Factors Influencing the Spatial Variability of Air Temperature Urban Heat Island Intensity in Chinese Cities

Few studies have investigated the spatial patterns of the air temperature urban heat island(AUHI)and its controlling factors.In this study,the data generated by an urban climate model were used to investigate the spatial variations of the AUHI across China and the underlying climate and ecological drivers.A total of 355 urban clusters were used.We performed an attribution analysis of the AUHI to elucidate the mechanisms underlying its formation.The results show that the midday AUHI is negatively correlated with climate wetness(humid:0.34 K;semi-humid:0.50 K;semi-arid:0.73 K).The annual mean midnight AUHI does not show discernible spatial patterns,but is generally stronger than the midday AUHI.The urban–rural difference in convection efficiency is the largest contributor to the midday AUHI in the humid(0.32±0.09 K)and the semi-arid(0.36±0.11 K)climate zones.The release of anthropogenic heat from urban land is the dominant contributor to the midnight AUHI in all three climate zones.The rural vegetation density is the most important driver of the daytime and nighttime AUHI spatial variations.A spatial covariance analysis revealed that this vegetation influence is manifested mainly through its regulation of heat storage in rural land.

Private Car Travel Characteristics and Influencing Factors in Chinese Cities——A Case Study of Guangzhou in Guangdong,China

Taking Guangzhou as a case,this paper adopted a questionnaire survey to gather first-hand data and analyzed the characteristics and influencing factors of private car travel in Chinese cities.As the research indicated,trip purposes of private car travel are mainly commute and business affairs with a more flexible trip in the urban core area.And trip intensities are concentrated in a certain extent,with trip frequency being lower in the urban core area than the peripheral area.In addition,the trip time has two significant peaks occurring in the morning and afternoon,and one trough in the midday.And trip spatial distribution is mainly within commute with both residence and employment in urban area and inward commute with residence in suburban area while employment in urban area.Both kinds of commutes direct to the urban area.The study also shows that the characteristics of private car travel are principally influenced by two aspects:travelers' attributes and urban characteristics.The main travelers' social and economic attributes influenced it include the gender,education attainment,age,driving experience and per capita monthly household income.The urban characteristics influenced it mainly cover the land use pattern,public traffic facilities and spatial attributes of residential environment.

Evaluation of Medical Cost Lost Due to Smoking in Chinese Cities

Smoking induces substantial diseases burden on both individual and the whole society.To identify the true smoking-attributable economic loss, we introduce medical cost accounting as a means to calculate disease-speciflc medical cost, including inpatient and outpatient cost of those diseases caused by smoking. Medical cost is defined as health fesource consumption in terms of money. Cost is allocated to departrpent and services according to coeffcient of benefit and operation time. The study in 1988 indicates that total smoking-attributable medical cost is 2.32 billion RMB Yuan in China, 1.70 billion RMB Yuan for outpatient, 0.62 billion RMB Yuan for inpatient. If indirect cost is included, the cost will be greater. Chronic obstructive emphysema has the highest proportion (55.41%) in smoking attributable medical cost

Measurement and influencing factors of urban traffic ecological resilience in developing countries: A case study of 31 Chinese cities

An urban traffic ecosystem is a spatial structure composed of air,population,vehicles,roads,green spaces,and regions.Traffic ecological resilience is a critical issue in high-quality urban development.From the perspective of system optimization,it is important to study the level of urban traffic ecological resilience and analyze its influencing factors.In this study,we evaluated traffic ecological resilience,characterized its spatio-temporal differentiation,and explored its influencing factors by constructing a system of urban traffic ecological resilience and by analyzing the environmental protection and urban construction data in 31 Chinese cities during 2011-2018.By conducting Kernel density analysis,standard deviation ellipse,comprehensive weight determination,panel data regression analysis,andχ2test,we found that traffic ecological resilience was low on the whole and exhibited the temporal trend of“decreasing first and then increasing”and the spatial characteristic of“high in the east,second in the middle,and low in the west”.The cities with high traffic ecological resilience density values were located in Southeast China and tended to move from northwest to southeast.Governance capability,market activity,technological innovation capability,opening degree,and financial resources had significant effects on urban traffic ecological resilience.Finally,we gave some suggestions for improving the urban traffic ecological resilience in Chinese cities as well as other developing countries in the world.

ChinAfrica presents selected Chinese cities with a brief introduction about what makes them interesting,and what makes them tick

At Yellow Crane Pavilion in the west My old friend says farewell In the mist and flowers of spring He goes down to Yangzhou These lines penned by Li Bai,the most famous poet in Tang Dynasty（618-907）,have aged well：even in this era,it＇s a good idea to visit Yangzhou in the spring.Throughout all the ages,in fact,Chinese poets have lavishly praised Yangzhou in their writ-

ChinAfrica presents selected Chinese cities with a brief introduction about what makes them interesting,and what makes them tick

YichangTHE city of Yichang can attest that not all excit- ing sports are modern. Each year, it hosts the China Dragon Boat Rally, which draws teams from all over the country to compete in traditional dragon boat races.

ChinAfrica presents selected Chinese cities with a brief introduction about what makes them interesting,and what makes them tick

ACCORDING to the Chinese lunar calendar, Chinese people celebrate the Spring Festival in January 2012, which is earlier than usual. In modern Chinese cities, the festival＇s atmosphere has been fading in recent years. But for those who want to witness age-old celebrations in a traditional setting then the city of Pingyao is a perfect choice for tourists.

ChinAfrica presents selected Chinese cities with a brief introduction about what makes them interesting,and what makes them tick

Yan＇an JULY 1 is the rounding anniversary of the Communist Party of China （CPC）. For those interested in modern Chinese revolutionary history, Yah＇an in northern Shaanxi Province is a good travel destination during this important anniversary.

ChinAfrica presents selected Chinese cities with a brief introduction about what makes them interesting, and what makes them tick

A burning town, or seeming so, Three thousand furnaces that glow Incessantly, and fill the air With smoke uprising, gyre on gyre, And painted by the lurid glare, Of jets and flashes of red fire.

ChinAfrica presents selected Chinese cities with a brief introduction about what makes them interesting,and what makes them tick

ZhangjiajieALTHOUGH Guilin has always been the default option for foreign travelers touring China, in recent years more people have begun to recognize the charm of another scenic destination called Zhangjiajie, a city with spectacular views located on the northwestern border of Hunan Province.

ChinAfrica presents selected Chinese cities with a brief introduction about what makes them interesting, and what makes them tick.

Changsha APPRECIATING red maples during their peak of color is one of the most sought-after activities in many East Asian countries, During the fail foliage season, travelers deluge spots with picturesques views of the colorful favorites. In China, the most famous of these coveted spots is Yuelu Mountain in Changsha City.

ChinAfrica presents selected Chinese cities with a brief introduction about what makes them interesting, and what makes them tick

UrumqiURUMQI, the capital of the Xinjiang Uygur Au- tonomous Region in northwest China, has a significant population of ethnic minorities. There are two major groups in the city - the Han and the Uygur - but Urumqi is also home to Kazakhs, Kyrgyz, Mongols and Hui Muslims. The strong colorful ethnic lifestyles and local customs are quite attractive to visitors taking in the city＇s traditional architecture, food, clothing and festivals.

ChinAfrica presents selected Chinese cities with a brief introduction about what makes them interesting,and what makes them tick

LOCATED in the northwest of southwest China＇s Yunnan Province, Lijiang has two faces - one scenic, and the other urban. Its multifaceted nature makes it a perfect Valentine＇s Day destination for sun-seeking couples and singles alike.

ChinAfrica presents selected Chinese cities with a brief introduction about what makes them interesting, and what makes them tick Tai’an

TAI＇AN is optimal destination for people traveling through China in October. The autumn month marks when Chongyang （Double Ninth）, an important traditional Chinese festival, is typically celebrated. The festival is observed on the ninth day of the ninth month, according to the Chinese calendar, and is a time to remember and pay tribute to family ancestors.

ChinAfrica presents selected Chinese cities with a brief introduction about not only what makes them interesting,but what makes them tick

Shenzhen FOR art enthusiasts,Shenzhen,located in southern Guangdong Province,is a prime December destination. The city-wide festival "Creative December" this month features more than 40 events,including an art market,exhibitions and design contests.As the center of China’s design in-

ChinAfrica presents selected Chinese cities with a brief introduction about what makes them interesting,and what makes them tick.

FOR those who want to tour the largest city in northeast China,September is a perfect time.On August 31.the 12th National Games opened in Shenyang.In addition to watching the games,visitors can explore the city,which has a history spanning more than 2,000 years. Shenyang＇s history can be traced back as far as the Warring States Period（476 BC - 221 BC）.It＇s famous as the birthplace of the Qing Dynasty（1644-1911）,China＇s last dynasty.In 1625, Nurhachi,the first Qing emperor,established the capital in Shenyang,and changed its name to ＂Shengjing.＂ As a result,Shenyang houses one of China＇s two best-preserved imperial palace complexes and two emperor tombs.

Vote for your favorite Chinese cities!

The '2011 Amazing China-The Most Attractive Chinese Cities for Foreigners,' an online poll for foreigners to choose their favorite cities,invites all interested foreigners to cast their votes.

Survey for 2016 Most Attractive Chinese Cities for Expats begins

Shanghai tops list of desirability for expats for the fourth time straight Shanghai has for the fourth time topped the list of the 10 most attractive Chinese cities for expats,according to a survey conducted on foreign professionals living in China nationwide.The financial hub scored highest in the ranking’s four important indexes for foreigners to evaluate cities,namely policies

A Bi-modal Model for Chinese Cities: City Size, Car Use and Land Rent

China is experiencing rapid urbanization and motorization. Urban transport congestion poses a challenge to the cities of China. Policies have been made trying to control the car use and the land use in Chinese cities without sound modelling researches. The existing literature on monocentric city modelling has shown that the parameters are critical for the outcome of the modelling. Following the Alonso-type monocentric model, this paper introduces a bi-modal model to simulate the city size, the distribution of land rent and the modal substitution in Chinese cities. We set the key parameters according to the recent available data of China′s cities, and re-explain the hypothesis of the model. Then we make a sensitivity analysis to reveal the impacts of key parameters on the Chinese cities. According to the results, we find that the wage, the price of car use and the agriculture rent have significant impacts on city size. The land supply for the private transport or the public transport has the strongest impacts on car use and the level of transport congestion. The total population of the city and the wage level have strong impacts on land rent. Some results are counter-intuitive, but explainable. We also discuss implication of these results for policy making.

Evaluation of urban green development of typical Chinese cities

The goal of this work was to evaluate China's urban green development. Ten typical cities belonging to four types were chosen as case studies: Beijing, Shanghai, Suzhou, Wuxi, Nanjing, Xi'an, Wuhan, Nanning, Weihai and Yichang. We used the CLD model from system dynamics to analyze the complex relationships between various elements of city development, including resources and environmental conditions, degree of social development, economic development and administrative capacity. These four elements—environmental, social, economic, and administrative—were used to build a green development assessment framework for Chinese cities. Upon building the evaluation system, 47 evaluation indicators were chosen. The results show that the comprehensive values for green development in these ten representative cities were all low, meaning that there is a large gap between urban development and green sustainable development. Many aspects of green development need to be substantially enhanced, such as governing environmental problems, alleviating resource pressures, enhancing economic efficiency, and increasing the green economy.