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Based on the Xingke Tiben, this paper assesses the long‐run economic development of China, by constructing a new estimate of male occupational structure during 1734–1898 by sector, sub‐sector pattern, and region. After assessing the source's biases, using this new empirical basis, this paper demonstrates that the national male occupational structure was nearly identical in 1761–70, 1821–30, and 1881–90, suggesting a long‐lasting structural stasis of the national economy, allowing for fluctuations between benchmark dates. Within agriculture, substantial regional differences in labour organisation are revealed. Three distinct models are found: the Northern Regions model features a high usage of wage labour, the Yangtze Valley model presents a high level of tenancy development, and the Southern Regions model displays the highest share of landowners. All three models saw increasing use of wage labour in 1761–1890 and shrinking landownership in 1821–90. At the regional level, the long‐run estimate for Lower Yangtze suggests that the region as a whole stagnated throughout the entire period, but the overall structural stasis hides dynamic, contrasting long‐run economic change between the region's core and peripheral areas. Comparative analysis with England further suggests that the timing of the Great Divergence between China and England took place before 1734, even in the context of the regional difference. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Taihu Lake region is an important area where China's rice agriculture originated and where early Chinese civilisation formed. Knowing how this ecologically sensitive area's Neolithic residents adapted to environmental changes and utilised natural resources is key to understanding the origins of their agricultural practices and civilisation. Focusing on food resources, we systematically organised data from archaeobotanical and zooarchaeological research, human bone stable isotopic analyses, and fatty acid and proteome residue analyses on the Taihu Lake area's Neolithic findings to explore the interrelationships between subsistence, the environment, and society through qualitative and quantitative analysis supported by paleoenvironmental and archaeological evidence. The results showed that during the Neolithic era (7.0–4.3 ka BP), under a suitable climate with stable freshwater wetland environments, 38 varieties of edible animals and plants were available to humans in the Taihu Lake area. Despite agriculture being an important food source, rice cultivation and husbandry developed at different paces. Paddy rice cultivation began in wetlands and had always dominated the subsistence economy, as although gathering was universal and diverse, it produced a relatively low volume of food. In contrast, husbandry did not provide sufficient meat throughout the 2000 years of the Majiabang and Songze Cultures. Thus, fishing for freshwater organisms and hunting for wild mammals were the main meat sources before the domestication of pigs became the primary source of meat during the Liangzhu Cultural period. With the available wetland ecological resources and paddy rice farming (the sole crop), the Taihu Lake area transformed into an agricultural society in which rice cultivation dominated the Songze Culture's subsistence economy, which was also the first to exhibit social complexity. Then, finally, early civilisation developed in the Liangzhu Cultural period. This study contributes to understanding the unique evolutionary path of early Chinese civilisation and has important implications on sustainable resource utilisation for constructing ecological civilisations in present-day societies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Taihu Lake region is an important area where China’s rice agriculture originated and where early Chinese civilisation formed. Knowing how this ecologically sensitive area’s Neolithic residents adapted to environmental changes and utilised natural resources is key to understanding the origins of their agricultural practices and civilisation. Focusing on food resources, we systematically organised data from archaeobotanical and zooarchaeological research, human bone stable isotopic analyses, and fatty acid and proteome residue analyses on the Taihu Lake area’s Neolithic findings to explore the interrelationships between subsistence, the environment, and society through qualitative and quantitative analysis supported by paleoenvironmental and archaeological evidence. The results showed that during the Neolithic era (7.0–4.3 ka BP), under a suitable climate with stable freshwater wetland environments, 38 varieties of edible animals and plants were available to humans in the Taihu Lake area. Despite agriculture being an important food source, rice cultivation and husbandry developed at different paces. Paddy rice cultivation began in wetlands and had always dominated the subsistence economy, as although gathering was universal and diverse, it produced a relatively low volume of food. In contrast, husbandry did not provide sufficient meat throughout the 2000 years of the Majiabang and Songze Cultures. Thus, fishing for freshwater organisms and hunting for wild mammals were the main meat sources before the domestication of pigs became the primary source of meat during the Liangzhu Cultural period. With the available wetland ecological resources and paddy rice farming (the sole crop), the Taihu Lake area transformed into an agricultural society in which rice cultivation dominated the Songze Culture’s subsistence economy, which was also the first to exhibit social complexity. Then, finally, early civilisation developed in the Liangzhu Cultural period. This study contributes to understanding the unique evolutionary path of early Chinese civilisation and has important implications on sustainable resource utilisation for constructing ecological civilisations in present-day societies.

Aiming at the current isolated, static protection method of traditional villages, a comprehensive evaluation system for the living protection of traditional villages has been constructed based on the land use function integration concept in “Production–Living–Ecology” (PLE). By combining the “horizontal” PLE coupling coordination analysis with the “vertical” correlation analysis of the elements at each layer, the comprehensive evaluation and quantitative analysis of six traditional villages of different types and grades in the Taihu Lake area are carried out to quantitatively reflect the interactive relationship and integration mechanism of PLE in traditional villages. The results show that: (1) The PLE development of traditional villages is a dynamic process. Even if the villages are close in the PLE score, they may be in different stages of PLE development and coupling coordination type. (2) The “living” function has the highest correlation with the coupling coordination degree of PLE, and it acts as the engine and bridge of benign interaction between the PLE. (3) Even if the national traditional villages have a favorable ecology background, they may not get high scores, or even fail in the PLE score. (4) Among the sub-indicators, the natural environmental characteristics, the ecological vitality of political organizations, and the level of human settlement facilities show a significant linear correlation with the PLE score. Additionally, the ecological vitality of political organizations is the strongest. It can be therefore concluded that a positive policy organization is an important guarantee for realizing the PLE integration of traditional villages.

Soil aggregation processes play a crucial role in re-establishing soil structure and function, and protecting soil organic carbon (SOC) to sustain soil fertility and quality. There is a strong interest in preventing soil erosion in the interface of terrestrial and aquatic ecosystem. The relationship between soil aggregates and SOC in riparian zones is not as well studied as in terrestrial ecosystems. The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of conversion of abandoned lands to cultivated lands on organic carbon (C) and soil structure. Soil samples and plant residues were collected from abandoned lands and cultivated lands which had been converted from abandoned lands over 10 years ago. Results show that SOC content and storage increases by 1.64 times and 6.75 Mg hm −2 , respectively, after the land use change. For cultivated lands, 11.94% of macro-aggregates (>2 mm) were broken into micro-aggregates (<2 mm), resulting in the mean weight diameter (MWD) and geometric mean diameter (GMD) decreases of 1.01 and 1.11 mm, respectively, while the fractal dimension (FD) increased by 0.28. The SOC content of micro-aggregates (10.88–15.02 g kg −1 ) was higher than that of macro-aggregates (10.10–11.63 g kg −1 ) for both abandoned and cultivated lands. The SOC content of micro-aggregates for cultivated lands (14.46–15.02 g kg −1 ) was higher than abandoned lands (10.80–11.14 g kg −1 ). The content of microbial biomass carbon (MBC) increased by 1.52 times due to increases in root biomass and the plant residue returned to soil, which were mainly caused by the changes in cultivation practices and soil water conditions. Our results show that total SOC storage increased by the land use conversion from abandoned to cultivated lands, indicating that planting aquatic plants might be an effective method of preventing C loss from riparian ecosystems. The findings of this study provided insights into the changes in soil aggregates and soil C sequestration following the land use changes in riparian areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Objective] The present experiment was conducted to construct DNA fingerprint map of japonica rice varieties (Oryza sativa L. Subsp. Japonica % collected from Taihu Lake area, and analyze their genetic similarity in order to provide reference for japonica rice variety breeding and identification of seed purity. [Method] By taking 19 conventional japonica rice varieties with high quality from Taihu Lake rice area as materials, their DNA fingerprint maps were constructed by using 24 pairs of SSR primers distributed in 12 chromosomes of rice, and genetic similarity were also analyzed to conduct clustering analysis. [Result] By using 24 pairs of SSR primers, 99 alleles were detected out from 19 japonica rice varieties, and each pair of primers detected out 1-7 alleles with an average of 4.1. Four screened pairs of core SSR primers (RM190, RM18, RM297 and RM5414) could be used for distinguishing 19 japonica rice varieties and amplified 22 polymorphic fragments. Out of which, RM190 and RM18 primers had the strongest capacity for distinguishing 6 japonica rice varieties, while RM297 and RM5414 only could distinguish 2 varieties. RM297 could distinguish Changnongjing 5 and Ning 9103, and RM5414 could distinguish Nanjing 47 and Changjing 10-9. The genetic similarity coefficient among 19 japonica rice varieties varied from 0.408 to 0.857 with an average of 0.605, and 81.87% of all tested materials ranged from 0.500 to 0.700. UPGMA clustering results showed that 19 japonica rice varieties were clustered into 2 groups at 0.55 of genetic similarity coefficient. Furthermore, both 2 groups were classified into two subgroups at 0.620 and 0.570 of genetic similarity coefficient. [Conclusion] The japonica rice varieties in Taihu Lake area presented relatively higher genetic background comparability, and are not in abundance of genetic diversity. Therefore, introducing and taking advantage of new genetic resources should be strengthened to create japonica rice breeding materials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The concentrations of different phosphorus (P) species and four kinds of bioavailable P (algae-available P, AAP; Olsen P, OLP; water-soluble P, WSP; and readily desorbable P, RDP) were determined to investigate the relationship between phosphorus bioavailability and phosphorus speciation in sediments from rural rivers in Taihu Lake area, China, using a European Commission "Standards Measurements and Testing Program" protocol and four chemical extraction techniques. The total P and inorganic P concentrations in the sediments were 179-2,293 mg/kg and 137-1,857 mg/kg, respectively. The concentrations of the P species in the sediments followed the order NaOH- extractable P > HCl-extractable P > organic P. The bioavailable P concentrations followed the order AAP (340 mg/kg) > OLP (38.7 mg/kg) > WSP (1.8 mg/kg) > RDP (0.3 mg/kg). Regression analyses showed that there were good correlations between the P species concentrations and the bioavailable P concentrations measured using the four different methods, except for between WSP and the HCl-extractable P concentrations. The OLP concentrations had highly significant correlations with AAP, WSP, RDP and the P species concentrations. The OLP method was found to be most suitable for determining the bioavailability of P species under the prevalent geochemical conditions in the rural river sediments that were analyzed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]