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This research is part of the "Ancient Xuzhou Houses in China: Cultural Memory, Symbol and Process Reconstruction in the Context of Rural Revitalization" project. Traditional houses contain a large amount of cultural value, literacy role, and historical memory. In order to sort out the transfer process more clearly between memory and people, this study set three research objectives. First, spatial memory transmission and literacy role needs to be studied and analyzed. Then, on this basis, we will further study the method of spatial memory transmission and literacy role. Finally, the appropriate medium for spatial memory transmission is analyzed. This study used descriptive analysis to summarize and discuss the results. The results show that spatial memory transmission and literacy is a process of maintaining and transmitting social and cultural values through the use and evolution of architecture and spatial design over time. Symbols in the memory space of residential buildings are containers for storing memories, just like a mobile hard drive that records relevant memory information. Residential buildings and people are like two devices that convey information and communicate through symbols. After comparison, in the dimension of cultural memory, symbols are more social and cultural and are more suitable as a medium for transmitting spatial memory and literacy role under cultural identity. This article explains the relationship between symbols and spatial memory, through spatial memory transmission to describe how common memories are shared and reproduced among collective members through cultural memory, literacy role and symbolic translation. It can transmit cultural and historical memories between different generations and acquires the importance of spatial positioning and environmental interaction in transmitting cultural memory.

The present study aims to examine effective measures to enhance the effects of entrepreneurship education (EE) on university students' entrepreneurial intention (EI) through entrepreneurial self-efficacy (ESE) and grit. The survey used a convenient sample of 758 tourism and hotel management students in China. SPSS macro program PROCESS (Model 4) was used to test the mediating effect, and PROCESS (Model 7) was further used to verify the moderated mediation model. The results indicated that: (1) there was statistically significant and positive relationship among EE, ESE, grit, and EI among tourism and hotel management students; (2) EE significantly and positively predicted EI; (3) ESE played a partial mediating role in the link between EE and EI; (4) grit moderated the indirect effect of EE on students' EI via their ESE. EE is a significant predictor of EI of tourism and hotel management students. Particularly, to improve the influence of EE, entrepreneurial policy makers should design incentive policies that ensure that universities provide EE across various majors. Also, educators should create a supportive and effective education environment so as to improve students' ESE and grit.

Objective: The needs and experiences of Chinese international students in the context of secondary education have been largely under-researched. Tertiary education research has shown international student populations are particularly susceptible to acculturative stressors, loneliness, and isolation in host cultures therefore it is important to consider these factors amongst secondary students studying abroad who are potentially even more vulnerable. Method: This qualitative research explored the experiences and challenges faced by Chinese secondary students in Australia and their help-seeking behaviour. Interview data was collected from 17 participants across two different school settings. Results: Thematic analysis identified three key themes; Adjustment Difficulties, Academic Difference and Help-seeking and support. It was found that the challenges experienced by international students consisted of living, academic and sociocultural factors. Participants reported experiencing cultural discrimination but were reluctant to seek formal help for this. Conclusion: The results have implications for Australian secondary schools given the high number of international students that study in the country. Recommendations are made for how international students can be better supported.

In order to effectively investigate the current situation of biology teachers in Southern Henan, this study used the method of interviews and questionnaires to investigate and analyze the current situation of biology teachers in Southern Henan from their living status and professional development. The survey results show that: (1) The overall satisfaction of biology special post teachers in southern Henan is general, the office conditions can meet the teaching needs, the salary and housing conditions need to be improved, and the spare-time and family life needs of biology special post teachers attract attention; (2) Professional development is generally satisfactory. Specialized biology teachers in Southern Henan are willing to participate in educational and teaching reform, but their participation in teaching and research activities needs to be further strengthened. Specialized biology teachers have a large workload and high labor intensity. In view of the above findings, this paper puts forward some countermeasures for the development of biology special post teachers in Southern Henan, with a view to providing theoretical reference for the follow-up research on biology special post teachers, as well as providing important information for improving the living status of specialty post teachers, promoting professional development and improving the quality of education and teaching.

The Bright Mind Project, sponsored by Morgan Stanley Taiwan and Chinese Association of Gifted Education, was launched in 2004 and ended in 2018. With scholarships, living subsidies, enrichment courses, and counseling provided, this project was tailored for gifted senior high students of socioeconomically disadvantaged families in Taiwan. After the project ended in 2018, a retrospective tracking study was conducted to understand the students' feedback on the project. The findings suggest that students hold a positive attitude toward the project and think it is of great help to their academic performances at school and future careers. They also believe that, with the resources obtained from the project, they have broadened their horizons, enriched their life experiences, and adopted a positive attitude toward life. Finally, students also provided suggestions for the future project like this based on their personal experiences.

The large-scale internal migration from countryside to city over the past 30 years has transformed China's demographic, social, economic, and educational landscapes. There were approximately 35.81 million children below age 18 living with their migrant parents in urban cities without local registration of permanent residence ("Hukou"). Migrant children and their families face many challenges in migrant destinations, such as discriminations, economic insecurity, educational inequality, lack of access to health care, and social exclusion. Migrant children face special difficulties in adapting to new environments, securing quality education, enjoying adequate parental attention, and living in adequate housing. Those children are often denied admission to urban public schools and have to attend schools created mainly for migrant children with insufficient educational resources and poor teacher quality. The migrant children who have the opportunity to attend public schools suffer discrimination from teachers and local urban-resident classmates. Family disadvantages and institutional barriers potentially undermine academic achievement and psychological wellbeing of migrant children. Developing policy and practice to address the critical needs of these children are not only important in itself because of the large number of migrant children involved, but also essential for the future of urban China.

In this study the researcher uses a qualitative research design to discover what makes hotel expatriates remain in their overseas assignments. In-depth interviews, participant observations, and personal documents are used as data collection methods. Four hotel expatriates are recruited as participants of the study. The collected interview transcripts and fieldnotes are further analyzed through the use of grounded theory. Five selective codes found as the dominant themes in this study are hotel expatriates': (a) personality characteristics, (b) motivations to work overseas, (c) challenges derived from overseas assignments, (d) competencies, and (e) roles/identities in overseas assignments. These five main themes are further analyzed and concluded with a coherent theory that explains why hotel expatriates remain in their assignments. (Contains 1 table and 1 figure.)

Given that education quality has long lagged behind in China's rural schools, one-way "partner assistance" no longer conforms to the new situation of integrated urban-rural governance and the equalization of public services. Only two-way "exchange and rotation" with full participation can truly support schools and teachers in disadvantaged areas. All teachers should participate in exchange and rotation to ensure a balanced allocation of resources and achieve equity in education. Achieving the goal of two-way exchange and rotation for both urban and rural areas requires scientific decision-making and step-by-step promotion. Moreover, prejudice and discrimination must be eliminated. Various supporting measures should also be included, such as guaranteeing the equitable and rational primary allocation of education resources, and addressing the issues of teacher transportation, housing, and children's education. Other supporting measures include encouraging more diverse teachers to participate in exchange and rotation, and shifting the management center of gravity downward. [This article was translated by Michelle LeSour.]

This paper examines the effect of homeownership status on individual subjective wellbeing indicators in urban China using a large nationally representative dataset. It is the first to gauge the relationship between homeownership and individual subjective wellbeing in the setting of China and is also among the few empirical studies concerning developing countries. The results show that the homeownership status does have a strong positive effect on both one's housing satisfaction and overall happiness in urban China. Even after controlling for housing satisfaction in the equation, the homeownership status still positively affects one's overall happiness, suggesting that the homeownership status might also contribute to other possible aspects of life satisfaction except for housing satisfaction. In addition, in terms of housing satisfaction, females seem to value much more on owning a house than males, while the subjective benefits of owing a house in large cities seem to be much smaller than in small cities.

Background: In contrast to the top-down government-designated school choice programmes in many countries, e.g. in the UK and USA in particular, school choice in the Chinese context is a bottom-up movement initiated by parents and is characterised by the payment of a substantial "choice fee" to the preferred school, and by competition by parents through the use of cultural, social and economic capital in order to obtain a place for their child in a preferred school. Purpose: This exploratory study aims to investigate the role of economic capital in the school choice process, i.e. how do parents realise their school choices for their children by financial means and what are the respective financial motivations and rewards of schools and the government in the school choice process? Method: This paper is a report on a case study conducted in Nanning, the capital city of a province in South China where school choice is actively taking place. Questionnaires were distributed to 450 parents from three state junior middle schools of different quality (a first-tier school, a second-tier school and a fourth-tier or below average school) with a response rate of about 80%. Follow-up, semi-structured interviews were conducted with 30 representative parents (10 from each school) and three administrators (the head teacher of the first-tier school, a middle manager from the second-tier school and another middle manager from the fourth-tier school). Results and conclusion: The research findings indicate that economic capital has played a vital role in helping children to accumulate sufficient cultural capital for admission to oversubscribed schools, which can in turn reduce the required extra payment for preferred schools. As a unique "made in China" product, choice fees paid by parents to the school of their choice have effectively motivated schools and the local government to cooperate with parents in creating a school choice market. In such a money-oriented school choice process, school places constitute the best value for money, as they generate substantial additional income for both the schools taking choice students and the local government. To many parents, such school places are worth buying. as they believe they will increase their children's chances of entering a first-tier school at the next level of education, and eventually find a high-paid job. However, such highly income-biased school choice tends to exclude children from the working class families and exacerbates the educational inequality that already exists in society.

In the last few decades, in the wake of three major crises in political faith and the overall instability that followed the end of the Cultural Revolution, the post-Mao Chinese government has sought to improve the lives of its citizens and to restore political legitimacy through rapid economic growth that has focused almost exclusively on GDP. This strong focus has brought about rapid, widespread economic growth to China, and has, by classical market standards, been a success. At the same time, issues of social development and human well-being have received less attention. Before the Hu-Wen leadership's formal accession to power, the Jiang-Zhu administration sought to adopt neo-liberal ideas and practices to reform the delivery of social services and the implementation and funding of social policy. In this context, major fields of social policy such as health, education, and housing have been going through the processes of marketisation and privatisation, which have placed much of the financial burden of meeting these social welfare needs on China's citizens. After several decades of privatisation and marketisation in the educational system, the Chinese government has been the subject of repeated criticism for failing to tackle what is popularly known as the "new three mountains phenomenon", namely, the rising cost of health, education, and housing in recent years. Against the wider policy context described above, this article examines the social and political consequences of the privatisation and marketisation of education. It also discusses the major policies and strategies recently adopted by the Chinese government to restore the role of the State in the education system in order to address the negative consequences of the privatisation of education. Finally, it critically examines the main implications of major reforms undertaken in higher education in Mainland China.

Fifty-six students studying at a Chinese college in a southern province were surveyed for this study and asked to describe their experiences if they were to wake up one day to find themselves in the United States as U.S. citizens. A content analysis was performed for the final analysis of the raw data. Chinese students' views on the U.S. varied but mainly focused on the positive aspects of life in America. This researcher therefore concluded that Chinese students surveyed through this study did not have realistic views of life in the U.S. (Contains 1 table.)

A total of 4,746 Hong Kong students, aged 14-15, participated in the 2000-2001 Health Related Behavior Survey. Results produced by the logistic regression models revealed that non-private housing was significantly associated with ever-use of ecstasy in boys. Moreover, girls in non-private housing were significantly more likely to have been persuaded to use ecstasy, ketamine, and marijuana, as well as to have ever used ecstasy. Furthermore, having older siblings was significantly associated with ever-use of ecstasy in girls. These findings suggest that low family affluence and having older siblings may contribute to exposure to illicit drugs in early adolescence. (Contains 5 tables.)

Background: The concepts of quality of life and family quality of life (FQOL) are increasingly being studied in the field of intellectual disabilities (ID) in China as important frameworks for: (1) assessing families' need for supports and services; (2) guiding organisational and service delivery system changes; and (3) evaluating quality family outcomes. The present study focused on exploring the perceptions of Chinese families who have a child with an ID regarding FQOL as well as examining the factor structure of FQOL concept from Chinese families. Methods: The Chinese version of the "Family Quality of Life Scale" was used to survey Chinese families living in the urban and suburban areas of Beijing who have a child with ID. A total of 442 families participated in this study. Confirmatory factor analysis was used to test the factor structure of FQOL. Multivariate analysis was also used to examine group differences among families in terms of family demographic variables. Results: A five-factor structure of the FQOL construct was found in the Chinese sample, suggesting a similar factor structure found from US families in the literature. Different living conditions (e.g. housing and transportation) tended to affect significantly families' satisfaction ratings of their FQOL. It is also found that family income and severity of disability of the child are predictors of families' satisfaction ratings of FQOL. Conclusion: The preliminary findings of this study suggest a cross-cultural factor structure comparability of FQOL between samples in the USA and China. Results call for further examination of the family-centred service and support as a mediator on the interactive relationship between family characteristics, family needs and FQOL outcomes.

The aim of this study is to measure the short-term impact of involuntary migration resulting from China's Three Gorges Dam project on the 1.3 million persons being displaced. We focus on the social, economic, and mental and physical health impact using three sets of indicators. Using a prospective research design, we gathered information about these indicators from a sample of migrants first before they moved and then again after they moved. Changes in the migrants' wellbeing during the period, when benchmarked to corresponding changes computed for a control group of non-migrants, are attributed to the impact of involuntary migration. Our results showed that although the displaced have enjoyed a relative gain in housing quality, most of the changes were in the negative direction and many of such negative changes were statistically significant.

The dollar, once one of the world's strongest currencies, has fallen dramatically in recent years--a development impacting attitudes from corporate boardrooms to the sets of music videos where artists are choosing to flash the euro over American cash. When measured against a collection of other leading worldwide currencies--like the European euro, the Japanese yen and the Canadian dollar--the U.S. dollar has lost a quarter of its value over the last five years, according to the "Economist" magazine. The dollar is losing value because of several factors: the federal deficit, the trade deficit and most recently, the weakening economy due to the housing and mortgage crunches. (Contains 4 online resources.)

This article mainly introduces the contemporary changes in Chinese family and especially analyses the transformation of family structure and type, family housing conditions, family relationship network, the relationship between husband and wife and parenthood. In addition, it discusses the influence of family changes in the socialization of children. Then it expounds the new transformation in children's socialization because of family, school, mass media, etc. Finally, it discusses its challenge and reflection to family and pedagogue.

Evaluation activities in China are examined, focusing on housing reform. How evaluation functions in justifying the political initiatives of the Chinese Communist Party is explored, and the possibility that evaluation research can become an academic field in China using Western methodology is discussed. (SLD)

Describes the current state of and the effect of new policies on Chinese families, in terms of marriage, family planning, housing, income, lifestyle, food practices, clothing, health care, education, religion, status of women, and retirement. (SK)

Using data from China Migrants Dynamic Survey (CMDS), this study finds that migrants' housing expenditure pressure is negatively associated with their physical health. And the impact is mainly reflected in three aspects: the crowding-out effect, overtime working effect, and psychological anxiety effect. The association between migrants' housing expenditure pressure and their physical health varies across individual characteristics and home ownership types. Our findings carry many policy implications from the perspective of improving the physical health level of migrants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Turnover intention (TI) indicates an employee's intention to depart from their current role within a defined timeframe. In China, the Targeted Admission Medical Education (TAME) program, initiated in 2010, offers tuition-free education to cultivate rural doctors. Despite continuous professional development (CPD) being considered a viable retention strategy, TI of alumni doctors from the TAME program remains high in recent years. This study aims to describe the prevalence of "turnover intention" among alumni doctors of the TAME program doctors in rural placements, and associated factors that predict high turnover intention. Methods: A snowball sampling method was adopted to collect survey responses from 1,369 alumni doctors of the TAME program in Jiangxi Province, China. Based on the survey data, a binary variable was constructed to measure the turnover intention, and multivariate binary logistic regression models were used to investigate the relationship between doctors' turnover intention and demographic characteristics, work environment characteristics, and CPD activities. Results were presented using adjusted odds ratios with 95% confidence intervals. Results: Among the 1,369 alumni doctors of the TAME program surveyed in this study, 392 (28.6%) expressed intentions to leave their current positions. Of the respondents, 620 (45.3%) were female, and 930 (67.9%) were married. Additionally, 1,232 respondents (90%) indicated that their fathers were engaged in farm work. Strong associations with turnover intention were notably found among individuals who had undergone training at a higher-level healthcare institution for more than three months (aOR = 6.810, 95% CI: 3.333 to 13.909, p-value < 0.001), particularly those who had participated in CPD through a graduate degree program (aOR = 1.818, 95% CI: 1.272 to 2.597, p-value < 0.001). Conclusion: Rural doctors in China from the tuition-free medical education program exhibit high turnover intention, especially those in graduate degree programs as CPD. To retain these highly qualified rural doctors, it is vital to offer competitive efficiency wages aligned with their skills and provide ample long-term career growth opportunities within the rural healthcare system. Highlights: Retaining rural doctors in China who graduated from the tuition-free medical education program continues to pose a significant challenge. High turnover intention is particularly prevalent among those enrolled in CPD graduate degree programs. Offering competitive efficiency wages and creating abundant long-term career growth opportunities within the rural healthcare system are essential measures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Community dependence reflects individuals' daily needs for community space and facilities and is closely related to the accurate allocation of social resources and human quality of life. This study examines the differences in community use and dependence among different income groups at the overall and community levels from the perspective of the microscale individual activity space. Compared with non‐low‐income groups, low‐income groups are generally more dependent on their communities during their daily lives. However, these differences are diverse among different communities; they are more moderate among different income groups in communities located in central city areas and significant among different income groups in suburban affordable housing communities. The regression models reveal that in addition to income, the characteristics of activities and built environment attributes also affect individuals' community dependence. Social policies should prioritize the quality and quantity of community resources for vulnerable suburban groups. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aimed to determine dust-phase phthalate levels in 112 dormitories of 14 universities during autumn and winter, investigate their potential sources, and estimate phthalate exposure via dust ingestion. Twelve phthalates were detected, among which di-(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate (DEHP) and dicyclohexyl phthalate (DCHP) were the most abundant, followed by di-isobutyl phthalate (DiBP) and di-n-butyl phthalate (DnBP). The median concentrations and contributions of DCHP and DEHP were the highest. The contributions of di-n-octyl phthalate and di-nonyl phthalate were higher in winter than in autumn. Potential sources included iron furniture, chemical fiber textiles, clothes, and personal care products. Medium-density fiberboard furniture is a potential sink for phthalates. In two seasons, DEHP, DCHP, DiBP, and DnBP were the main phthalates ingested by college students. The median oral exposure of ten phthalates was higher in females than in males. College students have a high risk of exposure to DEHP in dormitories. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Informal housing accommodates a large number of populations in the worldwide and has received considerable attention. However, there is still a lack of understanding on the diversified informal settlers and their housing incentives, constraints, and risks they face. Based on existing research on property rights and informal settlements, this study presents a conceptual framework that includes four dimensions of property rights (the right of possession, the right of use, the right to earn rental income and the right of transfer) to explore the de facto property rights of Small Property Rights Housing (SPRH) owners for a better understanding on informal housing ownership and its relationship with formal and informal institutional arrangements in China. In-depth interviews with SPRH owners were conducted to explore the de facto property rights of SPRH ownership. Findings reveal that the "small" property rights shaped by formal and informal institutional arrangements have resulted in unique housing values of SPRH. Such housing values have met a wide range of housing needs and motivated heterogeneous social groups to obtain SPRH ownership in urbanizing China. Constructive attempts to clarify the "small" property rights of SPRH should consider the different social groups of informal housing owners and their diversified housing needs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Most microeconomic models consider that expanding the land supply would enlarge the housing stock, reducing the pressure on house prices to increase. Using 234 prefecture-level city data from 2011 to 2020 in China, we find land supply is positive with house prices, suggesting this widely used conclusion is invalid in China. Besides, the positive relation between house prices and land supply is more pronounced in the higher house price area. We consider local governments utilize the relevant land revenue to attract industries and build infrastructure, resulting in a positive externality of increased land supply and a rise in housing prices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the relationship between the head of household's risk tolerance and household debt in China for a sample drawn from the China Household Finance Survey, 2011, 2013, 2015 and 2017. The effect of risk tolerance on both the decision to hold and the amount of total household debt, housing debt and non‐housing debt held is analyzed. The key findings indicate that risk tolerance is positively associated with household debt and non‐housing debt. Differences are found in the effect of risk tolerance on household debt across rural and urban households. For example, there exists a positive relationship between risk tolerance and the probability of holding housing debt for rural households while such a relationship is not found for urban households. In addition, the effect of risk tolerance on household debt is larger for rural households. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

China's urbanization has led to massive demolition and resettlement projects on the edge of the expanding cities, moving affected villagers into resettlement housing. This study examines the consequent changes in family property structures, focusing on how resettlement housing was redistributed between sons and daughters. This study draws on fieldwork in the suburban area of an expanding city in Shandong, Eastern China, and analyzes in-depth interviews about how resettlement housing was divided in families that had (1) both sons and daughters, (2) sons only, and (3) daughters only. The findings suggest that the sons' privilege in receiving housing properties was more salient in families with more children (three children or above) and with both sons and daughters. In small families (with one or two children) or daughter-only families, it was more likely for siblings' needs and daughters' contributions to be mentioned in the division of properties; when daughters adjusted their family roles, such as assuming the role of the 'heir,' their negotiation for inheritance rights changed. Built on studies about how local governments and rural communities have ignored or reproduced gender inequality in property structures in urbanization, this study illustrates how gendered access to housing varies across family structures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tourism as a nontradable sector affects regional price indexes. However, the effect of tourism on urban housing prices has not been sufficiently studied. This study uses panel data for prefecture-level cities in China to empirically examine the effect of tourism development on urban housing prices. The findings indicate that tourism development can increase urban housing prices, and the effect mainly comes from domestic tourism. This conclusion is not only derived from the instrumental variable method considering endogenous problems but also verified by multiple robust methods including quantile regression. Meanwhile, the study innovatively identifies the mediating role of investment effect, income effect, and public service effect in the impact of tourism on urban housing prices. It further shows the heterogeneity of cities, with more significant effect of tourism on urban housing price in small- and medium-sized cities, noncentral cities, central and western cities, and nontourist cities. This study reveals the commonality and particularity of the impact of tourism development on urban housing price. It not only enriches the research on tourism economics from the perspectives of the relationship between tourism and real estate but also further enriches the relevant conclusions and theoretical mechanism of the impact of tourism on housing prices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reviews a large number of scholarly articles in the housing field spanning the last thirty years, from 1993 to 2022 by implementing bibliometric analysis method. We examine scientific outputs, identify influential articles, journals, international collaboration and evolution of research trends. Keywords such as "Housing price," "Housing policy," "Affordable housing," "Homeownership," "Housing market," "Urban planning," and "Neighborhood" have been identified as the most prevalently cited terms during this period. Furthermore, the prominence of terms such as "China," "Gentrification," "Public housing," "Social housing," "Homelessness," "Migration," "Urbanization," "Energy," "Inequality," "Land use," "Gender," and "Foreclosure" have grown in importance, pointing to future research trends. The analysis also reveals that articles pertaining to the COVID-19 pandemic predominantly address the comprehensive effects of the virus on aspects of mental and physical health, consumer behavior, and economic and societal challenges. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

During China's transition towards land and housing marketization in the 1980s to 1990s, a series of legal and policy arrangements led to the separation of land ownership from land-use rights, followed by the separation of housing ownership from land-use rights. This has institutionally fragmented the housing property rights, allowing properties to be financialized as collaterals. Consequently, the fragmentation of housing property rights inflicts substantial risks on judicial auctions of foreclosed housing. As China's real estate sector is grappling with a mounting debt crisis, it becomes imperative to enhance the efficiency of judicial auctions to address bank debts and stabilize the housing financial system. By employing the cs-QCA method with a dataset comprising 136 cases of foreclosed properties, this study reveals the critical role of various configurations of property-rights risks in determining the outcome of judicial auctions. Additionally, it identifies the importance of credible commitments offered by the courts in mitigating property-rights risks. The research expects to provide practical and theoretical insights for China's courts and financial institutions to manage foreclosed properties effectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study revisits the concept of anxiety and affective dimensions through an analysis of social media related to affordable housing property in Hegang, a small city located in the northeastern part of China. We build on Calum Matheson’s reconceptualization of anxiety as arising from networks of affective investment along with Sara Ahmed’s concept of the sociality of emotions and Lauren Berlant’s notion of cruel optimism. The essay sees rhetorical anxieties as affective vacillations from constant adaptions to an impasse caused by the polarizing effect of a rising neoliberal order, manifested as shifted orientations toward objects of desire and happiness. Constant vacillations may lead to a state of restlessness where anxiety is sedimented to routines and thus recedes to the background, making anxiety ambivalent in shape and unpredictable in trajectory. Viewing rhetorical anxieties as affective vacillations offers insights into their manifestations as anxious encounters and constant affective (re)investments. This reimagination of anxiety has implications on both theoretical inquiries of rhetorical anxieties as affects and practical understandings of the rise of the recent youth counternarratives in China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Causal evidence of housing premiums of new metro lines is indispensable for financing and governing infrastructure investments. Previous studies have investigated the housing effects of urban rail transit with varying methods, while causality remains unsettled. This study used a natural experiment to estimate the causal effects of the new metro interventions on housing premiums in Shenzhen, China. We used metro planning knowledge, reasoning on pursuits in land finance and engineering efficiency to verify the as-if randomness of the treatment–control group assignment in the natural experiment to reinforce the power of causal inference. We applied hedonic difference-in-difference (DID) models to estimate the average treatment effects based on the longitudinal housing price and rent data. We found that housing rents increased significantly and consistently after the metro entered operation, but the price premium varied. In addition, the rent premiums around new metro lines showed a price gradient over the distance to stations. Our findings provide scientific evidence for designing value capture mechanisms (e.g. value-added property tax and rent revenue) to recover metro investment costs in China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The examination of housing shortages in China presents a fascinating subject that is rarely directly addressed. This topic not only captures our interest due to the irony in a communist country but also in light of the profound transformation of Chinese society, evolving from an agrarian civilization to a modern industrialized state. The objective of this essay is to establish a comprehensive framework that encompasses economic, social, and architectural narratives as an integrated whole. This essay delves into the historical trajectory of housing shortages in modern China, tracing the evolution of this issue within Chinese society since the founding of the communist regime in 1949. Given China's unique industrial and residential policy framework, housing provision is intrinsically linked to state-owned factories and residential certification, commonly referred to as hukou. As the political and economic foundations have shifted over time, so too has the root cause of housing shortages. In addition to general historical and theoretical research, we have undertaken an in-depth examination of Lanxi City, one of the industrial clusters established in China. The case study of Lanxi City involves a series of visits and interviews conducted within local factories and communities. Our analysis identifies two distinct phases in this evolution: the "fundamentalist communist era" and the transitional period toward a market economy. Each of these eras can be further subdivided into four distinct phases, providing a more nuanced perspective. Our findings reveal that various housing distribution mechanisms have contributed to the issue of housing shortages. During the first era, housing shortages were primarily a result of hukou restrictions, industrial disparities, sluggish construction processes, and corporate profit considerations. In the latter phase, spanning the 1980s and 1990s, housing shortages were exacerbated by escalating costs and a slow rate of housing unit replenishment. As the new millennium unfolded, real estate bubbles compounded the housing crisis, with older neighborhoods ill-suited for modern living. Our interviews and visits complemented our literature research, offering valuable insights into the systemic exploitation of specific groups in pursuit of broader goals, hence the title. This paper underscores the housing shortage in China as a consequence of economic disparities between urban and rural regions, as well as between the prosperous East coast and the underdeveloped West hinterland. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The policy objectives of affordable housing programs in China are two-fold: on the one hand, they are designed to assist low- and moderate-income families and reduce inequality; on the other hand, they are intended to lower commodity housing prices. However, the effects of affordable housing land on housing prices, particularly the between-city variation and the mechanisms behind the market effects, have not been sufficiently examined, making it difficult to evaluate the housing policy and improve it accordingly. In this study, we address these gaps by using a prefecture-level panel dataset covering 2009–2020, obtained from national land and housing transaction information platforms. We use a threshold model to investigate the threshold effect of population size and a mediating model to uncover the channels through which the supply of affordable housing land affects housing prices. The results confirm that the affordable housing land supply can have a beneficial influence in terms of slowing down the increase in housing prices. The population size plays a significant role in explaining the between-city market effect variations. In cities with a population greater than 10.78 million, increasing the supply of affordable housing land would cause the housing prices to increase. Meanwhile, in cities with smaller populations, increasing the supply of affordable housing land could lower the housing prices. The underlying mechanisms of the market effects vary across cities with different population sizes. Although affordable housing land crowds out commodity housing land in all cities, housing demand diversion only exists in cities with a smaller population. At present, China is experimenting with city-specific housing policies; our findings imply that decision makers should explore additional policy options, besides building on incremental construction land, in order to make housing more affordable in supercities in China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the decade leading to the Great Recession, the United States experienced rising house prices and current account deficits, whereas China and other fast‐growing Asian economies saw rising house prices accompanied by current account surpluses. To explain these differences, we study a transition path in a two‐country life‐cycle model with housing once the two economies become financially integrated. We allow for asymmetries in productivity growth, the loan‐to‐value ratio, the life‐cycle wage profile, and the population structure across countries. Our findings highlight that differences in the life‐cycle pattern of the wage income profile are key to obtaining our results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: There is limited evidence on the association between housing debt and depressive symptoms in China. This study aimed to examine the impact of housing debt on depressive symptoms and explore the heterogeneous impacts arising from two sources of housing debt and two types of housing demands. Methods: Using data from the 2016 and 2018 China Family Panel Studies (CFPS), this study included 25,232 Chinese individuals. Depressive symptoms were assessed using the eight-item Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale (CES-D8). Housing debt was measured by dummy variables, indicating whether an individual had housing debt, and continuous variables, which were the logarithm of the total amount of housing debt. The two-way fixed effects model was used to examine the relationship. Results: Housing debt had a significant positive impact on depressive symptoms in China. Individuals with housing debt had a 0.176-point higher depressive symptom score than those without housing debt. A 10% increase in the total amount of housing debt led to a 0.16-point increase in depressive symptoms. Non-bank housing loans significantly increased the level of depressive symptoms with a larger coefficient (coef = 0.289), while the impact of bank housing loans was small and not statistically significant. In terms of the types of housing demands, a positive impact was observed only among individuals who had only one property meeting their housing consumption demands. Conclusions: This study found a significant positive impact of housing debt on depressive symptoms, primarily driven by non-bank housing loans. Furthermore, housing debt increased the depressive symptoms among individuals with consumption demands, while those with investment demands did not show a significant impact. Government interventions should prioritize easing formal financial constraints and providing support for individuals with housing consumption demands. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Urbanization precipitates substantial economic transformations, with housing markets playing a pivotal role. The expansion of cities escalates housing demand, subsequently increasing housing debt, which is a crucial factor influencing household consumption. This study utilizes data from six rounds of the China Family Panel Studies (CFPS) spanning 2010 to 2020 to investigate the impact of housing debt on household consumption in urban China. Given the dynamics changes in housing debt status, as well as the endogeneity problems caused by reverse causality and selection bias between households' debt decisions and consumption behavior, this study employs both the difference-in differences with multiple periods and groups ( D I D M ) model and the two-way fixed effects model. The results show that the average consumption expenditure of households with housing debt is 14% higher than those without. A 1% increase in housing debt size correlates with a 0.011% rise in consumption. Moreover, this positive effect is more pronounced among low-income households and those with older household heads, as well as those owning multiple properties. Compared to non-durable consumption, the impact of housing debt is more substantial on durable consumption. Further mechanism analysis reveals that the effect of housing debt on household consumption is primarily driven by an increase in housing assets, spurred by the rising housing prices. This study underscores the importance of integrating housing debt management within the framework of sustainable urban development, which not only ensures equitable access to housing but also fosters the promotion of sustainable consumption. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Urbanization progress in developing countries is reflected in the urban living conditions of their rural migrants. Housing quality, in particular, is linked to migrants' social integration and development of human capital. In China, where urban housing is highly stratified by urban citizenship via the "hukou" or household registration system, improving housing quality is a top priority for the central government in its pursuit of human-centered urbanization. Despite some social and economic elements affecting migrants' housing quality being documented, few studies have analyzed the determinants of rural migrants' housing quality from the perspective of rural landholdings or possession of use rights of rural lands, which is endowed by the land system of China. Using large micro-data from the China Migrant Dynamic Survey (CMDS), this study investigates the association between hometown landholdings and rural migrants' housing quality in their host cities. The empirical results suggest that possessing rural landholdings in their hometown is negatively correlated with rural migrants' housing quality in their host cities, wherein rural migrants' hukou transfer intention is found as an intermediary factor. Furthermore, the heterogeneity of the relationship across demographic characteristics and regions was investigated. In addition, short-term revenue derived from hometown landholdings is also verified to have a very limited positive effect on migrants' housing quality. Land transfer policies customized for subgroups of rural migrants across sociological attributes and urban stratification are concluded finally. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the impacts of local housing sentiments on the housing price dynamics of China. With a massive second-hand transaction dataset, we construct monthly local housing sentiment indices for 18 major cities in China from January 2016 to October 2020. We create three sentiment proxies representing the local housing market liquidity and speculative behaviors from the transaction dataset and then use partial least squares (PLS) to extract a recursive look-ahead-bias-free local housing sentiment index for each city considered. The local housing sentiments are shown to have robust predictive powers for future housing returns with a salient short-run underreaction and long-run overreaction pattern. Further analysis shows that local housing sentiment impacts are asymmetric, and housing returns in cities with relatively inelastic housing supply are more sensitive to local housing sentiments. We also document a significant feedback effect between housing returns and market sentiments, indicating the existence of a pricing-sentiment spiral which could potentially enhance the ongoing market fever of Chinese housing markets. The main estimation results are robust to alternative sentiment extraction methods and alternative sentiment proxies, and consistent for the sample period before COVID-19. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Studies have revealed an association between the built environment and the health of older adults. However, few studies distinguish between the objective and perceived built environments and explore their associations with older adults' health, especially when considering housing differentiation. Drawing on a survey of 426 older adults in ten residential neighbourhoods in Dongfeng Township, Beijing, this study employed structural equation modelling and the Kruskal–Wallis test to analyse the relationship between the built environment of different housing types and older adults' health. The findings revealed that the objective and perceived environments were significantly associated with older adults' health, with physical activity and social interactions as mediating factors. The perceived built environment mediates the relationship between the objective built environment and older adults' health. Moreover, it was observed that the relationship between the built environment and older adults' health varied depending on housing type, which is a crucial reflection of spatial non-stationary in the relationship between health and environment. Therefore, the varying impacts of different housing types on older adults' health should not be overlooked when developing planning and other policies for aging-friendly cities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The building operation sector in China represents 22% of the national energy consumption and 22% of the carbon emission, of which urban residential buildings accounted for 24% in 2019. Such figures for the housing sector are projected to increase sharply in the near future, while China aims to peak CO2 emissions by 2030 and reach neutrality before 2060. To reduce the impacts of the urban housing sector and address the energy use and waste generated by large-scale demolition and reconstruction, the central government started promoting the energy retrofit of urban residential buildings, raising such policies to the national strategic level. Jiangsu Province is one of the most urbanised, with a rapid growth in the energy consumption of residential buildings. The Multi-Danyuan and Single-Danyuan Apartment built in 1980–1999 are the most representative residential types in its urban areas. While still adequate functionally, they were designed and built to low energy standards and show significant potential for energy retrofit. Nonetheless, their current performance and energy-saving potential are under-researched, while more detailed and reliable data would be critical to support retrofit design and policy making. This study investigates and characterises the typical use and energy performance of the two building types. Additionally, seven measures and six retrofit scenarios were identified based on the optimal energy reductions and regulations from selected countries. The simulations indicate that, without intervention, the energy consumption of the typical urban residential buildings can reach 122 kWh/m2 under the typical high-energy user scenario. By selecting a set of effective energy-saving measures, the operational energy use for heating and cooling can be reduced by up to 52.4%. Current local standards prove cost-efficient, although less effective in reducing energy use compared to international best practices, indicating potential improvements to the contribution of building retrofit towards achieving the national carbon reduction goals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]