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The dried rhizomes of Coptis chinensis hold significance in Chinese medicine. Monocropping C. chinensis under the shade of a manmade scaffold, the primary planting mode, poses a threat to the ecological balance. In recent years, the practice of C. chinensis–Cunninghamia lanceolata understory cultivation has gained prevalence in southwest China. However, there is no evidence to suggest that understory cultivation enhances the viability, yield, or isoquinoline alkaloid content of C. chinensis. This study examined the physiological properties, yield indicators, and isoquinoline alkaloid content to investigate variations in C. chinensis in response to understory cultivation. Transcriptome analysis was conducted to elucidate potential mechanisms driving these alterations. The results indicate that understory cultivation significantly enhances the viability, yield, and levels of epiberberine, palmatine, and berberine in C. chinensis while reducing coptisine content. Transcriptomic analyses identified 2062 upregulated and 1853 downregulated genes in the understory cultivation system. Pathways such as "phenylpropanoid biosynthesis," "zeatin biosynthesis," "photosynthesis," "tyrosine metabolism," "isoquinoline alkaloid biosynthesis," and "starch and sucrose metabolism" exhibited significant enrichment of differentially expressed genes (DEGs). DEGs involved in these pathways were thoroughly analyzed. INV, BGL-2, BGL-4, SPS-2, AMY-3, Psb B, Psb R, Psb S, Psa D, Psa E, Psa H, Psa O, Pet C, Pet H, deta, and b exhibited significant positive correlations with plant fresh weight, aboveground fresh weight, and underground fresh weight. 6-OMT-2 and COMT1-3 displayed significant positive correlations with coptisine content, but negative correlations with epiberberine, palmatine, and berberine content. ZOG-1, ZOG-3, TAT, PPO, POD-13 and UGT 73C5-1 showed noteworthy positive correlations with berberine content. Conversely, MIFH, POD-4, POD-5, and POD-8 displayed significant positive correlations with epiberberine, palmatine, and berberine content. POD-5, and POD-7 were significantly negatively correlated with coptisine content. Furthermore, gene expression levels determined by qRT–PCR aligned with the transcriptomic sequencing results, confirming the reliability of the transcriptomic findings. The results of this study contribute evidence elucidating potential mechanisms through which C. chinensis responds to understory cultivation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on 25 in-depth interviews collected during the COVID pandemic from Chinese academic immigrants in the U.S., we find that COVID immediately halted their transnational travels. Furthermore, catalyzed by changes in the Sino-U.S. geopolitical relationship, the soaring Anti-Asian hate in the U.S., and the raging storm of patriotism and nationalism in China, COVID impacts academic migrants' perceptions of opportunities, pursuits of transnational movements, and ethnic and diasporic identities. The disrupted transnational migration of people and knowledge due to the intersection of the pandemic, social contexts, and geopolitics may have long-term detrimental effects at the individual, institutional, national, and global levels. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite an accumulation of literature on ethnic, immigrant, and transnational entrepreneurship, we still know very little about transnational entrepreneurship among less‐developed countries especially when culture and religion are concerned. Based on long‐term ethnographic work in immigrant Arab communities, this study examines the economic communities of transnational Arab entrepreneurs in Yiwu, a global wholesale hub city in China. We find that the motivation of profit‐seeking and transitional chain migration set the premise and foundation for Arab immigrant communities. The transnational networks of kinship and geo‐relationship are further integrated with Arab entrepreneurs' translocal networks based on religion, culture, profession, and educational experiences in shaping the economic activities of Arab entrepreneurs. At the same time, taking profit‐seeking as the primary goal instead of evident political and religious pursuits, their experiences also feature with transiency under the current institutional constraints. This study provides different evidence of transnational mixed embeddedness of immigrant ethnic entrepreneurship from a less‐developed economy where the state has a dominant role in economic, cultural, and political control. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cultural and creative industries (CCIs) have been regarded as a growth driver for economic and urban development in many cities worldwide. This study first traces the development of CCIs in China, both as the leading top-down approach and as grassroots efforts in local communities. Then, it identifies the driving forces for CCIs' development and their impacts on urban development and regeneration. The extensive literature review finds that China's CCIs share many common characteristics with Western cities. Meanwhile, the CCIs in Chinese cities also demonstrate unique characteristics, for example, strong top-down policy guidance; close relation with continuous urbanization especially through the construction of science and technology parks; and extremely weak ties with local communities. Based on the review, the authors suggest future research agendas to better understand the mechanisms that affect CCIs-related urban (re)development and both social and economic impacts from CCI development at multiple scales. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The level of public service accessibility differs by residential locations. Existing literature has documented the effects of public service accessibility on housing prices. However, few studies have examined how public service provision affects housing prices under the Chinese centralized governance system. Using data from different geographic scales, this study uses a multilevel research design to examine how public service provision is associated with housing prices in Shanghai. Results show that though the total expenditure at the urban district level is not related to housing prices, government redistributive expenditure is positively associated with housing price and the developmental expenditure is on the opposite. The expenditure effects are further mediated by the accessibility to public facilities at the community level. The findings suggest that, as public service accessibility has been capitalized into housing prices, the decentralized fiscal system with relatively centralized governance structure may have reinforced urban polarization in Shanghai. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fierce competition among county-level governments has substantially increased disparities in public service provision and housing markets across urban China. The role of the changing intracity administrative structure deserves scholarly, attention in this process. Building on an interdisciplinary literature of public choice and cadre promotion theory, we propose that interjurisdictional competition enlarges the intracity fiscal disparity under China's transitional administrative and fiscal systems. Results from fixed-effect panel data modeling confirm that cities with higher level of interjurisdictional competition are associated with higher intracity fiscal disparity. This study demonstrates how transition and decentralization of the centralized fiscal system have long-term, intended and unintended, impacts on fiscal inequality and urban stratification. With continuous urban sprawl, jurisdictional annexation, and large-scale urban-to-rural migration, our study suggests that policies attempting to equalize public service distribution within cities need to consider the administrative structure at the local and regional levels. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The war for 'global talents' becomes increasingly fierce worldwide with the thriving of knowledge-based new economy. Many countries are implementing new initiatives to encourage their citizens trained overseas to return with their globalised work competencies. Although previous studies have identified various factors related to return migration, very few studies have focused on the return migration of academics, and more specifically, the role of the higher education institution (HEI) in the return migration process. Using both statistical analyses of micro-data and in-depth interviews, this study examines the HEI recruitment process through an extensive case study in a research university in China. We find that, for successful recruitment of overseas top talents, it is extremely important as to how university presents itself in the international stage of the global higher education markets. Meanwhile, we cannot underestimate the role of economic incentives. We also find that the role of networking is more subtle than what traditional migration theories would have predicted. Our findings provide important policy implications for practices regarding talent recruitment at the institutional level, particularly for those universities at the lower end of the global higher education hierarchy. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: To explore the cause of plant vegetation distributed on the newly created wetland in estuary of modern Yellow River Delta, we took field-based observation of the wetland plant diversity of the Yellow River Delta, Shandong, China. Based on the results of field investigation, we studied the effects of salinity on germination characteristics of four dominant species in wetland of Yellow River Delta, i.e. Suaeda salsa, Apocynum venetum, Phragmites australis and Typha orientalis.The germination conditions of the four dominant emerging plants at 0, 50, 100, 150, 200, 250 and 300mM NaCl were studied, the results indicated that all species had a trend of decreased germination percentage and rate of germination with the increase of salinity levels, but the inhibitory effect of salinity on the germination percentage of each was different. S. salsa and A. venetum had higher tolerance of salinity than P. australis and T. orientalis. Germination percentage and germination rate of seeds of the four species were significantly affected by salinity.In conclusion, the results of seeds germination of the four dominant species in the newly created wetland were accorded with the results of field investigation of plant community distribution along the gradients of environmental salinity, and salinity is one of the most pivotal factors limited the distribution of the plant vegetation in the newly created wetland of Yellow River Delta. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Only 6.4% of the area was highly suitable for integrated rice–crayfish culture (IRCC). • Highly suitable area was located in the south-central region of Hubei Province, China. • Sensitivity analysis indicated that the suitability results were reliable and robust. • A GIS-based FAHP approach was effective to assess the land suitability for IRCC. Integrated rice–crayfish (Procambarus clarkii) culture (IRCC) is an effective form of ecological intensification that has been widely and rapidly promoted in China. Agricultural land suitability analysis is one of the key tools for ensuring the effective use of land resources and sustainable development of IRCC. The aim of this study was to assess the land suitability for IRCC in Hubei Province, which has the largest area of rice–crayfish farming in China, using the integrated fuzzy analytic hierarchy process (FAHP) and geographic information system (GIS) approach. The results indicated that ≥ 10 °C accumulated temperature (12.8 %), distance from water bodies (11.5 %), slope (11.2 %), land use (7.4 %), and soil texture (7.3 %) were the five most influential determinants of highly suitable areas for IRCC. It was estimated that 6.4 % (11,898.0 km2) of the study area was highly suitable, 11.3 % (21,061.0 km2) was moderately suitable, 2.2 % (4,004.0 km2) was marginally suitable, and 80.1 % (149,026.0 km2) was currently not suitable for IRCC. We also found that the highly suitable areas were mainly distributed in the south-central region of Hubei Province, which were significantly correlated with the existing IRCC areas. About 59.8 % (7,120.5 km2) of the highly suitable areas were available for further IRCC development in Hubei Province, but Qianjiang, Huanggang, Xianning, and Enshi needed to impose a ceiling on IRCC, because the extent of their existing IRCC areas was greater than that of the highly suitable areas. Sensitivity and correlation analyses demonstrated that the suitability results for IRCC were reliable and robust. The results of this study provide useful guidelines in terms of agricultural land use planning and management, enabling the rational and sustainable development of IRCC both locally and nationally. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]