Border Of China Research Articles

Evidence of SARS-CoV-2 Related Coronaviruses Circulating in Sunda pangolins (Manis javanica) Confiscated From the Illegal Wildlife Trade in Viet Nam

Despite the discovery of several closely related viruses in bats, the direct evolutionary progenitor of SARS-CoV-2 has not yet been identified. In this study, we investigated potential animal sources of SARS-related coronaviruses using archived specimens from Sunda pangolins (Manis javanica) and Chinese pangolins (Manis pentadactyla) confiscated from the illegal wildlife trade, and from common palm civets (Paradoxurus hermaphroditus) raised on wildlife farms in Viet Nam. A total of 696 pangolin and civet specimens were screened for the presence of viral RNA from five zoonotic viral families and from Sarbecoviruses using primers specifically designed for pangolin coronaviruses. We also performed a curated data collection of media reports of wildlife confiscation events involving pangolins in Viet Nam between January 2016 and December 2020, to illustrate the global pangolin supply chain in the context of Viet Nam where the trade confiscated pangolins were sampled for this study. All specimens from pangolins and civets sampled along the wildlife supply chains between February 2017 and July 2018, in Viet Nam and tested with conventional PCR assays designed to detect flavivirus, paramyxovirus, filovirus, coronavirus, and orthomyxovirus RNA were negative. Civet samples were also negative for Sarbecoviruses, but 12 specimens from seven live pangolins confiscated in Hung Yen province, northern Viet Nam, in 2018 were positive for Sarbecoviruses. Our phylogenetic trees based on two fragments of the RdRp gene revealed that the Sarbecoviruses identified in these pangolins were closely related to pangolin coronaviruses detected in pangolins confiscated from the illegal wildlife trade in Yunnan and Guangxi provinces, China. Our curated data collection of media reports of wildlife confiscation events involving pangolins in Viet Nam between January 2016 and December 2020, reflected what is known about pangolin trafficking globally. Pangolins confiscated in Viet Nam were largely in transit, moving toward downstream consumers in China. Confiscations included pangolin scales sourced originally from Africa (and African species of pangolins), or pangolin carcasses and live pangolins native to Southeast Asia (predominately the Sunda pangolin) sourced from neighboring range countries and moving through Viet Nam toward provinces bordering China.

Triggering mechanisms of Gayari avalanche, Pakistan

A massive snow avalanche occurred on April 2012 at Gayari, located in NE part of Pakistan, close to India and China Border. The catastrophic avalanche killed nearly 148 people, majority of which were Pakistan army personnel destroying army base camp. To mitigate its future hazard, different triggering mechanisms have been investigated in this study. We contemplate that the avalanche was triggered due to snow pack existence on favorable slope in combination with different meteorological conditions and anomalous ground vibration. The avalanche occurrence clock was advanced by two earthquakes: M 4.1 at a distance \(\sim\) 125 km that occurred about 21 h before and another comparatively larger (M 5.6) earthquake that occurred comparatively at larger distance (\(\sim\) 370 km) and longer time (\(\sim\) 25 days) before which have significantly changed the loading conditions. The latter event (M 5.6) has imparted maximum peak dynamic stress and cumulative seismic moment a month before the avalanche. Interestingly the avalanche occurred within the seismic coda of M 2.8 earthquake from Hindu Kush region, located at 560 km distance. Although the size and its expected impact on avalanche might be minor, its role in instantaneous triggering cannot be ruled out. Even smaller events at larger distance have been reported to cause snow avalanches in same environments. The presence of cracks within the avalanche was further weaken by persistence of extremely low temperature (lowest in the past decade), causing high precipitation rate along with altering the mechanical properties of the weak layer within the snow pack. Robust wind pressure pattern highest and lowest in March and April 2012, respectively, might be responsible for abrupt changes in loading conditions.

Border governance in ancient China-study between 2070 B.C.-1279 A.D.

This article provides a study of border governance in ancient China. It interprets the state of domination in ethnic minorities areas by the central feudal dynasty government between 2070 B.C-1279 A.D which is recognized among the relevant academic community in China. In this multi-ethnic country with a long history of feudal dynasty, many ethnic minorities live on the borders of China, thus the central feudal dynasty has faced complicated problems of simple border governance in this vast land. Although feudal dynasties in various periods of Chinese history differed in the content of border governance, their governance systems were of the same origin and were constantly improving. Theauthor strives to interpret the border governance model at each historical stage, in order to ordera clear historical context and provide a window for Spanish-speaking sociologists to understand thegovernance of ethnic minorities in ancient China.

Water situation in the transboundary Daurian region - forecast of development and new risks

The hydrographic network of the steppe region located at the junction of the borders of Russia, Mongolia and China is characterized. The situation related to the diversion of the flow of the Argun (Hailar) river to the Lake Dalainor (Hulun) and other water management measures is considered. We estimated the probable time of filling of Lake Dalainor. Other water management risks in this region are characterized.

Snapshot of Mycobacterium tuberculosis Phylogenetics from an Indian State of Arunachal Pradesh Bordering China.

Uncontrolled transmission of Mycobacterium tuberculosis (M. tuberculosis, MTB) drug resistant strains is a challenge to control efforts of the global tuberculosis program. Due to increasing multi-drug resistant (MDR) cases in Arunachal Pradesh, a northeastern state of India, the tracking and tracing of these resistant MTB strains is crucial for infection control and spread of drug resistance. This study aims to correlate the phenotypic DST, genomic DST (gDST) and phylogenetic analysis of MDR-MTB strains in the region. Of the total 200 samples 22 (11%) patients suspected of MDR-TB and 160 (80%) previously treated MDR-TB cases, 125 (62.5%) were identified as MTB. MGIT-960 SIRE DST detected 71/125 (56.8%) isolates as MDR/RR-MTB of which 22 (30.9%) were detected resistant to second-line drugs. Whole-genome sequencing of 65 isolates and their gDST found Ser315Thr mutation in katG (35/45; 77.8%) and Ser531Leu mutation in rpoB (21/41; 51.2%) associated with drug resistance. SNP barcoding categorized the dataset with Lineage2 (41; 63.1%) being predominant followed by Lineage3 (10; 15.4%), Lineage1 (8; 12.3%) and Lineage4 (6; 9.2%) respectively. Phylogenetic assignment by cgMLST gave insights of two Beijing sub-lineages viz; 2.2.1 (SNP difference < 19) and 2.2.1.2 (SNP difference < 9) associated with recent ongoing transmission in Arunachal Pradesh. This study provides insights in identifying two virulent Beijing sub-lineages (sub-lineage 2.2.1 and 2.2.1.2) with ongoing transmission of TB drug resistance in Arunachal Pradesh.

Ecologization of industrial production in Сhina: theory and practice

Modern technologies of industrial production, the methods of management used and the exploita-tion of natural resources clearly affect not only economic development, but also the socio-ecological conditions of citizens' life. The study attempts to study the theoretical approaches and practice of greening industrial production in China, which has direct borders and close economic ties with Russia. The study examined economic and regulatory approaches to assessing environ-mentally friendly production, studied the impact of industrial emissions on the ecology of China's border regions, and identified the level of environmental investments. As a result of the study, on the basis of the information obtained, directions for the development of methodological tools and economic mechanisms for stimulating the greening of industrial production were formed.

Alternative restocking strategy could reverse declines of a critically endangered sturgeon

SummaryDemographic modelling can reveal options for improved conservation management, especially for rare or long-lived species not amenable to experimentation. Sturgeon (Acipenseridae) include many such species, endangered by demand for caviar, their unfertilized roe, and by dams blocking their migrations. Restocking of sturgeon populations with farm-raised individuals has probably prevented extinctions and widespread extirpations of some species, but it has rarely led to true recovery in Eurasia, given ongoing harvest. We used modified Leslie matrix models to test whether restocking with year-old juveniles instead of weeks-old fry could recover the critically endangered Amur sturgeon (Acipenser schrenckii), endemic to the Amur River basin along the Russia–China border. Without restocking, or even releasing an expert-recommended annual volume of young fry (10 million), we project that three of four Amur sturgeon populations will be nearly extirpated within 30 years. However, restocking with 5% as many (500 000) year-old juveniles annually could grow three populations (currently 0–425 mature females) and slow declines in another so that each has over 6400 mature females within 30 years. Retooling stocking efforts to use fewer juveniles that survive at higher rates than do small fry could buy time to reduce harvesting pressure on Amur sturgeon and for other related sturgeon species.

Identifying Ecological Security Patterns Based on Ecosystem Services Is a Significative Practice for Sustainable Development in Southwest China

Southwest China, which is rich in biodiversity and a wide range of ecosystem services (ESs), is a strong support for local human wellbeing. This area is also one of the key components of the ecological security shelter (ESS) for national ecological security and biodiversity conservation. Due to the combination of man-made and natural factors, Southwest China has suffered serious ecological degradation that directly threatens ecological security which refers to the health status of ecosystems and ESs functions. Mapping ESs-based ecological security patterns (ESPs) is essential for designing conservation strategies that suitably combine regional environment conservation with sustainable utilization. We used the InVEST (Integrated Valuation of Ecosystem Services and Tradeoffs Tool) model to identify ecological conservation priority areas which integrated ecological sensitivity (soil erosion sensitivity, rock desertification sensitivity, landslide sensitivity, debris flow sensitivity, and freezing-thawing erosion sensitivity), ecological risk (drought risk, natural disaster risk, and socio-economic risk), and ecological conservation importance (soil conservation, water conservation, and biodiversity conservation importance). In this research, we summarized a new designing framework of ESs-based ESPs. We divided the study area into two zones and four belts including: (A) the alpine steppe and wetland zone, (B) Hengduan Mountain zone, (C) northern shelter belt (Daba-Micang Mountain), (D) central shelter belt (Wumeng-Wuling Mountain), (E) southern shelter belt (southern border of China), and (F) southwestern shelter belt (eastern Himalayas Mountain). Identifying distributions of the ESs-based ESPs has practical significance to improve local human wellbeing and to maintain sustainable development of natural-social ecosystems in Southwest China. Furthermore, ESs-based ESPs are necessary for local administrations to create rationalizing plans on balancing conservation and utilization of natural resources, so that policy-makers can put into place targeted prevention and control measures to limit the development of excessive consumption of natural resources and ecological damages, which is worth promoting.

The "Ice Silk Road" project, its advantages and opportunities

The Ice Silk Road is an important component and logical continuation of the implementation of the strategic initiative "One Belt, One Road", a navigation channel running through the Arctic Ocean and connecting continents. The inclusion of the "Ice Silk Road" in the first comprehensive white paper on Arctic policy represents a historic step for China's participation in the Arctic. Although China's borders do not extend to the Arctic, China is one of the 13 "observers" in the Arctic Council and is increasingly active in the region. Over the past few years, China has achieved political synergy and started industrial, scientific and technological cooperation with the Russian Federation and the Nordic countries. The object of research is international scientific and technical projects based on the internationalization of participants. The subject of the study is the economic space of a single physical and geographical area of the Earth adjacent to the North Pole and having the potential to scale the economic activities of interested parties. Research methodology – theoretical and applied economic analysis of information and statistical reliable sources.&nbsp; With its expanded interests and expanded capabilities, China is becoming the preferred partner for Russia and the countries of Europe and Asia in a number of infrastructure, energy and transport projects in the Arctic region – this actualizes the subject area of the study. Research results: special attention in the course of the research is paid to the description of the concept of the "Ice Silk Road", its content, goals and objectives; the internal and external advantages, as well as new potential opportunities associated with the implementation of the Ice Silk Road project are considered.

A Study of Vietnamese Festival Tết Nguyên Đán From Perspectives of Anthropology

Vietnam lies in the east side of Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia bordering China in the North, and Laos and Cambodia in the West. Like the Chinese, Vietnamese have lots of festivals. Among them, the most important one is the Tết Nguyên Đán or the Spring Festival, which celebrates the end of an old year and the coming of a new year. Many traditional rituals and practices during the Tết Nguyên Đán in Vietnam are embodied with cultural symbols that deserve anthropological interpretation and analysis. The rapid globalization process and transformation that Vietnam is going through might have impacts on Vietnamese cultural traditions related to the Tết Nguyên Đán.

1925-1991 ЖЫЛДАРДАҒЫ ЗАЙСАН ҚАЛАСЫНЫҢ ӘЛЕУМЕТТІК-ЭКОНОМИКАЛЫҚ, МӘДЕНИ ДАМУЫ: ТАРИХИ ТАЛДАУ

The purpose of the article is to study the socio-economic, cultural development of a small town in the East in the 1925-1990s. and to determine the meaning and place of the history of the city during the Soviet period. Today in East Kazakhstan there is a small town of Zaysan, one of the cities with different industries. The reason for the separate consideration of small towns in the East is that they are all heterogeneous in terms of the level of socio-economic development and ongoing structural transformations, depending on economic and geographical factors. Some small towns were built in places of industrial development of natural mineral resources - their city-forming basis was large enterprises of various sectors of the economy, others were formed around large transport hubs, scientific and technical centers of the military-industrial complex of the former Soviet Union. As a result, an imbalance arose between the location of industrial enterprises not in areas with large labor resources, where mainly the Kazakh population lives, but in regions with rich raw materials or in cities that are effective from the point of view of union government bodies. Zaysan is a great caravan route that has become a golden bridge between Russia and China. In addition, the city is located in a geopolitical zone bordering China. Since the Republic of Kazakhstan gained independence, a customs service has been established in the country. Since May 1992, the Maykapshagai customs post has been established at the eastern regional customs. Also, the border trade center "Maykapshagai-Zhemeny" has been opened since April 2006. Studying the history of a small historical city, which has not lost its significance until now, is a requirement of today. In the Soviet period, for objective reasons, there were cities with very low economic potential, which due to the lack of a resource base. In such cities, the backward structure of industry, infrastructure and social sphere, low incomes of the population are not developed. In such a city in the region Zaisan also fell.

Promises and perils of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor: agriculture and export prospects in northern Pakistan

ABSTRACT The China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) is a mega-project of primarily infrastructure-related loans and investments in Pakistan. Recently, the official discourse has increasingly shifted to the agricultural sector. For the region of Gilgit-Baltistan bordering China, academic and policy debates highlight the potential boost of fruit exports to China as the most promising opportunity to be leveraged through the CPEC. This paper scrutinizes these promises from a locally grounded perspective, investigating potential benefits and risks for local farmers. To make sense of the complex interplay between external and local actors, interests, markets and (infra)structures, the paper follows an assemblage-inspired approach to map out local trajectories. Contrary to the CPEC narrative, agricultural exports from Gilgit-Baltistan recently came to a halt, due to increasing trade barriers and seemingly competing agricultural developments in neighboring Xinjiang, China. Moreover, the economically most promising local crop for export to China, namely cherries, does not seem too promising for the majority of small farmers. There are other commodities with export potential, but overall, prospects appear to be limited. There is a need for a deeper engagement with the inherent complexities of CPEC trajectories, particularly in regards to local farming contexts in Pakistan and relevant developments in China.

Chemical Composition and Source Apportionment of PM2.5 in a Border City in Southwest China

This paper studied the chemical characteristics and seasonal changes of PM2.5 in plateau cities on the southwest border of China. Urban air was sampled in Baoshan City during the rainy and dry seasons. Finally, 174 PM2.5 filters were collected (including 87 quartz and 87 Teflon samples for PM2.5). The mass concentrations, water-soluble inorganic ions, organic and inorganic carbon concentrations, and inorganic elements constituting PM2.5 were determined. Positive definite matrix factorization was used to identify potential sources of PM2.5, and the backward trajectory model was used to calculate the contribution of the long-distance transmission of air particles to the Baoshan area. It was found that in the wet season, most of the air masses come from the Indian Ocean and Myanmar. In the dry season, the air mass mainly comes from the China and Myanmar border area. The average concentration of PM2.5 in the wet and dry seasons was 23.17 ± 12.23 μg/m3. The daily mean value of OC/EC indicated that the measured SOC content was generated by the photochemical processes active during the sampling days. However, elements from anthropogenic sources (Na, Mg, Al, Si, P, K, Ca, Ti, Fe, Cu, Zn, Sb, Ba, and Pb) accounted for 99.51% and 99.40% of the total inorganic elements in the wet season and dry season, respectively. Finally, source apportionment showed that SIA, dust, industry, biomass burning, motor vehicle emissions, and copper smelting emissions constituted the major contributions of PM2.5 in Baoshan. Using combined data from three measurement sites provides a focus on the common sources affecting all locations.

Surviving Troubled Times on the Borders of China: Sheng Shicai as a Successful Warlord in Xinjiang, 1931–34

Abstract Ethnicity, religion, and geopolitics affect historians’ interpretations of the history of Xinjiang, a very chaotic frontier region of China that did not come fully under the control of the People’s Republic of China until recent decades. The case of Sheng Shicai, an early Republican Era Chinese military officer, shows how professional training and, most importantly, the ability to capitalize on emerging opportunities contributed to his military success in Xinjiang from 1931 to 1934. This paper analyzes the Republic of China’s government documents, Sheng and his acquaintances’ memoirs, newspaper articles, and other sources to examine how Sheng applied his military training and employed regional and foreign military forces to win battles in northern Xinjiang. Professional military training helped officers to utilize their resources efficiently and take advantage of their geopolitical situations. Amid numerous talented Chinese military officers, Sheng rose in rank and successfully secured Xinjiang as a part of the Republic of China even when Xinjiang’s geopolitics seemed extremely challenging. This study highlights the value of Sheng’s military prowess, something that the literature has not previously appreciated.

A Study on the “Vietnamese Woman” in International Marriages on China's Southwest Border

With the policy of Reform and Opening and the rapid development of the socio-economic level, China has transformed from a migrant-sending country to an immigrant-receiving country. In recent years, intermarriages between men living on the southwestern border of China and women from Vietnam have increased. The increase of emigrating female workers from rural to urban areas, the ever-increasing bride prices and the expansion of the marriage circle in rural societies have increased the imbalance of gender ratio in the border areas of China. Vietnamese women get married with Chinese men through illegal means in southwestern China and then settle in China, because of factors such as similar cultural traditions and living habits, hopes for better living conditions, and economic interests. These intermarriages sometimes lead to negative effects in China's southwestern border. This article is based on the investigation and evaluation of researches that are from Chinese academic community on Vietnamese women in transnational marriages on the southwestern border of China. It aims to explain the social background of these international marriages, explore the influence of these transnational marriages on the social governance in border areas. It also aims to establish a good transnational marriage mechanism, discuss the problems caused by such transnational marriages, and try to put forward some targeted suggestions and measures from the perspective of social management.

Teacher Training Needs and their Influencing Factors: A Case Study of 13 Chinese Border School Teachers

Teacher training is not only the way to improve the quality of teachers in China's border areas, but also one of the collaborative paths to promote the high-quality development of regional education. Teacher training needs to provide a practical reference for specific service teacher training. Through conducting semi-structured, in-depth interviews, and using the grounded-theory three-level coding method for discourse analysis, this study explores teacher training needs and their influencing factors and how such factors influenced teacher learning and the development of teaching communities in border areas, in China. In the coding process, the researchers used MAXQDA (20.4.0) for auxiliary analysis. This work has constructed a model of teacher training needs and its influencing factors. Teacher training needs in border areas include training format, training content, training intensity, training opportunities, and training practicality. The factors include subjective factors, organizational development, institutional environmental factors, and field culture factors. According to the results of the model analysis, we put forward these optimization strategies: provide special mental health courses and counseling services for border teachers; carry out school-based training to form teachers' learning community; plan special training and create an international influence of border education, which would enhance teachers’ sense of professional honor and improve the perception threshold of achievement.

Glittering Bodies: The Politics of Mortuary Self-Fashioning in Eurasian Nomadic Cultures (700 BCE-200 BCE)

Non-sedentary cultures have existed on the scholarly fringes and historiographical outskirts of the art-historical canon: there they remain to this day, buried between dated opposites like “east” and “west,” “high” and “minor” arts, torn by interdisciplinary tensions in art history, archaeology and ethnography. Nomadic societies are usually considered in cross-cultural studies only insofar as they can act as sufficiently expedient intermediaries linking settled empires in the designated “East” and “West,” hence the recent fascination with the Pontic Scythians who bordered, traded and fought with ancient Greece, or the Xiongnu whose nomadic confederation became a geopolitical threat to early imperial China. Yet, early pastoral nomads bordering China and Greece left behind a rich corpus of gold adornment which points to an elaborate system of image-making and highly conceptual designs rooted in zoomorphism. The following article focuses on the strategies of self-fashioning and funerary decor employed in the entombment of the elite in the early nomadic societies of Central Eurasia. Golden suits, composed of metonymically conveyed animal images, along with foreign exotica, were the normative elements of a noble’s funeral. Adornment had to showcase the elite’s life on earth as that of a daring, globally recognized politician and a proud steppe resident.

A Case Study on Development of India China Border Trade for the Development of North East India

Border trade is a type of trade in local products of limited value by the people residing within a few kilometers on either side of the international border. Today India’s border trade is conducted along India’s international borders with Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh, Myanmar and line of control with Pakistan and line of actual control with China. The contribution of border trade is negligible in Indian economy but it has immense impact on its relationships with the neighbouring countries as at a bilateral level any amount of border trade has a very big confidence building effect as it encourages constructive engagements, stabilises border’s political situation by reducing frictions and gives a legal meaning to the disputes of the international borders. This paper will study the importance of border trade between India and China in the current world political scenario. This study has been casual, exploratory and empirical in nature and the data needed for research work has been collected by using both direct and indirect method of data collection.

Mortality Rates in Russian Regions in the Context of the COVID-19 Pandemic

Introduction. The COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic has had a strong impact on the socio-economic situation in the country, especially on demographic processes. The article analyzes the change in the mortality rates in Russian regions and assesses the influence of various factors on them during the pandemic. Materials and Methods. The paper examined data from the Federal State Statistics Service on mortality rates in Russian regions. Based on the graphs analyzed and regression equations built, the factors that determined the increase in mortality rates during the pandemic and the degree of their influence were identified. Results. Changes in the rates of morbidity and mortality in Russian regions depended on the development of the healthcare system, demographic, socio-economic, and geographical factors, as well as on the actions of regional and federal authorities. The geographical location of the regions turned out to be the determining factor. The highest mortality rates were found in the regions located in the center of the European part of Russia at the intersection of transport routes. In some months, high mortality rates were observed in the regions bordering China, Kazakhstan, and Finland. The proportion of pensioners and the degree of decline in personal income were also significant. Discussion and Conclusion. Calculations have shown that at the beginning of both waves of the pandemic, the increase in mortality rates depended on the provision of the population of the regions with doctors and hospital beds. In the spring, the restrictions imposed restrained the spread of the disease, but led to an economic recession and an increase in unemployment. In the autumn, less severe restrictions were introduced, which led to a significant increase in mortality rates and a slight decline in the economy. The research results can be used to optimize the managerial decisions in the field of medical and demographic policy.

Modelling the potential ecological niche of domesticated buckwheat in China: archaeological evidence, environmental constraints and climate change

We present a species distribution model (SDM) of Fagopyrum esculentum (buckwheat) in China using present distribution data and estimates for the past based on palaeoclimatic reconstructions. Our model estimates the potential area suitable for buckwheat cultivation over the last 8,000 years, with northeast China consistently showing the highest suitability, providing insights on the discrepancy between the location of the earliest archaeobotanical records in the area and its origins in southwest China based on biogeographic and genetic data. The model suggests little to no variation over time in the spatial extent of the potential area suitable for buckwheat cultivation. In the northern parts of China, the limits of the ecological niche largely fall within the borders of the study area, while to the west it never extends into the main Tibetan plateau, explaining the lack of fossil evidence from Central Asia. In the southwest, the niche overlaps with the borders of modern China, which supports this direction as a viable route of westward dispersal. The comparison between the prediction from the model and sites with archaeobotanical evidence for Fagopyrum indicates that the environmental niche it occupied remained stable over time. This may contrast with a dispersal pattern characterised by continuous adaptations to new environments facilitated by human activity, which may be suggested for other major and minor crops.