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Poverty alleviation through relocation (PAR) is a milestone project in winning the battle against extreme poverty. Its aim is to relocate poor people from inhospitable areas and lift them out of poverty. Assessing the vulnerability to multidimensional poverty (VMP) of relocated households is of great significance for consolidating the achievements of targeted poverty alleviation and preventing a large-scale return to poverty. This study constructed a multidimensional poverty index (MPI) of relocated households and analyzed relocated households' VMP and its influencing factors using panel data of 1009 households in 16 counties across eight provinces in China. The results reveal that the mean VMP of the relocated households gradually decreased from 2016 to 2020. Moreover, the VMP of the relocated households that have moved into centralized resettlement communities is relatively low compared to those that have moved into decentralized resettlement communities. In addition, the impact of household endowment on VMP is the highest, followed by supporting policies, such as PAR, industrial development, and employment policy. Therefore, the assistance mechanism must be improved to prevent a return to poverty, enhance the sustainable development capacity of relocated households, and optimize follow-up policies for PAR. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The high cost of medical care and its association with poverty have given rise to a growing concern for developing countries, but how insurance plans affect household income and alleviate poverty has been rarely discussed. This study aims to bridge this research gap by examining a medical insurance reform in China, a major program of the targeted poverty alleviation (TPA) strategy, which offers higher reimbursement rates and lower medical deductibles for low‐income households. We use an administrative data set on impoverished people in a Chinese county to examine how exogenous changes in the medical insurance system affect the income structure of low‐income households. We apply a two‐part model to a Difference‐in‐Differences framework, with households that received reimbursement of the insurance reform as the treatment group and others as the control group. Our results imply that the medical insurance reform could increase the overall household income diversity. The mechanism analysis suggests that the medical insurance reform improves the health conditions of patients and encourages caregivers to engage more in off‐farm work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Extant studies have deployed variable-centered methods to examine predictors of children's nutritional status, and few focus on the double burden of malnutrition among young Chinese children. This paper adopts a person-centered approach and leverages data from large samples of Chinese families (the China Health and Nutrition Survey, CHNS 2004–2015, and China Family Panel Studies, CFPS 2010–2018) to examine trends in the prevalence of stunting, overweight, and stuntingoverweight in early childhood. We developed a hierarchical structure of socioeconomic indicators, including region (Eastern-Central-Western), urbanicity (urban-rural), and family socioeconomic status gradient (four quartiles). We assessed relative risks for malnutrition for 24 subgroups of children from varying socioeconomic strata. Results indicate that the prevalence of stunting decreased consistently while the prevalence of being overweight increased first, followed by a decreasing trend. Moreover, a small group of stuntedoverweight children (4.7%) was identified. Data from the CHNS indicated that children from affluent families in the Central region were prone to being overweight. Data from the CFPS indicate that underprivileged groups (children from poor rural families living in Western China) were at higher risk for both undernutrition and overnutrition than their more advantaged peers. The findings suggest that children in poor, rural areas in Western China should be targeted for malnutrition alleviation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Representations of Christianity in contemporary Chinese cinema are very limited, making the scholarship of this subject underexplored. Filmmaker Gan Xiao'er has made three feature-length independent films focusing on Christianity in China. These films, The Only Sons (2003), Raised from Dust (2007), and Waiting for God (2012), are used for case studies, with close analyses of their narratives and formal elements. They are also examined in the social and cultural contexts of postsocialist China. This article argues that Gan's religious features are significant in the context of postsocialist Chinese cinema. They not only depict the religious experience of Chinese Christians, which has been under-represented cinematically, but also provide a religious critique rarely seen in Chinese films. On the one hand, these films critically engage with the experience of underprivileged people during the Reform period, when economic development and materialism became dominant, while the socialist political system remained. Gan's religious features provide an alternative perspective that cares for people's spiritual needs. On the other hand, Gan's later films interrogate the local religious institution in China, questioning the arbitrary separation of the 'holy' and the 'unholy', proposing a more inclusive approach to the religious concept of love. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study takes China's one‐child policy (OCP)—a widely known policy intervention for family planning—as an example to illustrate that an income‐based penalty scheme for above‐quota births may cause fertility inequality. A couple can legally have only one child under the OCP, and those who exceed the quota are subject to fines. To ensure that this penalty scheme does not biasedly affect only low‐income people who are relatively more sensitive to fines of a certain amount, it was designed to be income‐based, which makes the perceived cost of the rich equal to that of the poor. However, we find that due to the limited liability nature of the financial penalty, it unintentionally created fertility inequality that favors the poor. Relying on city‐year‐level panel data, we find that this mechanism partly explains the lower birth rates in rich cities in the OCP era; the gap narrowed rapidly after the OCP abolition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This study aimed to investigate awareness of tuberculosis control among post-treatment tuberculosis patients, in order to provide a basis for future preventive and control work in this population. Patients and Methods: A cross-sectional descriptive study was conducted on post-treatment patients with tuberculosis in seven districts of Jinan City between July 2021 and December 2022. A face-to-face or telephone interviews using structured questionnaires for the research subjects were conducted by data collectors. Analyses were carried out first for all subjects, and then separately for male and female subjects. Results: A total of 837 valid questionnaires were collected, of which 495 were males and 342 were females. The awareness rate of the core TB knowledge was 82.46%. The ≥ 65 year group in the total group (OR=0.43, 95% CI: (0.28, 0.68)), male (OR=0.47, 95% CI: (0.27, 0.83)) and female group (OR=0.40, 95% CI: (0.19, 0.86)) was lower than that of the control group. Educational level and monthly income are the main factors of TB cognition in total group. People with university or higher education (OR=2.05, 95% CI: (1.38, 3.05)) and with a monthly income of ≥ 6,000 (OR=1.89, 95% CI: (1.10, 3.25)) had a higher awareness rate. The group with current residence in the city was more aware than the reference group. Conclusion: In the future, the communication of the main transmission route, suspicious symptoms, and cure of TB needs to be strengthened for the post-treatment TB patients. The elderly, those with secondary school education or below, agricultural workers and low-income people are the groups with weak knowledge of TB, and they are also the groups that need to be focused on health education. The above information should be focused on the above groups of people in order to educate them in a way that is easily acceptable to them. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Poor access to modern energy services, or energy poverty, continues to be a significant barrier to socioeconomic progress and well-being. The complicated connections between public investment, incentives, supplier chains, and the financial success of energy poverty alleviation efforts are explored in this paper. This research examines the history of eradicating energy poverty worldwide, particularly in China. It examines how these aspects affect the efficiency and long-term viability of reducing energy poverty initiatives. This research synthesizes the evidence on government expenditure patterns and their impact on initiatives to reduce energy poverty via an extensive literature examination. The development of infrastructure, capacity building, and the deployment of energy technology are all made possible in large part by government spending. Financial and regulatory incentives have also been shown to encourage the energy industry's private sector engagement and innovation. These incentives help expand underprivileged groups' access to electricity by creating an atmosphere conducive to investment. This research also examines supply chains' crucial role in combating energy poverty. For the effective installation and upkeep of energy projects, efficient and resilient supply chains are crucial because they guarantee the availability of vital materials and resources. An integrated supply chain strategy may improve project results, save costs, and eliminate risks related to logistical difficulties. Government funding, incentives, and supply chains all have a connection that affects how well energy poverty alleviation programs function financially. Maintaining projects after their first execution requires sustained financial performance. It explores how supply network interruptions may affect financial performance, highlighting the need for robust supply chain management techniques. As a result, this study adds to a comprehensive knowledge of the complex processes underpinning the reduction of energy poverty. It offers insights into developing efficient policies and strategies by examining how government actions, incentives, supply chains, and financial performance interact. These observations are relevant for practitioners, investors, and academics trying to increase access to sustainable energy sources and reduce poverty in addition to policymakers. This report provides helpful recommendations for boosting the effectiveness and endurance of energy poverty reduction activities as nations work to reach global sustainable development objectives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Policymakers around the globe pursue welfare policies that combine equity and efficiency. In this context, the inequity of the benefit cliff and its suppressive effect on the workforce have become urgent issues. However, few studies have focused on marginalised impoverished (MI) groups (who are awkwardly situated and somewhat poor) or on the disparate effects of government concerns and the benefit cliff on land use across different low-income rural impoverished (RI) groups. In addition, few studies have examined subsequent changes in recipients' land use after poverty alleviation policies end in China. To bridge this gap, we scrutinised how government concerns and the changes they undergo cause land use divergence between RI and MI groups based on the economic model of the labour supply and behavioural economics theory. We used data from rural households in 21 national-level impoverished counties to conduct an empirical investigation. Our results suggest that government concerns lead to divergence between the RI and MI groups, creating a benefit cliff of nearly 8000 yuan between them. Government concerns also have a significantly negative causal effect on land dependence and land use efficiency among RI groups for whom the benefit differential has a significantly negative effect on the share of land income. Further, an increase in the benefit differential has a stronger negative impact on land use for RI groups with lower per capita income. In terms of evolving government concerns, the land use efficiency of RI groups falls significantly after government concerns cease; meanwhile, among MI groups, land dependence drops significantly and land use efficiency rises significantly after government concerns begin. In light of this, we argue that the government should use recipients' livelihood strategies as a reference point. This involves applying land elements to bridge gaps in government concerns for MI groups, guiding and nudging them, and integrating multi-channel policy support to ensure the initial velocity and acceleration of RI groups. Such efforts will help RI and MI groups to escape poverty and raise their income to strengthen their livelihood resilience and break the welfare curse. This study provides empirical support for the 'cliff effect' of government concerns, and the empirical findings can serve as a reference for promoting the precise allocation of resources for poverty relief and boosting the effectiveness of relative poverty governance. • Government concerns cause a divergence between RI and MI groups. • Government concerns negatively affect RI groups' land dependence and efficiency. • Benefit differential leads to variations in land use within RI groups. • Government concern shifts result in RI and MI groups' land use transformations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Historical trends in household energy mix and disparities are examined revealing adoption of clean modern energies can effectively reduce energy consumption and associated carbon emission inequalities. [Display omitted] Universal access to clean fuels in household use is one explicit indicator of sustainable development while currently still billions of people rely on solid fuels for daily cooking. Despite of the recognized clean transition trend in general, disparities in household energy mix in different activities (e.g. cooking and heating) and historical trends remain to be elucidated. In this study, we revealed the historical changing trend of the disparity in household cooking and heating activities and associated carbon emissions in rural China. The study found that the poor had higher total direct energy consumption but used less modern energy, especially in cooking activities, in which the poor consumed 60 % more energy than the rich. The disparity in modern household energy use decreased over time, but conversely the disparity in total residential energy consumption increased due to the different energy elasticities as income increases. Though per-capita household CO 2 and Black Carbon (BC) emissions were decreasing under switching to modern energies, the disparity in household CO 2 and BC deepened over time, and the low-income groups emitted ∼ 10 kg CO 2 more compared to the high-income population. Relying solely on spontaneous clean cooking transition had limited impacts in reducing disparities in household energy and carbon emissions, whereas improving access to modern energy had substantial potential to reduce energy consumption and carbon emissions and its disparity. Differentiated energy-related policies to promote high-efficiency modern heating energies affordable for the low-income population should be developed to reduce the disparity, and consequently benefit human health and climate change equally. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Economic freedom has central importance among the nations, however, Chinese economic freedom index declining continuously, leading to the several issues. Particularly, economic freedom is low among the Chinese female population. The world average of economic freedom index in 2022 based on 175 countries is 60 index points, but the Chinese index is 48. To address this issue, this study introduced green microfinance institutions based on Mayoux’s Feminist Empowerment Theory. The objective of this study is to examine the role of green microfinance institutions in women economic freedom in China. A survey questionnaire is used to collect data from female clients of microfinance institutions. 315 respondents responded to the survey and data analysis is carried out by using Structural Equation Modeling (SEM). Results of the study identified that, green microfinance institution’s services such as credit and insurance can facilitate green micro enterprises. The promotion of green micro enterprises causes to increase women economic security, leading to the economic freedom. Additionally, green microfinance policy is a critical factor to promote the positive relationship between green microfinance institution’s services and women economic freedom. Findings of this are helpful for the practitioners to increase women economic freedom in China by providing various services of green microfinance institutions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rising income inequality challenges economic and social stability in developing countries. For China, the fastest-growing global digital economy, it could be an effective tool to promote inclusive development, narrowing urban–rural income disparity. It investigates the role of digital financial inclusion (DFI) in narrowing the urban–rural income gap. The study uses panel data from 52 counties in Zhejiang Province, China, from 2014 to 2020. The results show that the development of DFI significantly reduces rural–urban and rural income inequality. The development of DFI helps optimize industrial structure and upgrade the internal structure of agriculture, facilitating income growth for people in rural areas. Such effects are greater in poorer counties. Our findings provide insights into why rapid DFI and the narrowing of the rural–urban income disparity exist in China. Moreover, our results provide clear policy implications on how to reduce the disparity. The most compelling suggestion is that promoting the optimization of industrial structure through DFI is crucial for narrowing the urban–rural income gap. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The "welfare-to-work" program is a comprehensive supportive policy in the 14th five-year plan period in China. In this paper, a systematical assessment of the long-run effectiveness of the welfare-to-work policy on poverty reduction is of great significance to stimulate the internal impetus of people who are lifted out of poverty to achieve income growth and prosperity and promote regional economic development. Based on the data at the county (city) level in China from 2000 to 2019 and the sustainable development theory, in this paper, a county-relative poverty evaluation system was constructed. Besides, the double difference method was employed to evaluate the effect of the welfare-to-work policy on poverty reduction and test its action mechanism. The findings are as follows: (1) the welfare-to-work policy has a significant poverty reduction effect and presents an inverted "U" shape. In addition, significant achievements have been made in "maintaining employment stability, ensuring income, strengthening skills, and supporting the economy" ; (2) the welfare-to-work policy boosts poverty reduction in counties through infrastructure construction, fiscal intervention, and financial tools; however, the financial tools play a positive role in poverty reduction in the northwest region and suppressed role in the southwest region, and has an insignificant effect in the central region; and (3) there are differences in the effect of poverty alleviation policies of the counties with different sustainable development levels, and the regions with higher development level have a stronger driving effect. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Growing global concern over greenhouse gas emissions has led to a demand for understanding and addressing carbon emissions, with China being one of the main contributors to global carbon emissions, committed to reach the carbon peak by 2030. As a result, much previous research has delved into the drivers of carbon emissions in China; however, few studies have included new energy factors in the extended STIRPAT model when analysing the data, employed more advanced visualisation techniques such as force-directed diagrams, and explored factors outside of the industrial and energy sectors in determining China's ability to reach their environmental goals. In this study, we use the extended STIRPAT model to analyse a more diverse range of drivers for carbon emissions in China and discuss methods to reach peak carbon emissions through the implementation of environmental policies. Using data from China's 14th Five-Year Plan and Vision 2035 to set up two simulation scenarios, we predict China's carbon emissions, introducing ridge regression to ensure validity, and employing big data and visualisation techniques to aid in interpreting results. Our findings suggest that China needs to implement more stringent environmental policies to meet its commitment to reach peak carbon emissions by 2030, revealing that factors such as per capita arable land area, per capita GDP, the proportion of people living in extreme poverty, the level of tourism development, the use of fossil fuels, and new energy technologies have a significant impact on China's carbon emissions. As such, we can recommend more stringent policies relating to the agricultural, energy, and tourism sectors to help China achieve their goal of carbon peak by 2030. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since 2021, China's promotion of common prosperity has captured global attention and sparked considerable debate. Yet, scholarly examination of the Chinese public's attitudes toward this policy, which is crucial for guiding China's strategic directions, remains limited. To address this gap, this paper collects 256,233 Sina Weibo posts from 2021 to 2023 and utilizes text mining methods such as temporal and trend analysis, keyword analysis, topic analysis, and sentiment analysis to investigate the attitudes and emotions of the Chinese people towards common prosperity. The posts holding negative sentiments are also analyzed, so as to uncover the underlying reasons for the dissatisfaction among Chinese citizens regarding common prosperity. Our analysis reveals that China's strategy for promoting common prosperity is primarily focused on economic development rather than wealth redistribution. Emphasis is placed on enhancing education, achieving regional balance, implementing market-oriented reforms, and improving livelihoods. Notably, there is increasing public dissatisfaction, particularly with issues such as irregularities in financial and real estate markets, growing wealth inequality, exploitation by capital, generation of illicit income, and regional development imbalances. These challenges necessitate urgent and effective policy interventions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We explore success drivers of reward-based crowdfunding for poverty alleviation in China. The results from our econometric modeling using data from 4375 reward-based crowdfunding campaigns suggest that poverty alleviation campaigns, as compared to ordinary ones, benefit from higher funded amounts, larger backer numbers, and greater success rates. The results also suggest that poverty alleviation campaigns perform better when the products sold originate from poorer (as compared to wealthier) regions and when price premiums are lower (as compared to higher). We corroborate important findings from the field study with an experimental study, showing that the consumer's feeling of warm glow accounts for the positive effects of poverty alleviation campaigns (as compared to ordinary) campaigns. We expand the applications of warm-glow theory into the context of reward-based crowdfunding campaigns for poverty alleviation and offer new insights into success drivers of such campaigns. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In China, tourism development is a crucial approach to poverty alleviation. With the consolidation of poverty alleviation achievements and the promotion of rural revitalization, it is of great significance to explore the relationship between tourism development and poverty alleviation from the perspective of multidimensional poverty. Therefore, this study took 28 key assistance counties for rural revitalization in the Sichuan–Chongqing region (hereinafter referred to as "key counties") as the research objects, introduced NPP-VIIRS nighttime light (NTL) data, and a coupling coordination degree (CCD) model to explore the coordination relationship and mechanism between them. The results showed that from 2015 to 2020, the tourism development index (TDI) and estimated comprehensive development index (ECDI) of the key counties increased by 112.57% and 115.12%, respectively. In addition, the spatial differences in tourism development and multidimensional poverty both showed a narrowing trend. According to the results of the CCD model, the key counties basically faced coordination obstacles in the early stage, which were mainly transformed into reluctant coordination and moderate coordination in the later stage. This indicated that tourism poverty alleviation showed a coordinated development trend overall. However, the study also found that there may not be synchronicity between tourism development and poverty alleviation and analyzed the mechanism of their interaction. Overall, the study confirmed the positive impact of tourism development on alleviating multidimensional poverty. In addition, the study found that measuring multidimensional poverty based on NTL data has a high accuracy and can provide support for poverty research. These research results have an important reference value for China to carry out sustainable tourism poverty alleviation and comprehensively promote rural revitalization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Literature on the impacts of Chinese development finance to developing countries has suggested that China's links to the global economy are contingent on their foreign policy. This study, however, concludes that China's foreign aid was directed not to countries with poor economic conditions, but toward inefficient and mismanaged economies with higher income inequality. We used a negative binomial model with a mixed effect to estimate the relationship between income inequality and China's foreign aid between 2000 and 2017. Our findings show that the more pronounced the income inequality in a state, the more likely it will receive aid from Beijing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Non-CO2 greenhouse gas emissions from the agricultural sector play an important role in the global warming process. The carbon neutrality target pledged by China accelerates the research and implementation of climate mitigation policies. This study assessed the distributional impacts of carbon pricing on the agricultural sector from a multi-regional CGE model subdividing 12 primary agricultural sectors, 15 processed food sectors and 10 groups of households. The results revealed that in an agricultural carbon tax scenario under 1.5 °C target, emission-intensive food products (red meat and dairy products) experienced rapid price increases (4.22% and 3.14%) and consumption decreases (−6.61% and − 4.30%). The poorest rural households experienced the highest losses of 2.05% in protein and 1.42% in energy due to the decline in food consumption. Regressive welfare impacts were also observed, with the loss of rural residents being 1.3 times that of urban residents. The poorest income quintile tended to suffer a larger loss due to their higher share of food expenditures and greater vulnerability to changes in food prices. Furthermore, income inequality increased under the agricultural carbon tax, and the Gini coefficient increased by 0.57% compared with the BAU scenario in 2050, especially for the northern and southwestern regions. Tax revenue recycling focusing on the poor can help to offset the negative effects by expanding their income. Overall, a carefully designed carbon policy for the agricultural sector could help reduce carbon emissions while protecting vulnerably poor people and regions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Regional poverty is one of the most serious challenges facing the world today. Poverty, antipoverty, and poverty alleviation are the focus of the attention of scholars and the public. This paper takes China's counties as the research unit, selects the influencing factors of poverty from natural and socio-economic factors, establishes an evaluation index system, simulates the natural poverty index and socio-economic poverty eradication index of each county, and clarifies the distribution characteristics of spatial poverty using GIS spatial analysis and BP artificial neural network. The results indicate that natural factors are the main cause of poverty in Chinese counties, with 710 counties having a high natural poverty index, accounting for nearly 30% of the total number of counties in the country. The national county-level natural poverty index shows a clear strip distribution pattern along latitude and longitude, with a strip distribution from north to south and from west to east; socio-economic factors have played a certain role in poverty alleviation, with as many as 1521 counties with low socio-economic poverty alleviation indices, accounting for approximately 64% of the total number of counties in the country. The spatial distribution of the county-level socio-economic poverty alleviation index is relatively fragmented. Through spatial scanning statistics, a total of 44 county poverty pressure index risk clusters reached a statistical significance level, involving 243 counties and districts. In poverty reduction practice, the internal counties and districts of contiguous poverty-stricken areas should strengthen cooperation and exchange. In the process of poverty alleviation and development, targeted poverty alleviation and economic development should be carried out based on the poverty-dominant type and self-development ability of the county, in order to improve efficiency. Regions that are relatively prosperous and have taken the lead in poverty reduction should play a leading and exemplary role in strengthening the radiation power of regional central cities. The prominent feature of this study is the comprehensive utilization of multisource data and the use of new spatial analysis methods (flexible spatial scanning method is widely used in the field of infectious disease prevention and control research). By constructing a multidimensional poverty measurement system that includes natural and social factors, it distinguishes the differences between the factors that cause poverty and the factors that eliminate poverty in regional poverty. At the same time, the flexible spatial scanning detection method was used to detect the differentiation mechanism of poverty spatial patterns. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This study aims to investigate the relationship between financial inclusion and risk-taking by Chinese banks. Design/methodology/approach: It uses the panel data from Chinese banks ranging from 2011 to 2019 and applies system generalized method of moments to measure coefficients. To get in-depth understanding of the relationship between above-mentioned variables, the analysis for commercial, cooperative, listed, unlisted, small and large banks has been done. Financial inclusion index has been measured based on demographic and geographic aspects by using the principal component analysis, and bank risk-taking has been proxied by z-score. Findings: The findings reveal an inverse relationship between financial inclusion and bank risk-taking which implies that an increase in financial inclusion results in lesser risk for the banks, i.e. diversification hypothesis applies. However, the results for unlisted and large banks show a different story where an increase in financial inclusion results in higher bank risk and vice versa. Originality/value: The present study offers several valid and convincing implications for consumers, policymakers and banking sector regulators. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Accelerating efforts for the Sustainable Development Goals requires understanding their synergies and trade-offs at the national and sub-national levels, which will help identify the key hurdles and opportunities to prioritize them in an indivisible manner for a country. Here, we present the importance of the 17 goals through synergy and trade-off networks. Our results reveal that 19 provinces show the highest trade-offs in SDG13 (Combating Climate Change) or SDG5 (Gender Equality) consistent with the national level, with other 12 provinces varying. 24 provinces show the highest synergies in SDG1 (No Poverty) or SDG6 (Clean Water and Sanitation) consistent with the national level, with the remaining 7 provinces varying. These common but differentiated SDG priorities reflect that to ensure a coordinated national response, China should pay more attention to the provincial situation, so that provincial governments can formulate more targeted policies in line with their own priorities towards accelerating sustainable development. The paper reveals areas of common and differentiated SDG priority at the national and subnational levels in China considering synergy and trade-off. The findings suggest that provincial governments should formulate more targeted policy aligning with national priority to achieve SDGs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Targeted Poverty Alleviation (TPA) is an important leverage for China to overcome poverty. While its economic effects are well studied, less is known about the social impact of TPA. Based on trial documents data from the China Judgments Online, we use DID method and find the growth rate of criminal offenses reduced by over 20% after the implementation of TPA. The income growth effect from TPA is the primary mechanism for suppressing criminal crimes. Improved employment plays a role as well. Our work not only reveals the relationship between TPA and the enhancement of societal security, characterized by fewer criminal offenses, in the background of completing the first Centenary Goal, but also sheds light on how to fulfil the Peaceful China Initiative in the second Centenary Goal. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of China Quarterly is the property of Cambridge University Press and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The question how pro-women elements became possible in the state-sponsored movements despite the prevalence of state patriarchy in Maoist China has been on scholars' radar for a long time. Previous studies answered it through researching the nature of various women's groups in the state. Some argued that women's groups were passive followers of the central political agendas, whereas others contended that women's groups exhibited autonomy in creating anti-patriarchy cultural front. Results are diverse partly because they focused on different women's groups. While findings above greatly advanced our understanding of roles of women's groups in Maoist China, few have examined how women's groups acted strategically in different political upheavals, either in complicity or in defiance of state patriarchy. To fill the gap, this research uses the All-China Women's Federation (ACWF)—a national women's group as an example—and investigates its adopted gender discourse and cultural strategies in different times of Maoist China. Drawing on content analysis of ACWF's publication—the Women of China (1955–1965)—this research finds that the capacity of gender discourse to separate itself from class-centered politics (flexibility) and to challenge patriarchal conventions (strength) varied across historical periods. Along with the variation are different cultural strategies. Results above unveil a more complicated relationship between the women's group (i.e., ACWF) and the state in Maoist time. Meanwhile, while existing theories highlighted the contradictory relationship between class and gender discourse, results of this research suggest that a strong class discourse does not necessarily associate with a weak gender discourse in critiquing patriarchal conventions. Instead, with appropriate cultural strategies, gender discourse could utilize class-related topics to challenge patriarchal norms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study explores determinants of attitudes toward gender inequality among Chinese people using five waves of the Chinese General Social Survey (CGSS) and East Asian Social Survey (EASS, 2016). The study uses five survey questions regarding the relative roles of men and women in the family and workplace to measure gender attitudes. Utilizing the pooled data, the study finds temporal changes of attitude: women are expected to be more responsible for paid jobs than before while their job security is not given enough support; meanwhile, women's share in housework is not anticipated to be reduced. The results suggest that the Chinese attitude toward women's roles is stuck between the modern and old eras. Education is found to be the most crucial determinant of attitude. Education is positively correlated with attitudes supporting women regarding gender inequality. In addition, if the wife has a higher education than the husband, the respondent tends to have an attitude toward gender equality. Furthermore, a large part of the urban-rural difference in attitude can be explained by the urban-rural difference in education. These findings have a straightforward policy implication: to reduce the negative attitude toward gender inequality, education for women and rural regions needs to be promoted. Additionally, by combining the Chinese General Social Survey 2017 and the East Asian Social Survey 2016, this study finds that an individual's patrilineal values conflict with the attitude toward gender equality, suggesting that traditional culture is a potential root of gender inequality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The social network is an important way to promote subjective poverty alleviation. Based on China Labor Dynamics Survey (CLDS) data from 2014, 2016, and 2018, this paper analyzes the action mechanism of social networks on the subjective poverty of Chinese residents. The results find that social network acts on subjective poverty through social support and reference groups. Specifically, social networks provide emotional and instrumental social support for individuals, which can effectively alleviate subjective poverty. In addition, when the social network members serve as the reference group, the higher the status of individuals in the network, the weaker the subjective poverty. Secondly, objective poverty is the mediating path between the social support function of social networks and subjective poverty. Finally, objective poverty is a regulator of the effect of social networks as a reference group on subjective poverty. When individuals are objectively poor, the alleviating effect of social networks as a reference group on subjective poverty is weakened. In summary, placing social networks' social support and reference group functions under the same framework helps fully grasp social networks' social benefits. As a result, consolidating China's poverty reduction achievements and focusing on the informal social insurance role of social networks are conducive to alleviating subjective poverty. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Does top-down accountability spur bureaucrats to improve service provision? This paper highlights the potential drawbacks of top-down accountability for building a responsive bureaucracy. Based on an online survey experiment involving 923 bureaucrats in China, we find that bureaucrats are less responsive to citizens' needs when they are exposed to the risk of being sanctioned and the recent remedial policy of principled tolerance cannot offset such effects. In contrast to scholars arguing that increased top-down accountability pressure improves government responsiveness, these findings imply that insulating bureaucracy allows them to do their jobs more responsively. The findings enhance our understanding of accountability and responsiveness in China and beyond. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While modern family-related ideas and behaviors have become more widely accepted in contemporary China, Chinese Muslim minorities continue to hold on to traditional religious practices. Surprisingly, data from our survey conducted in Gansu province in China's northwestern borderlands reveal that Muslims of the Hui and Dongxiang ethnicities reported much higher rates of cohabitation experience than the secular majority Han. Based on follow-up qualitative interviews, we found the answer to lie in the interplay between the highly interventionist Chinese state and the robust cultural resilience of local Islamic communities. While the state maintains a high minimum legal age of marriage, the early marriage norm remains strong in Chinese Muslim communities, where religion constitutes an alternative and often more powerful source of legitimacy--at least in the private sphere of life. Using the 2000 census data, we further show that women in almost all 10 Muslim ethnic groups have higher percentages of underage births and premarital births than Han women, both nationally and in the northwest where most Chinese Muslims live. As the once-outlawed behavior of cohabitation became more socially acceptable during the reform and opening-up era, young Muslim Chinese often found themselves in "arranged cohabitations" as de facto marriages formed at younger-than-legal ages. In doing so, Chinese Muslim communities have reinvented the meaning of cohabitation. Rather than liberal intimate relationship based on individual autonomy, cohabitation has served as a coping strategy by which Islamic patriarchs circumvent the Chinese state's aggressive regulations aimed at "modernizing" the Muslim family. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores how the busy mindset, a common mindset in modern society, affects consumers' evaluations of new products. It proposes that a busy mindset increases the consumer's evaluation of new products and outlines the mediating role of self-efficacy and the moderating role of perceived economic mobility. The study enriches the research on busy mindsets and new product evaluations and makes practical contributions to enterprises in management and marketing. The paper used three formal experiments (Ns = 196, 84, 277). Participants in studies 1 and 2 were students recruited from different colleges in Guangzhou city, China. The sample in study 3 were adults from all over China recruited from www.wjx.cn. This research shows that activating participants' busy mindsets will increase their evaluations of new products, with self-efficacy as the mediator and economic mobility as the moderator. There may still be other mediating explanations, such as a sense of control. Meanwhile, this study's current manipulation method of busyness mainly focuses on writing tasks; thus, researchers can adopt more new manipulation methods of busyness in a realistic context. Marketers can improve consumers' evaluations and attitudes to new products by stimulating their busy mindsets and briefly activating their highly perceived economic mobility. Unlike previous studies, this research distinguishes between time pressure and a busy mindset. Meanwhile, our results show that the effect of a busy mindset differs from the effect of time pressure on new product evaluation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Although China has eliminated absolute poverty, the effects of sickness still pose a threat to the prospect of returning to poverty in western rural areas. However, poverty governance extends beyond solving absolute poverty, and should enhance the family's ability to resist risks, proactively identify the existence of risks, and facilitate preventive measures to reduce the probability of falling into poverty again. This study aimed to assess the health poverty vulnerability of rural households in western China and decompose its determinants. Methods: Based on survey data from 2022, the three-stage feasible generalized least squares method was used to calculate the health poverty vulnerability index. Then, Anderson's health behavior theory model was extended to analyse various influencing factors using binary logistic regression, and the contribution of each influencing factor was decomposed using the Shapley index. Finally, Tobit regression and the censored least absolute deviations estimation (clad) method were used to test the model's robustness. Results: A total of 5455 families in the rural Ningxia region of western China were included in the study. The health poverty vulnerability index of the sample population in 2022 was 0.3000 ± 0.2223, and families with vulnerability ≥0.5 accounted for 16.9% of the sample population. From the Anderson behavioral model, the three models including propensity, enabling, and demand factors had the best fit, and the AIC and BIC values were the smallest. The Shapley decomposition showed that the dimensions of the propensity factor, number of residents, age and educational level of the household head, and dependency ratio were the most important factors influencing vulnerability to health poverty. Tobit regression and the clad method proved the reliability of the constructed model through a robustness test. Conclusion: Rural areas still face the risk of becoming poor or falling into poverty owing to residents' health problems. Health poverty alleviation should gradually change from a focus on treatment to prevention, and formulate a set of accurate and efficient intervention policies from a forward-looking perspective to consolidate the results of health poverty alleviation and prevent widescale poverty return. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The rapid urbanization process has gradually deepened its role in the sustainable development of agriculture, especially in the sustainable supply of food in poor areas, and has attracted more attention from international academic circles. However, the impact mechanism of different dimensions of urbanization on food sustainability in poor areas has not yet been fully unpacked. Therefore, this study focuses on potatoes as a specialty food mainly grown in poor areas of China, explores the impact mechanism of urbanization on the carbon emission intensity of potato production (CEIPP) with the spatial Durbin model, and compares with the carbon emission intensity of staple grain (CEISG) results. The main conclusions are as follows: the urbanization of main potato-producing areas developed rapidly from 2002 to 2020, which is in line with the decrease in CEIPP. The decrease in CEIPP has a significant impact on slowing down the growth of total carbon emissions and has greater potential for reduction, especially in Central and Western China, which has a large poverty-stricken population. Compared with traditional staple grain, urbanization has become a key factor influencing CEIPP. The results indicate that different dimensions of urbanization have varying degrees of impact on the sustainable production of regional specialty foods in China. The improvement of comprehensive urbanization, population urbanization, and economic urbanization reduces CEIPP, while land urbanization increases CEIPP. Therefore, to reduce CEIPP and promote its sustainable development, it is necessary to improve population urbanization and economic urbanization, properly avoid the disorderly expansion of land urbanization, and improve the quality and level of comprehensive urbanization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines the influence of Confucianism on corporate poverty alleviation (PA) participation. We argue that firms in regions with more Confucian temples are more likely to participate in government-initiated PA programs because Confucianism emphasizes common social welfare. This positive relationship is stronger for firms with chief executive officers born in Confucian regions and for firms that are under high media pressure, as the trade-off between social welfare and firm interest is in favor of Confucianism. Using a sample of Chinese-listed firms, we find evidence supporting our arguments. Moreover, we find consistent evidence that firms influenced by Confucianism are motivated to pay long-term attention to PA activities and improve corporate PA efficiency, highlighting the substantive role of Confucianism in a PA campaign. Our study contributes to the business ethics literature by introducing Confucianism into research on corporate social activities and provides practical implications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Poverty eradication is the first goal on the United Nations' list of 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). However, the relationships between poverty eradication and the other SDGs remain unclear, and thus current knowledge is insufficient to support the synergized achievement of the SDGs. China eliminated extreme poverty in 2021, and thus in this study, we analyzed the variations in sustainability and equality related to the environment and the provision of public services in China during the poverty eradication program from 2010 to 2020. We combined statistical data, point of interest data, and environmental monitoring and remote sensing data to evaluate progress in China's 832 poverty-stricken counties. The results showed that the mean values of environmental and public service sustainability indicators improved from 2010 to 2020. In addition, the mean Theil index value decreased from 0.46 to 0.35 during this period, implying a reduction in inequality. Inequality between poverty-stricken and non-poverty-stricken areas accounted for 9.3% of overall inequality among the counties in 2010, and this had decreased to 7.7% in 2020. However, unbalanced regional investment resulted in increased gaps between poverty-stricken and non-poverty-stricken counties in relation to education and health care. Overall, 15% of the population and 54.8% of the land area in poverty-stricken counties experienced both a loss of their advantage in terms of environmental quality compared with non-poverty-stricken counties and greater lags in the provision of public services. Linear estimation showed that investment in poverty-stricken counties should be increased by 226.2 and 72.0% in relation to education and health care, respectively, to eliminate these inequalities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Promoting the accessibility of basic public service facilities is key to safeguarding and improving people's lives. Effective public service provision is especially important for the sustainable development of less developed regions. Lincang in Yunnan Province is a typical underdeveloped region in China. In parallel, multisource remote sensing data with higher spatial resolution provide more precise results for small-scale regional accessibility assessment. Thus, we use an assessment method to measure and evaluate the accessibility of three types of infrastructure in Lincang based on multisource geospatial data. We further analyze the matching between public service facility accessibility and the socioeconomic attributes of inhabitant clusters and different poverty groups. The results show that the accessibility of educational facilities is currently better than that of health facilities in Lincang and that of sanitation facilities is relatively poor. Public service facility accessibility varies significantly among different types of inhabitant clusters, with better accessibility in inhabitant clusters with high levels of population density, aging, and income. Accessibility to healthcare, education, and sanitation is negatively correlated to varying degrees of poverty levels of poor groups, and the mean values of accessibility to various types of public facilities vary significantly across poor groups. Our findings can help inform policy formulation and provide theoretical support for planning and optimizing the layout of public facilities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The Bai people in Yunlong County, northwest Yunnan, China, have used medicinal plants and traditional remedies for ethnoveterinary practices. The Bai have mastered ethnoveterinary therapeutic methods in livestock breeding since ancient times. The Bai's traditional ethnoveterinary knowledge is now facing extinction, and their unique ethnoveterinary practices have rarely been recorded. This study documented animal diseases, EMPs, and related traditional knowledge in Yunlong County, China. Methods: Ethnobotanical fieldwork was conducted in six villages and townships of Yunlong County between 2021 and 2022. Data were obtained through semi-structured interviews, participatory observations, and keyperson interviews. A total of 68 informants were interviewed, and the informant consensus factor and use reports (URs) were used to evaluate the current ethnoveterinary practices among the local communities. Information on livestock diseases, medicinal plants, and traditional ethnoveterinary medicine knowledge were also obtained. Results: A total of 90 plant species belong to 51 families, 84 genera were recorded as being used as EMPs by the Bai people, and Asteraceae plants are most frequently used. A total of 68 informants were interviewed, including 58 men (85.3%) and 10 women (14.7%). The most commonly used EMPs parts included the roots, whole plants, leaves, and stems, and the common livestock diseases identified in this field investigation included trauma and fracture, gastrointestinal disorders, respiratory disorders, parasitic diseases, miscellaneous, venomous snake bites, reproductive diseases, infectious diseases, skin disease, and urinary diseases. Most of the EMPs are herbs (77.78%). Courtyard is one of the habitats of medicinal plants in Yunlong County. Conclusion: Traditional knowledge of ethnoveterinary medicine is related to the local sociocultural characteristics of the Bai. Plants are used in cultural traditions, which, in turn, nourish the plant culture. Cultural diversity and biodiversity are interdependent. This traditional knowledge is at risk of disappearance because of the increasing extension of Western veterinary medicine, lifestyle changes, and mainstream cultural influences. Therefore, it is important to continue research on ethnoveterinary practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Tourism development is often used as a strategy to fight poverty, but in the tourism literature it remains controversial as a tool for poverty alleviation in a poor region. This study adopts a multidimensional framework to measure regional poverty. Specifically, we examine four dimensions, including economics, education, social security, and medical service, to reflect poverty alleviation for a region. Then we establish econometric models to explore the link between tourism and poverty alleviation. The result shows that tourism development has a positive influence on multidimensional poverty alleviation in 73 counties in Guizhou province, a typically poor region in China. The consideration of the multidimensional nature of poverty in this study is more convictive to conclude that tourism can reduce poverty. This study further demonstrates that political pressure, indicated by the time period near the end of the fight-against-poverty campaign and by whether a county has red-culture heritages, affects tourism-led poverty alleviation in China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Temporary workers' health problems in China have raised concerns recently. This study aimed to assess the relationship between temporary employment and three health outcomes with gradient severity and explore mediating mechanisms. Data was obtained from a national cross-sectional survey (China General Social Survey 2018). Compared with regular workers, temporary workers reported more frequent mood disorders (β = 0.197) and disturbance of daily activities (β = 0.132), however, there was no significant difference in serious health risks (inpatient treatment) between temporary and regular workers. Income poverty, subjective social status, and family relative socioeconomic status were significant mediators. The results suggest that temporary workers have higher general health risks, and economic deprivation is the main mechanism. Therefore, Chinese policymakers should provide more inclusive preventive health services beyond the existing health care system focused on critical illness to reduce the general health risks of grassroots workers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]