Northeastern Provinces Of China Research Articles

Two New Infraspecific Taxa ofOrychophragmus violaceus(Brassicaceae) in Northeast China

Abstract. Two new varieties of Orychophragmus violaceus (L.) O. E. Schultz (Brassicaceae) are described from Heilongjiang Province in northeastern China. The new variety, O. violaceus var. odontopetalus Ling Wang & Chuan P. Yang, differs from the typical variety of the species in that the petal has five or more obtuse teeth (vs. smooth petals) in the upper third of the expanded petal. The clawed petals have an expanded apical section that is 10–13 mm long (vs. 7–13 mm), and the stems and pedicels are puberulent (vs. glabrous). A second new variety is O. violaceus var. variegatus Ling Wang & Chuan P. Yang, which differs from the typical variety by the marked petal variegation of white and purple (vs. no petal variegation). The uppermost leaves are often undivided, with sharply serrate margins (vs. irregularly toothed leaves). These distinctions have persisted and been stable after eight years of cultivation in field experiments in Heilongjiang. A key to the infraspecific taxa of O. violaceus is included. ...

Multi-medium Distributions of HCHs, DDTs, and PCBs in Typical Petrochemical Industrial Area and Surrounding Regions of Jilin Province, Northeast China

The levels of DDTs, HCHs and PCBs in topsoil, cereal and irrigation water from typical industrial and agricultural areas of Jilin Province in Northeastern China were evaluated by using gas chromatography coupled with an electron capture detector. The amount of ∑OCPs and ∑(7)PCBs found in topsoils ranged from 24.7 to 98.0 and 17.2 to 98.7 ng g(-1), respectively. The geometric means of ∑HCHs, ∑DDTs and ∑(7)PCBs in rice stem samples were 28.9, 32.4 and 49.0 ng g(-1), respectively. The average level of total OCPs concentration in rice field water in Meihekou area (0.849 ng g(-1)) is higher than that in Jilin area (0.178 ng g(-1)) and all OCPs concentrations in rice field water met the water quality standards for Grade I regulated by China's national environmental quality standard of surface water.

The effect of long-term fertilization on soil water storage and water deficit in the Black Soil Zone in northeast China

Zou, W., Si, B., Han, X. and Jiang, H. 2012. The effect of long-term fertilization on soil water storage and water deficit in the Black Soil Zone in northeast China. Can. J. Soil Sci. 92: 439–448. The Black Soil Zone in northeast China is one of the most important areas of agricultural production in China and plays a crucial role in food supply. However, further improvement in crop yield hinges on effective management of soil water. There is a poor understanding of how different fertilization methods affect crop water use efficiency. The objective of this study was to examine the effect of different fertilization methods on soil water storage and deficit in Black soils. A long-term experiment was conducted at the National Field Research Station of Agro-ecosystems, at Hailun County, Heilongjiang province in northeastern China from 1999 to 2008. Three fertilizer treatments including no fertilizer (CK), inorganic fertilizer (NP) and inorganic fertilizer plus organic material (NPM) were tested. The results showed that soil water storage decreased in the order CK, NP, and NPM during the growing season and the differences in soil water storage in the active root zone (0–70 cm) and below the active root zone (70–130 cm) and soil water deficit were statistically significant among the three treatments. Due to the uneven temporal distribution of rainfall and crop water uptake, soil water content was very dynamic in all three treatments: The low soil water storage and resulting soil water deficit (defined as the monthly difference between potential evapotranspiration and soil available water storage) within the 0- to 70-cm soil profile were found in both June and July. Further, soil receiving NPM was more likely to have a soil water deficit, but less likely to have excessive water. A lower risk of excess water may result in deeper root penetration and increased water use at greater depth, and thus the water deficit under the NPM treatment may not be the limiting factor for crop production. Therefore, NPM seems a viable management practice for improving crop yields in the Black Soil Zone in northeast China, possibly due to higher soil organic carbon and nutrient supply and lower probability of excess water.

Risk Assessment of Crops Induced by Flood in the Three Northeastern Provinces of China on Small Space-and-Time Scales

[Purpose] Crop’s risk assessment induced by natural disasters needs to develop in the fine scale. It is required that risk assessment can be performed on county-level space scale and month-based time scale. But with the thinning of space and time scales, disaster samples would decl ine greatly and severely limit the us age of risk assessment method based on the statistic of samples. Therefore, in this paper, a new method on base of metrological data and crop’s vulnerability models was proposed to assess risk variability among months on county scale. [Methods] Since the weather stations cannot cover all the counties, the IDW method was used to interpolate the daily rainfall for each coun ty by its nearby 3 stations. Moreover, ba sed on the flood recor d data, the vulnerability function between crop’s flood-effected area and av erage daily rainfall in a storm wa s regressed. Using the informatio n diffusion model of nonp arametric kernel density, the probability density function of average daily rainfall in a storm for each month of each county was fitted. Finally, the expected disaster-effected area of crops as risk measure for each month of each county was calculated on the combination of probability function and vulnerability function. [Results] Through the case study in three northeastern provinces of China, a serial of risk maps on county-level and month-level scales were produced to be used to recognize the rules of risk variability in space and time.

Financing for Regional Economic Integration for Northeast Asia III: A Multilateral Financial Institution for Northeast Asia

The Northeast Asian region is one of the most dynamic economic centers of the world, having China, Japan, and Korea as major players, with productive linkages to resource-rich Russia and Mongolia, and to the Pacific and North America. In contrast to the region’s robust economic growth, regional security has long been fragile, mainly due to the geopolitical conditions resulting from the Cold War era. In the twenty-first century, if the countries in Northeast Asia wish to further their development and prosperity, they will have to learn to harness their dynamic economies and create a region in which peaceful coexistence and common prosperity prevail. North Korea, Mongolia, the Russian Far East, and the northeastern provinces of China constitute a northern sub-region that is well-endowed with latent natural and human resources. This sub-region has the potential of becoming a valuable source of natural resources for the entire region, and what is needed is to realize that potential through cross border infrastructure development. Energy security and efficiency, the environment, and green growth, for example, constitute an important area of cooperation, as the three major countries of China, Japan and Korea are heavily dependent on energy imports and are highly vulnerable to energy crises. Financing requirements for the necessary cross-border infrastructure are likely to be large, and a regional financial institution is a key to meeting that financing need. This volume, which is the third in the series of volumes entitled, Financing for Regional Economic Integration for Northeast Asia, comprises papers, research reports, and summaries of a main conference and several specialized meetings, as well as affiliated activities, that took place under this project. The results of this project represent activities contributing to the regional economic integration and have been carried out in a spirit of cooperation.

The Empire Looks Back: Subverting the Imperial Gaze

This paper looks at visual encounters between west and east, in the context of the north-eastern province of China, specifically Weihaiwei and Qufu, in the early years of the twentieth century. It focuses on the British Commissioner for Weihaiwei, James Haldane Stewart Lockhart, and his subordinate, Reginald Johnston, and their relations with key figures, the Governors of Shandong and Duke Kong. This relationship is approached through the formal photographs, taken by a Chinese photographer, here partially identified as ‘Ah Fong’. These successful photographs are compared with a later, commissioned plan to photograph the whole British Empire, undertaken by Alfred Hugh Fisher.

Financing for Regional Economic Integration for Northeast Asia II

The Northeast Asian region is one of the most dynamic economic regions in the world, which includes the major players of China, Japan and Korea, with productive linkages to resource-rich Russia and Mongolia and to the United States. In contrast to the region's robust economic growth regional security has long been fragile, mainly due to the geopolitical condition resulting from the Cold War era. If the countries in Northeast Asia wish to further their development and prosperity, they will have to learn to harness their dynamic economies and create a region in which peaceful coexistence and common prosperity prevail. Northeast Asia has a northern subregion that includes North Korea, Mongolia, the Russian Far East, and the northeastern provinces of China - an area that is well - endowed with latent natural and human resources. This subregion has the potential of becoming an important source of natural resources for the entire region, and what is needed is to realize that potential through infrastructure investment. Energy security and environment is for example, an important area of cooperation, as the three major countries are heavily dependent on energy imports and are highly vulnerable to energy crisis. Financing requirements for the necessary cross-border infrastructure are likely to be large, and a regional development bank is a key in meeting that financing need. This volume, which is a sequel to the first volume, Financing for Regional Economic Integration for Northeast Asia, is comprised of papers, research reports and summaries of a main conference and several specialized meetings, as well as affiliated activities, that took place under this project. The results of this project represent a considerable beneficial to the region and have been carried out in a spirit of cooperation that we esteem.

Environmental Injustice in China’s Industrialized Rural Areas: Observations from Juancheng County and their National Context

China’s rural areas are increasingly becoming the operating sites of factories and small-scale industry, which employ parts of the population, give rise to a new social class of “rural-industrialists” and contaminate the environmental and agricultural systems in all-pervasive ways. The rise of the rural industrialists has meant that a handful of factory owners in a given township become wealthy by exploiting the cheap labor and minimal environmental restrictions of the countryside, and live luxurious modern lifestyles in the midst of rural poverty. These factory or business owners are often the newly rich, who have only gained their status in the recent decades and still have family and friendships ties in the townships, meaning that they are responsible for the heavy polluting of the environment that their own family members live in. This paper is a gathering of observations from my visit to Juancheng county, located in Shandong province in northeastern China. Past studies on rural industrialization in China are used to put my observations in historical and national context. Suggestions from other scholars and journalists on how to deal with the environmental and health impacts of rural industrialization are discussed. However, most of these suggestions deal primarily with economic incentive targeted at polluters for the sake of environmental protection. More emphasis should be placed on the health of the rural people who often work in both factories and farms, and these people’s rights to organize against government corruption. Furthermore, increasing factory owner and rural people’s access to education on ecological relationships, environmental well-being and public health, would be a meaningful step toward combating the government’s sole emphasis on economic growth, and shifting focus toward creating a more sustainable rural society.

An Improved Fuzzy C-Means Clustering Algorithm and Application in Meteorological Data

The fuzzy clustering algorithm is sensitive to the m value and the degree of membership. Because of the deficiencies of traditional FCM clustering algorithm, we made specific improvement. Through the calculation of the value of m, the amendments of degree of membership to the discussion of issues, effectively compensate for the deficiencies of the traditional algorithm and achieve a relatively good clustering effect. Finally, through the analysis of temperature observation data of the three northeastern province of china in 2000, the reasonableness of the method is verified.

The effect of parental labor migration on children’s educational progress in rural china

Due to China’s restrictive household registration system and increasing educational costs tens of millions of internal labor migrants have difficulty enrolling their children in urban schools. As a result, many children are left behind in rural areas when their parents seek urban employment. Using data from two provinces in northeastern China we find that parental labor migration is associated with a .7 grade-level lag in educational attainment among girls. Given that our models control for educational costs and total consumption expenditure, we interpret this as resulting from a re-allocation of girls’ time towards home production in migrant households.

Alcohol consumption and work‐related injuries among farmers in Heilongjiang Province, People's Republic of China

Alcohol consumption has been found to be associated with work-related injuries among workers around the world, but this association has not well been studied among agricultural workers in China. This population-based survey aimed to study the association between alcohol use and work-related agricultural injury. Farmers in a northeastern province of China were questioned about work-related injury in the past year (May 2007-April 2008), alcohol use, farming practices, and sociodemographic factors. The Chi-square test and logistic regression analyses were used to investigate the role of alcohol drinking in agricultural injuries. Among 2,050 farmers who completed the survey, the 12-month prevalence of work-related injury was 12.2%. The leading external cause of injury was exposure to mechanical force. The odds of injury among farmers with past month drinking, who drank distilled spirits, and reported intoxication were respectively 1.77 (95% CI = 1.27-2.47), 1.89 (95% CI = 1.35-2.66), 2.12 (95% CI = 1.42-3.11). The odds of injury also significantly increased with greater average amounts of pure alcohol per day, with increased frequency of drinking per week, and with greater reported years of drinking. Each alcohol use variable was associated with injury in logistic regression models while controlling for sex, age, years of farm work, months of farm work in the past 12 months, driving a motor vehicle, and agricultural machinery use. We found a significant association between alcohol consumption and work-related injuries among farmers. Our findings stress the need for culturally appropriate interventions which affect alcohol use and prevent injuries among Chinese farmers.

The first case of a class I glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase deficiency, G6PD Santiago de Cuba (1339 G > A), in a Chinese population as found in a survey for G6PD deficiency in northeastern and central China.

In Liaoning Province in northeastern China, we found a G6PD-deficient patient at the age of 3. By the classification of the World Health Organization, this patient was categorized as class I (very severe G6PD deficiency). When we investigated the G6PD gene of the patient, we found that he had a replacement of G to A at nucleotide 1339. As a result, the amino acid at position 447 should change from Gly to Arg. This replacement is known as G6PD Santiago de Cuba, because it was first discovered in a Cuban boy who showed heavy chronic anemia. Today, 28 G6PD variants have been reported in the Chinese population, and all are categorized as class II (severe deficiency) or class III (mild deficiency); in class II or III deficiency, anemia is not present in daily life, but hemolytic attack can occur when the carrier ingests certain oxidative medicines or foods. This is the first report of a G6PD-deficient Chinese patient in the category of class I. We intended to find other G6PD-deficient cases in northeastern China and tested several hundred blood samples, but no cases of G6PD deficiency were found (0/414). In central China, where falciparum malaria was endemic from the 1950s to 1970s, we found two G6PD-deficient cases (2/27) and the other members from their families whose variant type was G6PD Kaiping (1388G > T), which is a common variant in the Chinese population.

New U–Pb and Re–Os age data and the geodynamic setting of the Xiaojiayingzi Mo (Fe) deposit, western Liaoning province, Northeastern China

The Xiaojiayingzi deposit, located in the western Liaoning province in northeastern China, is a skarn-type Mo (Fe) deposit with an average Mo grade of 0.23 wt.%. The deposit is temporally and spatially associated with fine-grained diorite. Mo (Fe) mineralization is present mainly as veins, lenses and layers that are hosted by skarn. New SHRIMP U–Pb zircon and Re–Os molybdenite age determinations yielded a crystallization age for the diorite of 169.9 ± 1.4 Ma and a molybdenite Re–Os isochron age of 165.5 ± 4.6 Ma. The U–Pb and Re–Os ages are identical within error. The mineralization is therefore considered to be genetically related to diorite emplacement in the Middle Jurassic. A high Re content of 21.75 to 163.0 ppm, with an average of 64.31 ppm in the molybdenite, together with δ 34 S values between 3.3‰ and 8.0‰ of sulfides in the ores indicates that the metal source was a mixed crust–mantle system. From these geochronological data and previously presented regional geological relationships, we propose that diorite emplacement and Mo (Fe) mineralization in the Xiaojiayingzi mine resulted from an early stage of the subduction of the Paleo-Pacific plate beneath the Eurasian Block.

Molecular Detection of Spotted Fever GroupRickettsiainDermacentor silvarumfrom a Forest Area of Northeastern China : Table 1

In total, 676 Dermacentor silvarum Olenev (Acari: Ixodidae) from a forest area of Jilin Province in northeastern China were examined by polymerase chain reaction for the presence of spotted fever group (SFG) Rickettsia. The overall positive rate was 10.7%, with a 95% confidence interval from 8.3 to 13.0%. The SFG Rickettsia infection was more prevalent in adults than in nymphs, and in fed ticks obtained from domestic animals than in those collected on vegetation. Sequence analysis of the partial outer membrane protein A gene confirmed the existence of R. sibirica and discovered a novel rickettsial agent in this area, the sequence of which was identical to that of DnS14 genotype Rickettsia previously reported in the former Soviet Union.

Molecular Detection of Spotted Fever Group <I>Rickettsia</I> in <I>Dermacentor silvarum</I> from a Forest Area of Northeastern China

In total, 676 Dermacentor silvarum Olenev (Acari: Ixodidae) from a forest area of Jilin Province in northeastern China were examined by polymerase chain reaction for the presence of spotted fever group (SFG) Rickettsia. The overall positive rate was 10.7%, with a 95% confidence interval from 8.3 to 13.0%. The SFG Rickettsia infection was more prevalent in adults than in nymphs, and in fed ticks obtained from domestic animals than in those collected on vegetation. Sequence analysis of the partial outer membrane protein A gene confirmed the existence of R. sibirica and discovered a novel rickettsial agent in this area, the sequence of which was identical to that of DnS14 genotype Rickettsia previously reported in the former Soviet Union.

A Study on the Korean Enterprises’Direct Investment in the Three Northeastern Provinces of China

A Study on the Korean Enterprises’Direct Investment in the Three Northeastern Provinces of China

Selenium Deficiency and Endemic Heart Failure in China: A Case Study of Biogeochemistry for Human Health

In 1937, a terrible disease of heart failure was reported in some rural areas in Heilongjiang, a far northeastern province of China. Women and children were its primary victims. The disease frequently occurred without warning and led to the death of a large number of people. The major symptom of the disease was myocardial necrosis, which led to acute hypoxia, vomiting, and finally death in several hours. Preliminary investigations were conducted in the late 1930s and 1940s but biotic infecting agents could not be identified. The peculiar disease was then named after the county, Keshan, where the first cases of death from the disease were reported. Since then, Keshan disease was found in another 12 provinces across China between the 1940s–60s. About eight million people lived in the affected areas in the country during that period of time, and thousands of people died of Keshan disease every year. The disease was so severe that a special government office was established to coordinate the nationwide efforts against the disease in the 1950s. In the 1950s and 60s, large-scale epidemiological investigations were launched in the provinces affected by Keshan disease, including Heilongjiang, Jilin, Liaoning, Hebei, Shandong, Henan, Inner Mongolia, Shanxi, Shaanxi, Gansu, Sichuan, Yunnan, and Tibet. A variety of biotic or abiotic factors, such as indoor carbon monoxides, nitrite in drinking water, parasites, fungi or bacteria in the local diet, etc., were considered during the investigations. The campaigns did not prove any of the factors related to the incidence of Keshan disease with convincing evidence. However, the nationwide investigations demonstrated that Keshan disease occurred within a geographic belt stretching from the northeast to the southwest of China. In some places, the affected and unaffected areas had clear boundaries. It was not uncommon to see two adjacent villages differing in disease status substantially and constantly for decades. Through the field investigations, the possibility that Keshan disease was an infectious one was excluded. The striking spatial distribution of Keshan disease implied that there could be some geographic or geological factors causing the disease. In fact, the local villagers whose families had lived in the affected areas for generations insisted that the disease was caused by the local ‘‘soil and water.’’ A number of medical researchers started looking in a new direction, the geochemical environment. In 1966, Dr. Haijiang Cai, one of the pioneer medical researchers studying Keshan disease in China, declared ‘‘We must team up with the geologists who are interested in the medical issues.’’

Development of Molecular Markers Linked to Cladosporium fulvum Resistant Gene Cf-6 in Tomato by RAPD and SSR Methods

Leaf mold, caused by the fungus Cladosporium fulvum, is a serious disease of tomato. In the current study, the main physiological races of C. fulvum collected from three northeastern provinces of China were identified using a set of identification hosts. The results showed that the prevalent pathogenic physiological races were 1.2.3, 1.3, 3, 1.2.3.4, and 1.2.4. F1, F2, and BC1 tomato plants were obtained by crossing C. fulvum-resistant cultivar 03748 carrying the Cf-6 gene and susceptible cultivar 03036. Three 10-mer oligonucleotide random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) primers and two simple sequence repeat (SSR) primers were selected for the further molecular marking analysis after 210 RAPD primers and 50 SSR primers were screened using the bulked segregate analysis method. The polymorphic DNA bands were amplified among parents, 10 F1 plants, 184 F2 plants including 145 resistant plants and 39 sensitive plants using three RAPD primers and two SSR primers so that three RAPD molecular markers and two SSR molecular markers linked to the Cf-6 loci were identified. Three RAPD markers were linked to the Cf-6 resistant locus separated with 8.7 cM, 20.3 cM, and 33.4 cM. Also, one RAPD codominant marker S374619/559 was found. The locations of the two SSR markers were 12.6 cM and 9.7 cM away from the Cf-6 locus. After cloning and sequencing two specific DNA fragments closely connected to the Cf-6 resistant and susceptible alleles respectively, in the RAPD codominant marker S374619/559 and one codominant sequence characterized amplified region marker S674619/559 was converted from RAPD marker S374619/559. In the RAPD marker S374619/559, the length difference of two specific fragments, 619-bp fragment and 559-bp fragment, is the result of one insertion (60 bp) in the 619-bp fragment. These markers will facilitate the selection of resistant tomato germplasm containing the Cf-6 gene and cloning of Cf-6 to breed new C. fulvum resistant tomato cultivars.

Juvenile Birds from the Early Cretaceous of China: Implications for Enantiornithine Ontogeny

Mesozoic remains of embryonic and early juvenile birds are rare. To date, a handful of in ovo embryos and early juveniles of enantiornithines from the Early Cretaceous of China and Spain and the Late Cretaceous of Mongolia and Argentina have comprised the entire published record of perinatal ontogenetic stages of Mesozoic birds. We report on the skeletal morphology of three nearly complete early juvenile avians from the renowned Early Cretaceous Yixian Formation of Liaoning Province in northeastern China. Evidence of the immaturity of these specimens is expressed in the intense grooving and pitting of the periosteal surfaces, the disproportionately small size of the sterna, and the relative size of the skull and orbits. Size notwithstanding, anatomical differences between these three specimens are minimal, leaving no basis for discriminating them into separate taxa. Numerous osteological synapomorphies indicate that they are euenantiornithine birds, the most diverse clade of Enantiornithes, but their identification as members of a particular euenantiornithine taxon remains unclear. Their early ontogenetic stage, however, provides important information about the postnatal development of this specious clade of Cretaceous birds. The presence of pennaceous wing feathers suggests that fledging occurred very early in ontogeny, thus supporting a precocial or highly precocial strategy for enantiornithine hatchlings. The morphology of these new early-stage juveniles is also significant in that they allow a better understanding of the homologies of several avian compound bones because the components of these skeletal compounds are preserved prior to their coossification. The general morphology of the wrist and ankle of these juveniles highlights once again the striking similarity between nonavian theropods and early birds.

Genetic Diversity and Origin of Weedy Rice (Oryza sativa f. spontanea) Populations Found in North-eastern China Revealed by Simple Sequence Repeat (SSR) Markers

Weedy rice (Oryza sativa f. spontanea) is one of the most notorious weeds occurring in rice-planting areas worldwide. The objectives of this study are to determine the genetic diversity and differentiation of weedy rice populations from Liaoning Province in North-eastern China and to explore the possible origin of these weedy populations by comparing their genetic relationships with rice varieties (O. sativa) and wild rice (O. rufipogon) from different sources. Simple sequence repeat (SSR) markers were used to estimate the genetic diversity of 30 weedy rice populations from Liaoning, each containing about 30 individuals, selected rice varieties and wild O. rufipogon. Genetic differentiation and the relationships of weedy rice populations were analysed using cluster analysis (UPGMA) and principle component analysis (PCA). The overall genetic diversity of weedy rice populations from Liaoning was relatively high (H(e) = 0.313, I = 0.572), with about 35 % of the genetic variation found among regions. The Liaoning weedy rice populations were closely related to rice varieties from Liaoning and japonica varieties from other regions but distantly related to indica rice varieties and wild O. rufipogon. Weedy rice populations from Liaoning are considerably variable genetically and most probably originated from Liaoning rice varieties by mutation and intervarietal hybrids. Recent changes in farming practices and cultivation methods along with less weed management may have promoted the re-emergence and divergence of weedy rice in North-eastern China.