Third-tier Cities Research Articles

The impact of the digital economy on inter-city carbon transfer in China using the life cycle assessment model

The haven paradise hypothesis has been widely supported in the international carbon transfer, but there is still a lack of inter-city evidence. The emergence of the digital economy in recent years has introduced unprecedented opportunities and challenges for carbon emissions reduction and carbon transfer. As the world’s largest carbon emitter and a major player in the digital economy, exploring whether the pollution haven hypothesis exists among cities in China and how the digital economy affects inter-city carbon transfer is crucial for countries to optimize their domestic carbon reduction structures. To this end, this paper employs the 2012 and 2015 Chinese Urban Household Survey data alongside input-output tables based on the life cycle assessment method to quantify the inter-city carbon transfer. In addition, the impact and mechanisms of the digital economy on inter-city carbon transfer are explored using the two-way fixed effects model. The results show that 54% of Chinese cities’ carbon emissions come from outside, with third-tier cities bearing high carbon transfer pressures, indicating the presence of the pollution haven hypothesis. The digital economy exacerbates inter-city carbon transfer by promoting market integration and facilitating industrial transfer, and it mainly promotes the transfer of high-intensity carbon emissions to third-tier cities. Considering carbon emission reduction targets, mandatory environmental regulations have strengthened the effect of the digital economy on carbon transfer. Therefore, the Chinese government needs to properly address carbon transfer by improving the collaborative carbon reduction system, enhancing carbon emission reduction efficiency, and accelerating the equitable progress of the digital economy.

Real Estate Development in Chinas Third Tier Cities

The development of real estate in China is undergoing a difficult time. Development in the third tier cities is at a high rate, yet there is little or no population growth in these cities. Instead, the people are moving from these cities to others, creating a fall in the price of housing. The challenges have been occasioned by the free market in which the firms are operating, even though 60% of Chinese GDP is from these cities. It means that they are important, and there is a need to ensure that they are well regulated to create sustainability. The study used a document analysis method to collect the data. The researcher examined the different papers and documents which have been published on the subject of real estate development in Chinas third-tier cities. Thereafter, a critical analysis was conducted to make sense of the data and information collected. In the following sections, this paper will discuss the current state of real estate and the potential impact of the overdevelopment in Chinas third tier cities. This paper notes that tier-three cities are overdeveloped, yet the population is lower than what the real estate sector supplies. This means that the sector is in deep debt, an issue that can and should be avoided. In the meanwhile, the relevant recommendations will be given. Some of the recommendations include the following: Formulating appropriate policies to ensure that there is clear regulation for investors in the real estate industry in China; The government should take an active role in the real estate sector in China; The government needs to ensure that there is little mass flow of people from third tier cities by ensuring that there are incentives to make people stay in the cities.

Regional effects of China's monetary policy during the economic transition period: Based on China's city classification system under the new normal.

We analyse the regional effects of China's monetary policy during the economic transition period based on the city classification system under the New Normal. Using panel vector autoregressive (PVAR) models, we examine the differences in the influence of a unified monetary policy on four types of Chinese cities: first-tier, quasi-first-tier, second-tier, and third-tier cities, from perspective of economic output. Based on a comparative analysis of the results of impulse response function and variance decomposition, we conclude that whether for quantitative monetary policy or price-based monetary policy, the degree to which economic growth responds to the unified monetary policy varies across the four types of cities in the short and long terms. With reference to China's economic transition under the New Normal, in the short term, this phenomenon probably relate to the varying degrees of financial marketization among the four city types; in the long run, this phenomenon may be attributed to the difference in the progress of industrial upgrading of these urban areas. Based on the analysis above, we suggest policy implications for Chinese cities based on the structural monetary policy, industrial upgrading, and market-oriented financial sector reforms.

Effects of digital economy and city size on green total factor productivity

Utilizing the digital economy’s contribution to green total factor productivity is a key strategy for accelerating China’s green growth, although more research is still needed to understand the mechanism of this influence. This study uses panel data from 282 Chinese prefecture-level cities from 2011 to 2019 to empirically assess the impact of the digital economy and city size on GTFP. First, GTFP overall exhibits an upward trend with excellent spatial correlation and minimal regional variation. Second, the findings demonstrate that, while surrounding locations’ GTFP is not affected by the digital economy, local productivity can be improved. Third, the heterogeneity study demonstrates that the digital economy contributes more to local GTFP in the eastern region compared to the central and western regions, with the central region making the largest contribution to GTFP in the surrounding regions; the first, second, and third tier cities have more contributions from the digital economy to local and neighboring GTFP than the fourth and fifth tier cities. Fourth, city size positively modifies the relationship between the green total factor productivity and the digital economy. The western region is where the positive moderating effect of city size expansion is greatest. Moreover, compared to first-, second-, and third-tier cities, the fourth- and fifth-tier cities have a stronger beneficial moderating effect of city size increase. In light of this, we should focus on the growth of the digital economy, optimize city scale, and fully exploit the scale effect produced by the concentration of the digital industries and the spillover effect produced by the spread of the digital technology.

The relationship between social media sentiment and house prices in China: Evidence from text mining and wavelet analysis

This study explores the dynamic relationship between house prices and social media sentiment in China, a housing sentiment index is constructed from social media reviews based on natural language processing techniques, and wavelet analysis is used to investigate the causal correlations from a new time-frequency perspective. We find that the sentiment index is negatively correlated with the fluctuation of house prices during the whole period, house prices and sentiment have bidirectional causality at the long-term timescale, and house prices causally affect sentiment at the short-term timescale. Furthermore, the sentiment significantly affects house prices in third-tier cities and the western regions.

Significantly mitigating PM2.5 pollution level via reduction of NOx emission during wintertime

Despite considerable decreases in fine particulate matter (PM2.5) in Chinese megacities over the past decade, many second- and third-tier cities that distribute abundant industrial enterprises are still facing great challenges for PM2.5 further reduction under the recent policy background of eliminating heavily-polluted weather. In view of core effects of NOx on PM2.5, the deeper reductions of NOx in these cities are expected to break the plateau of PM2.5 decline, however, the link between NOx emission and PM2.5 mass loading is currently lacking. Herein, we progressively construct an evaluation system for PM2.5 productions based on daily NOx emissions in a typical industrial city (Jiyuan), considering a sequence of nested parameters involving evolutions of NO2 into nitric acid and then nitrate, and contributions of nitrate to PM2.5. The evaluation system was subsequently validated to better reproduce real increasing processes for PM2.5 pollution based on 19 pollution cases, with root mean square errors of 19.2 ± 16.4 %, suggesting the feasibility of developing NOx emission indicators linked to goals of mitigating atmospheric PM2.5. Additionally, further comparative results reveal that currently high NOx emissions in this industrial city severely hinder the achievement of atmospheric PM2.5 environmental capacity targets, especially in the scenarios of high initial PM2.5 level, low planetary boundary layer height and long pollution duration. It is anticipated that these methodologies and findings would supply guidelines for further regional PM2.5 mitigation, in which source-oriented NOx indicators could also provide some orientations for industrial cleaner production such as denitrification and low nitrogen combustion.

Innovation Networks of Science and Technology Firms: Evidence from China

Examining and assessing the characteristics of innovation networks among science and technology firms at the city level is essential for comprehending the innovation patterns of cities and improving their competitiveness. Nevertheless, the majority of studies in this field solely rely on patent and paper data, neglecting the analysis of networks across diverse scales and dimensions. Websites offer a novel platform for companies to exhibit their products and services, and the utilization of hyperlink data better captures the dynamics of innovative cooperation. Thus, to attain a more realistic and precise comprehension of China’s technology enterprise cooperation networks, enhance the understanding of intra-city and cross-border cooperation within innovation networks, and offer more scientific guidance to cities in enhancing their innovation capabilities by investigating the factors influencing innovation scenarios and the mechanisms of their interactions, this study constructs an innovation network based on the hyperlink data extracted from Chinese science and technology enterprises’ websites in 2022. It explores the network’s inherent characteristics and spatial patterns across multiple dimensions and scales. Additionally, it employs GeoDetector to analyze the driving factors behind the heterogeneity of city quadrants across each dimension. The findings suggest the following: (1) Evident polarization of innovation capability exists, with a more pronounced differentiation of cities between high capability zones. (2) Contrary to the conventional notion of geographical proximity, cross-region website cooperation prevails, with cross-provincial cooperation being more prevalent than intra-provincial cross-city cooperation. (3) Enterprise cooperation tends to align with partners of similar scale, and small and medium-sized enterprises primarily engage in internal cooperation, primarily concentrated in second and third-tier cities. (4) Cities with high degree centrality and structure holes are primarily located in the construction areas of Chinese urban agglomerations, while those with low degree centrality and structure holes are situated near double-high cities. (5) The spatial heterogeneity of innovation networks across the four dimensions is primarily influenced by STI, while cooperation intensity and innovation capacity dimensions are strongly influenced by traffic capacity. The intra- and inter-city cooperation intensity dimensions are significantly impacted by administrative grade, and the enterprise scale and network location dimensions are most affected by the level of digital infrastructure.

Third-and Fourth-Tier City Real Estate Collection Trust Plan: Research on Risk Assessment System

With housing price soaring during the past few years, China’s government has adopted a series of policies to control the house market. As a result, housing price can hardly continue to rise and some first-tier cities, even saw a small decrease in the rocketing price. Meanwhile, due to the renovation of shanty towns and the popularity of purchasing property in the hometown, housing price in the majority of third-tier cities doubled and achieved 10,000 yuan per square metre. However, when the renovation of shanty towns ends, most of them lose the support of their property market, which exposes many real estate developers to great pressure. On the other hand, as an important financing method for property developers, how can trust assess the risk of real estate projects in third-tier cities? Based on previous research, this paper chooses Fuzzy Analytic Hierarchy Process to assess the particular risk of real estate projects in third and fourth-tier cities. It also uses a real project in a trust company to prove the efficacity of this hierarchy. We found that for trust companies, the ability to collect cash flows and the collateral of guarantees count most when assessing real estate projects in third-tier cities.

Impacts of the Feeder-Related Built Environment on Taxi-Metro Integrated Use in Lanzhou, China

It is very common that taxi is used as a feeder mode to/from a metro station especially in third-tier cities of China. But research on taxi-metro integrated use is rather limited. This paper investigates the relationship between feeder-related built environment and taxi-metro integrated use by using taxi trajectory data in Lanzhou, China. Firstly, regression models are developed to explore the transfer distance of access/egress trips during peak hours. Then, the catchment area is delineated for collecting feeder-related environment variables. Finally, several negative binomial regressions are employed to examine the relationships between feeder-related built environment and taxi-metro integrated use during peak hours on weekdays. The results reveal that (a) people prefer to use taxi as feeder mode for metro access during morning peak hours and for metro egress during evening peak hours; (b) the transfer distance of taxi-metro integrated use is about 3.8 km; (c) higher mixed land use generates more taxi-metro integrated use during evening peak hours. Higher proportion of residential land use attracts more taxi-metro integrated use for metro access during morning peak hours. Those findings will help transport planners to develop tailored land-use interventions to improve transit accessibility and promote the sustainable multimodal travel.

A Range of Informality Across Cities and Slums: Understanding Precarity in Patna’s Slums Before and During the COVID-19 Pandemic

This article proposes a framework for understanding why slum residents are particularly vulnerable to economic downturns. We centre evidence from Bihar’s capital city, Patna, to examine how downturns are experienced more severely in some cities and slums than others. We argue slums are zones of pervasive informality, remaining largely disconnected from formal institutions and dependent on discretionary supports. But the extent of informality, and vulnerability, varies within and across cities. Relative to those in the cities we compare to, Patna’s slum residents are poorer, less upwardly mobile and have weaker property rights and shallower institutional connections. We argue this makes them particularly vulnerable to downward shocks and we present evidence from the case of the coronavirus pandemic to show that they experienced this disaster particularly severely. Our results have important policy implications: in general, slum residents require greater policy and institutional support, but there is important variation in their vulnerability and needs within and across cities. Moreover, while most research on slums focuses on mega- and first-tier cities, we emphasize the urgent need for more attention to second- and third-tier cities—where the degree of informality, and consequently, the vulnerability to downward spirals, can be greater.

Completion rates of bundle treatment of among patients with sepsis shock in intensive care departments of hospitals in Jiangsu Province from 2016 to 2020 years

Current clinical approaches for septic shock increasingly incorporate bundle treatment, a multi-component approach that uses a collection of tests and agents to assist in the identification and treatment of infection. The present study analyzed completion rates of 3 h and 6 h bundle treatment among patients with septic shock in intensive care units (ICUs) of hospitals in Jiangsu Province from 2016 to 2020, using data from the Jiangsu Provincial Intensive Care Medical Quality Control Center. Current approaches and factors affecting treatment completion were assessed.The completion rates of 3 h and 6 h bundle treatment in ICUs of all medical units in Jiangsu Province and in ICUs of hospitals of different levels were recorded. Analyses show that the completion rate of 3 h and 6 h bundle treatment for patients with septic shock in ICUs in Jiangsu Province increased year by year from 2016 to 2020.The completion rate of 3 h bundle treatment increased from 69.82% (3 604/5 162) to 82.47% (8 915/10 775) (all P<0.001). The completion rate of 6 h bundle treatment increased from 62.69% (3 236/5 162) to 72.54% (7 816/10 775) (all P<0.001). In addition, year by year, the completion rate of 3 h bundle treatment in ICUs in tertiary hospitals increased, from 69.80% (3 596/5 152) to 82.23% (7 375/8 969), while the completion rate of 6 h bundle treatment increased from 62.69% (3 230/5 152) to 72.18% (6 474/8 969) (all P<0.001). Completion rates in secondary hospitals also increased year by year, from 80.00% (8/10) to 85.27% (1 540/1 806) for 3 h treatment and from 60.00% (6/10) to 74.31% (1 342/1 806) (all P<0.001) for 6 h treatment. Completion rates for 3 h treatment in first-tier cities (83.99% (2 099/2 499)) and second-tier cities (84.68% (3 952/4 667)) was higher than in third-tier cities (79.36% (2 864/3 609)). The completion rate of 6 h bundle treatment gradually decreased in first-line (77.19% (1 929/2 499)), second-line (74.37% (3 471/4 667)), and third-line (66.94% (2 416/3 609)) cities (all P<0.001). The data collectively show that from 2016 to 2020, the completion rate of bundle treatment in septic shock patients in ICUs in Jiangsu Province improved significantly.

Coping strategies mediating the effects of job insecurity on subjective well-being, leading to presenteeism: an empirical study

Coping strategies mediating the effects of job insecurity on subjective well-being, leading to presenteeism: an empirical study

STUDY ON ATTRACTING AND RECRUITING TALENTS BASED ON EMPLOYER BRANDING - A CASE STUDY OF VOLKSWAGEN

As China's economy enters a new normal and manufacturing enterprises transform, it has become an irreversible long-term trend for manufacturing industries featuring "cost leadership" to move to second and third-tier cities in China, where manufacturing costs are lower. In a competitive market environment where the demographic dividend is gradually disappearing and the talent competitionis intensifying, how to deal with the challenge of talent attraction in the manufacturing industry, explore new ideas to solve the talent competition challenge, help enterprises attract and motivate and retain talents, and research and construction of employer brand has become an important issue in the practice of enterprise human resource management nowadays. It is also the basis for effective talent attraction and recruitment.&#x0D; Based on the research and analysis of the literature on employer brands and factors, this paper selects popular companies in China as research objects and conducts interviews with a group of employees in different cities.&#x0D; The results of the study show that there is a difference in the perception of employer brand attractiveness factors between employees in third-tier cities and employees in first-tier cities in Shanghai This difference is also due to the difference in certain characteristics and demands of the employee group At the same time, the employer brand of a company comes from its main body, i.e., employees and the market The employer brand is derived from the feedback of the employees and the market on the unique value and attractiveness of the company, so it is necessary to start from the perspective of employee identification and avoid local perception.

Does high-speed railway impact urban logistics industry agglomeration? Empirical evidence from China's prefecture-level cities

Based on the panel data of 280 prefecture-level cities in China from 2007 to 2019, we took the opening of high-speed railways (HSRs) as the “quasi-natural test” and employed propensity score matching (PSM)-difference in difference (DID) method to empirically test the agglomeration effect of the opening of HSRs on the urban logistics industry and the heterogeneity of cities according to location types and urban grade classification. The results show that the opening of HSRs has an impact on the spatial layout of logistics industry by promoting urban economic growth and gathering labor. In the dynamic balance of agglomeration and diffusion, the logistics industry gradually spreads to the surrounding areas of the city through the opening of HSRs. The opening of HSRs has a heterogeneous impact on the agglomeration effect of urban logistics industry. For the rapidly developing first-tier, second-tier and third-tier cities, the opening of HSRs has a significant impact on the agglomeration of their logistics industry and promotes its diffusion to those surrounding cities. On this basis, this paper puts forward corresponding suggestions for the development of the logistics industry and tries to make full use of the development opportunity brought by the opening of HSRs to promote the development of the logistics industry.

Research on Brand Marketing Strategy of Armani Cosmetics Based on the Chinese Market

This paper mainly focuses on the research on the brand marketing strategy of Armani cosmetics based on the Chinese market. It is believed that the Chinese makeup market has great potential to provide opportunities for both domestic and foreign brands to succeed. This paper aims to help Armani Beauty and other foreign luxury makeup brands achieve better marketing performance. Literature research has been used for clear analysis. A brief introduction of the Chinese (high-end) makeup market and consumer behavior, the specific marketing performance of Armani Beauty in China, and potential problems are demonstrated in sequence. After that, two corresponding suggestions for Armani Beauty are to broaden its distribution channels in second- and third-tier cities and focus more on growing the male makeup market. Also, two suggestions are provided for all foreign luxury brands: pay attention to omnichannel usage and ensure their extravagant brand image. This paper provides guided suggestions for Armani Beauty and other foreign luxury brands in Chinese marketing, helping them get a deeper understanding of the Chinese market and consumers, thus winning a better reputation and sales return.

The research of smart city construction on the well-being of urban residents-analysis based on CFPS data

With the rapid progress of China's economy, improving people's happiness has become one of the main goals of China's future social development. As a populous country, China has been lagging behind in the World Happiness Index Report released by the United Nations every year. Therefore, improving people's happiness has become one of the important social issues in China. Since the 16th National Congress, China has been urbanizing rapidly and the urbanization rate is planed to reach 70% by 2050. With the rapid development of urbanization, "urban diseases" caused by uneven development and demographic problems have become obstacles to urbanization development. To solve the problem, the construction of smart cities has become a new plan to ensure the rapid development of urbanization while solving the problem of "urban diseases". Investigating the relationship and mechanism of people' happiness between smart city construction and people's happiness can help clarify the fundamental needs of smart city construction, improve people's happiness, and have certain significance for the future development direction of smart city construction. The research of this paper centers on whether smart city construction can affect the happiness of the residents and investigates through what mechanism it can affect the happiness of the residents. This paper compares the relevant literature on smart city construction and happiness, takes data from the China Family Panel Studies (CFPS), the 2012 China Smart City Development Level Assessment Report, the 2014 China Smart City Development Level Assessment Report, and the 2016 China Smart City Development Level Assessment Report, and uses the econometric method of panel data analysis to empirically test the influence degree of smart city construction on residents' happiness. The experimental results show that (1) smart city construction has a significant impact on people's happiness, and the results are positively correlated. (2) The influence degree of smart city construction on people's happiness varies across different city levels, with no significant impact in first-tier cities and more significant impact in second-tier and third-tier cities. (3) Population heterogeneity can lead to some differences in residents' happiness feeling smart city construction.

Labour and control shifts: financial services in US metro areas, 2007–17

ABSTRACT We use a triangulation approach combining data on mergers and acquisitions and the labour market with 66 interviews to tease out a decade of changes (2007–17) in corporate control and employment in financial services across 47 major US metropolitan areas. Our results show that while corporate control is rapidly shifting and concentrating within a financial-cum-technological axis of first-tier cities, which we coin the Northeastern Corridor–Bay Area axis, with New York and San Francisco in the lead, significant employment growth took place in second- and third-tier cities, such as Jacksonville, Florida, signalling a changing spatial division of labour in US finance.

The Lack of HONO Measurement May Affect the Accurate Diagnosis of Ozone Production Sensitivity.

Recently, deteriorating ozone (O3) pollution in China brought the precise diagnosis of O3 sensitive chemistry to the forefront. As a dominant precursor of OH radicals, atmospheric nitrous acid (HONO) plays an important role in O3 production. However, its measurement unavailability in many regions especially for second- and third-tier cities may lead to the misjudgment of the O3 sensitivity regime derived from observation-based models. Here, we systematically assess the potential impact of HONO on diagnosing the sensitivity of O3 production using a 0-dimension box model based on a comprehensive summer urban field campaign. The results indicated that the default mode (only the NO + OH reaction is included) in the model could underestimate ∼87% of observed HONO levels, leading to an obvious decrease (∼19%) of net O3 production in the morning, which was in line with the previous studies. The unconstrained HONO in the model was found to significantly push O3 production toward the VOC-sensitive regime. Additionally, it is unrealistic to change NO x but constrain HONO in the model due to the dependence of HONO formation on NO x . Assuming that HONO varied proportionally with NO x , a stronger NO x -sensitive condition could be achieved. Therefore, effective reduction of NO x should be given more attention together with VOC emission control for O3 mitigation.

HPV Vaccination Intentions of Female Students in Chinese Universities: A Systematic Literature Review and Meta-Analysis.

Objective: To systematically evaluate the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination intentions among female university students in China and establish a basis for improving HPV vaccination coverage. Methods: We searched CNKI, EBSCO, JSTOR, MESH or Emtree, Weipu Information Chinese Journal Service Platform, Wanfang Data, China Biomedical Literature Database, PubMed, Embase, Web for the Web of Science, and the Cochrane Library to identify peer-reviewed published research on intentions by female college students in China to receive the HPV vaccination. Results: A preliminary search of 408 papers resulted in the inclusion of 12 studies, all cross-sectional, of moderate or high quality, with a sample size of 12,600. The HPV vaccination intention rate among Chinese female university students was 16.67% (95% CI: 12.38% to 21.24%). The vaccination intention rates of medical students, non-medical students, and Tibetan students were 30.37% (95% CI: 28.80–34.12%), 15.53% (95% CI: 11.2–20.22%), and 14.12% (95 % CI: 10.59–18.04%), respectively. The vaccination intention rates of the participants with parental education of junior high school and below, high school, and bachelor’s degree and above were 15.36% (95 % CI: 11.59 to 17.54%), 17.18% (95 % CI: 12.33% to 19.61%), and 19.81% (95 % CI: 15.61% to 22.25%), respectively. The intention rates of vaccination among residents of first-tier, second-tier, and third-tier cities were 17.64% (95% CI: 12.76–21.63%), 15.39% (95% CI: 11.74–19.82%), and 13.87% (95% CI: 9.36–15.65%), respectively. The results of the meta-analysis were relatively stable with little publication bias. Conclusion: The intention rate of HPV vaccination among female university students in China is low and varies among different populations. There is a need to increase HPV vaccination promotion efforts to improve the intention of female university students to receive the vaccine.

Analyzing the Dynamic Spatiotemporal Changes in Urban Extension across Zhejiang Province Using NPP-VIIRS Nighttime Light Data

Nighttime light remote sensing technologies provide methods for studying spatiotemporal changes in urban areas. In this research, we study the changes in the urban zone in Zhejiang Province based on NPP/VIIRS nighttime light data. Moreover, we propose a methodology to extract urban zones through a buffer threshold analysis method and apply the standard deviation ellipse, urban scale increment, “dual-core” primacy and urban-scale Gini index to uncover the evolution of urban dynamics in Zhejiang Province. The results show that the highest overall urban area extraction accuracy was 95.9%; the highest Kappa coefficient was 91%. The nighttime light intensity changes observed in most cities in Zhejiang Province reflected three periods: “high-speed growth” from 2012–2014, “low-speed growth” from 2014–2018 and “high-speed growth” from 2019–2020. The growth rates observed during the 2019–2020 “high-speed growth” period exceeded those of the 2012–2014 period. Over nine years, the growth rates of the total nighttime light values in all cities ranged from 40% to 319%. Third-tier cities such as Quzhou and Lishui showed significant increases. Second-tier cities, such as Jinhua, Huzhou and Taizhou, had growth rates over 100%. From 2012–2014, the development rates increased in cities in southern Zhejiang Province, such as in Wenzhou and Taizhou, thus promoting a southward shift in the center of gravity. After 2014, the development rates increased in cities in northern Zhejiang Province, such as Hangzhou, Ningbo and Jiaxing, thus promoting a northward shift in the center of gravity, with the center stabilizing in the Keqiao District-Yuecheng District of Shaoxing. According to the changes observed in the “dual-core” primacy and urban-scale Gini index results derived from 2012 to 2020, the development of cities in Zhejiang Province has become more balanced over the past nine years.