Large regional differences and uneven regional development are fundamental challenges for China. Balanced regional development is an important issue in research on development geography. This study reviews the course of balanced regional development in China and summarizes its characteristics in each period. The results show that inter-regional development in China has undergone successive periods of balanced and unbalanced development. Each period has enhanced social development and contributed to a more balanced regional development. This paper discusses the scientific connotation of balanced regional development, and invokes sustainable development theory to argue that we should pay attention to the differences in resource endowments among regions, and solves the imbalance among the economy, humans, and nature to promote the spatial balance of regional development and green development for better coordination between economy and ecology. The balanced promotion of the well-being of people in each region is the ultimate goal of balanced regional development. We then use concepts from development geography to examine China’s path of balanced regional development from the three perspectives of society, the economy, and ecology. Suggestions are also provided for the balanced development of China’s regions and the improvement of public well-being.

In 2020, the decisive victory of building a moderately well-off society in all aspects means that absolute poverty in rural China has been completely eliminated. Consolidating and expanding the achievements of poverty alleviation and establishing a long-term mechanism to solve relative poverty have become key issues in high-quality development of underdeveloped areas. In this study, human-earth system is employed to analyze the element composition, structural organization and functional state of underdeveloped areas. The results show that poverty in underdeveloped areas stems from the lack of the coupling and coordinating mechanism among human, economic, resource and environmental elements, which is not conducive to transforming the ecological advantages into the advantages of regional development. In the antipoverty stage, underdeveloped areas innovate the human-earth coupling and coordinating mechanism through a series of targeted measures, promote the organic combination of poverty alleviation, ecological conservation and sustainable development, and boost the transformation of regional development and the increase of farmers’ incomes. Focusing on the 14th Five-year Plan (2021-2025) and the long-term goal of 2035, governments in underdeveloped areas should make full use of the policy support to explore scientific methods of modern governance and sustainable development. In particular, it is necessary to practice the concept that “clear waters and lush mountains are invaluable assets” and take the road of the ecologicalization of industry and the industrialization of ecology by establishing a policy system of “green land”, “green people”, “green industry” and “green right”, thus building an endogenous growth mechanism of sustainable poverty alleviation and green development in China’s underdeveloped areas.

Urban resilience is an emerging research topic of urban studies, and its essence is described by the ability of cities to resist, recover, and adapt to uncertain disturbances. This paper constructs a “Size-Density-Morphology” urban ecological resilience evaluation system, uses a coupling coordination degree model to measure the degree of coupling coordination between urbanization and ecological resilience in the Pearl River Delta from 2000 to 2015, and conducts an in-depth discussion on its spatiotemporal characteristics. The results show the following. (1) From 2000 to 2015, the urbanization level of cities in the study area generally increased while the level of ecological resilience declined. The coupling coordination degree between the two systems decreased from basic coordination to basic imbalance. (2) In terms of spatial distribution, the coupling coordination degree between urbanization and ecological resilience of cities presented a circular pattern that centered on the cities at the estuary of the Pearl River and increased toward the periphery. (3) Ecological resilience sub-systems played variable roles in the coupling coordination between urbanization and ecological resilience. Specifically, size resilience mainly played a reverse blocking role; the influence of morphology resilience was generally positive and continued to increase over time; the effect of density resilience was positive and continued to decline and further became negative after falling below zero. The main pathways for achieving coordinated and sustainable development of future urbanization and ecological resilience in the Pearl River Delta include: leading the coordinated development of regions with new urbanization, improving ecological resilience by strictly observing the three areas and three lines, adapting to ecological carrying capacity, and rationally arranging urban green spaces.

This paper studied the fertilizer rate (FR), fertilizer use efficiency (FUE) and fertilizer overuse rate (FOR) of rice, corn and wheat in China from 1998 to 2018 and briefly analysed the reasons why farmers were willing to apply more fertilizers. (1) The FR of grain in China reached 373.7 kg/ha in 2018, an increase of 26.8% compared to that in 1998. In 2018, the FR for corn was the highest, at 411.2 kg/ha, compared to the values of 338.3 kg/ha for rice and 371.7 kg/ha for wheat. (2) In recent years, the FUE of grain in China has obviously improved, with values of 32.9% in 1998, 36.7% in 2008, and 39.3% in 2018. In 2018, the FUE for rice was the highest (41.2%), followed by that for corn (39.9%), and the FUE for wheat was the lowest (36.0%). (3) By 2018, fertilizer was overused in all zones of rice, corn and wheat. In 2018, the average FOR for wheat reached 69.0%, which was 35.9% higher than that for corn and 42.8% higher than that for rice. (4) The lower price of chemical fertilizers was the main reason leading to overapplication. (5) Establishing market mechanisms and adjusting regional planting structures can be effective in reducing the application of chemical fertilizers.

The study of temperature change in major countries of the world since the 1980s is a key scientific issue given that such data give insights into the spatial differences of global temperature change and can assist in combating climate change. Based on the reanalysis of seven widely accepted datasets, which include trends in climate change and spatial interpolation of the land air temperature data, the changes in the temperature of major countries from 1981 to 2019 and the spatial-temporal characteristics of global temperature change have been assessed. The results revealed that the global land air temperature from the 1980s to 2019 varied at a rate of 0.320°C/10a, and exhibited a significantly increasing trend, with a cumulative increase of 0.835°C. The mean annual land air temperature in the northern and southern hemispheres varied at rates of 0.362°C/10a and 0.147°C/10a, respectively, displaying significantly increasing trends with cumulative increases of 0.828°C and 0.874°C, respectively. Across the globe, the rates of change of the mean annual temperature were higher at high latitudes than at middle and low latitudes, with the highest rates of change occurring in regions at latitudes of 80°-90°N, followed by regions from 70°-80°N, then from 60°-70°N. The global land surface air temperature displayed an increasing trend, with more than 80% of the land surface showing a significant increase. Greenland, Ukraine, and Russia had the highest rates of increase in the mean annual temperature; in particular, Greenland experienced a rate of 0.654°C/10a. The regions with the lowest rates of increase of mean annual temperature were mainly in New Zealand and the equatorial regions of South America, Southeast Asia, and Southern Africa, where the rates were <0.15°C/10a. Overall, 136 countries (93%), out of the 146 countries surveyed, exhibited a significant warming, while 10 countries (6.849%) exhibited no significant change in temperature, of which 3 exhibited a downward trend. Since the 1980s, there have been 4, 34 and 68 countries with levels of global warming above 2.0°C, 1.5°C and 1.0°C, respectively, accounting statistically for 2.740%, 23.288% and 46.575% of the countries examined. This paper takes the view that there was no global warming hiatus over the period 1998-2019.

Climate change is a global environmental crisis, but there have been few studies of the effects of climate change on cereal yields on the Tibetan Plateau. We used data from meteorological stations and statistical yearbooks to assess the impacts of climate change on cereal yields in Tibet. Three types of statistical models were selected: fixed-effects model, first-difference models, and linear detrending models. We analyzed the impacts of climate change (including the minimum temperature, precipitation, growing degree days and solar radiation) on cereal yields in Tibet from 1993 to 2017 at the county, prefecture-level city, and autonomous region scales. The results showed that the sensitivity of cereal yields in Tibet to temperature (minimum temperature and growing degree days) was greater than their sensitivity to precipitation and solar radiation. The joint impacts of climate variables were positive, but the sensitivity and significance varied in different regions. The impacts of minimum temperature, precipitation, and solar radiation were positive in all cities, apart from the negative impacts of growing degree days on cereal yields in Lhasa. The impacts of climate trends on cereal yields in Tibet were positive and the results were in the range of 1.5%-4.8%. Among the three types of model, the fixed-effects model was the most robust and the linear detrending model performed better than the first-difference model. The robustness of the first-difference model decreased after adding the interaction terms between different climate variables. Our findings will help in implementing more spatially targeted agricultural adaptations to cope with the impacts of climate change on the agro-ecosystem of the Tibetan Plateau.

Glaciers are a reliable freshwater resource in arid regions of West China and the vulnerability of its changes is closely related to regional ecosystem services and economic sustainable development. Here, we took the Qilian Mountains as an example and analyzed the spatiotemporal characteristics of glacier changes from 1998 to 2018, based on remote sensing images and the Second Chinese Glacier Inventory. We estimated the basic organizational framework and evaluation index system of glacier change vulnerability from exposure, sensitivity and adaptability, which covered the factors of physical geography, population status and socio-economic level. We analyzed the spatial and temporal evolutions of glacier change vulnerability by using the vulnerability evaluation model. Our results suggested that: (1) Glacier area and volume decreased by 71.12±98.98 km² and 5.59±4.41 km³, respectively, over the recent two decades, which mainly occurred at the altitude below 4800 m, with an area shrinking rate of 2.5%. In addition, glaciers in the northern aspect (northwest, north and northeast) had the largest area reduction. Different counties exhibited remarkable discrepancies in glacier area reduction, Tianjuan and Minle presented the maximum and minimum decrease, respectively. (2) Glacier change vulnerability level showed a decreasing trend in space from the central to the northwestern and southeastern regions with remarkable differences. Vulnerability level had increased significantly over time and was mainly concentrated in moderate, high and extreme levels with typical characteristics of phases and regional complexity. Our study can not only help to understand and master the impacts of recent glacier changes on natural and social aspects but also be conducive to evaluate the influences of glacier retreat on socio-economic developments in the future, thus providing references for formulating relevant countermeasures to achieve regional sustainable development.

The Yangtze River Watershed in China is a climate change hotspot featuring strong spatial and temporal variability; hence, it poses a certain threat to social development. Identifying the characteristics of and regions vulnerable to climate change is significantly important for formulating adaptive countermeasures. However, with regard to the Yangtze River Watershed, there is currently a lack of research on these aspects from the perspective of natural and anthropogenic factors. To address this issue, in this study, based on the temperature and precipitation records from 717 meteorological stations, the RClimDex and random forest models were used to assess the spatiotemporal characteristics of climate change and identify mainly the natural and anthropogenic factors influencing climate change hotspots in the Yangtze River Watershed for the period 1958-2017. The results indicated a significant increasing trend in temperature, a trend of wet and dry polarization in the annual precipitation, and that the number of temperature indices with significant variations was 2.8 times greater than that of precipitation indices. Significant differences were also noted in the responses of the climate change characteristics of the sub-basins to anthropogenic and natural factors; the delta plain of the Yangtze River estuary exhibited the most significant climate changes, where 88.89% of the extreme climate indices varied considerably. Furthermore, the characteristics that were similar among the identified hotpots, including human activities (higher Gross Domestic Product and construction land proportions) and natural factors (high altitudes and large proportions of grassland and water bodies), were positively correlated with the rapid climate warming.

The Yangtze River Delta (YRD) is a region in China with a serious contradiction between economic growth and environmental pollution. Exploring the spatiotemporal effects and influencing factors of air pollution in the region is highly important for formulating policies to promote the high-quality development of urban industries. This study uses the spatial Durbin model (SDM) to analyze the local direct and spatial spillover effects of industrial transformation on air pollution and quantifies the contribution of each factor. From 2008 to 2018, there was a significant spatial agglomeration of industrial sulfur dioxide emissions (ISDE) in the YRD, and every 1% increase in ISDE led to a synchronous increase of 0.603% in the ISDE in adjacent cities. The industrial scale index (ISCI) and industrial structure index (ISTI), as the core factors of industrial transformation, significantly affect the emissions of sulfur dioxide in the YRD, and the elastic coefficients are 0.677 and -0.368, respectively. The order of the direct effect of the explanatory variables on local ISDE is ISCI>ISTI>foreign direct investment (FDI)>enterprise technological innovation (ETI)>environmental regulation (ER)> per capita GDP (PGDP). Similarly, the order of the spatial spillover effect of all variables on ISDE in adjacent cities is ISCI>PGDP>FDI>ETI>ISTI>ER, and the coefficients of the ISCI and ISTI are 1.531 and 0.113, respectively. This study contributes to the existing research that verifies the environmental Kuznets curve in the YRD, denies the pollution heaven hypothesis, indicates the Porter hypothesis, and provides empirical evidence for the formation mechanism of regional environmental pollution from a spatial spillover perspective.

Protected areas have a double mandate of both “protection” and “use.” Nature- based tourism is considered an effective tool in terms of environmental conservation. Understanding the causes and consequences of a spatiotemporal succession of tourism construction is an important channel to explore the changes of tourism-environment interaction in the protected area. To analyze the spatio-temporal variations in tourism construction lands, we adopted Mt. Bogda as an example. We systematically quantified the interaction between these changes and environmental variables and explored the evolution process of tourism-environment interaction of the mountainous protected area in the northwest arid region. Our results revealed the following: (1) In the Bogda protected area, the proportion of tourism construction lands first appeared to be increasing, then decreasing dramatically, and finally growing slowly. The spatial expansion of tourism construction lands followed the “core-periphery” pattern, respectively showing shapely infilling, reasonable agglomeration, barycenter shift, and outlying growth from 1990 to 2018 as the stages of concentrating on the core. (2) The higher land-use intensity of tourism construction drove the changes of landscape fragmentation, diversity, stability, primitive, and nature degree in the protected area. The coupling coordination between tourism and the environment in the Bogda area decreased at first, and then slowly increased. Meanwhile, tourism did not cause irreversible damage to the natural environment, and the coupling coordination degree between tourism and the environment was still in the state of balanced development. It expressed the states of original balanced, development exceeds environment and barely balanced, and superiorly balanced. The historical evolution of tourism-environment interaction in Bogda reflects the pattern of periodic changes in China’s protected areas to a certain extent.

Accounting for the gains and losses of ecological assets holds scientific significance in sustaining human well-being. Based on related research on ecological assets, we established a county-scale ecological asset accounting technology system by analyzing the temporal and spatial variations of county-level ecological assets in China from 1990 to 2018 and clarified the factors which caused the gains and losses of ecological assets. On these bases, optimization and promotion pathways were proposed. The results show that the number of counties dominated by farmland and forest ecological resources accounted for about 45% and 37% of the total counties, respectively. From 1990 to 2018, the quality of county-level ecological stock assets showed an increasing trend, while the water conservation volume decreased in nearly 70% of the counties. The number of counties with the gains (47%) and losses (37%) of ecological flow assets demonstrated spatial patterns which showed the same segmentation characteristics as the “Hu Huanyong Line”, that is, the counties in the vastness of northwest China experienced significant gains, while decreases were widespread in eastern and southern China. The change of ecological assets in more than 70% of the counties was driven by climate change and human activities. The average degree of impact of human activities driving the ecological asset gains in counties was about 80%, while that of climate change causing the ecological asset losses was about 60%. According to various ecological resource types, gain and loss status, and its driving factors, counties in China can be classified into five types: climate change mitigation, climate change adaptation, ecological resources restoration, ecological resources protection, and ecological resources management. Our results indicate that differentiated optimization and promotion pathways can be adopted to achieve desired ecological asset gains.

This essay combines the Defense Meteorological Satellite Program Operational Linescan System (DMSP-OLS) nighttime light data and the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) nighttime light data into a “synthetic DMSP” dataset, from 1992 to 2020, to retrieve the spatio-temporal variations in energy-related carbon emissions in Xinjiang, China. Then, this paper analyzes several influencing factors for spatial differentiation of carbon emissions in Xinjiang with the application of geographical detector technique. Results reveal that (1) total carbon emissions continued to grow, while the growth rate slowed down in the past five years. (2) Large regional differences exist in total carbon emissions across various regions. Total carbon emissions of these regions in descending order are the northern slope of the Tianshan (Mountains) > the southern slope of the Tianshan > the three prefectures in southern Xinjiang > the northern part of Xinjiang. (3) Economic growth, population size, and energy consumption intensity are the most important factors of spatial differentiation of carbon emissions. The interaction between economic growth and population size as well as between economic growth and energy consumption intensity also enhances the explanatory power of carbon emissions’ spatial differentiation. This paper aims to help formulate differentiated carbon reduction targets and strategies for cities in different economic development stages and those with different carbon intensities so as to achieve the carbon peak goals in different steps.

Research on the carbon budget and zoning for carbon compensation in major functional zones (MFZs) is important for formulating strategies for low-carbon development for each functional zone, promoting the collaborative governance of the regional ecological environment, and achieving high-quality development. Such work can also contribute to achieving peak emissions and carbon neutrality. This paper constructs a theoretical framework for the carbon budget and carbon compensation from the perspective of the MFZ, uses 157 county-level units of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei urban agglomeration (BTHUA) as the study area, and introduces the concentration index, normalized revealed comparative advantage index, and Self Organizing Mapping-K-means (SOM-K-means) model to examine spatio-temporal variations in the carbon budget and carbon compensation zoning for the BTHUA from the perspective of MFZs. The authors propose a scheme for the spatial minimization of carbon emissions as oriented by low-carbon development. The results show that: (1) From 2000 to 2017, the carbon budget exhibited an upward trend of volatility, its centralization index was higher than the “warning line” of 0.4, and large regional differences in it were noted on the whole. (2) There were significant regional differences in the carbon budget, and carbon emissions exhibited a core-periphery spatial pattern, with a high-value center at Beijing-Tianjin-Tangshan that gradually decreased as it moved outward. However, the spatial pattern of carbon absorption tended to be stable, showing an inverted “U-shaped” pattern. It was high in the east, north, and west, and was low in the middle and the south. (3) The carbon budget was consistent with the strategic positioning of the MFZ, and the optimized development zone and key development zone were the main pressure-bearing areas for carbon emissions, while the key ecological functional zone was the dominant zone of carbon absorption. The difference in the centralization index of carbon absorption among the functional zones was smaller than that in the centralization index of carbon emissions. (4) There were 53 payment areas, 64 balanced areas, and 40 obtaining areas in the study area. Nine types of carbon compensation zones were finally formed in light of the strategic objectives of the MFZ, and directions and strategies for low-carbon development are proposed for each type. (5) It is important to strengthen research on the carbon balance and horizontal carbon compensation at a microscopic scale, enrich the theoretical framework of regional carbon compensation, integrate it into the carbon trading market, and explore diversified paths for achieving peak emissions and carbon neutrality.

Research on the spatio-temporal correlation between the intensity of human activities and the temperature of earth surfaces is of great significance in many aspects, including fully understanding the causes and mechanisms of climate change, actively adapting to climate change, pursuing rational development, and protecting the ecological environment. Taking the north slope of Tianshan Mountains, located in the arid area of northwestern China and extremely sensitive to climate change, as the research area, this study retrieves the surface temperature of the mountain based on MODIS data, while characterizing the intensity of human activities thereby data on the night light, population distribution and land use. The evolution characteristics of human activity intensity and surface temperature in the study area from 2000 to 2018 were analyzed, and the spatio-temporal correlation between them was further explored. It is found that: (1) The average human activity intensity (0.11) in the research area has kept relatively low since this century, and the overall trend has been slowly rising in a stepwise manner (0.0024·a^-1); in addition, the increase in human activity intensity has lagged behind that in construction land and population by 1-2 years. (2) The annual average surface temperature in the area is 7.18 ℃ with a pronounced growth. The rate of change (0.02 ℃·a^-1) is about 2.33 times that of the world. The striking boost in spring (0.068 ℃·a^-1) contributes the most to the overall warming trend. Spatially, the surface temperature is low in the south and high in the north, due to the prominent influence of the underlying surface characteristics, such as elevation and vegetation coverage. (3) The intensity of human activity and the surface temperature are remarkably positively correlated in the human activity areas there, showing a strong distribution in the east section and a weak one in the west section. The expression of its spatial differentiation and correlation is comprehensively affected by such factors as scopes of human activities, manifestations, and land-use changes. Vegetation-related human interventions, such as agriculture and forestry planting, urban greening, and afforestation, can effectively reduce the surface warming caused by human activities. This study not only puts forward new ideas to finely portray the intensity of human activities but also offers a scientific reference for regional human-land coordination and overall development.

The Mu Us dune field in China has become a focal region for research of the prevention and control of desertification. Agricultural practices in this area have been modernized in recent years, evidenced by the development of Center Pivot Irrigation (CPI) farmlands. However, the impacts of CPI farmlands on combating desertification remain poorly understood. This study chose the southeastern part of the Mu Us dune field as a study area to investigate the variations of CPI farmlands from 2009 to 2018 and the influencing factors. The results showed growth trends in both the number and the area of these CPI farmland units over the period. The areas of meso- and micro-scale CPI farmland units stabilized over time to mainly 0-0.2 km² and 0.2-0.4 km², respectively; Topography, temperature, and geological substratum were preliminarily identified as the major natural factors driving the development of the CPI farmlands. Within the context of varied stakeholders, the potential for soil erosion, and damage to natural vegetation, the current study suggests that strict management of CPI farmland is required through effective long-term planning and land-use policies. The results of this study can assist in realizing the sustainable development of agriculture and its ecological significance in dune field areas.

Functional zoning is an important mechanism for achieving national park planning and management objective. Better functional zoning is of great significance to the protection of ecosystem legitimacy and integrity, the appropriate utilization of resources, community integration, and feasible management. In the present study, the proposed Qinghai Lake National Park is the research object. Based on the critical goal of ecological protection, the importance of ecosystem service functions and the ecological sensitivities were evaluated. The results showed that the ecosystem service functions and the ecological sensitivity of the whole region are high. Among them, lake, river and wetland as the most strictly protected ecosystems account for the highest proportion. Then this study divided the proposed Qinghai Lake National Park into five functional areas through grid calculations, spatial analysis and multifactor trade-off. The results indicated that the goal of functional zoning for national park is to maximize the overall utility of park protection value and its comprehensive functions based on its spatial units with different functions, management and control requirements. The zoning scheme addresses the lack of sustainable development in Qinghai Lake National Park due to ecological environmental changes and single-resource zoning with resource protection as the primary goal. This study can serve as a reference for spatial functional zoning methods of national land parks, nature reserves and other natural protected areas.

Water diversion projects are an effective measure to mitigate water shortages in water-limited areas. Understanding the risk of such projects increasing concurrent drought between the water intake and receiving regions is essential for sustainable water management. This study calculates concurrent drought probability between the water intake and receiving regions of the Hanjiang to Weihe River Water Diversion Project using Standardized Precipitation Index and Copula functions. Results showed an increasing trend in drought probability across both the water intake and receiving regions from 2.67% and 8.38% to 12.47% and 14.18%, respectively, during 1969-2018. The return period of concurrent drought decreased from 111.11 to 13.05 years, indicating larger risk of simultaneous drought between the two regions. Projections from CMIP6 suggested that under the SSP 2-4.5 and 5-8.5 scenarios, concurrent drought probability would increase by 2.40% and 7.72% in 2019-2050 compared to that in 1969-1990, respectively. Although increases in precipitation during 2019-2050 could potentially alleviate drought conditions relative to those during 1991-2018, high precipitation variability adds to the uncertainty about future concurrent drought. These findings provide a basis for better understanding concurrent drought and its impact on water diversion projects in a changing climate, and facilitate the establishment of adaptation countermeasures to ensure sustainable water availability.

Since the Three Gorges Dam (TGD) was put into operation, the flood water level at an identical discharge rate has not displayed a decreasing trend along the middle reaches of the Yangtze River (MYR). The flow resistance variations of the channel and bars in response to the operation of the TGD remain poorly understood, despite the importance of understanding these for water disaster mitigation and water environment regulation. Herein, the impacts of the TGD on the downstream flow resistance of the channel and bars in the MYR were analyzed using systematic surveys of hydrological datasets, cross- sectional profiles, sediment datasets, and remote sensing images, during different periods. Under the actual natural conditions in the MYR, a modified semi-empirical formula, which considered the grain, dune resistance, as well as the topographic features of the riverbed, was proposed to predict the channel resistance. Furthermore, the effect of various dam-control flow and sediment elements on the variation in different flow resistance components, and the corresponding relationships among them were investigated. Results showed a decline in the comprehensive, channel, and bar resistances as the discharge increased, whereas there was a slight increase when reaching the bank-full discharges. Notably, the bar resistance occupied 65%, while the channel resistance, in which dune resistance was much larger than grain resistance, contributed 35% to the comprehensive resistance. In addition, while flow resistance rose over time, there was a decline as the distance from the TGD increased. In conclusion, the increased dune and bar resistances, interpreted by the fluctuated channel longitudinal profile and growing vegetated area on bars, were the dominant factors preventing the flood water level from dropping.

Global warming has caused the Arctic Ocean ice cover to shrink. This endangers the environment but has made traversing the Arctic channel possible. Therefore, the strategic position of the Arctic has been significantly improved. As a near-Arctic country, China has formulated relevant policies that will be directly impacted by changes in the international relations between the eight Arctic countries (regions). A comprehensive and real-time analysis of the various characteristics of the Arctic geographical relationship is required in China, which helps formulate political, economic, and diplomatic countermeasures. Massive global real-time open databases provide news data from major media in various countries. This makes it possible to monitor geographical relationships in real-time. This paper explores key elements of the social development of eight Arctic countries (regions) over 2013-2019 based on the GDELT database and the method of labeled latent Dirichlet allocation. This paper also constructs the national interaction network and identifies the evolution pattern for the relationships between Arctic countries (regions). The following conclusions are drawn. (1) Arctic news hotspot is now focusing on climate change/ice cap melting which is becoming the main driving factor for changes in geographical relationships in the Arctic. (2) There is a strong correlation between the number of news pieces about ice cap melting and the sea ice area. (3) With the melting of the ice caps, the social, economic, and military activities in the Arctic have been booming, and the competition for dominance is becoming increasingly fierce. In general, there is a pattern of domination by Russia and Canada.

Special attention needs to be paid to achieve the world’s poverty reduction goal by 2030 in less than ten-year time. The paper aims to investigate the multidimensional poverty in South Asia in the period 2003-2019. It constructs the Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) by selecting ten indicators in the fields of health, education and living standards. The research results show that the MPI of South Asia decreases in the research period. Poor people in South Asian countries are still facing several forms of deprivation while cooking fuel, sanitation, housing, nutrition and years of schooling are the main restrictive factors to poverty reduction in this region. Pakistan, India and Bangladesh face the worst poverty situation in terms of health, education and living standards. Targeted poverty alleviation and resilient poverty reduction are proposed in the paper to improve the poverty reduction efficiency and individual/regional capacity against risks to avoid returning to poverty.

Bangladesh is one of the most vulnerable countries to natural disasters such as droughts in the world. The pre-monsoon Aus rice in Bangladesh depends on rainfall and is threatened by increasing droughts. However, limited information on the changes in Aus rice as well as droughts hamper our understanding of the country’s agricultural resilience and adaption to droughts. Here, we collected all the official statistical data of Aus rice at the district level from 1980 to 2018, and examined the interannual variations of area, yield, and production. The results showed both area and production of Aus rice decreased significantly (61.58×10³ ha yr^-1 and 17.21 ×10³ M. tons yr^-1, respectively), while yield increased significantly (0.03 M. tons ha^-1 yr^-1). We also found a significantly increasing trend of droughts in 88% of area based on the Palmer Drought Severity Index (PDSI) data, especially in those rainfed agricultural areas. Moreover, we found significant positive correlations between PDSI and Aus rice area (production) in 33 (25) out of 64 districts. There is hardly a relationship between PDSI and yield, likely due to the improved management and increasing irrigated areas. Implementing continuous drought monitoring, combined irrigation (surface and groundwater) systems, and conservation and precision agriculture are highly recommended in these drought-prone districts to ensure food security in Bangladesh.

As an important innovation flow, venture capital has been examined in urban network research. However, the segmentation of capital categories and the cross-scale connection of capital remain scarcely analyzed. This study focuses on the structure and industry differentiation of venture capital flows in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area (GBA) and its cross-scale network characteristics. Based on a venture capital database covering capital amount, investment subject address information, and industry information (2000-2018), this article examines the spatial distribution and network structure of venture capital in the GBA by means of a distance-based test of spatial concentration approach and social network analysis. Key findings show that: (1) Venture capital institutions and startups in the GBA present a high-concentration distribution pattern. In the past 20 years, venture capital activities in the GBA have substantially increased, forming a complex urban network structure with Guangzhou, Shenzhen, and Hong Kong as the core of this network. (2) Different types of venture capital show significantly different urban network structures, with manufacturing, the Internet industry, the financial sector, the cultural media industry, and the medical and health industry as the five industry types with the largest capital flow in the GBA. (3) Cross-scale research on the venture capital network reveals the position of the GBA as a capital hub in China, which forms a dense venture capital connection network with major cities on a national scale. (4) The network structure of venture capital in the GBA is influenced by multi-dimensional proximity, institutional factors, urban economy, and path dependence. Along with these three key mechanisms, the GBA has grown into a national-scale and even global-scale venture capital center.

Industrial agglomeration is a highly prominent geographical feature of economic activities, and it is an important research topic in economic geography. However, mechanism-based explanations of industrial agglomeration often differ due to a failure to distinguish properly between the spatial distribution of industries and the stages of industrial agglomeration. Based on micro data from three national economic censuses, this study uses the Duranton-Overman (DO) index method to calculate the spatial distribution of manufacturing industries (three-digit classifications) in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region (BTH region hereafter) from 2004 to 2013 as well as the hurdle model to explain quantitatively the influencing factors and differences in the two stages of agglomeration formation and agglomeration development. The research results show the following: (1) In 2004, 2008, and 2013, there were 124, 127, and 129 agglomerations of three-digit industry types in the BTH region, respectively. Technology-intensive and labor-intensive manufacturing industries had high agglomeration intensity, but overall agglomeration intensity declined during the study period, from 0.332 to 0.261. (2) There are two stages of manufacturing agglomeration, with different dominant factors. During the agglomeration formation stage, the main locational considerations of enterprises are basic conditions. Agricultural resources and transportation have negative effects on agglomeration formation, while labor pool and foreign investment have positive effects. In the agglomeration development stage, enterprises focus more on factors such as agglomeration economies and policies. Internal and external industry linkages both have a positive effect, with the former having a stronger effect, while development zone policies and electricity, gas, and water resources have a negative effect. (3) Influencing factors on industrial agglomeration have a scale effect, and they all show a weakening trend as distance increases, but different factors respond differently to distance.

The development of industrialization and urbanization has intensified the coupling of human activities and hydrological processes and promoted the emergence of socio-hydrology. This paper addresses the issue of socio-hydrology due to new development and social demand for hydrological sciences and sustainable development. Four key scientific issues are identified through systematic analysis and summary of the relative research and international progress, i.e., (1) the long-term dynamic process of socio-hydrological system evolution; (2) quantitative description and driving mechanism analysis of socio-hydrological coupling system; (3) prediction of the trajectories of socio-hydrological system co-evolution, and (4) integrated water resource management from the perspective of water systems. Moreover, opportunities and challenges for developing socio-hydrology are emphasized, including (1) strengthening the research of interdisciplinary theoretical systems; (2) improving and broadening socio-hydrological research technical methods, and (3) supporting integrated water resources management (IWRM) for sustainable utilization goals (SDGs). The review is expected to provide a reference for the future development of socio-hydrology discipline.

The black soil area in Northeast China serves as a “ballast” to ensure China’s food security. Unreasonable development and utilization lead to serious black soil degradation in some areas and affect regional food production and economic and social development. In the context of the intensification of the contradiction between food supply and demand worldwide, we should pay more attention to the overall situation of regional sustainable development and seek for systematic, scientific, and economic solutions. This study establishes a regional all-for-one customization model of black soil granary on the basis of the regional system of human-land relationship, customized and accurate management, agricultural system theory, and agricultural informatization with the guidance of integrated geography concept. The aim of this regional all-for-one customization model is to systematically diagnose the key problems and leading factors of black soil degradation and determine a solution that combines the commonness and individuality of black soil protection from the perspective of multiscale linkage, multifactor coupling, and multitechnology cooperation. The regional all-for-one customization model of black soil granary integrates the two perspectives of “regional” and “customization” into the protection and comprehensive utilization of black soil for the first time. It adopts zoning, grading, and classification as the main strategy and big data and artificial intelligence as the main technical approaches. This model constructs three strategies of different scales by combining the “satellite-air-ground-network” 3D monitoring system and the all-for-one customization platform driven by big data and artificial intelligence. First, the “implementing strategies by regions” are implemented at the regional scale to formulate the regional agricultural resource allocation scheme and agricultural zoning, which can provide strategies to protect and utilize black soil effectively. Second, the “determining strategies in accordance with villages” are implemented at the village scale to formulate a black soil protection and utilization model for different categories of villages, which can promote the organic integration of black soil protection and rural revitalization. Third, a “one strategy for one field” concept is applied at the field scale to provide accurate strategies for soil restoration and yield improvement in a fixed, quantitative, and regular manner. Multiscale integrated demonstration and scheme verification of the regional all-for-one customization model of black soil granary are conducted in Qiqihar City at three scales, namely, region, village, and field, to solve the key issues in black soil protection and utilization and form a replicable and popularized system solution, thereby providing a model for the sustainable development of Chinese and global black soil agriculture. The proposed regional all-for-one customization model of black soil granary has important theoretical and practical value in promoting the high-quality development of regional agriculture and rural revitalization, and provides a demonstration model of land protection and utilization for the black soil area in China and the whole world.

China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) presents the world with a new era of inclusive globalization, which will shape urbanization patterns globally. This study considered the launch of BRI as a quasi-experiment, where we evaluated the BRI’s impact on urbanization by way of difference-in-differences (DID) and propensity score matching (PSM) methods. The results showed that the BRI exerted a significantly negative effect on urbanization in its first three years. Its positive effect emerged from the fifth year onwards, indicating that the BRI’s positive effect on urbanization required a period of practical experience. Heterogeneous analysis and placebo test were also conducted to verify the robustness of the model. The effects in low-income countries were revealed to have been much greater than in high-income countries, meaning the BRI had been conducive to promote local urban growth in underdeveloped economies. Finally, the geographical detector model was introduced to discuss the influencing mechanism of urbanization in BRI and non-BRI countries, showing external factors were the prominent driving forces in BRI countries, whereas internal drivers played an important role in non-BRI countries. Our findings indicated that the implementation of the BRI contributed to building global economic growth and supporting a shared future.

Recent years have witnessed rapid and widespread economic growth in regions involved in China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), mainly due to the construction of six economic corridors. This paper aims to quantify the levels of six economic corridors according to the socioeconomic development levels in the BRI regions. Here, a gridded socioeconomic development index was first created, and a dividing line was drawn to reveal the distribution characteristics of socioeconomic development in the BRI regions. A classification method was then applied to identify local development levels. Finally, we created an economic corridor development index (ECDI) to evaluate the progress of six economic corridors. The results reveal spatial heterogeneity within the socioeconomic groups of BRI regions, which can be roughly divided into offshore (or Part A, 50.54%) and inland (or Part B, 49.46%) areas. Although both parts comprise roughly the same area, over 95% of the population is located in offshore regions. The China-Mongolia-Russia Economic Corridor has the highest development index due to a stable political environment and long-running cooperation. The China-Pakistan Economic Corridor suffers from the lowest ECDI but with strong development potential. Our methods can provide critical reference and practice for the future evaluation of the level of regional development. The results of this study can offer policymakers some insight into reducing socioeconomic inequality in the BRI regions.

Based on development data relating to China-Africa International Cooperation Parks (CAICPs) from 2003 to 2018, this study examined the transnational investment network of CAICPs using the social network analysis method. The number of CAICPs is increasing. Textiles and apparel, agricultural and food processing, trade logistics and management, building materials and construction, and electrical machinery and equipment manufacturing are the leading industries chosen by most CAICPs. These parks have promoted the economic and social development of African countries, driving the urbanization of the regions in which the parks are located, and they have also benefited China. The network of CAICPs involves China, African countries, and third-party investors. The network is becoming increasingly complex and has an increasingly high density. However, the key node countries and provincial units remain relatively stable despite changes in the network structure. The center of gravity of the network has shown noticeable deviations and regression, and inter-provincial investment cooperation has also been increasing. China-Africa cooperation drives the evolution of the network. In China, the investment of enterprises in Africa is affected by domestic policy, economic pursuit, and investment security. In Africa, the development of CAICPs is driven by development policies and achievements, and it is influenced by African countries’ business environments.

The agricultural regional type and function are the key theoretical issues in agricultural geography research. Gully agriculture in the Loess Plateau is a new regional type of agricultural system with the coupling development of the modern gully human-earth relationship. The study of its functional changes is of great practical significance for food security, rural revitalization and sustainable development of regional agriculture in the region of interest. This paper analyses the multifunctional change of gully agriculture in the Loess Plateau and its dynamic mechanism by using large-scale remote sensing data, topographic relief amplitude model, and spatial econometric model to understand internal implications for evolution differentiation at the basin level. The results show that: (1) The spatial concentration of production and supply function of agricultural products (APF) in the gully of the Loess Plateau gully is high, while the ecological conservation and maintenance function (ECF), employment and social security function (ESF), cultural heritage and leisure function (CRF) are relatively low. The four functions’ spatial distribution has revealed an apparent regularity. (2) APF has been significantly enhanced, which is mainly distributed in point clusters and strips in the farming and pastoral areas in northern Shaanxi to the Yanhe river basin. The high-value areas of ESF are clustered around the urbanized metropolitan circles and urban-rural staggered areas along the Great Wall. ECF is concentrated in areas with significant natural endowments and excellent ecological conditions. CRF is significantly higher in the municipal districts and the surrounding regional central cities. (3) There are noticeable differences in the gully agriculture regional function (GARF) evolution process due to the geographical environment and socio-economic development stages. In this regard, natural factors have tremendously affected APF, ESF, and ECF, while socio-economic factors greatly differ in the four functions. There are still differences in the driving mechanisms of modern gully agriculture evolution types; hence many critical policies in the Loess Plateau can directly affect the function evolution paths. The dynamic evolution of GARF can reflect the general law of rural human-earth system transition in gully areas, thereby providing policy ideas for high-quality development of agriculture in the Loess Plateau.

Urban construction land has relatively high human activity and high carbon emissions. Research on urban construction land prediction under carbon peak and neutrality goals (hereafter “dual carbon” goals) is important for territorial spatial planning. This study analyzed quantitative relationships between carbon emissions and urban construction land, and then modified the construction land demand prediction model. Thereafter, an integrated model for urban construction land demand prediction and spatial pattern simulation under “dual carbon” goals was developed, where urban construction land suitability was modified based on carbon source and sink capacity of different land-use types. Using Guangzhou as a case study, the integrated model was validated and applied to simulate the spatiotemporal dynamics of its urban construction land during 2030-2060 under baseline development and “dual carbon” goals scenarios. The simulation results showed that Guangzhou’s urban construction land expanded rapidly until 2030, with the spatial pattern not showing an intensive development trend. Guangzhou’s urban construction land expansion slowed during 2030-2060, with an average annual growth rate of 0.2%, and a centralized spatial pattern trend. Under the “dual carbon” goal scenario, Guangzhou’s urban construction land evolved into a polycentric development pattern in 2030. Compared with the baseline development scenario, urban construction land expansion in Guangzhou during 2030-2060 is slower, with an average annual growth rate of only 0.1%, and the polycentric development pattern of urban construction land was more prominent. Furthermore, land maintenance and growth, that is, a carbon sink, is more obvious under the “dual carbon” goals scenario, with the forest land area nearly 10.6% higher than that under the baseline development scenario. The study of urban construction land demand prediction and spatial pattern simulation under “dual carbon” goals provides a scientific decision-making support tool for territorial spatial planning, aiding in quantifying territorial spatial planning.

Multi-source weighted-ensemble precipitation (MSWEP) is one of the most popular merged global precipitation products with long-term spanning and high spatial resolution. While various studies have acknowledged its ability to accurately estimate precipitation in terms of temporal dynamics, its performance regarding spatial pattern and extreme rainfall is overlooked. To fill this knowledge gap, the daily precipitation of two versions of MSWEP (MSWEP V2.1 & V2.2) are compared with that of three representative satellite- and reanalysis-based products, namely the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM 3B42 V7), the climate prediction center morphing technique satellite-gauge merged product (CMORPH BLD), and the fifth-generation reanalysis product of the European Centre for Medium Range Weather Forecasts (ERA5). The comparison is made according to the dense daily rainfall observations from 539 rain gauges over the Huaihe River Basin in China during 2006-2015. The results show that MSWEP V2.1, MSWEP V2.2 and CMORPH BLD have better performance on temporal accuracy of precipitation estimation, followed by ERA5 and TRMM 3B42 V7. MSWEPs yield the most even spatial distribution across the basin since it takes full advantage of the multi datasets. As the weighted-ensemble method is independently carried out on each grid in MSWEPs, the spatial distribution of local precipitation is changed by different source data, which results in that MSWEPs perform worse than CMORPH BLD in terms of the representation of precipitation spatial pattern. In addition, the capability of MSWEPs to describe the spatial structure in the rainy season is lower than that in the dry season. Strong precipitation (≥100 mm/d) events are better represented in TRMM 3B42 V7 products than in MSWEPs. Finally, based on the comparison results, we suggest to improve the merging algorithm of MSWEP by considering the precipitation spatial self-correlation and adjusting the merging weights based on the performance of the source datasets under different precipitation intensities.

The stability of estuarine channel-shoal systems is important for port utilization, navigation maintenance, habitat protection and ecosystem service functions. This paper uses the South Channel of the Changjiang (Yangtze River) Estuary as a typical example to investigate the channel-shoal adjustment mechanism and its future trend. The combined approaches of bathymetric data analysis and process-based modeling (Delft3D) are applied. Quantitative analysis of morphological changes indicates that the South Channel experienced remarkable channel-shoal adjustment during 1958-2018. Periodic evolution was identified, including shoal migration, incision and emergence under natural conditions before the mid-1980s. Since then, fluvial sediment decline and local human intervention have interrupted the periodic processes. After 1986, as river sediment discharge started to decline, the South Channel converted to net erosion, and both the mid-channel shoal at the bifurcation node and the tail of the Ruifeng Shoal showed significant scour. Process-based hydrodynamic simulations revealed that the northern rotation of the mainstream downstream of Wusong triggered the erosion of the Ruifeng Shoal, while unordered sand mining at the shoal tail in approximately 2002 enhanced shoal shrinkage. In addition, the self-adjustment of the transverse section shape resulted in abnormal accretion in 2002-2007. Afterward, the South Channel underwent overall erosion as sediment discharge decreased to a low level (<150 Mt/a). Five stages of channel-shoal pattern adjustment and accretion/erosion status during the past 60 years were defined, i.e., the accretion stage (1958-1965), remarkable channel-shoal adjustment stage (1978-1986), slow erosion stage (1986-1997), shoal scour and shrinkage stage (1997-2007) and overall channel-shoal erosion stage (2007-2018). Model prediction of the evolutionary trend indicates that overall erosion within the South Channel is most likely to continue in 2015-2050. Further adjustment of the South Channel under extremely low sediment discharge may threaten the riverbed stability and the sustainable development of this large-scale estuary. Future work on adaptive strategies for varying conditions is recommended.

The energy dissipation of boundary resistance is presented in this paper based on the flow resistance. Additionally, the river morphology responses to the resistance energy dissipation are explored using the Gaocun-Taochengpu reach in the lower Yellow River as a prototype. Theoretical analysis, measured data analysis and a one-dimensional hydrodynamic model are synthetically used to calculate the energy dissipation rate and riverbed morphological change. The results show that the energy dissipation rate along the channel will increase in both the mean value and the fluctuation intensity with increasing discharge. However, the energy dissipation rate will first decrease and then increase as the flow section or width-depth ratio increases. In addition, the energy dissipation rate has a significant positive correlation with the riverbed stability index. The results imply that the water and sediment transport efficiency of the river channel can be improved by optimizing the cross-sectional configuration to fulfil the minimum energy dissipation rate of the boundary resistance under stable riverbed conditions.

General history of disasters in China suggests that China has frequently experienced two major natural disasters in its long history, one is from catastrophic earthquake events, and the other is from extreme climatic events, due to its unique active tectonic environment and climatic complexity. Although these two major natural disasters have caused great damage to human society, it remains unclear whether and how they affect Chinese dynasty alternation on decadal (emperor) timescales. Based on detailed comparisons between abrupt climatic changes, catastrophic seismic activities, and the history of Chinese dynasty alternation from 1000-2000 AD, we conclude that on decadal timescales, extreme drought (and/or flood) events could indeed significantly reduce agricultural production, cause severe food shortages and famine, and result in increases in population exile, rising food prices and inflation, and insufficient supplies for military defense, which could exceed social resilience and eventually lead to financial risks and social upheavals of the dynasties. In addition, catastrophic seismic events in the densely populated, agricultural areas of China, including the 1303 surface wave magnitude (M_s) 8.0 Hongtong earthquake, the 1556 M_s 8.25 Huaxian earthquake and the 1920 M_s 8.5 Haiyuan earthquake, caused more than 200,000 casualties and millions of victims to live in exile which was almost equivalent to the order of magnitude of those extreme climatic events-induced refugees. The secondary geological hazards related to the earthquakes (e.g., extensive landslides and soil erosion), which could last for decades, caused more casualties and reduced food production. Furthermore, great plague spread caused by the casualties could significantly increase psychological panic among the survivors, resulting in social instability. Therefore, catastrophic seismic events could also accelerate the collapse of the dynasties (e.g., the Ming dynasty) without immediate mitigation measures. This study indicates that catastrophic seismic activities, as well as extreme climatic events, could have great effects on the social structures and thus on the Chinese dynasty alternation on decadal timescales, which highlights the far-reaching implications of geological hazard research.

Central Asia (CA) is one of the most fragile regions worldwide owing to arid climate and accumulated human activities, and is a global hotspot due to gradually deteriorating ecological environment. The Amu Darya Basin (ADB), as the most economically and demographically important region in CA, is of particular concern. To determine the concentration, source and pollution status of heavy metals (HMs) in surface sediments of the ADB, 154 samples were collected and analyzed for metals across the basin. Correlation and cluster analysis, and positive matrix factorization model were implemented to understand metals’ association and apportion their possible sources. Cumulative frequency distribution and normalization methods were used to determine the geochemical baseline values (GBVs). Then, various pollution indices and ecological risk index were employed to characterize and evaluate the pollution levels and associated risks based on the GBVs. Results indicated that the mean concentrations of HMs showed the following descending order in the surface sediments of ADB: Zn > Cr > Ni > Cu > Pb > Co > Cd. The spatial distribution maps showed that Cr, Ni, and Cu had relatively high enrichment in the irrigated agricultural area; high abundances of Zn, Pb, and Cd were mainly found in the urban areas. Four source factors were identified for these metals, namely natural sources, industrial discharge, agricultural activities, and mixed source of traffic and mining activities, accounting for 33.5%, 11.4%, 34.2%, and 20.9% of the total contribution, respectively. The GBVs of Cd, Zn, Pb, Cu, Ni, Cr, and Co in the ADB were 0.27, 58.9, 14.6, 20.3, 25.8, 53.4, and 9.80 mg/kg, respectively, which were similar to the regional background values obtained from lake sediments in the bottom. In general, the assessment results revealed that surface sediments of the ADB were moderately polluted and low ecological risk by HMs.

Lunar landforms are the results of geological and geomorphic processes on the lunar surface. It is very important to identify the types of lunar landforms. Geomorphology is the scientific study of the origin and evolution of morphological landforms on planetary surfaces. Elevation and relief amplitude are the most commonly used geomorphic indices in geomorphological classification studies. Previous studies have determined the elevation classification criteria of the lunar surface. In this paper, we focus on the classification criteria of the topographic relief amplitude of the lunar surface. To estimate the optimal window for calculating the relief amplitude of the lunar surface, we use the mean change-point method based on LOLA (Lunar Orbiter Laser Altimeter) Digital Elevation Model (DEM) data and SLDEM2015 DEM data combining observations from LOLA and SELenological and Engineering Explorer Terrain Camera (SELENE TC). The classification criterion of the lunar surface relief amplitude is then determined according to the statistical analysis of basic lunar landforms. Taking the topographic relief amplitudes of 100 m, 200 m, 300 m, 700 m, 1500 m and 2500 m as thresholds, the lunar surface is divided into seven geomorphic types, including minor microrelief plains (< 100 m), minor microrelief platforms [100 m, 200 m), microrelief landforms [200 m, 300 m), small relief landforms [300 m, 700 m), medium relief landforms [700 m, 1500 m), large relief landforms [1500 m, 2500 m) and extremely large relief landforms (≥ 2500 m). The minor microrelief plains are mainly distributed in the maria and the basalt filled floors of craters and basins, while the minor microrelief platforms are mainly in the transition regions between the maria and highlands. The microrelief landforms are mainly located in regions with relatively high topography, such as wrinkle ridges and sinuous rilles in the mare. The small relief landforms are mainly scattered in the central peak and floor fractures of craters. The medium relief landforms are mainly distributed in the transition regions between crater floors and crater walls, between crater walls and crater rims, between basin floors and basin walls, and between basin walls and basin rims. Large and extremely large relief landforms are mainly found along crater walls and basin walls. The classification criteria determination for assessing lunar surface relief amplitude described in this paper can provide important references for the construction of digital lunar surface geomorphology classification schemes.

Patent transfer has been regarded as an important channel for the nations and regions to acquire external technology, and also a direct research object to depict the relationship between supply and demand of technology flow. Therefore, based on traceable patent transfer data, this article has established a dual-pipeline theoretical framework of transnational-domestic technology transfer from the interaction of the global and local (glocal) perspective, and combines social networks, GIS spatial analysis as well as spatial econometric model to discover the spatial evolution of China’s transnational technology channels and its determinant factors. It is found that: (1) The spatial heterogeneity of the overall network is significant while gradually weakened over time. (2) The eastward shift of the core cities involved in transnational technology channels is accelerating, from the hubs in North America (New York Bay Area, Silicon Valley, Caribbean offshore financial center, etc.) and West Europe (London offshore financial center etc.) to East Asia (Tokyo and Seoul) and Southeast Asia (Singapore), which illustrates China has decreased reliance on the technology from the USA and West Europe. (3) The four major innovation clusters: Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region (Beijing as the hub), Yangtze River Delta (Shanghai as the hub), The Greater Bay Area (Shenzhen and Hong Kong as the hubs) and north Taiwan (Taipei and Hsinchu as the hubs), are regarded as global technology innovation hubs and China’s distribution centers in transnational technology flow. Among those, Chinese Hong Kong’s betweenness role of technology is strengthened due to linkage of transnational corporations and their branches, and low tax coverage of offshore finance, thus becoming the top city for technology transfer. Meanwhile, Chinese Taiwan’s core position is diminishing. (4) The breadth, intensity, and closeness of domestic technology transfer are conducive to the expansion of transnational technology import channels. Additionally, local economic level has positive effect on transnational technology transfer channels while technology strength and external economic linkage have multifaceted influences.

With the rise of smart phones, mobile applications have been widely used in daily life. However, the relationship between individuals’ mobile application usage and cities’ economic development has yet to be investigated. To study this question, this work utilizes a dataset containing users’ history of mobile application usage records (MAURs) and investigates how MAURs are related to Chinese cities’ economic development. Our analysis shows the cities’ GDP and number of MAURs are highly correlated, and at the individual level, people in wealthier cities (higher GDP per capita) tend to have more active mobile application usage (MAURs per capita). The results also demonstrate the relevance between cities’ GDP and MAURs varies significantly among different demographic groups, with male users’ relevance consistently higher than female users’ and working-age people’s relevance higher than other age groups. A boosted tree regression model is then applied to predict cities’ GDP with MAURs and proves to achieve high goodness-of-fit (over 0.8 R-square) and good prediction accuracy, especially for the economically developed and populous regions in China. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first time that the relationship between MAURs and cities’ economic development is revealed, which contributes to novel knowledge discovery for regionalization and urban development.

High-quality industrial development (HID) is a requirement of the modern economy and regional development. This paper designed a four-dimensional HID evaluation framework according to the logic of “development foundation-development theme-development subject-development guarantee.” Specifically, momentum cultivation as the foundation, efficiency improvement as the theme, and quality promotion as the subject are the three pivots driving the industrial transformation from high-speed development to high-quality development. A stable economic environment and a harmonious social environment are the guarantees of HID. Choosing the π-shaped Curve Area of the Yellow River basin in China as the study area, this paper measured the spatiotemporal pattern of HID and its four dimensions using the entropy-weighted TOPSIS method based on relevant economic indicators. Besides, the obstacle recognition model was adopted to identify the obstacles to HID. Findings include: From 2005 to 2019, the HID in the Curve Area was characterized by spatial unevenness and relative stability. The industrial structure and industrial layout were more rational in provincial capitals and large cities than in other cities. The spatial organization of the industrial economy presented an incompact polycentric structure, and the industrial association was relatively weak in the curve’s upper reaches. Almost all cities have experienced an increase in single-factor productivity, and technological progress contributed most to the total factor productivity growth. During the study period, the development momentum stabilized at high levels in Inner Mongolia while at low levels in resource-based cities. The development environment in most cities has remained stable, and the social welfare has increased and distributed more equitably in the Area. The technological introduction and the rationalization of the industrial structure were the primary obstacle factors for the Area in realizing HID, and the upgrading of the industrial location index was critical to the upper reaches of the curve. This paper was expected to provide new ideas for studying industrial transformation and practical policy proposals for regional development in the Curve Area.