Consumers' perceptions on GM food safety in urban China

The debate about the safety of genetically modified （GM） food has attracted public attention in concurrence with the rapid development of agricultural biotechnology. This paper examines the consumers＇ perceptions on the safety of GM food in China. Based on a unique survey dataset, this study shows that consumers in urban China have significantly changed their perceptions on GM food safety. The percentage of consumers who perceived such food as unsafe for consumption increased by more than 30% in the 2002-2012 period. Approximately half of the consumers did not have an opinion on this issue. Major shifts have been occurred after 2010, likely because of the increasing influence of negative media reports on GM technology in recent years. Several individual and household＇s characteristics are shown to significantly affect consumers＇ perceptions on GM food safety, such as gender, education, food allergy experience and resident city size. The paper concludes with policy implications.

Impacts of household income on beef at-home consumption:Evidence from urban China

Beef consumption in China has increased substantially from 5.0 million tons in 2000 to 7.7 million tons in 2019 thanks to rapid income growth,but still remains low compared to pork and poultry consumption.Improving the understanding about the impacts of household income on beef consumption in China is necessary to forecast future beef demand and inform the domestic beef industry,especially in the context of unprecedented expansion of middle income class in China.Based on survey data of 32878 urban households collected by the National Bureau of Statistics of China,we employed the inverse hyperbolic sine(IHS)double-hurdle model to estimate income elasticities of beef demand across different income groups and simulated possible trends of future beef consumption of Chinese urban residents.The empirical results showed that the unconditional income elasticities of beef consumption at home vary between 0.169 for the lowincome group and 0.671 for the high-income group.The simulated results indicated that beef consumption is expected to increase by 12.0 to 38.8%in 10 years and by 18.6 to 70.5%in 15 years under distinct income growth scenarios.Our findings provide practical insights for policy makers and other stakeholders about future beef demand,such as potential opportunities embedded in rising beef demand for domestic producers and world beef exporters as well as the urgency of improving the supply chain resilience of beef in China.

Post-industrial Economic Restructuring and Wage Inequality in Urban China, 2003-2015: A Sectoral Perspective

Income inequality in urban China has attracted growing attention from China’s urban researchers and policy makers. Whereas many studies have interrogated the pattern and process of the income gap in Chinese cities undergoing the institutional transformation from plan to market, relatively little is known about how such unequal distribution of income is related to China’s ongoing structural transformation toward a post-industrial economy. Drawing on a decomposition methodology based on the Theil index, this study aimed to address this lacuna through an empirical investigation of China’s urban wage inequality from a sectoral perspective. Our empirical study identified the low-wage manufacturing sector and the high-wage producer services sector as the two biggest contributors to urban wage inequality in China. Urban wage inequality within the producer services was found to be caused by the spatial concentration of a disproportionate number of high-paying jobs in a few developed, high-tier city-regions on the eastern coast. Our empirical findings have important implications for the formulation of policies to address the income inequality that plagues China’s continuing urbanization.

Exploration of Management Workflow of Cataract Surgery in an Impoverished Population in Urban China

Purpose:.To explore and establish a rational management workflow for a free cataract surgery program for the poor population in urban China, aiming to improve surgical efficiency.Methods:.Establishment of a management workflow mainly includes system design and an auxiliary facility. System design procedures consist of outpatient screening, outpatient physical examination,.surgical procedures,.and postoperative clinic visits. After establishing the management workflow of cataract surgery, a free cataract surgery program was conducted for 15 months.Results: Based upon the established management mode, 9003 patients received preoperative screening and 2358 underwent cataract surgery..During the 15-month investigation,.each procedure was successfully conducted,.the efficiency of screening and operation attained the highest standards in China,.and no surgical malpractice occurred intraoperatively.Conclusion:.In this study,.a management workflow for cataract surgery was designed for a poverty relief project in urban China. During the 15-month project, the degree of patient satisfaction was enhanced without disrupting the normal practice and safety of the sponsor hospital.

Spatio-temporal Evolution of Urban Expansion Based on a Novel Adjusted Index and GEE: A Case Study of Central Plains Urban Agglomeration, China

It is crucial to investigate the urban agglomerations spatio-temporal evolution patterns and driving factors for analyzing the urban spatial structure-functional division and promoting the coordinated development of urban agglomerations.In this study,a novel vegetation-building-nighttime light-adjusted index(VBNAI)was established for rapid and effective mapping of urban construction land(UCL)in Central Plains Urban Agglomeration(CPUA),China during 2000–2020 based on Google Earth Engine(GEE)platform.Compared with traditional indices,VBNAI can significantly decrease the blooming effect,Normalized Difference Vegetation Index(NDVI)saturation,and soil background of nighttime light data.In addition,the urban expansion indices and standard deviation ellipse model were synthetically adopted to analyze the spatio-temporal evolution pattern of urban expansion.The gravity model and the geographically weighted regression model were employed to determine the spatial interaction forces and drivers of urban expansion,respectively.The results showed that the VBNAI index has obvious advantages in efficiency and accuracy to extract UCL with the overall accuracy of more than 91%.The UCL of CPUA had increased by 4489.84 km2 during 2000–2020 with the gravity center moving towards southeast continuously.From 2000 to 2010,the urban expansion was in a‘center-hinterland’pattern which had benefit from the favorable effect of the traffic shaft belt.During 2010–2020,the urban network structure had basically established.Urban expansion had been influenced by a variety of socio-economic and demographic factors,and the impact degree varied from region to region.This study could provide scientific references for facilitating the intensive utilization of urban resources and optimizing the spatial development pattern of urban agglomeration.

Labour market segmentation by ownership type and gender wage gap in urban China:evidence from CHIP2013

This paper explores the labour market segmentation by ownership type and its impact on the gender wage gap in urban China.Using the latest data of the China Household Income Project(CHIP)survey conducted in 2014(CHIP2013)and based on the Brown et al.model,I employ the decomposition analysis in this study.It is found that although both inter-sector differentials and intra-sector differentials affect the gender wage gap,the effect of intra-sector differentials is greater.In addition,in considering the effect of intra-sector differentials,the influence of unexplained differentials is greater than that of explained differentials.The results indicate that when other factors are held constantly,discrimination against female workers in a given sector is more serious,which is the main factor that causes the gender wage gap in urban China.

A Pluralistic and Participatory Community Governance Model for Urban China in the Era of Economic and Spatial Restructuring

As China’s socio-economic development is entering into a transitioning era,urban residents’demands are becoming more diversified,complicated,and fragmented.Ought to address issues regarding community environmental renovation,infrastructure and facilities constructions,and efficient public service supplies,measures should be adopted to adjust the urban community governance model in China to face emergent challenges.Against this background,this paper argues that the"participating actors,""community management and organization framework,""related laws,regulations,and policies,"and"resources allocation and management"are the four crucial dimensions in urban community governance.We then adopted these four underpinnings as the theoretical framework to unravel the complex dynamics of community governance in contemporary urban China.This paper argues that the current community governance system falls short in accommodating the growing demands of community development due to"ambiguity of participating actors,""excessive administrative intervention on community management,""insufficient legislation supports,"and a"deficiency in financing management system."Therefore,this paper argues that through the pluralization of public participation,diversification of community organization modes,and the enhancement of participation accessibility,community governance performance in urban China could be drastically improved.Therefore,a pluralistic and participatory community governance model is proposed in this paper to provide additional policy implications for community governance in urban China.

Changes in Job Structure and Rising Wage Inequality in Urban China, 1995-2007

Abstract We use household surveys from 1995, 2002, and 2007 to examine how changes in job structure contributed to China＇s rising urban wage inequality, considering three job characteristics： occupation, industry, and firm ownership. The explanatory power of job structure for wage inequality increased between 1995 and 2007. Both the change in relative number of jobs （composition effect） and the change in between-job and within-job wage gaps （price effect） contributed to rising wage inequality. Price effect was the major contributor, whereas composition effect played a larger role in the 1995-2002 period than in the 2002-2007 period, and at the lower-half distribution. Between-job inequality played a major role in the first period, and within-job inequality played a major role in the second period. Our results suggest that both technological change and institutional features influence job structure and wage inequality.

The impact of care for grandchildren on the supports for elderly parents of first-generation only-child parents in urban China

The support elderly parents receive from their grown-up children and the care they provide for grandchildren reflect the intergenerational relationships in Chinese families.Using data on only-child families in urban China from a 2015 survey conducted by the Institute of Population and Labor Economics,Chinese Academy of Social Sciences,this paper studies the status of care provided for grandchildren by parents of first-generation only-child in urban China and considers the effects this support has on the elderly.The data shows that over 80%of only-children parents have cared for their grandchildren.Most only-children also provide support for their elderly parents.Care for grandchildren provided by grandparents increases the economic and housekeeping support for the elderly provided by only-children.Only-children are the main beneficiaries of the intergenerational support that comes from the care for grandchildren provided by elderly parents.If the elderly parents have adequate retirement income and have little or no need for financial support,such intergenerational support resembles“altruism”.However,if the elderly parents do not have adequate retirement income,the satisfaction of their needs depends on resources like time and money available to their only-children.

BMotorization in Urban China:Issues and Actions

ＭｏｔｏｒｉｚａｔｉｏｎｉｎＵｒｂａｎＣｈｉｎａ：ＩｓｓｕｅｓａｎｄＡｃｔｉｏｎｓ￥ＳｔｅｐｈｅｎＳｔａｒｅｓ；ＬｉｕＺｈｉ（ＥｎｖｉｒｏｎｍｅｎｔａｎｄＭｕｎｉｃｉｐａｌＤｅｖｅｌｏｐｍｅｎｔＯｐｅｒａｔｉｏｎｓＤｉｖｉｓｉｏｎ．ＣｈｉｎａａｎｄＭ...

Rising Poverty and Its Causes in Urban China

Ⅰ. IntroductionPoverty has generally been perceived as a ruralphenomenon in China. However, urban poverty hasbecome a vital issue since 1995 with the re-structuringof public-owned enterprises. Even officiall statisticsconfirm that the total number of unemployed workersplus xiagang(laid-off)workers reached a figure of some

International financial crisis and wage inequality in urban China

The shock of the 2007/2008 international financial crisis had a negative impact on the Chinese economy at its early stage,but the immediate reaction of the Chinese government with a stimulus package of 4 trillion yuan has recovered this economy soon.Since the crisis and the governmental stimulus package have generated different impacts on unemployment and wage growth across regions and industries,it will lead to some changes in the pattern of wage inequality.This paper uses urban household data collected from RUMiC surveys during 2008–2010 to investigate changes in wage growth and inequality in urban China in this period.The findings indicate that the international financial crisis did not have significantly negative impact on wage growth and contributed to narrowing wage inequality in urban China,which was largely due to offsetting effects of the governmental stimulus policies.However,as the impact of the stimulus policies faded and the impact of the international financial crisis worsened,the wage growth experienced a downward trend and wage inequality rose in 2010.

Gendering the second demographic transition:gender asymmetry,gendered tension,and cohabitation in contemporary urban China

The Second Demographic Transition(SDT)framework highlights individuals'ideational shift toward greater individualism in explaining the rise of non-marriage unions.Contemporary China has seen a substantial increase in premarital cohabitation.Drawing on 65 in-depth interviews with highly educated young urban Chinese women and men,this article examines the gendered ways in which young Chinese adults perceive and make decisions about premarital cohabitation,as they envision their ideal lives and what autonomy and self-realization mean to them.I demonstrate that while male respondents predominantly view cohabitation positively as a risk-reduction strategy for avoiding incompatible marriages,female respondents still consider cohabitation to be a risk-amplification arrangement in practice that increases the possibility of uncertain marriage prospect,unsafe sex,and reputational damages.Young women,but not men,often have to strategizethrough carefully managing information disclosureabout persistent parental expectations that discourage women's premarital cohabitation.As a result,while male respondents regard marriage to be neither the necessary precondition nor the end goal of cohabitation,female respondents,who otherwise emphasize autonomy and individualistic fulfllment,continue to desire a close linkage between cohabitation and marriage.Leveraging the unique strength of qualitative data in demographic research,this article articulates the gender asymmetry in how women and men perceive cohabitation's risks,benefits,and link to marriage.I elucidate the gendered tension between privately-held ideals of individualism vis-a-vis enduring social norms of female marriageability,as women and men differentially navigate parental expectations surrounding cohabitation.In so doing,this article makes a theoretical contribution by bringing a careful treatment of gender into the SDT framework.

The empty nests of elderly only-child parents in urban China-an analysis based on survey data from five provinces

This paper studies the status of empty nest only-child families in urban China,using data about these families taken from a 2015 survey conducted by the Institute of Population and Labor Economics,Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.Factors that determine the timing of empty nest periods and their duration for only-child parents are also analyzed.The data shows that more than half of the only-child parents surveyed in 2015 lived in empty nests.Some of these parents had been empty-nesters for as many as 25 years.During the life cycle of families,the empty nest status of elderly only-child parents shows different characteristics at different stages,as the only-children begin attending universities,start to work,get married,and have children of their own.There are empty nest periods in only-child families when the only-child leaves the parents for several years and periods when the child returns home and lives with parents for years.The living arrangements of only-child parents depend mainly on changes in the life needs of their only-children.Intergenerational support is focused on meeting the needs of only-children.

Constructing a World-Level Urban Research System: Review on Studies on the Transition of Urban China

Studies on the Transition of Urban China Author:Chenghua LI Year:2013Publisher:People’s Publishing House ISBN:9787010129716(417 pages,in Chinese)The innovative urbanization practice and the urban transitional development strategies in China have become new heated topics in the field of worldwide urban research,and posed new requirements on

Rail Transport in Urban China ──A Hard Process

ＲａｉｌＴｒａｎｓｐｏｒｔｉｎＵｒｂａｎＣｈｉｎａ──ＡＨａｒｄＰｒｏｃｅｓｓＯｕｒＲｅｐｏｒｔｅｒｓＡｂｓｔｒａｃｔ：Ｔｈｉｓｒｅｐｏｒｔ，ｂａｓｅｄｏｎｏｕｒｉｎｔｅｒｖｉｅｗｓ，ｇｉｖｅｓｒｅａｄｅｒｓａｓｕｍｍａｒｙｏｎｔｈｅｃｕｒｒｅｎｔａ...

The Reform on Housing Ownership in Urban China

ＴｈｅＲｅｆｏｒｍｏｎＨｏｕｓｉｎｇＯｗｎｅｒｓｈｉｐｉｎＵｒｂａｎＣｈｉｎａＬｉＹａｎｇＷｉｔｈｔｈｅｄｅｅｐｅｎｉｎｇｏｆｈｏｕｓｉｎｇｒｅｆｏｒｍ，ｔｈｅｉｓｓｕｅｏｆｈｏｕｓｉｎｇｏｗｎｅｒｓｈｉｐｈａｓｃｏｎｓｔａｎｔｌｙｂｅｅｎｒａｉｓｅ...

Cancer incidence and mortality in China in 2013：an analysis based on urbanization level

Objective： To explore the cancer patterns in areas with different urbanization rates（URR） in China with data from 255 population-based cancer registries in 2013, collected by the National Central Cancer Registry（NCCR）.Methods： There were 347 cancer registries submitted cancer incidence and deaths occurred in 2013 to NCCR.All those data were checked and evaluated based on the NCCR criteria of data quality, and qualified data from 255 registries were used for this analysis. According to the proportion of non-agricultural population, we divided cities/counties into 3 levels： high level, with URR equal to 70% and higher; median level, with URR between 30%and 70%; and low level, with URR equal to 30% and less. Cancer incidences and mortalities were calculated,stratified by gender and age groups in different areas. The national population of Fifth Census in 2000 and Segi＇s population were applied for age-standardized rates.Results： Qualified 255 cancer registries covered 226,494,490 populations. The percentage of cases morphologically verified（MV%） and death certificate-only cases（DCO%） were 68.04% and 1.74%, respectively,and the mortality to incidence rate ratio（M/I） was 0.62. A total of 644,487 new cancer cases and 399,275 cancer deaths from the 255 cancer registries were submitted to NCCR in 2013. The incidence rate was 284.55/100,000（314.06/100,000 in males, 254.19/100,000 in females）, and the age-standardized incidence rates by Chinese standard population（ASIRC） and by world standard population（ASIRW） were 190.10/100,000 and 186.24/100,000 with the cumulative incidence rate（0–74 age years old） of 21.60%. The cancer mortality was 176.28/100,000（219.03/100,000 in males, 132.30/100,000 in females）, and the age-standardized mortality rates by Chinese standard population（ASMRC） and by world standard population（ASMRW） were 110.91/100,000 and 109.92/100,000, and the cumulative mortality rate（0–74 age years old） was 12.43%. Low urbanization areas were high in crude cancer incidence and mortality rates, middle urbanization areas came next to it followed by high urbanization areas. After adjusted by age, there was a U-shaped association between age-standardized incidence（ASIRC and ASIRW） and the urbanized ratio with the middle urbanization areas having the lowest ASIRC and ASIRW. Unlike with the agestandardized incidence, the sort order of age-standardized mortality（ASMRC and ASMRW） among three urbanization areas was reversed completely from the crude mortality. Lung cancer was the most common cancer in all areas of 255 cancer registries, followed by stomach cancer, liver cancer, colorectal cancer and esophageal cancer with new cases of 130,700, 76,200, 63,800, 60,900 and 50,200 respectively. Lung cancer was also the leading cause of cancer death in all areas of 255 cancer registries for both males and females with the number of deaths of 72,200 and 34,100, respectively. Other cancer types with high mortality in males were liver cancer, stomach cancer,esophageal cancer and colorectal cancer. In females, stomach cancer was the second cause of cancer death, followed by liver cancer, colorectal cancer and breast cancer.Conclusions： Along with the development of socioeconomics associated with urbanization, as well as the agingpopulation, the incidence and mortality keep increasing in China. Cancer burden and patterns are different in each urbanization level. Cancer control strategies should be implemented referring to local urbanization status.

Incorporating Equity Concerns into Transportation Planning and Policies in Urban China: The Status Quo of Practice and Implications

Transportation equity is one of the most recent concerns toward sustainable urban development, which aims to help municipalities or local planning authorities incorporate equity issues into transportation planning and policies, avoiding multifaceted potential inequity outcomes. As for the urbanizing China, do the mainstream planning approaches fail to take equity issues into account? What are outcomes and the potential countermeasures based on Chinese cities' spatial and policy contexts? From the perspective of transportation equity, this article aims to examine the multidimensional effects related to equity concerns of urban transportation planning and policies in China. It suggests that the municipal government should enhance the service level of public transit and efficiently address the inequity issues of transportation systems. The potential measures include: building a multi-modal transit system, linking affordable housing to the transportation system, highlighting the role of non-motorized mode, and offering proper parking spaces around transit stations.