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To link to full-text access for this article, visit this link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.wsif.2007.03.006 Byline: Steffanie Scott (a), Truong Thi Kim Chuyen (b) Abstract: In this paper we map the predominant interpretations and characteristics of Vietnamese research on gender issues. Through a review of recent articles from the Vietnamese-language journal Women's Studies, we profile the main topics, intellectual influences, methods, and conceptual approaches of women's studies and gender research. The academic orientations that we identify in Vietnam are linked to the country's legacy of relative isolation. However, major economic reforms and an open door policy since the late 1980s have led to increased international exposure for Vietnamese researchers, and contributed to a diversification of research themes on women and gender issues. The paper ends by identifying some of the challenges for enhancing the profile and quality of Vietnamese scholarship on gender. Author Affiliation: (a) Department of Geography, University of Waterloo, 200 University Ave West, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada N2L 3G1 (b) Department of Geography, University of Social Sciences and Humanities, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam Article Note: (footnote) [star] An earlier version of this paper was presented at the 'Gender and Socialism in Vietnam and China Conference', Australia National University, Canberra, Nov. 25-26, 2003. The authors would like to thank Eithne Luibheid, Dawn Currie, and Tran Thi Van Anh for constructive feedback, and Vu Hong Anh for research assistance. All errors remain the responsibility of the authors.

Highlights: [•] China has stringent food production standards to approach zero ecological impact. [•] State support for eco-agriculture is part of the agricultural modernization agenda. [•] Yet state support fosters high-tech farming that excludes smaller producers. [•] Consumer priorities are food safety, not environmental protection or farmer incomes. [•] Some exceptions include values-oriented CSAs, farmers’ markets, and buying clubs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Food subsidies are widely implemented as part of government policies globally to mitigate food insecurity amongst the urban poor. Subsidies to retail outlets are one a type of supply-side subsidy designed to make food more affordable to low-income consumers. China's Affordable Food Shop (AFS) program introduced by the central government in 2011 and implemented by municipal governments is one example. To date, there has been little research examining the effectiveness of the AFS program despite more than a decade of implementation. This paper presents a case study of the program's effectiveness in Nanjing which was one of the first Chinese cities to introduce the program which grew very rapidly in the years that followed. In early 2020, the Nanjing program was closed which raises important questions about its effectiveness and impact. We show that food insecurity in Nanjing is generally low but that increased food insecurity is associated with lived poverty, lower income, and unaffordability of staple foods. Food insecurity is not mitigated by proximity to an AFS Program shop. The paper argues that the program had various deficiencies and a limited effect in reducing food insecurity and increasing food accessibility. These included inappropriate targeting, program redundancy, and competition from supermarkets and public markets. In the circumstances, the decision by the city government to close the program is understandable. • Food subsidy programs in many countries target low-income, food insecure urban populations. • The Chinese central government introduced an Affordable Food Shop (AFS) Program in 2011. • Food insecurity in Nanjing City affects about 20% of the population and varies with level of poverty, income, food expenditure and household type. • The AFS Program in Nanjing has not succeeded in providing cheaper food for low-income, food insecure households. • The limitations of the AFS Program in Nanjing are partly responsible for its closure in 2020. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: The purpose of this study is to determine whether basic arable land protection planning has reduced arable land loss in Fuyang County, Zhejiang Province, China and, if so, to identify how much arable land has been saved by the implementation of land use planning. Land use data covering 10 years, from 1999 to 2008, were collected from Fuyang County for analysis. A logistic discrete-time hazards model was used to model the conversion of arable land, and the effects of basic arable protection planning were estimated. The Youden index was used to determine the cut-off point for predicted probabilities, and the effects were estimated based on the classification with the cut-off point. Furthermore, an analysis framework combining effectiveness-based assessment and goals-based assessment was developed. The results suggest that basic arable land protection planning is effective, with the odds of basic arable land being converted to other uses decreasing by 89 percent compared with arable land outside the basic arable land protection district in Fuyang County, and the conversion of arable land in general decreasing by 72 percent due to basic arable land protection planning. Considering both the effectiveness and goal''s achievement, the implementation of basic arable land protection planning is judged to be effective, but not entirely successful. Certain factors made basic arable land protection planning effective, these include the reallocation of approval rights for arable land conversion to the central government from the local government, the application of new technology in the central government''s inspections of the local governments'' land use regulation and land administration, the raising of compensation standards for arable land expropriation, the creation of a Supervisor of State Land, and the readjustment of the local land and resources administrative system. However, other factors made the implementation of basic arable land protection planning not completely successful, including a top-down administrative system of land use planning, differences of interests regarding land administration between the local and central governments, and the system by which local government cadres'' performances are evaluated. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]