The Dissemination and Development of Chinese Medicine in Pakistan

The article focuses on the dissemination and development of Chinese medicine in Pakistan.Religious records show that Chinese medicine was introduced to Pakistan as early as 1,400 years ago,while Hijama(Chinese cupping)was used by Prophet Hazrat Muhammad to cure different types of diseases.Exchanges and cooperations between China and Pakistan continue to the present day.Acupuncture and moxibustion therapy,cupping therapy and herbal medicine are practiced with significant merits in today’s Pakistan.In the future,with the proposal of the Belt and Road Initiative and the landmark project of China-Pakistan Economic Corridor,Chinese medicine can be strengthened through cooperations at the herbal medicine trade level,the research and development level,the educational level,and the social association level.

Geochemistry of metasedimentary rocks of the Sonakhan and Mahakoshal greenstone belts,Central India:Implications for paleoweathering,paleogeography and mechanisms of greenstone belt development

A comparative study of the Precambrian Sonakhan(SGB)and Mahakoshal(MGB)greenstones belts of Central India has been undertaken to decipher their provenance,paleoweathering,paleogeography,and tectonics.As compared to the Upper Continental Crust(UCC),the MGB samples are enriched while the SGB samples are depleted in mafic elements indicating the presence of mafic rocks in the source of the MGB.This is complemented by the Ni–Cr diagram.The REE concentrations,LREE fractionated patterns and negative Eu anomalies of the MGB and SGB samples indicate derivation of sediments from a highly fractionated granitic source.Since MGB samples also contain the geochemical signature of mafic rocks,it is,therefore proposed that the MGB clastic load were derived from two sources(mafic+felsic)with arc character.This is attested by Cr and Zr relationships,and LILE enrichment,and HFSE depletion.These features suggest that the SGB developed as autochthonous while the MGB developed as an allochthonous belt.The chemical alteration indices such as chemical index of alteration(CIA),plagioclase index of alteration(PIA),and index of compositional variability for MGB samples indicate that they were dominantly derived as the first cycle(with minor recycled)sediments from bimodal sources(dominantly continental arcs)by intense chemical weathering as compared to the SGB samples,which were derived from felsic sources(dominantly cratonic rocks),and partly by recycling through a low chemical weathering.The CIA and PIA values of the samples reveal a change in the climatic conditions from Late Archean to Late Paleoproterozoic.Such change is interpreted in terms of migration of the Indian plate from high latitudes in the Late Archean to lower latitudes during the Late Paleoproterozoic.This is consistent with the paleomagnetic data that placed India in the configuration of 2.45 Ga Ur and 1.78 Ga Columbia supercontinents.

Ectopic expression of OsNF-YA8,an endosperm-specific nuclear factor Y transcription-factor gene,causes vegetative and reproductive development defects in rice

Nuclear factor Y(NF-Y),a group of conserved transcription-factor complexes that consist of NF-YA,B,and C subunits,is essential for developmental regulation and for responses to environmental changes in eukaryotes.We previously found that some NF-Y genes,such as OsNF-YA8,were expressed specifically in the endosperm of rice.In the present study,overexpression of OsNF-YA8 in rice resulted in reduced plant height due to suppressed cell elongation in internodes.Gibberellin(GA)biosynthetic genes,including OsCPS1,OsGA20ox1,and OsGA20ox2,were down-regulated.OsNF-YA8 bound to the promoters of these genes to repress their expression.Endogenous GA content was decreased in OsNF-YA8 overexpressors,whose dwarf phenotype could be partially rescued by exogenous GA treatment.The findings suggested that ectopic expression of OsNF-YA8 causes defective GA biosynthesis in vegetative stage.Heading date in OsNF-YA8 overexpressors was delayed,especially under short-day conditions.OsNFYA8 bound to the promoter of Heading Date 3a(Hd3a),the florigen gene in rice,to negatively regulate flowering.Either ectopic activation or knockout of OsNF-YA8 impaired seed development,as indicated by reduced seed size and increased grain chalkiness.These results suggest that ectopic expression of the endosperm-specific OsNF-YA8 in rice disrupts both vegetative and reproductive development.

The Belt and Road Initiative and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development:seeking linkages for global environmental governance

Global environmental cooperation serves as an important part in the Chinese ideal of building a Community with a Shared Future for all Human Beings. The report of 19 th CPC National Congress indicates that China is committed to proactive mitigation under the Paris Agreement and further participating in global environmental governance under the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, and both of which are largely integrated to the Belt and Road Initiative(BRI). BRI are also closely linked with South-South environmental and climate cooperation proposed by China from previous UN summits. Based on shared ideas, intersected agendas, and compatible governance approaches, BRI and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development grow increasingly relevant and they might form synergies based on increasingly interactive relations. In sum,seeking and intensifying the linkages between BRI and 2030 sustainable development goals(SDGs) could address global environmental governance deficits and enhance cooperation among nations.

Evaluation of the sustainable development level of countries along the Belt and Road and its impact factors:Empirical analysis based on the Super-efficiency slacks-based measure and Tobit measure models

Sustainable development is an important component of the Belt and Road Initiative(BRI)and is of great significance for evaluating the levels of sustainable development of countries along this route(henceforth,BRI countries).Therefore,this study aims to identify the factors that influence the levels of sustainable development of BRI countries in a reasonable and objective manner.Eventually,this study employs the super efficiency slacks-based measure(Super-SBM)model,which considers unexpected outputs to measure the level of sustainable development of BRI countries.The dynamic change and composition of the sustainable development level of these countries are calculated using the global Malmquist-Luenberger index.Furthermore,the Tobit model is used to identify the factors influencing the level of sustainable development of BRI countries in general and in various categories.The empirical results suggest the following points.(a)The overall level of sustainable development of BRI countries is low,whereas those of high-income and middle-and high-income countries are relatively high.(b)The overall sustainable development levels of BRI countries declined to a certain extent in 2008 owing to the effect of the financial crisis,.However,the sustainable development level of other countries,barring low-income countries,has gradually increased since 2011.(c)Since 2008,technological progress has replaced technical efficiency as the main driving force behind the improvement of the sustainable development level of BRI countries.(d)A U-shaped relationship is observed between the economic and sustainable development levels of these countries.(e)The level of science and technology and the proportion of renewable energy consumption can promote the sustainable development of these countries.Moreover,a negative correlation exists between the level of opening to the outside world and that of sustainable development of countries that mainly export resource-based products and are dominated by labor-intensive export industries.Barring low-income countries,the energy structure plays an effective role in improving the level of sustainable development.Finally,the study presents suggestions for China in the process of coping with the sustainable development of relevant countries during its promotion of the BRI.

The"Belt and Road"Initiative:A Chinese Concept for Global Development

China＇s ＂Belt and Road＂ initiative is emerging as the Western-dominated world order is declining. Capitalism has intensified the rich-poor divide and power politics have led to great upheavals. Western values have caused a ＂value dislocation＂ for non-Western countries. The world is calling for new development concepts. The ＂Belt and Road＂ initiative has emerged as an answer. It embodies China＇s ideas on global development. First, it works for the ＂common prosperity＂ of every country, which will ease contradictions between the South and the North. Second, it emphasizes geo-economie integration that will heal the fragmentation of Eurasia. Third, it advocates linkages between people and inclusiveness to create a new kind of civilization. However, many difficulties and challenges lie ahead for the implementation of the ＂Belt and Road＂ initiative.

Counteraction to China?Impact of the U.S.International Development Finance Corporation on China’s Development Finance

The United States passed the Better Utilization of Investment Leading to Development(BUILD Act),as a counterweight to China’s overseas development activities.Under the Act,the US established a new federal agency,the U.S.International Development Finance Corporation(DFC),to enhance U.S.development financing capabilities.To better understand the impact of the DFC on China’s development finance,this article analyzes the DFC’s purpose,functions,structure,and funding.Then it focuses on the purpose of establishing the DFC,providing a preliminary analysis of the potential motivation for its establishment.It also compares the China Development Bank(CDB)and the DFC based on their focused sectors.Finally,through an in-depth analysis of financial frictions in China-U.S.relations,this article argues that the DFC competes with China’s overseas development financing activities in the context of broader strategic competition between China and the U.S.

The Contribution of the Belt and Road Initiative to the World's Right to Development

The Belt and Road Initiative makes an important contribution to the right to development in theory and practice in the current world. Since the reform and opening-up, the Chinese government puts the rights to subsistence and development before any other human rights, which effectively guarantees and accelerates a rapid economic development in China. Nowadays, countries along the Belt and Road have joined a "community of common destiny". Inside the "community of common destiny," countries have enjoyed not only the responsibility, rights and benefit of the right to development, but also a win-win cooperation that ensured the right to development. Therefore, the Belt and Road initiative enriches the UN Declaration on the Right to Development, and "community of common destiny" of countries becomes a higher form of the right to development.

The Interactive Development of China’s Retail Industry “Going global” Strategy in the Context of the Belt & Road Initiative

Helping China’s retail industry to "go global" and get actively involved in global value chain competition is an effective way to improve the international competitiveness of China’s retail industry and an important measure to enhance the Chinese manufacturing industry’s position in international markets. The Belt and Road Initiative is China’s national strategy providing guidance for strategic decision-making for China’s retail industry in terms of overseas target market selection, market access selection and overseas investment risk management. As such, efforts should be made to maximize the interactive development of China’s retail industry through the strategies outlined in the Belt and Road Initiative.

The Status Quo, Opportunity and Approach——the Development of Ethnic Minorities in the Context of the Belt and Road Initiative

Currently, China is advancing the Belt and Road Initiative, which creates a new opportunity of historical significance and provides guidance for the economic and social development of ethnic minority communities(particularly those in western China). Under the new historical conditions, it is necessary to innovate and improve China's regional aid policies and regional development strategies such as the "pairing assistance" and the Western Development, and organically combine them with the Belt and Road Initiative. In the meantime, China should revolve tightly around the internal and external "connectivity," and give full play to the functions of the "pairing assistance" policy and the "Western Development" strategy in a bid to boost the ethnic development of contemporary China within the framework of the Belt and Road Initiative.

Study of the Urban Coordinated Development Capability Index in the Yangtze River Economic Belt

Coordinated development is a major concern in the construction strategy of the Yangtze River Economic Belt (YREB).However,there were few studies which have quantitatively measured the level of coordinated development in the YREB.This paper aimed to propose an comprehensive index system of coordinated development based on the theories of growth pole and complex ecosystem and new guidelines of development from the central government.The index system was composed by 18 indicators within 4 domains including economic development,technology & innovation,communication & transportation,and ecological protection.The scores of coordinated development capability of the 110 prefecture-level cities in the YREB were calculated and examined using natural break point analysis,spatial autocorrelation analysis and rank-size analysis.It was shown that Shanghai,Nanjing and Wuhan were leading the coordinated development in the YREB.Generally,the scores of coordinated development capability were higher in the eastern region of the YREB,in which the cities performed well in the domains of economic development,technology & innovation and communication & transportation yet showed poor performance in ecological protection.Most cities in the middle reaches of Yangtze river ranked in the middle in the YREB in all the domains,except the provincial capitals.The western region of the YREB got the lowest score in the coordinated development capability besides the largest cities such as Chongqing,Chengdu,Kunming and Guiyang.The correlation coefficients between ecological protection and other domains were very low,suggesting that few cities have achieved a win-win situation between environment protection and socio-economic development.We suggested 3 ways to promote coordinated development in the YREB:establish multi-level institutional designs;enhance the innovation in green industries;and strengthen the joint prevention and control of ecological risks.

Green development of industries in Yangtze River Economic Belt

Green development is the keynote of Yangtze River Economic Belt. It must insist on ecology preferential and green development which is not only respectation of natural laws but also the economic laws and social laws. The article uses SWOT analytic method to analyze the internal and external surroundings of the green development of Yangtze River Economic Belt on the basis of getting a clear understanding of its present developing status. Based on this the article puts forward the strategy pattern and path selection of green development of Yangtze River Economic Belt.

Spatial Green Belt Development Report in China

The green belt, located on the outskirts of a metropolis, has many characteristics such as good location, better landscape environment than urban areas, high availability in an original environment, low development costs and large and concentrated open spaces. With the huge population in China, this has led to a shortage of green space per capita and the shortage of recreational space. In view of such conditions, the recreational function of the green belt is very important, and can compensate for the shortcomings of tight urban recreation space. However,there has always been an important question about the scientific aspects and rationality of green belt use and control measures. In this paper, some outcomes of the Chinese green belt policy will be introduced. Then, three advantages and two disadvantages will be shown. Finally, reasons analyse and comparisons between China's main cities and cities with a successfiil green belt will be given.

Contributing More Chinese Wisdom to the Belt and Road Initiative:Exploration and Practice of the China Region Development & Reform Institute

As the"Belt and Road"is gaining ground with higher quality,China’s think tanks have played a unique role in facilitating policy communication,enhancing people-to-people connectivity and promoting practical cooperation,and have contributed a lot of"Chinese wisdom"to the development of BRI.

Belt and Road Initiative and Realization of the Right to Development

The Belt and Road Initiative not only represents a new blueprint for realizing the right to development, but also provides a realistic approach and a possible solution for it. With clear goals and paths, the Belt and Road Initiativ e serves as a model for SouthSouth cooperation to promote development. Under the background of China’s economic progress, given China has the strong political will, adequate financial resources, and advanced technology to advance the initiative it will prove to be reliable driver of development. With the joint efforts of China and relevant countries, the Belt and Road Initiative will greatly promote the right to development of countries along the routes.

“Belt and Road Initiative” promotes textile industry to create new international development advantages

On September 7th,Sun Huaibin,vice president of China National Textile and Apparel Council,made a speech with the theme of''Belt and Road Initiative' and the development of China's textile industry',to discuss the harvest and direction of China's textile industry under the background of 'Belt and Road Initiative',in the warming-up section of 2017 the the 2nd China(Zhengzhou)International Futures Forum.

Controlling effects of forest belts on non-point source pollution of agricultural lands in Taihu Lake area, China

Taihu Lake area is one of the most developed areas in agricultural production. Application of fertilizers and pesticides in large quantities greatly aggravate environmental pollution of this area, and water pollution has worsened to an unbearable condition. Two sampling farms (respectively 1 hm2) under rape-rice rotation and wheat-rice rotation were selected as studied ecosystem and a 5-yr-old Poplar forest and 8-yr-old Metasequoia forest were chosen in the selected areas. By collecting samples of Nitrogen, Phosphorus in water, crops and underground of forest, the transfer and loss of N and P (main water pollutants) in faming ecosystem were studied, and the effects of forest belts on non-point source pollution of agricultural lands was analyzed. The results indicated that the transfer and loss of N and P vary with means of rotation, types of crops and the amount of fertilizer application. Buffering forest belts betweens farmlands and ditches can effectively stop and purify such elements as N and P in soil runoffs, thus controlling non-point source pollution of agricultural lands. When the width ratio of farmland to forest belt is 100 to 40, 50.05% losing N, 29.37% losing P can be absorbed by forest under rape-rice rotation and 30.98% N, 86.73% P can be absorbed by forest under wheat-rice rotation. When the width ratio of farmland to forest belt is 150 to 40, 33.37% losing N, 19.58% losing P can be absorbed by the forest under rape-rice rotation, and under wheat-rice rotation 20.65% lost N and 57.82% lost P can be absorbed. There is only some purification effect when the width ration of farmland to forest belt is 200 to 40. Based on model of buffering forest belts, the width ratio of farmland to forest is determined between 100 to 40 and 150 to 40, because it not only can purify water, but also occupy less farmland. It is suggested that Poplars, with the characteristics of fast-growing and high value, are suitable to be planted as shelter-forest in Taihu Lake Watershed.

China’s BRI Transportation Investments:Development Bonanza or Debt Trap?

Based on the China Global Investment Tracker(CGIT)database of 2005-2018,this paper creates a country-sector-year panel set for a study on the BRI’s investment effects on the transportation sector of BRI countries using the difference-in-differencesin-differences(DDD)method.Our study finds that the BRI has significantly increased transportation investments by Chinese companies in the BRI countries without causing significant rise in problem transactions.The"debt trap"narrative that the BRI aims to take control over host countries’sovereign rights in exchange for debt write-offs is not supported by evidence.Discussions on sub-samples reveal that the BRI has mainly propelled SOEs in making transportation investments to generate development effects in host countries,most of which are Asian countries,and that the preferred mode of investment is cross-border M&As.

Current Status of the Oil Refining Industry in China and Prospects for Cooperative Development

The oil refining industry in China supports the needs of national economic development and has gone through industrial upgrading at all stages, as represented by the upgrades in the quality of refined oil products.Currently, it has acquired strong technical and engineering strength and delivered good results in scale, information technology and environmental friendliness. However, compared with the world's leading oil refining powers, the oil refining industry in China still lags behind in terms of overall competitiveness. There is an urgent need to enhance its competitiveness and adjust its product structure, plant structure and capacity structure to both launch a new round of industrial upgrading and coordinate with the associated industries. Great potential exists for China to cooperate with the countries along the Belt and Road initiative in various fields such as petroleum resources, product markets and technical equipment. Together, multi-dimensional cooperation bonded by resources, markets, technologies and capital/funds can be carried out, and cooperation between the upstream and downstream industries throughout the industry chain can be facilitated. There is much to expect from the prospects for cooperative development.

US-China Competition in International Development Assistance

China and the US differ sharply in their models of international development assistance. Because the US strengthens development assistance as a strategic investment, it has a privileged position under current international rules. China has expanded in regional markets using more cooperation and is there recreating the rules in trade, investment and infrastructure. To deal with China’s policy on international development,the Trump administration is promoting a geoeconomic game and trying to make its US model more attractive. This gives a glimpse into how the US has begun a systematic balancing. International development assistance has been a security tool,and now becomes the main battlefield of competition between the two countries.