, respectively; while the "goal" benchmarks of NME for the four pollutants are less than 40%, 45%, 45%, and 60%, respectively. These benchmarks supplement our previous benchmarks for PM 2.5 and its components and provide a more comprehensive guideline for the air quality modelling community in China. • A set of benchmarks for evaluation of the NO 2 , SO 2 , CO and PM 10 simulation over China are proposed. • Three commonly used statistical indicators (NMB, NME, and R) were proposed for the validation of the four pollutants. • The goal benchmarks of NMB for NO 2 , SO 2 , PM 10 , and CO are <20%, <25%, <20% and <25%, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

China is currently facing a critical challenge in completing its second radical energy transition from fossil to zero-carbon energy amidst the impacts of climate change and the international landscape. In order to clarify the concept of energy transition and the challenges facing China's energy transition, this paper adopts a research framework with Multi-Level Perspective to sort out China's energy history. Drawing on China's energy transition experience, this paper derives four key conclusions. Firstly, the energy transition is a comprehensive transformation of the energy system, which is influenced by the macro landscape, socio-technical regime and innovation niche. Secondly, based on the intensity of the transition, the historical energy transitions can be divided into two categories: incremental energy transitions and radical energy transitions. Thirdly, China's past energy transitions are mainly incremental energy transitions. Influenced by the macro environment and socio-technical regime, the transition process is mostly iterative and tortuous. Fourthly, China's energy transition is facing significant challenges in the current stage, with a tight schedule and heavy tasks, and a lack of basic scientific and technological theories and niche innovations. Building on these findings, specific recommendations to policy makers are provided. • The energy transition is a comprehensive transformation of the energy system. • China's past energy transitions are mainly incremental energy transitions. • China's energy transition faces great difficulties at this stage. • China must champion robust institutional reforms and expedite niche innovations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Established conservation key areas identification methodology. • Conducted conservation Gap analysis combining global data with local characteristics. • Delineated six conservation priority levels for the blank areas of nature reserves. The global system of nature reserves is facing adjustment and restructuring towards the goal of harmonizing ecological conservation with regional development. We use multiple ecoregion data at both global and national scales as ecological indicators to explore the gap areas of China's nature reserves, which can help to build a global network of nature reserve systems and lay a spatial foundation for global biodiversity conservation. This paper comprehensively resorts to the ideas and modeling approaches involved in gap analysis, conservation prioritization analysis and eco-region planning. After identifying in both global and national scales the potential areas with gaps in national nature reserves in China, it proposes conservation priority areas and optimization strategies. The study finds that in a global extent, the areas with the gaps in China cover a large area and are distributed widely, mostly on the both sides of the Tengchong-Heihe Line. The conservation priority areas are concentrated in mid-subtropical humid areas, plateau subtropical sub-humid areas and semi-arid areas, and plateau temperate humid/sub-humid areas. These areas are usually not sufficiently protected due to their diversified landforms, complex ecosystems and lack of protection measures. The results have verified and identified the areas with gaps in the building of Chinese national nature reserve system. They may make a unique and important contribution to global ecological conservation efforts in terms of protected area system optimization and conservation network building. This paper analyses the conservation gaps in China's national nature reserves and proposes conservation priority areas for optimising the layout of the nature reserve network. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While localized price competition in many markets has been extensively analyzed, little empirical work has been undertaken in the land market. It is the intent of this paper, therefore, to investigate the nature of spatial price competition among land sellers that compete in concentrated markets within a specific geographical area. Applying spatio-temporal autoregressive model to data from the residential land market in China from 2007 to 2015, we find that, (1) the land market for residential development is highly localized, where land sellers (local governments) respond more strongly to the price changes by "close-by" sellers; (2) larger market share is significantly associated with less spatial price response and higher land price. Placebo analysis using the sample of land supply for industrial development reinforces a causal interpretation of our main findings. Results from this paper permit the conclusion that the supply of land for residential development is not a perfect competitive but a localized competitive market where land sellers controlling a larger share of the market exercise market power to maximize land revenue. • The first study investigating the nature of spatial price competition in land market. • Price competition among land sellers is highly localized. • Market concentration significantly influences the pricing behaviors of land sellers. • Land sellers exercise market power to maximize land revenue. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although mega-city regions have attracted wide attention in China, recent 'metropolitanization' at the multi-city scale is poorly understood. To tackle the void, this paper examines the emergent 'metropolitan plans' (dushiquan guihua) since 2019 and identifies a paradigm shift in metropolitanization from 'territorial urbanization' to 'multi-city regionalism' in China. We find that 1) as a fuzzy and dynamic concept, the metropolitan region has been mainly employed as a policy object for state rationalities and has been upscaled from a city region scale to a multi-city scale; 2) regarding planning practices, the new metropolitan plans function as an overall collaborative framework to support priority tasks for city regionalism in a shorter term rather than formulating long-term spatial strategies; 3) as space of governance, the recent state-orchestrated metropolitan region reflects the newest round of state rescaling process to cope with domestic uneven development and urban issues through 'urban unification', and its materialization heavily relies on concrete cross-boundary projects delivery and coordination through soft governance. These findings not only provide conceptual clarity and relational understandings of the metropolitanization process but also exemplify the distinctiveness of the Chinese metropolitanization approach in terms of scalar logic, planning style, and associated governance mechanisms. This paper furthers the understanding of the divergence and diversity of metropolitan planning and governance practices in different political-economic circumstances. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The role of corporate mergers and acquisitions (M&As) in regional growth and industrial restructuring across spatial scales has been widely recognized, but the sectoral dynamics and locational determinants affecting sub-national acquisition target selection remain underexplored. This paper aims to examine the changing network properties of interregional M&As in various sectors and relevant drivers within the Yangtze River Delta (YRD), an emerging global city-region in China. Based on a dataset of 5764 announced M&A events from 2001 to 2016, the descriptive results reveal that M&As were unevenly distributed across sectors and regions, with manufacturing M&As more dispersed to the peripheral areas (or suburban counties) and service M&As more concentrated in a few major cities. The modeling results suggest that the improved locational accessibility and weakened administrative segmentation have largely promoted the intensity of cross-regional M&A connections at the sub-national scale. Place-specific attributes such as economic level, labor pool, innovative capacity, and policy setting still matter in acquisition target selection, but relevant roles varied across sectoral attributes of acquirers. The paper contributes to the understanding of the industrial dynamics and geographical mechanisms of M&As and their impacts on regional industrial restructuring within city-regions. • Sectoral dynamics and geographical mechanisms of corporate M&As are examined at the sub-national scale. • M&As occurred between manufacturing and producer services grew significantly. • Locational determinants of acquisition target selection vary across sectors. • Improved locational accessibility and weakened administrative segmentation dramatically enhanced interregional M&A connection. • Relationships between M&A and regional industrial restructuring are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article advances an affective geography of state-owned enterprises (SOEs) in contemporary China. Drawing on existing theorizations of the potential roles of affect, emotion, and pre-consciousness in (re)shaping socioeconomic landscapes, we argue for an affective geography based on Ruez and Cockayne's affirmative theorization of ambivalence. The paper contends that SOEs are affective socio-spaces with divergent possibilities arising through workers' everyday life and not just a-priori institutional products of state power. The paper illustrates this framework with a close reading of the assemblage of workers' everyday life with the emergent socio-spatial formations of SOEs. The original case is based on in-depth interviews and on-site observations in 13 SOEs in the Northeast provinces of China. Ambivalent affects include sense of belonging and human kindness. These embody ambiguities and transformation of intense feelings, further acting on workers' ongoing employment practices to actualize the reproduction of SOE socio-spaces and workers' affective practices of "stabilities" and "mobilities". The results strengthen the affirmative meaning of ambivalence in (re)configuring SOE social, spatial and temporal relations. We thus call for further affective geographies that investigate the emergence of feeling-knowing-acting regime of ambivalence with possibilities for multiple becomings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hydrogen and thermal storage can reduce cost of long-term and large-scale energy storage with high efficiency and low or even zero carbon emissions. Their potential in the low-carbon transition pathway of an energy system with rapid growth of energy demand, large shifting of energy supply structure and limited investment budget remains unclear. A long-term power generation planning model is proposed in this paper, featuring detailed technical and economic characteristics of hydrogen and thermal storage. The power supply system of China is selected as a case study, due to its urgent need for low-carbon transition and complex spatial characteristics. Results show that the application of hydrogen and thermal storage can benefit the development of volatile renewable power generation technologies, facilitate the transition towards zero or even negative carbon emissions while simultaneously reducing power supply costs. Hydrogen is expected to be mainly produced in spring and consumed in summer while heat is expected to be primarily generated in autumn and consumed in winter. Shifting from thermal storage to hydrogen storage might happen around 2050 in accordance to the low-carbon transition progress. • A long-term optimization model for power sector considering hydrogen and heat is built. • Potential and operation mode of hydrogen and thermal storage in power sector is qualified. • Hydrogen and thermal storage can benefit the development of volatile renewable power. • Hydrogen and thermal storage may reduce the demand for rare earth minerals for energy transition. • Shifting from thermal storage to hydrogen storage might happen after 2045. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

China's diets are undergoing a profound transformation, and carbon storage loss generated by dietary structure change is increasingly serious, accompanied by concerns about sustainable diets and food supply–demand conflicts. This paper designed a dual 'material–environmental' framework based on the dietary structure classification, around which we conducted the heterogeneity analysis of food supply–demand patterns and land carbon loss, and then tracked hotspot diets of trade-generated carbon loss through the multi-regional input–output (MRIO) model. The research found that 31 provinces could be classified into five clusters with obvious spatial agglomeration patterns, most of which still had a high proportion of staches, but also showed an evolutionary trend towards diversified compositions. Driven by dietary structure, the national food supply–demand match under the material accessibility dimension showed barely balanced overall, while in terms of environmental effects, ecosystems lost significant amounts of carbon stocks, with losses of 331 and 950 Tg 1 1 Tg refers to teragram, a weight unit, 1 Tg = 106 t = 1012 g of vegetation carbon and soil organic carbon, respectively, which together accounted for 14 percent of the total carbon stocks in the vegetation and topsoil carbon pools. The clusters to which Henan, Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Guangdong belong were tracked as hot dietary clusters exhibiting hotspots in inter-regional trade, contributing to carbon loss in external provinces through trade linkages. Heilongjiang and Inner Mongolia were at a low level of supply–demand balance but played the role of a carbon storage loser, while Guangdong, Zhejiang, and Jiangsu not only possessed higher balance levels but also pulled more external carbon loss. China's food system should optimise internal cropping structures and monitor external land use conversion. It is equally important to track food consumption side rights and responsibilities. • The "Material-Environmental" framework to diagnose dietary sustainability was designed. • Provinces could be classified into five clusters with obvious spatial agglomeration patterns. • Land use changes driven by dietary transition have resulted in significant carbon losses of 1281 Tg. • Specific clusters were hotspot clusters that pulled carbon loss from external regions during inter-regional trade. • Diet sustainability enhancement based on land use environmental effects deserves attention. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using a proprietary dataset collected by the National Bureau of Statistics of the People's Republic of China (NBS), we are able to compare earnings reported to the NBS in the pre-IPO (initial public offerings) period with earnings for the same firm and the same year reported in firms' IPO prospectus. While Ball and Shivakumar (2008) find that in the U.K., financials reported at IPOs tend to be more conservative than the original reports, we find the opposite: income reported by Chinese firms in their IPO prospectus tend to be higher than those reported to the NBS. In the year immediately preceding the IPO, the discrepancy is mostly driven by firms inflating earnings in the IPO prospectus to increase issue prices. In earlier years, firms in provinces with weak law enforcement report lower earnings to the NBS to avoid taxes, which also contributes to the discrepancy between the IPO and NBS data. These findings suggest that firms tell different lies to different audiences. The discrepancy between the IPO and NBS earnings is positively correlated with the IPO issue price, indicating that firms are able to increase their IPO proceeds by raising earnings in the IPO prospectus from the original NBS reports. Furthermore, firms with the highest discrepancies experience the most significant declines in return on assets (ROA) and the most negative abnormal returns after the IPOs. Our paper complements the existent literature on earnings quality at IPOs, sheds light on firms' tax avoidance behaviors, and is of practical value to regulators. • Income reported by in IPO prospectus is higher than those reported to the NBS. • Firms have greater discrepancies when the statutory tax rates are higher. • Such discrepancy increases benefits. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Chinese Haemophilia Individualized Prophylaxis Study (CHIPS), which was launched in 2016, reported a significant reduction in haemarthrosis over a one-year study. However, its long-term efficacy requires verification. This paper summarizes the clinical outcomes of 18 severe haemophilia A (SHA) patients who completed one year on the CHIPS and 3 more years of follow-up. Clinical follow-up was based on the CHIPS protocol (from July 2018 to July 2021). Escalation was based on index joint bleeding, and serial ultrasound (greyscale and colour Doppler) examinations of the index joints (both sides of the ankles, knees and elbows) were conducted every 6 months via a scoring system. A total of 18 SHA patients completed the 3-year study. Fifteen patients dropped out due to the financial crisis during the COVID-19 pandemic in China. The median age was 5.4 (range 4.3–6.9) years. A significant reduction in haemarthrosis was achieved, with mean annual bleeding rates reduced from 18.9 ± 2.8 to 1.7 ± 0.4 (p < 0.001), annual joint bleeding rates from 3.1 ± 0.7 to1.2 ± 0.3 (p < 0.028). 5 out of 8 target joint resolved. Sixteen doses were escalated. At study exit, the heterogeneous treatment outcomes of the SHA boys were 5 at step 4 (20–25 lU/kg, every other day), 10 at step 3 (15–20 IU/kg, 3×/week), 2 at step 2 (10–15 lU/kg, 3×/week) and 1 at step 1 (10–15 lU/kg, 2×/week). The mean FVIII consumption was 2964 IU/kg/year, with savings. The quality of life improved, with Canadian Haemophilia Outcomes-Kids Life Assessment Tool (CHO-KLAT, Chinese Version 2.0) scores ranging from 68.8 to 78.8. There was no change in the ultrasound score. Our follow-up data on the 18 SHA boys after completing one year on the CHIPS verify the long-term efficacy of the CHIPS for haemarthrosis reduction, joint health preservation, improvement in the quality of life of the boys and cost savings. • CHIPS achieved significant reduction in haemarthrosis over a one-year study. • Significant reduction in joint bleeding was observed in the follow-up 3 years. • No progression of arthropathy based on ultrasound was observed. • Individualized secondary prophylaxis leads to reduced bleeding in boys with severe haemophilia A. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Exposure to airborne pollution has substantial adverse health consequences. Governments around the world have paid attention to this problem and started to take action to mitigate its harmful effects. In this paper, we investigate how a change in the consumption tax structure affects car emissions by exploiting exogenous variation from a natural experiment that took place in China. Our results show that this tax policy, which doubled the imposition paid on cars with large engines, reduced the emissions of all the pollutants studied, with the most significant decrease of 11% noted in Particulate Matter and Carbon Monoxide. These results have strong policy implications. By showing the effectiveness of this policy, we uncover the possible benefits of replicating it in different contexts. Further, by using information from COPERT, a totally new approach to evaluate tax and environmental policies, we propose new tools for policymakers to generate rich and detailed data that can be used in different contexts to evaluate policies where data from the population of automobiles is needed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study evaluates the economic performance of China's East-West pairing-off poverty alleviation, a policy enacted in 2016 aiming to eradicate absolute poverty by 2020 through substantial fiscal transfers from the assisting cities to the assisted impoverished counties. Employing a counterfactual framework and analyzing data from 2013 to 2018, this research assesses the economic performance of China's East-West pairing-off poverty alleviation. Our findings reveal a negative impact of the fiscal pressure burdened by the assisting cities on their economic performance. Meanwhile, the allocation of anti-poverty funds to the assisted counties does not exhibit a significant impact on their economic outcomes. The mechanism analysis suggests that the fiscal pressure experienced by the assisting cities shows negative impacts on fixed assets investment, innovation activities, and economic growth expectations. Further analysis indicates a negative relationship between the policy and the growth of secondary industry and rural income in the eastern regions, while simultaneously identifying a positive impact on the enterprises' financial burden. These results underscore the complex economic trade-offs inherent in poverty alleviation strategy transferring fiscal funds from developed regions to less developed regions and call for a global understanding of pure cash transfer programmes' impacts. • This paper aims to evaluate the economic performance of China's East-West pairing-off poverty alleviation. • Substituting the investments in physical and social infrastructure for pure cash transfers should be emphasized on a global scale. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]