The trend of low fertility and aging in ethnic minority areas and the policy responses in China:An analysis based on data from the latest three censuses

Low fertility and population aging are important factors affecting economic and social development.From 2000 to 2020,the development of low fertility in ethnic minority areas shows three trends of accelerated declining,slow declining and first falling and then rising,which are the results of the balance between the inhibiting effect of controlling birth policy and the rapidly rising birth cost,and the promoting effect of encouraging birth policy on the fertility desire of social members.The development of aging in ethnic minority areas shows two trends of acceleration and deceleration,which are the results of the balance between the promoting effect of controlling birth policy,the outflow of young and middle-aged labor force and the rise of life expectancy,and the inhibiting effect of the encouraging birth policy,the restraint of talent return and talent introduction.Combined with the development degree of low fertility and aging,we can accurately classify and implement policies for different ethnic minority areas.The areas with serious low fertility and population aging problems need economic policies to change the population age structure as soon as possible.The areas with slight low fertility and population aging problems should carry out ideological policies in priority to maintain the benign structure of population age.

Are“Internet+”tactics the key to poverty alleviation in China’s rural ethnic minority areas? Empirical evidence from Sichuan Province

China has made great efforts to alleviate poverty in rural ethnic minority areas and targeted achieving the poverty-alleviation task by the end of 2020.Aba,Ganzi,and Liangshan,three of the poorest ethnic prefectures in Sichuan Province,Southwest China,have all implemented“Internet+”tactics since 2013,which have had the positive effect of increasing family revenues by improving communication infrastructure and encouraging the large-scale use of e-commerce.This paper aims to comprehensively investigate whether“Internet+”tactics play a key role in poverty alleviation in Sichuan’s rural ethnic minority areas and to propose further measures to enhance the efficiency of e-commerce practice.To this end,we conduct an analysis using the framework of classic growth theory and use panel data from 2000 to 2018 to examine the relationship between Communication Infrastructure Investment(CII)and a set of poverty-alleviation indicators,including local GDP growth rate(LGGR),local government revenue(LGR),and per-capita income of residents(PCIR).The results indicate that strengthening CII improves the PCIR and local economic growth,playing a key role in poverty alleviation.However,the stimulation of CII on LGGR and LGR wanes as time passes.More financial and technical actions will be needed to improve the efficiency and quality of current strategies for sustainable development in those areas.

Demand of Rural Public Goods in Western Ethnic Minority Areas

In the context of Development of the West Regions and the construction of new countryside,on the basis of defining the concept of public goods,this article analyzes the status quo and layers of demand of rural public goods in western ethnic minority areas:the demand of rural public goods in ethnic minority areas shows "pyramid" structure,that is,the most basic layer is production-based rural public goods,followed by life-based rural public goods and democratic-management-based rural public goods.Finally the countermeasures for achieving effective demand of rural public goods are put forward as follows:adhere to customers(farmers)-oriented principle;innovate upon the rural residents' demand expression mechanism of public goods in ethnic minority areas;achieve diversification of supply subject of rural public goods in ethnic minority areas.

Perfecting the Market-Oriented Ecological Compensation Mechanism of Ethnic Minority Areas: A Case Study of Gannan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture

The construction of the market-oriented ecological compensation mechanism in China is complicated system engineering. China's ecological compensation funds are mainly derived from the public finance, lacking market-oriented operation. That not only increases the financial burden of the government, but also leads to the incomprehensive compensation scope. Moreover, China's ecological compensation lacks market mechanism so that it is difficult to set compensation standards and calculate offsets. This paper takes Gannan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture as an example to analyze the market-oriented ecological compensation system of ethnic minority areas from the perspective of market economy, so as to provide a theoretical basis and a reference point for the establishment of efficient and reasonable ecological compensation mechanism and policies in ethnic minority areas and provide environmental protection for the sustainable development of economy and society of ethnic minority areas.

Spatial differentiation pattern of interregional migration in ethnic minority areas of Yunnan Province, China

Interregional migration has broad and far-reaching impacts on regional urbanization process in ethnic minority areas of Southwest China.The previous literature of interregional migration paid less attention on the ethnic minority areas with fragile geographical feature and marginal socio-economic context in the developing world due to the dearth of reliable data.Based on the 2015 national 1%population sampling survey at the village/community scale,taking Yulong Naxi Autonomous County,Yunnan Province,China as the case study,this paper analyzed the spatial differentiation pattern.The results showed that:(1)migration in Yulong Naxi Autonomous County exhibited obvious spatial differentiation characteristics in terms of population aggregation,population loss,migration direction,and migration activity;(2)the overall spatial differentiation of migration exhibited a"layer+sector"pattern in Yulong Naxi Autonomous County:the first layer was active areas with net inflows(<20 km from the seat of the county government),the second layer was inactive areas(within 20–60 km of the seat of the county government),and the third layer was a mixed"layer+sector"zone(>60 km to the seat of the county government),comprised of inactive areas and active areas with net outflows;(3)the spatial differentiation pattern of migration was highly correlated with the regional contexts including the regional economic development,regional transportation accessibility and regional social development,while regional physical geographical factors had insignificant relationships with the migration pattern.

Analysis on Supported Employment of People with Disabilities in Southwest China's Minority Areas

Employment of people with disabilities in Southwest China's ethnic minority areas is characterized by relatively high pressure, a poor environment and single form. Supported employment can solve the problems faced by people with disabilities in the ethnic minority areas of Southwest China. Therefore, it is of practical significance to promote such a new form of employment. But in promoting the development of supported employment, it is necessary to strengthen its local top-level design and to establish corresponding legal and policy systems so as to give full play to the positive role of the government and establish a strong support system.

Learner’s Dialect Use by EFL Instructors:A Study of Junior High School Teachers in a Minority Area of China

The use of learners’L1(first language)in the EFL classroom has been widely discussed in the literature.However,the use of local dialects has received less attention.Thus,this study investigates the use of Enshi dialect in EFL classroom in junior high schools in order to explore how teachers deploy the learners’own dialect in EFL classroom and its effect.The Enshi dialect which is a variant of Mandarin is frequently used in daily life in Enshi Tujia and Miao Autonomous Prefecture.Semi-structured interviews are conducted with 15 teachers who adopt Enshi dialect in EFL classroom teaching in junior high schools in 8 minority villages in Enshi.The results indicate that occasional dialect use does exist in EFL classroom teaching for junior high school students in ethnic minority areas.In addition,four main benefits are revealed when learners use dialects in EFL classes.Teaching English by using dialect helps students to improve the mastery of English grammar,distinguish pronunciation,understand the meaning of English words,phrases and sentences,and enliven the classroom atmosphere.The research also shows that the effective use of learners’dialects in the EFL classroom plays positive roles in English learning.