Potential In China Research Articles

The potential for China's outward foreign direct investment and its determinants: A comparative study of carbon-intensive and non-carbon-intensive sectors along the Belt and Road

Ensuring that the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) is green and low-carbon is crucial to tackling climate change while simultaneously promoting a win-win outcome of BRI countries. In recent years, China has altered its BRI Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) portfolio by reducing investment in carbon-intensive sectors and increasing it in non-carbon-intensive sectors. Therefore, it is particularly important to assess the potential of these two types of sectors in attracting China's FDI, and to identify the major determinants of investment. In our study, the results of a stochastic frontier gravity model and inefficiency model on 2008–2017 data covering 132 countries, including 98 BRI countries, show that the potential for China's FDI in non-carbon-intensive sectors is higher than that in carbon-intensive sectors. Furthermore, the determinants of China's FDI in these two types of sectors are significantly different. The study's results can be used to inform China's investment policy, and render positive contributions to the green BRI based on location and sector information.

The Potential of China’s Bond Market

The Chinese bond market is experiencing substantial financial growth. This is evidenced by its opening up to foreign investors who are taking advantage of new investment opportunities in China’s long-term expanding economy. There has been a change in the financial policies of China’s bond market that has permitted more outside funds to come into its market. The influx of investor financial capital into China is a sign of the national government’s drive for economic stimulus. This allows foreign investors to take advantage of the growth of China’s real estate market and the nation’s massive effort to expand and modernize its infrastructure. The Chinese bond market consists mainly of public sector entities rather than private firms. Foreign investors can purchase either bonds issued by state-owned enterprises or by local governments or their financial vehicles. While the Chinese bond market is expanding, there are problems associated with credit ratings that do not correctly reflect data regarding credit quality. This could mean more risk for bond investors than they can tolerate or afford. The Chinese bond market must also compete against bond markets in other parts of the world in regards to returns, interest rates, volatility, safety, liquidity, and marketability. While there is the potential for vast financial opportunities, there is also the possibility of high risk.

Research on the Efficiency and Potential of China's Trade with South Asian Countries-Based on the Stochastic Frontier Gravity Model

In the context of COVID-19, international trade has been strongly impacted, and it is of great significance to accelerate trade exchanges with countries along the "Belt and Road" to achieve trade transformation. This paper uses the time-varying stochastic frontier gravity model to measure trade efficiency based on the data of China and South Asia from 2000 to 2019. The empirical results show that economic scale and population have a positive impact on trade. China's GDP growth is not conducive to the growth of bilateral trade volume, and distance is no longer a factor hindering trade. Trade inefficiency has a great impact on trade. Among them, whether to sign a free trade agreement, the quality of port infrastructure, the simple average tax rate of all products, and political risks have a more significant impact on the trade coefficient. The trade potential between China and South Asian countries is very large and different countries are uneven. China has high trade efficiency with Sri Lanka, Pakistan, India, and Bangladesh, while trade with Bhutan has extremely low efficiency, and trade with Maldives and Nepal is average. Based on the above empirical results and combined with the current epidemic situation, the corresponding conclusions and countermeasures are put forward. For example, exporters should continue to innovate to promote trade transformation and diversified development; combine the western development strategy to promote trade and South Asian exchanges; reduce trade tariff barriers between the two countries; Jointly maintain the security and political situation of the two countries.

ОБЗОР ИННОВАЦИОННОЙ СОСТАВЛЯЮЩЕЙ НАЦИОНАЛЬНОГО ЭКОНОМИЧЕСКОГО РАЗВИТИЯ

In modern conditions, the identification of innovative development trajectories for many countries, both developed and developing, has become one of the main conditions for economic growth and strategic development. The article presents the results of a study of the innovative potential of China as an undoubted leader in the production and development of science and technology. The national innovation system of China is a kind of" powerful locomotive " of economic transformations in the country. In the course of the conducted research, the specific features of Chinese innovative development are analyzed; the system of management and regulation of innovative activity of the country is studied; attention is paid to the activities of the Ministry of Science and Technology directly related to the formation of the principles and guidelines of the national innovation system of China; the level of expenditures on research and development work is estimated; a comparative analysis of China's positions among other innovative active countries (developed and developing-Israel, South Korea, Sweden, Japan, Germany, the USA, Finland, France, Great Britain, Russia, India) is carried out. The results of the study: an overview of the current state of innovation activity in the country is given (innovative indicators are presented – the number of enterprises engaged in innovative activities in the country, the main income from business in the high-tech industry, the investment intensity of costs for research and development, patent activity); the leading Chinese industries (with the largest corporate expenditures on R & D) and companies (according to the indicator "Issuance of patents") are studied; The key problems of China's innovative national development are identified, among which are: lack of talent and brain drain, excessive spending on innovation, poor awareness of innovation; effective measures to support China's innovation activity are presented.

Dynamics and Factors of Innovation Gap Between the European Union and China

The article focuses on the problem of innovation gap in the world economy, as there are in general countries with developed national innovation systems, playing the role of technology leaders, and those with developing innovation systems, acting as innovation followers. Western European economies belong usually to the first group whereas China is traditionally classified in the second group; however, the analysis conducted in this study reveals a continuous catch-up process of this country towards the European Union in terms of the level of innovativeness of the economy. The purpose of this paper is to measure the dynamics of innovation gap between China and the EU average, and to identify the determinants of its evolution. Although for most of the analyzed indicators related to innovation, China’s performance is much below the EU average, the growth rates for Chinese economy in 2008–2018 have been higher than these of the EU, indicating convergence process. The key to development success in China lies in closing the technological gap by importing existing technology, and strengthening internal capabilities to utilize and improve on those technologies. Different reasons for China’s economy improvement in terms of innovativeness are analyzed, including external factors (e.g., foreign direct investments, which are concentrated mostly in eastern provinces, and associated technology transfer) and internal aspects (like science, technology and innovation policy, investment in research and development, and emergence of innovative regional clusters). The conclusion is that dynamic processes of increasing innovative potential of China provide with a solid fundamental for further convergence and diminishing innovation gap between this country and the European Union.

Research on Export Potential of China's Sea Transport Services

Research on Export Potential of China's Sea Transport Services

A method for predicting the solar photovoltaic (PV) potential in China

A reliable assessment of energy efficiency for photovoltaic system is of importance for the solar energy policy planning and industrial development. Despite extensive advances over past years, almost all economic analyses overlooked the effect of local environment on the photoelectric conversion efficiency of solar cells, therefore leading to a non-negligible error in the prediction of photovoltaic potential. In this work, we developed a unified model to evaluate the regional economics of photovoltaic system by incorporating the heat transfer in solar cell and associated environmental influences. This model significantly improves the prediction accuracy of photovoltaic potential by establishing a correlation between the regional meteorological data and solar energy generation. In particular, with a meteorological data reduction, we dramatically decrease the computational complexity for predicting the photovoltaic potential. Through a theoretical analysis with the unified model, we demonstrate that the existing price mechanism of PV electricity in China cannot fully eliminate the economic disparities in various areas owing to the neglect of environmental effect. This work not only offers new insight into the research of solar resource and related policy making, but also provides guidelines for the further development of solar power industry.

The Population Growth of Spodoptera frugiperda on Six Cash Crop Species and Implications for Its Occurrence and Damage Potential in China.

Simple SummaryThe fall armyworm Spodoptera frugiperda is an invasive pest, which can cause severe economic losses by larvae feeding on a variety of crops. To develop effective control technology, it is particularly necessary to study the basic biology and ecology of this invasive insect. This experiment investigated the development, survival, and reproduction and population growth of S. frugiperda on six cash crop species. This study indicated that S. frugiperda fed on maize and wheat had shorter preadult developmental durations, higher preadult survival, greater pupal weights and higher fecundity compared to the other four plants. Moreover, although the young larvae of S. frugiperda feeding on Chinese cabbage had a high mortality rate, the old larvae were voracious, which might still cause economic losses to Chinese cabbage. Our results showed that S. frugiperda could cause great economic losses to these cash crops, which should attract the attention of agricultural management departments.Spodoptera frugiperda is a significant migratory invasive pest, identified as a serious threat to agricultural production and food security in China. However, to our knowledge, the effects of most host plants on the biological characteristics of S. frugiperda have not been well studied. To develop effective management strategies for S. frugiperda in its new invasive habitat, basic biological and ecological knowledge of this pest are crucial requirements. Here, we examined the effects of six cash crops maize, wheat, soybean, tomato, cotton and Chinese cabbage on the development, survival, fecundity of S. frugiperda by using the age-stage, two-sex life table. The preadult stage, adult preoviposition period and total preoviposition period of S. frugiperda were shortest on maize and wheat but were longest on tomato. Fecundity was greatest on maize and wheat but smallest on tomato. The highest intrinsic rate of increase, finite rate of increase, net reproductive rate and the shortest mean generation time were recorded on maize. This present study showed that S. frugiperda could cause great economic losses to these cash crops, which should attract the attention of agricultural management departments. Our findings provide useful information in predicting population dynamics and understanding the potential damage that could be incurred by S. frugiperda invasion.

Shale gas potential in China: A production forecast of the Wufeng-Longmaxi Formation and implications for future development

Developing the abundant shale gas in China is a potential means to address the country’s challenges in air pollution and carbon emissions. The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the production potential of the most promising shale gas play—the Wufeng-Longmaxi Formation (WL) in China. We use a Difference-Index analogy method and well-level U.S. shale gas drilling data to estimate the production potential and use a scenario simulation method to propose optimal drilling plans. The results show that the Wufeng-Longmaxi Formation has the potential to produce 70 billion cubic meters of natural gas per year (Bcm/yr), which is 60% of the gas imported into China in 2018. With technology improvement and drilling of more wells, the target of 80–100 Bcm/yr set by the government can be achieved solely by extraction from WL. We find that shale gas drilling is profitable with a well-head price of 1.5 Chinese Yuan per cubic meter. The study indicates that a shale gas boom in China is possible, depending on a more competitive market both upstream and downstream. The successful development of shale gas will change the country’s energy mix to become cleaner and lower-carbon.

Urban land use efficiency and improvement potential in China: A stochastic frontier analysis

With economic growth facing increasing constraints of resource and environment, intensive land use becomes one of the effective ways to promote urban sustainable development. This paper aims to reveal the spatial and temporal differences in urban land use efficiency (ULUE) in provincial China, and examine the impact of undesirable output (e.g., industrial pollutant emissions) on ULUE using a one-stage stochastic frontier analysis (SFA). Furthermore, we analyze the improvement potential of ULUE. Results show that 1) ULUE in China is relatively low, and it shows a trend of slow growth at an annual growth rate of 0.34 %. 2) Undesirable output causes a loss of ULUE. The loss ratio in the western region is the highest (9.61 %), followed by the central region (8.41 %) and the eastern region (3.93 %). Estimation results of the technical inefficiency function also show that pollution intensity has a negative effect on ULUE. 3) ULUE varies significantly across the country. The mean efficiency values in the eastern, central, and western regions are 0.733, 0.535, and 0.507, respectively. ULUE levels in different provinces present a greater gap when undesirable output is considered. 4) The improvement potential analysis indicates a mismatch between the ULUE and the improvement potential. Areas with low efficiency does not necessarily have relatively high improvement potential (e.g., Ningxia and Xinjiang), or areas with relatively high efficiency may also have high improvement potential (e.g., Fujian and Shandong). Based on the difference in ULUE level and its improvement potential, targeted policy suggestions for ULUE improvement are further proposed.

Factors controlling organic-matter accumulation in the Upper Ordovician-Lower Silurian organic-rich shale on the northeast margin of the Upper Yangtze platform: Evidence from petrographic and geochemical proxies

Organic-rich shales are widespread in the Upper Ordovician-Lower Silurian Wufeng-Longmaxi Formations on the northeastern margin of the Upper Yangtze platform, and these shales have been recognized to be the hydrocarbon source rocks and shale gas reservoirs with the greatest development potential in China. However, organic matter accumulation in these shales needs further research, especially in the areas which experienced an extensive upwelling and volcanism. Here, this work integrates detailed petrographic and geochemical proxies, namely redox-sensitive trace elements (RSTEs) and ratios of Si/Al & Ti/Al, from two Ordovician-Silurian sections on the northeast margin of Upper Yangtze platform, in order to understand the depositional environment and identify the major factors controlling the organic matter accumulation during the Ordovician-Silurian transition. Data of Si/Al and Ti/Al ratios indicate that the deposition of black-gray siliceous mudstones in the Lower Wufeng Formation commenced with a transgression triggered by the Boda warming event which led to a reduced detrital input. Based on RSTEs, the black carbonaceous shales of the Upper Wufeng Formation are organic-rich owing to an elevated primary productivity caused by seasonal upwelling driven by the vigorous thermohaline circulation. Abundant nutrients supplied by the post-glacial transgression and a mass biotic recovery of marine microorganisms stimulated productivity and further strengthened the depletion of oxygen in the water column, which lead to high concentrations of organic matter in Lower Longmaxi Formation. Although the water column conditions were not conducive to the accumulation of organic matter, it was possible that the increased productivity from upwelling resulted in relatively high organic matter contents in the middle Longmaxi Formation. The RSTEs (especially Cd/Mo, Co × Mn) reveal that the organic matter accumulation of the Wufeng-Longmaxi Formation during Ordovician-Silurian transition may have been primarily controlled by the preservation conditions and also influenced by the marine primary productivity and the detrital input.

Sustainability assessment of straw direct combustion power generation in China: From the environmental and economic perspectives of straw substitute to coal

Straw power generation (SPG) can not only reduce dependence on coal, but also can convert agricultural waste into energy and alleviate environmental pollution. In order to address the major challenges such as sustainability of the SPG and to provide scientific ground from environmental and economic perspectives, a sustainability assessment model was established to evaluate the performance of SPG. Life cycle assessment (LCA), life-cycle cost (LCC) and the best-worst method (BWM) were integrated in the model. Four SPG scenarios were studied. The results showed that straw alternative coal-fired power generation had weak economic sustainability, the ratio of benefit to cost of SPG was 0.8752–1.1866. While, for the environmental dimension, a strong sustainability was obtained, the greenhouse gas (GHG) abatement potential of −0.8903 t CO2-eq t−1 straw. The findings obtained from the four SPG scenarios suggested that direct combustion SPG had great sustainability potential in China, and several factors such as straw supply chain model, pollutant treatment technology, transport vehicles and straw purchase cost were the main factors which lead to unfavorable economic performance. We suggest that the SPG schemes, transport models and financial subsidies should be carefully designed to improve the sustainability of straw power generation.

Estimation and analysis of municipal food waste and resource utilization potential in China.

With rapid urbanization, municipal food waste (MFW), which is an important part of municipal solid waste, has attracted considerable attention owing to its environmental impact and polluting nature. There has been little research on the quantity and distribution of food waste (FW) produced in China. This study focused on a systematic estimation and analysis of MFW produced in administrative divisions at the prefecture-level and above in China for the first time. From the national level to the prefectural level, with the shrinking of the research units, more intuitive support was obtained for relevant decisions. On the basis of the estimated results, suggestions are provided for proper FW treatment technologies and operational scale of the facilities, and the resource utilization potential has also been estimated. The distribution results indicated that FW characteristics have great variability in the different economic regions of China. Furthermore, it was found that the available FW has a resource utilization potential that is equivalent to 4669.1 million m3 of biogas, 3.6 million tons of biodiesel, and 1.5 million tons of organic fertilizer (dry weight). It is worth mentioning that this amount of biogas can replace 7.5 million tons of standard coal. However, only a small part of the generated MFW can be treated in the existing treatment plants in China. Finally, current key bottlenecks of FW treatment in China have been discussed, and detailed suggestions are presented for further improvement of MFW management.

Talent Demand and Training Strategy of Oceangoing Cruise Company Based on Customized Talent Development Model

Wang, H. and Wei, A.-M., 2020. Talent demand and training strategy of oceangoing cruise company based on customized talent development model. In: Gong, D.; Zhang, M., and Liu, R. (eds.), Advances in Coastal Research: Engineering, Industry, Economy, and Sustainable Development. Journal of Coastal Research, Special Issue No. 106, pp. 233–236. Coconut Creek (Florida), ISSN 0749-0208.With the rapid development of China's national economy and foreign trade, the oceangoing cruise industry has had huge development potential in China, with a corresponding requirement for cruise talent. However, the gap in talent from international cruise companies has seriously affected the development needs of domestic companies. Based on a customized talent development model, this paper studies the talent demand of ocean cruise companies and seeks high-quality talent training strategies for ocean cruise companies. The research results show that there exist many problems in China's cruise talent training in terms of different levels, categories, and contents; the training of customized talent in China includes internal training, intermediary training, and college education training; the strategies of training marine talent need to be carried out from the system level, the process level, and the environmental level. The research findings provide a theoretical basis for talent training in the marine system.

National-Scale Meta-Analysis of Soil Carbon and Nitrogen Accumulation Potential in China’s Grain for Green Program

Grain for Green Program (GFGP) by establishing revegetation on degraded cropland has been considered effective to capture soil carbon (C) in terrestrial ecosystems. However, the magnitude and direction of soil C sequestration and its relation to soil nitrogen (N) dynamics are still poorly known. This study analyzed the literature to determine the influence of low-yield cropland conversion on soil C and N stocks and summarized the results via meta-analysis from 94 recent publications (534 observations) from 1999 to 2018. Cropland conversion had a positive and significant impact on soil C stocks at depths of 0–20, 20–40 and 0–100 cm, and significantly affected soil N stocks at a depth of 0–20 cm. The changes in soil C significantly correlated with N accumulations, but increased at different rates. Soil C sequestration was highly positively related with initial soil C amounts for forest and grassland (0–40 cm), and shrubland (0–20 cm), but there was no initial soil N limitation for later soil N accumulation at all depths. A redundancy analysis revealed that restoration age was the main parameter affecting both soil C and N accumulations. This study showed significant and positive relationships between soil C and N after cropland conversion, and suggested that soil C sequestration could be sustained with soil N availability in the long term. Together, cropland conversion could effectively gain C stock without N limitation in long-term restoration under GFGP in China.

Echelon utilization of waste power batteries in new energy vehicles: Review of Chinese policies

Abstract Echelon utilization of waste power batteries in new energy vehicles has high market potential in China. However, bottlenecks, such as product standards, echelon utilization technology, and recycling network systems, have given rise to the urgent need for policy improvement. This study uses content analysis to code policies and investigate the central and local policies on the echelon utilization of waste power batteries in China from two dimensions, namely, basic policy instruments and industrial chain processes. Results show that in terms of basic policy instruments, central policies focus on structural mandatory instruments, whereas local policies focus on contractual inducement, which tend to be diversified. Interactive impact instruments are the least frequently used in both central and local policies. From the perspective of the recycling industry chain, central and local policy instruments concentrate mainly on the echelon utilization and detection and evaluation stages and focus less on the collection and transportation stages. Suggestions are offered as follows. (1) Increase the use of interactive impact instruments and optimize their classification. (2) Emphasize the matching between basic policy instruments and the recycling industry chain.(3) The policy instrument combination of “one place, one policy” could be implemented.

Marine high-tech Enterprise ecosystem based on sustainable development

The sustainable development of marine economy involves many factors such as society, economy, resources and environment. It is almost impossible to comprehensively solve all problems in the system in one study. The potential of China's marine resources is huge, and the marine economy has maintained a rapid growth rate, but at the same time as rapid economic growth, there are also problems such as waste of resources, environmental pollution, and predatory management. The purpose of this article is to avoid the possible disorder in marine development, and to ensure the coordination and unification of marine economy, marine resource use, and marine environmental protection. In this regard, from the study of the offshore ecosystem, this paper establishes a system dynamic model for the sustainable development of the offshore economy. Through theoretical analysis, methodological discussion and case application, a more comprehensive study of the external value assessment of marine ecosystems is conducted. On the whole, the survey results show that people have paid more and more attention to environmental quality, living environment and the ability to supply resources, which are in line with actual conditions. The weight of all evaluation indicators, where CR is less than 0.05, shows that the distribution of weight is reasonable. The results of the study show that human-dominated value in marine ecosystems accounted for 56.1 %, aesthetic entertainment tourism value accounted for 13.9 %, and ecosystem-based values accounted for 43.9 %.

De novo transcriptome of the whole-body of the gastropod mollusk Philomycus bilineatus, a pest with medical potential in China

Philomycus bilineatus is a highly common gastropod mollusk pest in China and is also utilized to treat infectious diseases. However, no genomic resources are available for this non-model species. In the present study, the transcriptomic analysis of P. bilineatus was completed. After sequencing using the next generation sequencing technology, 9.11Gb of clean reads were obtained, which led to the assembly and annotation of 145,523 transcripts and 125,690 unigenes. Unigenes were functionally classified using Gene Ontology (GO), euKaryotic Ortholog Groups of proteins (KOG), and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG). A total of 27,554 unigenes were assigned into 55 GO terms, 13,989 unigenes were differentiated into 26 KOG categories, and 16,368 unigenes were assigned to 229 KEGG pathways. Furthermore, 16,614 simple sequence repeats (SSRs), 38 olfactory genes, and 40 antimicrobial peptide/protein genes were identified. The transcriptome profile of P. bilineatus will provide a valuable genomic resource for further study, will promote the development of new pest management strategies through interference of chemosensory communication, and will support potential medicinal uses of this species.

Potential of urban cobalt mines in China: An estimation of dynamic material flow from 2007 to 2016

The development of clean energy and high-tech materials is prospering. Cobalt, an indispensable material in this process, has drawn attention worldwide. China has a high demand for cobalt; the uncertainty of raw material supply and increasing domestic demand for cobalt may trigger a severe cobalt crisis in China. Thus, increasing urban mining may be essential for securing cobalt. This study analysed the changes in China's in-use stock of cobalt over 10 years using dynamic material flow analysis. We modelled the material flow cycle of China's cobalt in 2007–2016. Scenario analysis was conducted to estimate the potential of urban cobalt mines in China in 2007–2016, considering the final cobalt-bearing product lifespan distributions; the recycling rate of cobalt waste; and ideal (A1, A2), intermediate (B1, B2, C1, C2) and poor (D1, D2) scenarios. In 2007–2016, China's in-use stock of cobalt reached 115,100 tons (68.45% from batteries and 15.24% from superalloys). In the eight scenarios, the potential of China's urban cobalt mines was 78,800–186,500 tons. China's urban cobalt mines have great potential, but the actual exploitable volume is low, mainly due to the low overall recycling efficiency of domestic cobalt waste, e.g., the recycling rate of waste lithium-ion batteries is less than 10%. A frame of influencing factors for cobalt recycling was proposed, and the actual exploitable volume of China's urban cobalt mines in 2007–2016 was evaluated to be 30,700–60,700 tons. Policymakers should introduce effective policies to encourage cobalt recycling and increase awareness of recycling in the long run.

Addressing the Affordability Crisis for International Students

Affordability to study overseas has always been one of the biggest challenges for most aspiring international students. However, in a postrecession environment, this challenge has become more intense for a range of reasons, including budget cuts, demographic changes, economic shifts, and immigration policies. Many universities, especially in high-income countries, are at risk of pricing themselves out of reach to a large segment of international students.
 THE DEEPENING AFFORDABILITY CRISIS
 Consider the case of the United States, where an increase in direct cost due to a combination of two factors—tuition fees escalation and currency devaluation—is a big blow to affordability. In 2018–2019, the average out-of-state tuition and fees and room and board at a public 4-year institution was $37,430 as compared to $32,762 in 2014–2015—an increase of 14% (College Board, 2018). At the same time, currencies in some of the key emerging countries have devalued against the U.S. dollar. For example, between August 2014 and August 2018, the Indian currency has depreciated by over 20%. The net effect is that for an Indian undergraduate student, the cost of attendance in 2018–2019 increased by at least 30% as compared to 2014–2015.
 In addition to increasing direct cost, lower availability of funding opportunities from universities and governments, as well as tighter immigration and visa policies for finding work opportunities, is making it harder to recover the cost of education. The trend of higher tuition fees for international students is not just in the United States and other leading English-speaking destinations. Even countries in continental Europe have started introducing tuition fees for international students. For example, Denmark (in 2006) and Sweden (in 2011) introduced tuition fees for international students from outside the European economic area (Marconi & Serra, 2017).
 
 THE INCREASING DEMAND FOR “VALUE FOR MONEY”
 The future competitiveness of higher education institutions and nations in attracting international students hinges on their ability to demonstrate “value for money,” could be defined as the “reasonableness of cost of something in view of its perceived quality”. In other words, the increase in the cost side of the equation demands that institutions and policymakers must do more to balance by offering more benefits in terms of better experiences on- and off-campus, especially in terms of career outcomes. Institutions must do more to reinvest part of the additional tuition fees back into enhancing outreach, offering scholarships, supporting student success, and widening access to students who may be unable to afford to study abroad.
 For many students who get priced out of reach to study in high-income countries, emerging destinations such as China offer new hope to gain global experience at an affordable price. A prime example of this scenario is the rise of students from low-income countries. For instance, in 2018, one out of six international students in China was from Africa (Ministry of Education, 2018). This potential of China as a destination for international students is not only because of affordability factors in leading destinations, but also because of proactive national policies in China such as the Belt and Road Initiative, and Double-First Class, which are mutually reinforcing each other.
 SHAPING THE RESEARCH AGENDA
 We are heading toward a future scenario where global learning experiences will be out of the reach of many aspiring international students. This is a wake-up call to action for researchers, policymakers, practitioners, and leaders to focus on finding solutions to this affordability crisis, which threatens the future of international student mobility.
 The Journal of International Students plays an indispensable role in not only shaping the research agenda to raise awareness about the affordability crisis but also in providing evidence for potential solutions. On this important milestone of the 10th anniversary for the Journal, I encourage scholars to consider the role of affordability challenges and its various implications and dimensions. In conclusion, we have an opportunity and a responsibility to reflect and plan a future research agenda that ensures the sustainability of international student mobility and enhances the diversity and inclusion of international students.