Village Committees Research Articles

Positive effect of village debt on land transfer: Evidence from county-level panel data of village finance in Zhejiang Province.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the impact of village debt on land transfer. Based on the county-level panel data of village finance and land transfer in 90 counties and 4 economic development zones of Zhejiang Province from 2013 to 2017, this paper carried out multivariate statistical analysis and set a fixed effect model to control the endogenous influence of region and time. It found that village debt as a pressure may encourage village committees to promote rural land transfer, and then especially promote land flows into agricultural firms; as a mechanism, the burden of village organization’s transactional debt (historical debt and administrative debt) is the key to promoting the rural land flow to agricultural enterprises; through further analysis, it is found that the village committee seeks "win-win" opportunities by intervening in land circulation to ensure the rights and interests of farmers and to obtain village benefits from them. This paper finds that this kind of push effect has the threshold, the debt will play a significant role in promoting when the debt rate is between 4.65% and 7.9%. In addition, there is regional heterogeneity in the contribution of debt, which exists only in plain, non-coastal and high-dependence areas. The results of this paper verify the view that "community mechanism and market mechanism are embedded and supported each other in acquaintance society" in the theory of community governance. In practice, it provides a realistic basis for policy makers to implement the policy of encouraging farmland circulation and properly deal with the problem of village debt.

Evolutionary game analysis of stakeholders under the whole process trusteeship mode of agricultural production

PurposeChina's agricultural production trusteeship is characterized by the organic link between household operation of small-scale peasant economy and agricultural socialized services, which releases agricultural development vitality and promotes agricultural modernization. As one of the agricultural production trusteeship modes, the whole process trusteeship is suitable for the actual situation of China's aging population and labor force transfer. This paper aims to construct an evolutionary game model containing multistakeholder to explore the behavior decisions through numerical simulation and to provide useful suggestions for the formation of a positive and stable trusteeship relationship and the sound development of the whole process trusteeship of agricultural production.Design/methodology/approachThe paper incorporates village committees, service organizations and farmers into the same research framework, selects “guarantee + dividends” as the income distribution method and applies the evolutionary game method to analyze behavioral choices and evolutionary paths of stakeholders. By constructing the expectation function, establishing the replicator dynamic equations and analyzing the tripartite evolutionary stability strategy, the authors explore the factors that affect the stakeholders’ strategy choice and determine asymptotically stable points and stability conditions.Findings(1) There is a game relationship among village committees, farmers and service organizations in the whole process trusteeship of agricultural production, asymptotically stable points (0,0,1) and (1,1,1) are obtained through calculation. (2) The proportion of stakeholders' strategy choice, the weight of the whole process trusteeship of agricultural production in the performance appraisal of the village committee, the village committee's supervision cost, the village committee's reputation effect and the penalty for false dividends of the service organization will affect the speed at which the curve representing the tripartite relationship approaches two asymptotically stable points.Research limitations/implicationsThe countermeasures proposed in the paper have excellent reference value. (1) For areas that have realized the project: Village committees can solve the trusteeship problems exposed in the initial areas and improve farmers' satisfaction with the project. (2) For areas that have not realized the project: Those regions will receive more experience references and enhance their confidence in this project. The limitation of the paper is that it takes the main grain-producing areas in only the three northeastern provinces of China as the research object. The next research object will be extended to the whole country.Practical implicationsThis paper propose strategies for realizing the orderly operation of the whole process trusteeship of agricultural production: first, increase the proportion of stakeholders' strategy choices; second, reduce the village committee's supervision cost; third, increase the weight of the whole process trusteeship of agricultural production in the performance appraisal of the village committee; fourth, improve the village committee's reputation effect; fifth, increase the penalty for false dividends of the service organization.Originality/valueAgricultural production trusteeship is in its initial stage in China. The interest relationships between stakeholders are not yet clear. The paper innovatively applies the evolutionary game method to the research field of the whole process trusteeship of agricultural production. According to conditions in China, based on ensuring the guaranteed income, the paper introduces the dividend income variable and establishes a tripartite game model of village committees, service organization and farmers. The paper provides suggestions for the orderly and healthy development of China's agricultural production trusteeship and provides experience for the operation of other modes of agricultural production trusteeship.

Migratory fishing in Malawi and its challenges for beach-based rights co-management

ABSTRACT Migratory fishing is widely practiced in water bodies of Malawi. Fishers follow geographic changes in the availability of good catches or move away from areas or water bodies where stocks have been depleted to unprofitable levels. They also move due to seasonal ecological changes that make it impossible to operate certain gears or due to seasonal decline of catches to unprofitable levels. There are also instances whereby groups of fishers migrated permanently from less productive areas to more productive areas, for example, the aTonga fishers who moved into the central and southern areas of Lake Malawi from Nkhata Bay in the last century. Thus, these types of fishing migrations can be characterized as permanent, temporary seasonal routine or temporary incidental. The cultural dynamics of migrant fishers vary in that some groups maintain their ethnic practices in their new homes when they migrate permanently, while others integrate into the local communities. Temporary migrants have generally been seen as problematic by the receiving local communities due to the social dissonance, in particular adultery and sexual affairs with school girls, that most bring about since they do not bring their spouses and families with them. Although co-management, implemented in Malawi from the 1990s, was supposed to institute limited access and thus curtail migrant fishing, the structural characteristics of small-scale fisheries and reciprocal migration make it impossible to limit access. The best that local controls resulting from co-management can do has been to try to channel formal reporting by migrant fishers of their presence in an area from local chiefs to Beach Village Committees.

Drinking Water Practices, Quality and GIT Disturbances at Household Level in Rural Setting of Wardha District, Maharashtra, India

Introduction: Limited availability of safe drinking water and poor sanitation can lead to water borne diseases. In India, alone waterborne diseases are projected to have an economic burden of approximately USD 600 million a year. Rural population face water, sanitation, and hygiene-related health issues. In India, many programs are running since decades, but there is need to understand current scenario of drinking water practices in the community.
 Objectives: To assess the drinking water practices, purification methods, drinking water quality at household level and Gastrointestinal GIT disturbances among the visited household.
 Methods: This community based cross-sectional study was conducted during July-December 2019 in purposively selected three villages of field practice area JNMC, Wardha. Sample size is calculated to be 96 household and rounded up to 100 for each village (total 300 household). Households of Village A, B, and C are 392, 388 and 381 respectively. 100 household were selected by systematic random sampling method. Information was collected by interviewing adult at home after verbal consent by using Pre-structured, pre-tested questionnaire. Randomly ten water samples from each village tested for quality.
 Results: Most of the household i.e. 80% have water source in their premises into dwelling (47%) or own yard (32%). Overall 61% of the household had adopted purification method. Village-wise distribution for adoption of purification methods, it is found significantly highest in village C and lowest in A (X2 -8.54, p=0.013). On an average 25% of the household reported that family members were suffered from gastrointestinal disturbances. Village-wise distribution for GIT disturbances cases, it is found significantly highest in village A and lowest in C (X2-19.25, p=0.0001). Most common purification method is filtration by using cloth or net by 41%. Total 76.67% water samples were contaminated.
 Conclusion: Village which shows higher percentage of HH adopted purification method suffered less from GIT disturbances. Most of water samples were unsafe for drinking purpose. Hence community can be aware through an integrated approach such as Village, health sanitation and nutrition committee can be strengthened.

Spaces of Suspension: Construction, Demolition, and Extension in a Beijing Migrant Neighbourhood

Communities with large concentrations of migrants, who often live in makeshift and illegal housing, have been common on the margins of large cities in China since the 1980s. Why do so-called "urban villages" persist and even flourish despite repeated government crackdowns? By addressing this question, this article sheds light on a subtle dynamic of city making that has not been fully appreciated by scholarly literature and media reports that have focused on large-scale demolition and eviction in China's rapid urbanization. Drawing from my two years of field research in Hua village, a community on Beijing's fringes in line for land expropriation, I explore how multilateral negotiations between local residents (villagers), migrant tenants, the village committee, and municipal government led to a cyclical movement of temporary housing construction, demolition, and extension. The dynamics of recurring demolishment and reconstruction engendered spaces of suspension, which enabled migrants to enter the urban economy at a low cost. Such spaces, however, offered no formal protection or basis for developing lasting social relations, and always faced the prospect of being demolished, but nevertheless were constantly available and even expanding.

Driving and Influencing Factors of Biomass Energy Utilization from the Perspective of Farmers

Biomass energy is one of the most important renewable energy sources. Full utilization of this energy helps to optimize agricultural development, improve our living environment, and replace some non-renewable energy sources, thereby promoting the eco-environment across the country. However, biomass energy has not been extensively utilized in rural areas of China. Many farmers are not very enthusiastic about the use of biomass energy. Many scholars have tried to boost the willingness of farmers to utilize biomass energy. Therefore, this paper collects the relevant data from six aspects, namely, environmental factor, cost factor, income factor, behavior factor, policy factor, and personal factor, and constructs a binary logistic regression model. On this basis, the driving and influencing factors of biomass energy utilization were empirically analyzed from the perspective of farmers. The results show that the development of biomass energy is mainly affected by the farmers’ awareness of national energy strategy, the relevant costs of biomass utilization, and the attitude of family members and village committee. The research provides an important reference for further promotion of biomass energy, elevation of its utilization efficiency, and optimization of energy structure in rural China.

Factors influencing community participation in Community-Based Ecotourism in Padawan, Sarawak

Community Based Ecotourism (CBE) has commonly practiced by the rural communities of Sarawak as poverty alleviation and local empowerment tool in conserving the natural resources in their livelihood. The community participation in the rural areas of Sarawak is essential in CBE sustainability. This study investigates the community participation in Community Based Ecotourism in Padawan, Sarawak. This study only applied for six selected villages in Kampung Sadir, Kampung Giam Danu, Kampung Annah Rais, Kampung Semadang and Kampung Benuk. These six villages are among the villages in Padawan that have ecotourism potential and availability. The application of the Motivation-Opportunity-Ability (MOA) used to analyse the categories of contributing factors towards the community participation in CBE. Their CBE activities included Tourist Centre/Guide, homestays, heritage festivals and outdoor activities. The method used to accomplish this study is snowball sampling techniques to recruit the participants to be involved in focus group interviews. For this study, the Village Chiefs were requested to select the suitable participants (ecotourism business providers, village committee and common villagers) to participate in focus group interview. Throughout the focus group interview, the participants were required to discuss on the issues or factors influencing their participation in CBE. The findings reveal the factors that affecting motivation, opportunity and ability (MOA) of the community in involving in CBE.

Coordination of Nutrition related Units in Sri Lanka

All people have a right to good nutrition. However in Sri Lanka, still anemia, underweight and stunting prevail with regional disparities. There are many determinants for poor nutrition and which leads to many adverse outcomes. As these determinants are multifaceted it requires several different sectors to work collaboratively, complement their activities and share resources to improve the nutritional status of the country. In this article; the initiatives such as development of the National Nutrition policy and Strategic frame work; establishment of Presidential Secretariat, Nutrition Secretariat, Nutrition Steering Committee and Nutrition Coordination Division; the contribution of different divisions of the Ministry of Health such as Nutrition Division, Family Health Bureau, Health Education Bureau, Epidemiology Unit, Food Safety unit, Environment and Occupational Health unit, Non Communicable Disease Unit, Youth, Elderly and Disabled unit, Estate and Urban Health Unit, Medical Research Institute, Medical Statistics Unit; Hospital Nutrition Units, food supplement programmes; the assistance of United Nations agencies, Professional Associations, other Ministries of the government and Non-Governmental Organizations; the importance of National Nutrition Surveillance system and the coordination by the Nutrition Coordination Division are described. Author’s feelings regarding the coordination between nutrition related units in the country were expressed. Subsequently, favorable aspects and deficiencies were evaluated and the possible underlying factors and consequences were analyzed. In conclusion, it can be said that a strong coordinating body for inter - sectoral coordination, information feedback, data sharing and analysis; assessment of current level of multi sectoral coordination and multi sectoral interventions; development of provincial specific strategies and micro plans at house hold level; strengthening of community based organizations, village committees and volunteers; proper streamlining of multiple information systems in the country in order to monitor & evaluate the operations to avoid duplications and negligence; are required. Accordingly, recommendations were provided to address the issue.

What Role(s) Do Village Committees Play in the Withdrawal from Rural Homesteads? Evidence from Sichuan Province in Western China

Village committees, as grassroots spontaneously formed by rural collective members in China’s hierarchy system, play an irreplaceable role in the management of rural public affairs. Based on the filed survey dataset taken from three pilot counties/districts in Sichuan province, we explored the significant role that village committees played in farmers’ withdrawal from rural homesteads (WRH). Our empirical results, according to binary logistic regression (BLR) modelling, indicated that the WRH was significantly affected by the triple roles of village committees, among which information intermediary was the most effective followed by the trust builder and then the coordinated manager. Firstly, village committees’ involvement facilitated the WRH by improving policy transparency and decreasing information cost. Secondly, the depth of village committees’ participation (i.e., being involved in multiple phases) positively affected the WRH given its signification of the participation of farmers. Whereas the breadth of participation (i.e., considering various demands of different participants) negatively affected the process of WRH by reducing the decision-making efficiency. Thirdly, farmers’ trust in institutions played a positive role in the WRH, but their confidence in village cadres had limited impact. We therefore argue that promising village committees should act as “all-round stewards” in the decision-making of rural households, which not only includes the transmit of information between those above and those below, but also needs to actively strive for farmers’ trust by letting their voice heard. Based on our empirical findings, this paper finally proposed some policy suggestions, such as strengthening mutual communication, empowerment of rural grassroots, encouraging farmers’ participation and improving formal institutions.

Ubiquitous measurement methods of long‐term nursing bed resource allocation based on multi‐sensor social internet of things

This article starts from the service population of long‐term care beds and estimates the spatial distribution of long‐term care beds in the area. At the same time, combined with the spatial distribution of beds in the area, the supply of long‐term care beds is based on the division of service areas. Long‐term care institutions are facilities for the care and care of disabled elderly people. The beds are long‐term care beds, and the clients are mainly elderly people who cannot take care of themselves. The demand for long‐term care beds is mainly related to the number of elderly people. The elderly population in this article mainly refers to the resident population aged 60 and above. Based on the layout map of the resident population aged 60 and above, combined with the area of the administrative divisions of the village committees, the population density of each village committee is calculated to produce a schematic diagram. We use the data connection analysis model and the pattern finding algorithm to optimize the traditional methodologies.

Does National Food Security Act (NFSA), 2013 Ensure Right to Food? A Ground Level Reality from Assam

This article assesses the effectiveness of the implementation of the NFSA, 2013 in providing food security to the people in the North-Eastern State of Assam which is known for several appalling reasons like poverty, insurgency, natural calamities like flood and land slide, etc. Based on the primary data collected from 400 sample respondents, selected on the basis of random sampling from 16 villages selected from four out of seven Tehsils in the Lakhimpur District, the study finds that the said Act has not been successful as per objectives of the Act in providing food security due to the factors like existence of malpractice by the implementing agents, poor utilisation of allotted and released funds, pilferage through ghost cards, illegal marketing of PDS commodities, poor functioning of Gram Panchayats in improving the PDS. The paper suggests that there is a need of strict vigilance mechanism to check illegal allocation of food material and efficient surveillance system to stop pilferage from PDS by removing ghost cards, organisation of awareness programmes among the beneficiaries, making Village and Gram Panchayat Samabaya Samiti (GPSS) level public committees to be effective, etc., in order to see to that NFSA is utilised best to achieve its vision of food security in the country.

Social-Network Analysis of local governance models for China's eco-compensation program

Payments for ecosystem services (PES) have played an increasingly important role in environmental conservation. In line with international trends, a growing number of governmental programs in China are embracing these policy innovations, which were labelled under the broad notion of “eco-compensation”. However, recent research indicates that the understanding of state–civil society and central–local relationships are knowledge gaps in the institutional arrangement of such policies. As one of the most important eco-compensation schemes, the Sloping Land Conversion Program (SLCP) is confronting many challenges to incentivise the local actors. In this study we examine the network of actors of the SLCP by focusing on the collaboration of state actor and civil-society actors and develop a typology of local governance models. To find out how different stakeholders perceive the implementation of the program and how they influence each other, we rely on Social Network Analysis (SNA) and a household survey. The results of our case studies in three townships show that local governance models derive and shape the program implementation. A new actor, which never appeared in the official document and previous research, was discovered. We found that local actors and civil-society actors could potentially bring together government and local farmers for up-front negotiations. In order to mediate conflicts, local government, village committees, forest field stations and farmers may be forced to coordinate and ideally deliberate the terms and conditions of implementation and management options. Therefore, for developing further such eco-compensation schemes in rural China, particular attention should be paid to the local actors and their cooperation for the participatory governance.

The self-governing redevelopment approach of Maquanying: Incremental socio-spatial transformation in one of Beijing's urban villages

This article links the redevelopment of urban villages in China to the discourse on incremental housing schemes. Urban villages, due to the less regulated and more informal aspect of China's rapid urbanisation, house a large share of the migrant population. Current urban village redevelopment debates focus on state-initiated redevelopment, which involves large-scale demolitions and has become the norm in Beijing. The aim of this article is to make visible an alternative, village-initiated approach to redevelopment that is managed by the local village committee and that allows for incrementality and flexibility in a long-term transformation. This research traces the redevelopment process and subsequent transformation of Maquanying village over a period of more than 20 years. It focuses on the related decision-making and negotiation processes, and on socio-spatial changes during this time. In the context of the debate on incremental housing, the Maquanying approach can be understood as a locally initiated sites-and-services scheme within the Chinese environment. Both indigenous villagers and migrants are included and compared with other urban villages, higher standards of housing are delivered. The article argues that the redevelopment principles and strategies embedded in this approach can be transferred to other urban villages in China.

تقـــدیر الفـــاقـــد الإقتصادى المعرفى فى محصول الأرز فى ضوء غیاب دور الإرشاد الزراعى فى محافظة کفر الشیخ (دراسة حالة: الواقع- التحدیات - الحلول)

الهدف الرئيسى من هذا البحث هو تقدير الفاقد الإقتصادى المعرفى فى محصول الأرز فى ضوء غياب دور الإرشاد الزراعى فى محافظة کفر الشيخ . تم استخدام معيارين لتقدير هذا الفـــاقـــد تمثلت وحدة الدراسة فى اللجان القروية للإرشاد الزراعى التعاونى المقترحة ، و تمثلت وحدة التحليل البحثى فى أعضاء هذه اللجان وعددهم 84 مبحوثا موزعين على ثلاث مراکزإدارية هى: دسوق ، وسيدى سالم ، وکفر الشيخ. أستخدمت إستمارة إستبيان بالمقابلة الشخصية کأداة لجمع البيانات ميدانيا عام 2019 ، أستخدمت النسب المئوية ، والمتوسط الحسابى ، والجداول التکرارية ، کاساليب إحصائية وصفية لشرح وتفسير البيانات . وکانت أهم النتائج على النحو التالى : 1- بلغ مجموع قيمة الفاقد الإقتصادى المعرفى بالجنية فى محصول الأرز بکل من المشاتل والأرض المستديمة ( 49 قيراط + 34 فدان أرض مستديمة) لدى زراع الحالة المدروسة 159778 جنيه. 2- فيما يتعلق بتقدير الجدوى الإقتصادية للإرشاد الزراعى بين التکلفة والعائد مع زراع الأرز المبحوثين موضع دراسة الحالة ، أوضحت النتائج أن الجدوى الإقتصادية للإرشاد الزراعى بين التکلفة والعائد کانت کالتالى: جملة المنافع 159778الجدوى الإقتصادية = ـــــــــــــــــــــــــــ = ـــــــــــــــــــ = 2.6 تقريبا. جملة التکاليف 61500 وهذا معناه أن الجنيه الواحد المنفق على جهاز الإرشاد الزراعى ليقوم بدوره مع زراع الأرز المبحوثين بکفر الشيخ له مردود إقتصادى معرفى على الإنتاج تقدر قيمته النقدية 2.6 جنيها تقريبا .7- يوصى البحث بتکوين لجان قروية للإرشاد الزراعى التعاونى لحل مشکلة تآکل قوى نقل المعرفة الزراعية لزراع محصول الأرز. T he main objective of this research is to estimate the economic and knowledge losses in the rice crop in light of the absence of the role of agricultural extension in Kafr El-Sheikh Governorate. A personal interview questionnaire was used to collect data in 2019, percentages, mean, and repeating tables, as descriptive statistical methods were used to explain and interpret data. The research results were shawed that the total economic value of knowledge loss in the pound in the rice crop in both nurseries and permanent land at the studied case farmers amounted to 159778 pounds. And with regard to estimating the economic feasibility of agricultural extension between cost and return with the rice farmers interviewed in the case study, the results showed that the economic feasibility of agricultural extension between cost and return was 2.6 approximately.The research’ recommendation is to formation of village committees for cooperative agricultural extension to solve the problem of erosion of the forces of transfer of agricultural knowledge to rice crop farmers.

Social network efficiency of multiple stakeholders on agricultural drought risk governance — A southern China case study

Social network research in respect of multi-stakeholders in the field of disaster risk governance is receiving increasing attention. Analyzing connection efficiency helps each stakeholder to coordinate relationships for disaster governance. Based on questionnaire and multi-indicator analysis, the study constructs a M-S-S-P-I (Multi-Scale-multi-Stakeholder-multi-Process-multi-Indicator) system and establishes a social network encompassing the government, village committee, household, and enterprise in drought risk governance. The results are as follows. (1) In the process of drought risk governance, the households are not sufficiently motivated to be adequately prepared and the government does not provide adequate instructions in the recovery. (2) From each stakeholder’s perspective, the averages of the connection proportion show a trend of enterprise (0.91) > government (0.65) > village committee (0.58) > household (0.12), and the ranges of the proportion are quite large. The social network of households displays features of closure and unbalance. (3) Considering the soft factors in efficiency evaluation, from the “quantity” view, the value of the village stakeholders is low and from the “quality” view, it presents a trend of the trust degree < communication convenience degree ≈ function understanding degree ≈ assistance effectiveness degree. The trust between stakeholders and the connection efficiencies of households and enterprises in the social network need to be strengthened. The purpose of this study is to provide references for enhancing cooperation efficiency among multiple stakeholders so that they are able to form a consilience of drought risk governance.

Untangle the Complex Stakeholder Relationships in Rural Settlement Consolidation in China: A Social Network Approach

Rural settlement consolidation (RSC) has a critical role in facilitating the transformation of human settlement and land use transition in the rural revitalization process. RSC involves a diversity of stakeholder groups with complex and intertwined concerns. It is therefore crucial to identify the key stakeholders and their main concerns to effectively align rural planning and policymaking. However, this line of research remains underdeveloped. This study provides a novel and holistic network perspective for unpacking the complex relationships among different stakeholders. The results indicate: (1) the network of stakeholder concerns is relatively sparse, with 68 concern nodes and 159 concern ties; (2) The village committee, centralized residents, and contractors occupy the core position within the concerns network, while the local government has the majority of strongly connected nodes; (3) The lists of prominent concern nodes and ties are identified by different network indices, including the degree difference, the out-status centrality, closeness centrality, node betweenness centrality, and link betweenness centrality; (4) The main interaction type among stakeholder groups can be classified into five categories: financing, psychological attachment, stakeholder participation, project management, and the improvement in living conditions and infrastructure. This study reveals the relatively weak status of residents, the pivotal role of the village committee, as well as the indispensable part of the contractor and township government, with the aim to provide targeted guidance and decision-making supports for strengthening interactions and cooperation among different stakeholder groups. The findings shed new light on performing the multi-tasks of RSC and facilitating the sustainable management of rural areas.

Morphology of Urban Villages in China: A Case Study of Dayuan Village in Guangzhou

Urban villages play an important role in providing affordable housing to urban migrants in Chinese cities. They are considered as supplementary to the dual rural-urban system in China. Of central importance to studying urban villages is how the morphology of these informal settlements affects urban life. It is essential for urban planners and designers to examine the morphology of urban villages. This paper, therefore, investigates the morphology of urban villages using the case study of Dayuan Village in Guangzhou, China. The morphology of this urban village is tested against four main elements of urban morphology: urban density, accessibility, functional mix, and urban interface. Our results revealed that the type of street within the urban village has considerable influence on accessibility, functional mix, and urban interface. Regarding urban density, our results show that buildings’ height is not influenced by the centrality of buildings nor land value; however, it is likely that it is affected by planning agreements between the village committee and the local government. Land coverage does not comply with the planning regulation for residential districts. Regarding accessibility analysis, the number of entrances to streets is influenced by the type of street under analysis. The distribution of different types of functional mix is also affected by the type of street within the urban village. The buildings with a mix of ‘live/visit’ are concentrated along the formal streets and primary inner streets. The mono-functional use of ‘live’ and the bi-functional mix of ‘live/work’ are mostly located in the secondary inner streets. Regarding urban interface, our results demonstrate that the formal streets have an interface with considerable porosity, and that this can contribute to the livelihood of the immediate area.

Institutional interaction and decision making in China's rural development

Helmke and Levitsky's (2004) institutional adaptation model is adopted in this study to examine institutional interactions between two formal institutions in rural China: one involves upper-level governments' decision making in rural China, representing a primary top-down institution; the other consists of village committees in rural areas, an assisting bottom-up institution. Their interactions explain the final decisions and implementations related to rural development and exemplify rural governance . Although institutional theory has been commonly applied in Western countries and cases, its application in China is rare. This study considers this theory's suitability for exploring rural governance in China based on a case of rural tourism development. Findings show that four types of institutional adaptation, namely complementary , substitutive , accommodating , and competing adaptation, exist between the chosen two formal institutions. Results offer insight for subsequent research on rural governance and rural tourism development. • Institutions and decision making in rural China are evaluated through case of rural tourism development. • Four different types of institutional adaptation exist in the process of rural development. • Institutional responses explain the success and failure in China's rural tourism development. • Understanding towards China's rural governance and power relationship is illustrated.

Evaluation of implementation and operation mode of conservation planning of historic villages in the Pearl River Delta

ABSTRACT The renovation of ancient buildings and roadways as well as the improvement of green landscape and sanitation facilities of historic villages are mainly based on the conservation planning in the Pearl River Delta. The implementation mode of conservation planning is divided into the government leading type, the village committee leading type, the government and the tourism developers combined type, the village committee and the tourism developers combined type as well as the villagers’ self-government type. It finds that the historic villages of government and tourism developers combined type and the village committee and the tourism developers combined type achieve better results including the ancient buildings better repaired and reused and the public infrastructures perfect and the residents have higher satisfaction through field reconnaissance and survey statistics. By comparing the actual effect of the conservation and renewal of the historic villages and the evaluation of the residents’ satisfaction under different conservation plannings implementation it hopes to provide a reference for choosing a suitable conservation mode for historic villages in China and even in the world.

Follow-up and retrospective investigation of patients with pneumoconiosis in Jiangsu Province, China

Objective: To investigate the features, changing trend, and rules of pneumoconiosis in Jiangsu Province, China, as well as the health status of patients with pneumoconiosis. Methods: From July to October 2019, the patients with pneumoconiosis, reported up to the end of 2018 in Jiangsu Province, were enrolled as respondents, and follow-up and retrospective investigation were performed. A total of 24405 patients with pneumoconiosis were investigated, and related data were collected from the monitoring system of cause of death for residents, pneumoconiosis network reporting system, occupational disease diagnosis institution, management institutions for the reporting of occupational diseases, and related residents' committee or village committee. The patients with pneumoconiosis, who had been reported, were followed up by telephone or on-site visit to obtain the information on their conditions. A descriptive analysis was performed for age of onset, working years, sex, category of industry, type of pneumoconiosis, annual disease onset, geographic distribution, and medical security. Results: Among the 24405 patients, a male/female ratio was 16.81∶1. Of all 24405 patients, 15948 (65.35%) had stage 1 pneumoconiosis, 5289 (21.67%) had stage 2 pneumoconiosis, and 1637 (6.71%) had stage 3 pneumoconiosis. The mean working years for dust exposure was 16.25±9.95 years for all patients, and the mean working years for dust exposure was 15.80±9.95 years for patients with stage 1 pneumoconiosis, 17.82±9.80 years for patients with stage 2 pneumoconiosis, and 16.31±9.90 years for patients with stage 3 pneumoconiosis. The highest number of cases of pneumoconiosis was reported in Wuxi (5744 cases, accounting for 23.54%) , followed by Zhenjiang (4160 cases, accounting for 17.05%) , Xuzhou (3851 cases, accounting for 15.78%) , Yancheng (3340 cases, accounting for 13.69%) , and Suzhou (2948 cases, accounting for 12.08%) . Major types of pneumoconiosis included silicosis (15392 cases, accounting for 63.07%) and coal workers' pneumoconiosis (5253 cases, accounting for 21.52%) . In this survey, 21115 completed follow-up, among whom 15924 survived and 5191 died, 15924 patients with pneumoconiosis survived, among whom 7461 (46.85%) had an age of ≥70 years and 2515 (15.79%) were exposed to dust for 5-9 years. The industries involved were mainly coal mining and washing industry (5687 cases, accounting for 35.71%) and public management, social security, and social organization (3349 cases, accounting for 21.03%) ; in terms of security, 7999 patients (50.23%) were covered by occupational injury insurance, 946 (5.94%) were compensated by employers, 4537 (28.49%) were covered by basic medical insurance for urban and rural residents, 1590 (9.98%) were covered by critical illness insurance, and 5458 (34.28%) were covered by other types of social security, such as medical assistance and poverty relief. Conclusion: Silicosis and coal worker's pneumoconiosis are the key points for the prevention and treatment of pneumoconiosis in Jiangsu Province, and supervision should be strengthened for industries and regions with serious dust hazards.