Eastern Coastal Region Of China Research Articles

Characteristics and driving factors of rural livelihood transition in the east coastal region of China: A case study of suburban Shanghai

Based on data from 412 households, this study used the sustainable livelihoods approach to analyse changes in livelihood strategies and the relationship between those changes and rural household attitudes in an eastern coastal region of China. Focussing on household off-farm employment decisions and land transfer decisions, we classified the households into six types based on their livelihood strategies, namely, off-farm employment-oriented, balanced, off-farm, idle, professional, and conventional. The survey results indicate that two capital factors, age and education, and two mediating factors, wage and crop prices, are important influences of off-farm employment decisions, whereas factors such as policies and subsidies, machinery, activities organized by local agricultural cooperatives, and land rent substantially influence land transfer decisions. By analysing the characteristics, trends and driving factors of livelihood transitions, i.e., changes in rural household livelihood strategies, from 1993 to 2013, we explored the mechanisms of livelihood transitions. The results indicate that the proportion of conventional households decreased and the proportion of off-farm employment-oriented households and off-farm households increased. Agricultural production transformed from a system of scattered households (conventional and off-farm employment-oriented households) into broad-scale management households (professional and balanced households). These changes were the main characteristics of livelihood transitions under rapid industrialization combined with rapid urbanization in the Qingpu district. Rural livelihood transitions exhibited a stepped pattern, going through an initial stage, a self-organizing stage, and a government-led stage.

Case Studies of Reinforced Piled High-Speed Railway Embankment over Soft Soils

AbstractSoil arching in the reinforced piled embankment is investigated in this paper on the basis of two case studies of high-speed railways constructed in the eastern coastal region of China. The majority of the overburden load was found to have been transferred from the soil to the pile because of soil arching in the piled embankment. In addition, the critical height was approximately 2.6–3.8 times the net pile spacing. The adapted Terzaghi method, the BS8006 method, the Hewlett and Randolph method, EBGEO, and a simplified analytical method used to analyze the reinforced piled embankment were discussed and verified by the two cases. It was found that the adapted Terzaghi method was consistent with the measurement for the stress reduction ratio, with an error of 2.0–38.0%. The simplified analytical method predicted the maximum geogrid strain with the error of 6.7–33.2%, and assessed the maximum settlement at the subsoil surface with an error of 4.4–51.0%.

The Accelerated Urbanization Process: A Threat to Soil Resources in Eastern China

The eastern coastal region of China has been experiencing rapid urbanization which has imposed great challenges on soil resources, characterized by soil sealing and fragmented soil landscapes. Taking Zhejiang Province—a fairly economically-developed and highly-urbanized region in eastern China—as a case study, a practical framework that integrates remote sensing, GIS, soil quality assessment and landscape analysis was employed to track and analyze the rapid urbanization process and spatiotemporal dynamics of soil sealing and landscape change from 1990 to 2010. Meanwhile, this paper qualitatively explored the regional inequality and characteristics in soil sealing intensity among cities of different geo-zones in Zhejiang Province. Results showed that total area of 6420 km2 had been sealed during the past two decades for the entire study area, which represents 6.2% of the provincial area. Among these sealed soils, 68.6% are fertile soils located in flat plains, such as Paddy soils. Soil landscapes became more fragmented and dispersed in distribution, more irregular and complex in shape, and less dominant and diverse in soil type, as evidenced by the constant change of various spatial landscape metrics. What is more, different geo-zones exhibited significant differences in dynamics of soil sealing intensity, soil composition and soil landscape patterns. The permanent loss of valuable soil resource and increasing fragmented soil landscape patterns concomitant with rapid urbanization processes may inevitably bring about potential threats to regional soil resources and food security.

Spatio-Temporal Characteristics of Rural Economic Development in Eastern Coastal China

Although the regional differences of rural economic development can be easily determined, a challenging problem for research studies regarding rural economic development has been the inter-relatedness between different areas, and this challenge has been noted remarkably little in research data to date. As an empirical investigation, this study analyzes the spatio-temporal characteristics of rural economic development from a period beginning in 1978 to the year 2012, in the eastern coastal region of China. In order to determine the special differentiation characteristics of rural economic development, three indexes, namely the Gini coefficient (G), Tsui–Wang index (TW) and Theil index (T), were employed. To explore the inter-relatedness among the different areas, we selected a spatial autocorrelation model. The results indicated that, to a large extent, rural economic development from 1978 to 2012 in the eastern coastal region of China was greatly influenced, and the per capita annual net income changed significantly, due to the process of rapid urbanization and industrialization. Generally speaking, the annual net income constantly increased, from 87.7 USD in 1978 to 1628.1 USD in 2012. However, the calculation results indicated that the per capita income gap in the same province decreased, while the gap between the provinces presented an aggregate trend. The regional polarization widened continuously. It was also found that the spatial positive autocorrelation for the regional economy was significant, with a waving and ascending trend, and the neighbor effect of regional economic growth was continuously strengthened. Qualitative analysis of the driving mechanism was applied, and it was determined that there are three primary factors affecting the development of the rural regions, namely resource endowments, economic location and policies.

Estimation of PFOS emission from domestic sources in the eastern coastal region of China

Perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS) and related chemicals (collectively “PFOS equivalents”) have been released to the environment through widespread consumer use and disposal of PFOS-containing products like carpet, leather, textiles, paper, food containers, household cleansers, etc. Accordingly, in addition to PFOS-related industries, domestic activities may also considerably contribute to the PFOS emissions in the eastern coastal region of China, which has been characterized by high industrial input. In the present study, domestic emissions of PFOS equivalents derived from municipal wastewater treatment plants were estimated at the county level, using a regression model of domestic emission density with population density and per capita disposable income as independent variables. The total emission load of PFOS equivalents from domestic sources in the eastern coastal region of China was 381kg in 2010, and large cities were prominent as the emission centers. The domestic emission density averaged 0.37g/km2·a for the entire study area. Generally, the Beijing–Tianjin area, Pearl River Delta and Yangtze River Delta, as the most populous and economically developed areas in China, showed significantly higher emission density. Geographical variations within individual provinces were noteworthy. The average per capita discharge load of PFOS equivalents arising from domestic activities was 1.91μg/day per capita in the eastern coastal region of China, which is consistent with previous estimates in Korea, but lower than those calculated for developed countries. In comparison, the spatial distributions of provincial PFOS emissions from domestic and industrial sources were similar to each other; however, the latter was much larger for all the provinces.

Pollutant emissions, energy consumption and economic development in China: Evidence from dynamic panel data

This study investigates the relationship among pollutant emissions, energy consumption and economic development in China during the period 1982–2007 by using a one-step GMM-system model under a multivariable panel VAR framework, controlling for capital stock and labor force. Regarding the data for all 28 provinces as a whole, we find that there is a unidirectional positive relationship running from pollutant emission to economic development and a unidirectional negative relationship between pollutant emission and energy consumption. Based on traditional economic planning, the panel data of 28 provinces are divided into two cross-province groups. It is discovered that in the eastern coastal region of China, there is only a unidirectional positive causal relationship leading from economic development to pollutant emission; while in the central and western regions, there are the unidirectional Granger causal relationships between pollutant emission and energy consumption, as well as between pollutant emissio...

基于智能体模型的青岛市林地生态格局评价与优化

设计并在GIS平台上开发了基于智能体的生态格局评价模型,以青岛市及周边地区林地为研究对象,分析不同林地空间格局及生态网络保护框架对于物种生存与扩散的影响。结果表明,与现状相比,不同等级的生态网络框架对物种种群数量与物种迁移都有明显提升,且等级越高的生态网络框架提升作用越明显。然而仅仅依靠生态网络框架不足以使研究区域林地系统形成功能上的相互连通,因此,在分析研究区域现状土地利用格局基础上,提出与湿地系统结合,在胶州湾周围及大沽河干流地区增加林地的空间布局。通过模型模拟分析,发现优化后的林地空间格局结合生态网络框架能有效提升林地之间的物种扩散。基于模拟结果,为研究区林地生态格局构建提出如下建议:(1)保证现有的规模较大的林地不被破坏;(2)青岛市中部湿地系统可以作为新增林地的理想区域;(3)生态网络框架可作为青岛市建立城市组团间生态间隔的空间参考。;Urban socio-economic development and urban spatial expansion has led to the loss and fragmentation of habitat. Global climate change adds to the gravity of these effects. The survival of wildlife species is subjected to enormous pressure due to natural environmental changes and human activities. Agent-based models (ABMs) are computer simulation models analyzing and simulating human or animal behavior through the integration of learning, adaptation, evolution and logical analysis. ABMs study the overall system characteristics by analyzing internal elements of the system (such as the interaction among individual agents, and agents with the environment) with a bottom-up approach. The agents in ABMs can complete given objectives, perceive and respond to changes of the external environment through the default logic control, and respond to stimuli from other agents and the external environment through learning and adaptation functions. This paper designed an agent-based evaluation model of an ecological pattern, which was used to analyze the impact of different woodland patterns on species survival and dispersal. The model focused on the logic control of survival and dispersal of agents, and used the dispersal strategy integrating CRW and LW models, which combines the advantages of these two models. The survival of the agent is control by the age-specified U-shaped survival curve and determination function considering their own energy and environmental risks. The model was developed on the GIS platform, realizing the seamless integration of the agent model and GIS, which could then be applied to real geographical environment simulation. Qingdao is a city located in the eastern coastal region of China where the economy is relatively well-developed. The region is also where marine and terrestrial ecosystems meet. Woodland is mainly distributed in the Laoshan Mountains in the east, the Daze Mountains in the north, and the Dazhu, Xiaozhu and Tiejue Mountains in the south. In the study area, the ecological environment is deteriorating, and various wildlife species are being impacted, with some species being endangered or facing extinction. This paper selected the woodlands in the Qingdao district as the study object, analyzing the effect of different spatial patterns on the survival and spread of woodland species. Simulation results showed that, compared with the original state, species populations and migration have improved significantly under different levels of ecological network framework, and the higher the level of ecological network framework, the more obvious the improvement. The distance between patches had a large influence on the dispersal of simulated species because they were not able to arrive at patches that were far away from the original patch. Therefore, this paper makes the suggestion that an approach integrating wetland and woodland systems could strengthen woodland system functional contact in the study area. It is suggested that the region around Jiaozhou Bay and the mainstream of Dagu River be used to increase the spatial distribution of woodland. Based on the simulation results, suggestions for the woodland ecological pattern construction are given below: (1) ensure that the large woodland can not be destroyed; (2) the wetland system district in the middle of Qingdao is an ideal place for a new woodland construction; (3) the ecological network framework can be used as a spatial reference for an ecological barrier to prevent the spread of urban land into woodland.

Seasonal variations in aerosol optical properties over China

[1] Seasonal variations in background aerosol optical depth (AOD) and aerosol type are investigated over various ecosystems in China based upon three years' worth of meteorological data and data collected by the Chinese Sun Hazemeter Network. In most parts of China, AODs are at a maximum in spring or summer and at a minimum in autumn or winter. Minimum values (0.10∼0.20) of annual mean AOD at 500 nm are found in the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau, the remote northeast corner of China, the northern forest ecosystems and Hainan Island. Annual mean AOD ranges from 0.25 to 0.30 over desert and oasis areas, as well as the desertification grasslands in northern China; the annual mean AOD over the Loess Plateau is moderately high at 0.36. Regions where the highest density of agricultural and industrial activities are located and where anthropogenic sulphate aerosol and soil aerosol emissions are consistently high throughout the whole year (e.g., the central-eastern, southern and eastern coastal regions of China) experience annual mean AODs ranging from 0.50∼0.80. Remarkable seasonal changes in the main types of aerosol over northern China (characterized by the Angstrom exponent, α) are seen. Due to biomass and fossil fuel burning from extensive agricultural practices in northern rural areas, concentrations of smoke and soot aerosols rise dramatically during autumn and winter (high α), while the main types of aerosol during spring and summer are dust and soil aerosols (low α). Over southeastern Asia, biomass burning during the spring leads to increases in smoke and soot emissions. Over the Tibetan Plateau and Hainan Island where the atmosphere is pristine, the main types of aerosol are dust and sea salt, respectively.

Fiscal Policy, Regional Disparity and Poverty in China: A General Equilibrium Approach

The main objective of this research is to analyze the effects of the fiscal dimension of China’s government transfer and preferential tax policy on regional income disparity and poverty reduction. Using a computable general equilibrium model with a three-region component, we find that the preferential tax policy on the eastern coastal region of China has a significant effect on household income, as well as on the FGT indicator. The simulation results suggest that tax policy is a more effective tool to counter against China’s regional disparity than government transfer.

Field Tests on Pile-Supported Embankments over Soft Ground

When designing embankments over soft soils, geotechnical engineers face many challenges. These include potential bearing failure, intolerable settlement, and global or local instability. Pile-supported embankments have been emerged as an effective alternative successfully adopted worldwide to solve these problems. This paper focuses on three cases in which pile-supported embankments were used for constructing highways in the eastern coastal region of China. Each case provides a description of the soil profile, construction procedure, and field monitoring of the settlements, earth pressures, and pore-water pressures. Field monitored data from contact pressures acting on the piles and the soils, to the settlements of the piles and the soils are reported and discussed. The development of the earth pressures both on the piles and the soils shows that there was a significant soil arching in the embankment, and the measured earth pressures acting on the piles are much higher than that acting on the soils betwee...

Appraisal of typical rural development models during rapid urbanization in the eastern coastal region of China

The sustainability of regional rural development depends on the integrated status and the coordination between rural resources-environment conditions and rural socioeconomic development. In this paper a diagnostic indicator system is proposed to appraise four representative rural development models such as Mentougou model, Taicang model, Yueqing model and Qionghai model in the eastern coastal region of China from the integrated perspective of population, resources, environment, and development. In conclusion, the formation and evolution of these diverse rural development models are the direct response to the very different characteristics in the environment, market demand, and regional culture. These models are common in that their sustainability depends on the scientific guidance of the regional development functional positioning, strong intra-regional interactions, and self-adaptability to the external conditions.

Initiation of breastfeeding and prevalence of exclusive breastfeeding at hospital discharge in urban, suburban and rural areas of Zhejiang China.

BackgroundRates of exclusive breastfeeding in China are relatively low and below national targets. The aim of this study was to document the factors that influence exclusive breastfeeding initiation in Zhejiang, PR China.MethodsA cohort study of infant feeding practices was undertaken in Zhejiang Province, an eastern coastal region of China. A total of 1520 mothers who delivered in four hospitals located in city, suburb and rural areas during late 2004 to 2005 were enrolled in the study. Multivariate logistic regression analysis was used to explore factors related to exclusive breastfeeding initiation.ResultsOn discharge from hospital, 50.3% of the mothers were exclusively breastfeeding their infants out of 96.9% of the mothers who had earlier initiated breastfeeding. Exclusive breastfeeding was positively related to vaginal birth, baby's first feed being breast milk, mother living in the suburbs or rural areas, younger age of mother, lower maternal education level and family income.ConclusionThe exclusive breastfeeding rate in Zhejiang is only 50.3% on discharge and does not reach Chinese or international targets. A number of behaviours have been identified in the study that could be potentially incorporated into health promotion activities.

Analysis of field performance of embankments on soft clay deposit with and without PVD-improvement

This paper presents a case history of the performance of two full-scale test embankments constructed on soft clay deposit in the eastern coastal region of China. One embankment was constructed on natural subsoil and the other was constructed on prefabricated vertical drain (PVD) improved subsoil. The thickness of the soft clay deposit without PVD-improvement was 19 m and with PVD-improved case was 23 m. The PVDs were installed to a depth of 19 m with spacing of 1.5 m in a triangular pattern. Field performance of the two embankments was analyzed using the finite element method. The following influential factors: (i) hydraulic conductivity of subsoil in field and (ii) discharge capacity of PVDs were investigated numerically. The back-analyzed results for the embankment on natural subsoil showed that the hydraulic conductivity ratio ( C f) of field to laboratory values is about 6. To analyse the PVD-improved subsoil, a simple approach using the equivalent vertical hydraulic conductivity of PVD-improved subsoil was employed. The analytical results show that PVDs increased the bulk vertical hydraulic conductivity of soft subsoil by about 30 times compared to the original non-treated subsoil. The discharge capacity of PVDs in this field case is 79–100 m 3/a, which is consistent with the findings from laboratory tests and other reported values in literature.

96/04578 What is energy efficiency? Concepts, indicators and methodological issues

The eastern coastal areas of China have high-density population, developed society and economy, and large water pollution emissions. How to reduce water pollution and realize the coordinated development of the economy and environment has become the national focus. Effective environmental policies should consider regional differences in development stage and sustainability performance. Here, we first analyzed the water pollution emissions intensity of the eastern coastal areas of China and the urgency of emissions reduction using 8-year environmental statistics from 2003 to 2010. We characterized development stages of the eastern coastal areas based on the relationships between water pollution emissions intensity and economic development. Further, we built a coordination degree index of economic development and water environment protection as a measure of sustainability. Results show that water pollution emissions intensity decreases as the economy grows from 2003 to 2010. The less-developed regions have a better coordination degree than some more-developed regions, especially those most-developed ones (e.g., Shanghai show more pressures on long-term sustainability than Hebei). The less-developed regions should take advantage of economic growth to invest more advanced environment protection technologies. The more-developed regions need to upgrade its economic structures and municipal infrastructures. Overall, the study provided a comprehensive approach to understand regional difference in development stage and sustainability performance in the eastern coastal region of China as well as the need of different environmental policies to reduce water pollution emissions.