The Exploration to the Historical Origin of Differences between Urban and Rural Areas in China

In order to understand the historical origins of encircling the cities from the rural areas implemented by the Communist Party of China and the current dual structures of urban and rural development, urban-rural differences are analyzed from the four aspects of production mode, management mode, culture and social division of labor. Industrial development in modern times has promoted the modernization of urban production in China. But the rural areas still maintain their traditional self-sufficient natural economy. After the Opium War, the process of modernization of city politics is promoted by more economic elements of capitalism and the formation of Chinese bourgeoisie. During the management of urban modernization, rural areas still adopt the traditional self-management mode. In the aspect of culture, city is the center of development, having large population, developed traffic, and prosperous culture. But the village is lack of information and its culture is relatively backward. In modern times, affected by the foreign capitalist, urban area has become the center of modern productivity. After separating from agriculture, handicraft industry has transferred into urban areas and the social division of labor in both urban and rural areas has shown great changes. Thus, a new pattern of "Urban Industry, Rural Agriculture" has formed.

URBAN COMPETITIVE PATTERN AND ITS CHANGES IN CHINA

With the national economy’s transition from a planning one to a market one, the factors affecting regional economic pattern has changed greatly. In this paper we first construct an index system for evaluating competitiveness of Chinese cities based on modern competitive advantage theory. With principal component analysis and cluster analysis methods, we compare the factors affecling cities’ integrated competitiveness in 1990 and 1997. We find that four major factors are capital (including investment, FDI and urban financial revenue ), urban ithestructure (transporiation and communication, urbanization level, education etc. ), industrial performance and structure, degree of market openness and that these factors have become more advanced and complicated since 1990. Most Chinese cities are transforming from productive factors-oriented type to investment-oriented type and a few are becoming innovation oriented. The integrated competitiveness is closely related to cities’ scale, urban function, regional policy and degree of market openness and displays an uneven spatial pattern. The difference between the south and the north and the difference between the west and the east co-exist bul the former has been more larger. Finally, we discuss the mechanism behind the pattern and attribute the unevenness to change of factors dominating the cities’ compehtiveness regional innovation capacity and geographical differenceof traditional culture.

First Forum on China Casting Quality Standards & Overview of Revision History of China's National/Industrial Standards for Foundry Operations

Both national and local governments have been paying great attention to the work of industrial standardization with the enormous increase in international trade after China joined WTO. According to the standards revising plan of Standardization Administration Committee of China (SAC),TC54 has already revised a series of national standards and industrial standards for foundry operations,and proposed some new ones. As a result,some old fashioned standards containing low-level techniques have been gradually discontinued or replaced with new versions.……

China's Urbanization is Gaining Momentum

Alongside China’s rapid economic growth after the adoption of the reform and opening-up policy,urbanization has progressed fairly quickly. Since 1998 in particular the urbanization drive has been accelerating.What is the current status of China’s urbanization drive?In this article Cui Ruchun consults an enormous range of statistics to analyze China’s current urbanization level,urban economic development,infrastructure construction,environment construction, developments in science,technology and education,as well as the living standard of urban residents.

Minister Hou Jie on China's Housing Construction and Urban Development

At a reception held recently, Mr. Hou Jie, Minister of Construction, spoke about China’s housing construction and urban development. According to Mr. Hou Jie, the Chinese government always pays high attention to housing development, and has adopted many policies to speed up the construction of houses. Especially since 1979 when China introduced the policy of reform and opening, residential housing has developed rapidly and witnessed outstanding achievement. From 1979 to 1996, 13.8 billion square metres of residential

Contest on China's "History and Tourism" Attractions

The China National Tourism Administration and the State Bureau of Cultural Relics are the cosponsors of China Heritage'94.China Today started a regular column,"History and Tourism,"in this year's January issue to talk about China's historical sites and tourist attractions.

China's Social Security System for the Urban Poor

China'ssocialsecuritysystemiscomposedofthreefields:basiclivingsecurityforunemployedstaffandworkers,unemploymentinsuranceandminimumlivingseeurityforurbaninhabitants.Thebasiclivingconditionofunemployedstaffandworkersareguaranteedbyemploymentservicecent...

Survey of China's Urban Consumption

FromDecember1998toJune1999,theChinaMarketSupervisionundertheStateStatisticsBureauconductedsurveysontheconsumptiontrendsandlivesofChina'surbanresidentsamong5,000consumersin20cities,includingBeijing,Shanghai,Chengdu,Guangzhou,Wuhan,Naming,Qingdao,Dalia...

A REVIEW OF THE HISTORY OF CHINA'S MACHINE DESIGN METHODS AND THE PROSPECT

This paper examines the history of China’s machine design methods and its status quo. First of all, it discusses machine design methods in ancient China. (1)The design idea of creation by the intelligent and exposition by the ingenious. (2)The design principle of the dependence of workmanship on criteria. (3)A macroscopic view of the object of design. (4)The design method of manufacture emphasizing shape. (5)Technological requirements on excellent material and consummate skill. Second, it discusses machine design ideas in ancient China. (1)The system idea in machine design, (2)The idea of machine design.(3)The idea of standardization in machine design. (4)The idea of automation in machine design. Finally, it discusses the status quo and a look ahead of the theory of machine design in China.

Change Trend of Chinese Urban Residents' Food-nitrogen Consumption

Change trend of Chinese urban residents＇ per capita food-nitrogen annual consumption from 1981 to 2007 was analyzed and predicted by using ARIMA time-series model in order to reveal the change of urban food-nitrogen consumption during the China＇s urbanization process.Results showed that after 1980s,the annual consumption of Chinese urban residents＇ food-nitrogen had a change trend of ＂ increase-decrease-increase＂ and generally presented as a slight increasing trend;With the acceleration of rapid economic development and urbanization process,Chinese urban residents＇ food-nitrogen consumption will still keep a rising trend in future,and also has a large rising space.

Network analysis and spatial agglomeration of China’s high-speed rail: A dual network approach

China has the largest high-speed railway(HSR) system in the world, and it has gradually reshaped the urban network.The HSR system can be represented as different types of networks in terms of the nodes and various relationships(i.e.,linkages) between them. In this paper, we first introduce a general dual network model, including a physical network(PN)and a logical network(LN) to provide a comparative analysis for China’s high-speed rail network via complex network theory. The PN represents a layout of stations and rail tracks, and forms the basis for operating all trains. The LN is a network composed of the origin and destination stations of each high-speed train and the train flows between them. China’s high-speed railway(CHSR) has different topological structures and link strengths for PN in comparison with the LN. In the study, the community detection is used to analyze China’s high-speed rail networks and several communities are found to be similar to the layout of planned urban agglomerations in China. Furthermore, the hierarchies of urban agglomerations are different from each other according to the strength of inter-regional interaction and intra-regional interaction, which are respectively related to location and spatial development strategies. Moreover, a case study of the Yangtze River Delta shows that the hub stations have different resource divisions and are major contributors to the gap between train departure and arrival flows.

Evolution Process of Urban Spatial Pattern in Hubei Province Based on DMSP/OLS Nighttime Light Data

This paper intends to investigate the urban spatial patterns of Hubei Province and its evolution from three different perspectives: urban nodes, urban connections and urban clusters. The research adopts nighttime light imagery of cities in Hubei Province, the viewpoint of ′point-axis-area′ in the ′point-axis system′ theory, and employs light index model, gravity model and social network analysis. The findings are as follows: 1) In terms of urban nodes, the urbanization process of Hubei has been carried out mainly on the basis of external expansion rather than internal increasing. The polarization trend of urban connection network is strengthening. 2) As for urban connections, the estimation of urban connections using light index model is capable of containing various actual flow, and the connections are getting increasingly closer. 3) In regard to urban groups, seven urban groups of varying sizes have formed. On that basis, three stable and relatively independent urban groups as the centers, namely Wuchang, Yichang and Xiangyang emerge as well. But the structures of ′Wuhan Metropolitan Area′, ′Yichang-Jingzhou-Jingmen City Group′ and ′Xiangyang-Shiyen-Suizhou City Group′, which are defined by local development strategy in Hubei Province, are different from the above three urban groups.

Foresights, Expectations and Implications of China＇s Foreign Language Proficiency Scaling and Rating Framework

Referring to the well established foreign language proficiency evaluation scale frameworks such as the CEFR （Common European Framework of Reference for Languages） in Europe and ILR （The Interagency Language Roundtable） scale in the United States, Chinese language education authority is dedicating great efforts to the contruction of the Chinese targeted and tailored national proficiency evaluation system. This initiative will tremendously subvert the traditional language learning and testing mechanism, bring phenomenal transformations and innovations to the future language learning and teaching approaches and methodologies, and meanwhile impose great influence on the language concerning administration and profession.

重写文明史:建构中国自主知识体系的底座

中国自古便有完整的哲学体系、文论体系、史学体系、艺术体系、教育体系、医学体系、科学技术体系以及其他各个学科的自主知识体系。然而,中国原有的自主知识体系在现当代基本上不被承认。这一问题的根源在文明观,文明观是基础,是自主知识体系的底座。近现代以来支撑各学科知识生产的标准、内涵、体系都建立在西方文明的底座上。文明底座是西方的,所构建的知识体系也就必然唯西是从,直接导致了对中国文明的贬低,对中国知识体系的全盘否定,形成了中国自主知识体系整体性的垮塌,走上了自毁长城之歧途。建构中国自主知识体系,首先要“重塑文明观”,重塑文明观则必须“重写文明史”,再从文明底座上建构哲学、史学、医学、科学技术等各个学科的自主知识体系,重获各学科知识体系本来的“话语权”,向世界呈现“理论中的中国”“创新中的中国”“文明中的中国”,建构自立自强的中国自主知识体系。

LESSONS FROM EUROPE FOR CHINA?New Urban Sub-Centres for a Polycentric Network City

This paper compares two cases:It relates to the development of new urban sub-centres in China,and the relationship of these sub-centres to‘Network City’theory.As cities move towards more polycentric systems,the case of Potsdamer Platz Berlin,compared to Zhenru Sub-Centre in Shanghai,is discussed.Both are transport-oriented developments promoting mixed-use density and transport-oriented development.According to the documentation by Shanghai municipality,this new urban centre,which is currently in its planning phase,is supposed to become a‘sustainable sub-centre for a growing metropolis.’The author,who has intimate knowledge of the Berlin case,was asked to advice on the Chinese project,based on the Potsdamer Platz experience.After some hesitation,a series of careful recommen­dations were formulated for the design and development of the Zhenru Sub-Centre,knowing that it is rather difficult to translate from one case to the other.The conclusion includes five recommendations for the urban design of such sub-centres,to ensure a delivery of economical,social and environmental sustainable outcomes.