Trend and Interannual Variability of Chinese Air Pollution since 2000 in Association with Socioeconomic Development: A Brief Overview

Abstract Chinese air pollution has increased in this century along with the rapid socioeconomic development and resulting anthropogenic emissions. While recent emission control measures have shown encouraging re sults and have reduced the levels of sulfur dioxide and primary aerosols, the concentrations of other air pollutants continue to grow, particularly secondary pollutants in cluding ozone and secondary aerosols. Meanwhile, a va riety of intentional and unintentional socioeconomic events have temporarily changed the pace, and even the signs, of growth of air pollution. These events include the short-term emission restrictions imposed during the Sino-African Summit, the Beijing Olympics and Para lympics, the Shanghai World Exposition （Shanghai Expo）, the Guangzhou Asian Olympics, and the Shenzhen Uni versiade, as well as the unintentional emission reductions associated with the recent economic recession and the annual Chinese New Year. This paper presents a brief overview of trends and temporary perturbations of Chi nese air pollution since 2000, summarizing studies on anthropogenic emission inventories, atmospheric meas urements, and inverse modeling. It concludes with rec ommendations for future research.

KL-SG High-Speed Rail-a catalyst for national economic development Sri Viknesh Permalu and Karthigesu Nagarajoo

Purpose-In an increasingly interconnected world,transportation infrastructure has emerged as a critical determinant of economic growth and global competitiveness.High-speed rail(HSR),characterized by its exceptional speed and efficiency,has garnered widespread attention as a transformative mode of transportation that transcends borders and fosters economic development.The Kuala Lumpur-Singapore(KL-SG)HSR project stands as a prominent exemplar of this paradigm,symbolizing the potential of HSR to serve as a catalyst for national economic advancement.Design/methodologylapproach-This paper is prepared to provide an insight into the benefits and advantages of HSR based on proven case studies and references from global HSRs,including China,Spain,France and Japan.Findings-The findings that have been obtained focus on enhanced connectivity and accessibility,attracting foreign direct investment,revitalizing regional economies,urban development and city regeneration,boosting tourism and cultural exchange,human capital development,regionai integration and environmental and sustainability benefits.Originality/value-The KL-SG HSR,linking Kuala Lumpur and Singapore,epitomizes the potential for HSR to be a transformative agent in the realm of economic development.This project encapsulates the aspirations of two dynamic Southeast Asian economies,united in their pursuit of sustainable growth,enhanced connectivity and global competitiveness.By scrutinizing the KLSG High-Speed Rail through the lens of economic benchmarking,a deeper understanding emerges of how such projects can drive progress in areas such as cross-border trade,tourism,urban development and technological innovation.

Assessment of the socioeconomic development levels of six economic corridors in the Belt and Road region

Recent years have witnessed rapid and widespread economic growth in regions involved in China’s Belt and Road Initiative(BRI),mainly due to the construction of six economic corridors.This paper aims to quantify the levels of six economic corridors according to the socioeconomic development levels in the BRI regions.Here,a gridded socioeconomic development index was first created,and a dividing line was drawn to reveal the distribution characteristics of socioeconomic development in the BRI regions.A classification method was then applied to identify local development levels.Finally,we created an economic corridor development index(ECDI)to evaluate the progress of six economic corridors.The results reveal spatial heterogeneity within the socioeconomic groups of BRI regions,which can be roughly divided into offshore(or Part A,50.54%)and inland(or Part B,49.46%)areas.Although both parts comprise roughly the same area,over 95%of the population is located in offshore regions.The China–Mongolia–Russia Economic Corridor has the highest development index due to a stable political environment and long-running cooperation.The China–Pakistan Economic Corridor suffers from the lowest ECDI but with strong development potential.Our methods can provide critical reference and practice for the future evaluation of the level of regional development.The results of this study can offer policymakers some insight into reducing socioeconomic inequality in the BRI regions.

Zoning assessment of water environmental supporting capacity for socioeconomic development in the Huaihe River Basin, China

There have been substantial conflicts in the human-water relationship in the Huaihe River Basin （HRB）. To achieve sustainable economic development without degrading the water environment in the HRB, we develop a three-dimensional water environmental sup- porting capacity （WESC） model based on water environmental carrying capacity （WECC）, water environmental pressure （WEP）, and water pollution prevention and control capacity （WPPC）. Geographic information systems spatial analysis with the analytical hierarchy process method and dynamic weighted summation is applied. Several proposals for suitable locations for industry and environmental protection strategies for water were presented. The following results were obtained. （1） The spatial differences in WECC are substantial; areas with high-value WECC zones are mainly located along the main stream of the Huaihe River on the south side. WEP is generally high, with an overall low level of pollution prevention and control in the whole HRB. WPPC and WEP show high spatial overlapping due to the fact that areas with higher environmental pollution usually have high level of economic development, and thus have a strong capacity for pollution control. （2） Overall, WESC is moderate in the HRB. In particular, areas with a high WESC value only account for 56.24% of the HRB in 2010 Distinct differences in WESC also exist between areas located in the south compared with in the north of the basin, and areas alongside the downstream region compared with alongside the upstream and midstream regions. （3） Consequently, according to the guidance for indus- try zoning in the HRB, the areas in the south and alongside the downstream and sub-streams with a low WEP value and high WECC and WPPC, traditional industries should be developed based on strict environmental access and pollution emission standards. While for the areas along the midstream of the HRB and along the whole Yishusi River Basin, which have a high WEP value, industrial restructuring and technological upgrading are suggested. Action should be taken to limit development and protect the environment in the upstream region of the basin which is a key source of drinking water, in the eastern route along the line of the South-toNorth Water Diversion Project, and in the ecologically fragile region alongside the basin. This will ensure good environmental functionality including subsistent provision of clean water, while at the same time satisfying the urgent need to adjust, transform, and upgrade the industrial structure.

Social Capital and Socioeconomic Development in Rural China

The purpose of this article is to examine the stock of social capital in rural China and explore the different impacts of two types of social capital upon the economic development performance of rural China. This empirical study of social capital is based on an original survey of 410 villages throughout China. The findings indicate that bonding social capital still has a very solid foundation in rural areas of China. Bridging social capital is in formation in Chinese villages, even though the stock of bridging social capital is currently very moderate. Moreover, this study finds that bridging social capital, as manifested in general trust and inclusive social networks, positively affected villages＇ development performance. However, bonding social capital, as manifested in particular trust and exclusive social networks, tends to negatively impact villages＇ development performance. These findings help to shed some light on the distribution of two types of social capital-bridging and bonding-in rural China and their impact on the socioeconomic development of rural areas. Given the scarcity of representative survey studies of this sort, the findings from this study are especially valuable for establishing some conceptual and empirical baselines for subsequent studies of social capital in rural China.

City Planning and SocioEconomic Development——Also on the Further Implementation of the Master Plan for Beijing Development

At present,many people believe that wehave to strengthen the research on socioeconomic development when making citydevelopment plans,but problems remain asto what to research on,how to carry out theresearch and how to closely

Prevalences and causes of vision impairment in elderly Chinese: a socioeconomic perspective of a comparative report nested in Jiangsu Eye Study

AIM：To survey the prevalence and causes of visual impairment/blindness among elderly Chinese from different socioeconomic status in community-based design.METHODS：Cluster-sampling randomly selected residents from Binhu and Funing District,two areas representing different socioeconomic levels in China with Binhu in an advanced status and Funing in lessdeveloped area.The participants subjected to ophthalmic examination.The presenting visual acuity（PVA） and best-corrected visual acuity（BCVA） were recorded.Visual impairment and blindness were defined according to World Health Organization criteria.The causes of visual impairment/blindness were identified by ophthalmic examination and/or questionnaire.The socioeconomic status included the per capita gross domestic product,numbers of hospital with ophthalmic service and the number of ophthalmologists per 1 million residents.RESULTS：We successfully included 12 867 participants form 2 areas in this study.The prevalence of PVA impairment（〈20/63 to ≥20/400） in the better eye was 5.4% in Binhu and 23.6% in Funing,while the prevalence of blindness（〈20/400） was 0.9% in Binhu and 2.3% in Funing.With BCVA,the prevalence of visual impairment was 2.4% in Binhu and 6.4% in Funing,while the prevalence of blindness was 0.8% in Binhu and 1.6% in Funing.The participants with older age and female gender had higher prevalence in visual impairment and blindness.The highest prevalences of vision impairment and blindness evaluated by BCVA at 〉80y age group reached 20.4% and 6.3% respectively.The prevalences of vision impairment and blindness evaluated by BCVA were 3.5% and 1.0% in male and 5.0% and 1.3% in female.The above differences were statistically significant（P〈0.05）.The predominant causes of visual impairment and blindness were cataract,retinal disorders and uncorrected refractive error in both areas.The socioeconomic status was associated with visual impairment and blindness.CONCLUSION：This community-based study build a sufficient sample size for an ophthalmic survey.Our data show the disparities on socioeconomic development and genders in visual impairment and blindness in China.Special emphasis of ophthalmic service should be placed on females and less-developed area.

New Challenges and Opportunities for Flood Control in the Huai River: Addressing a Changing River-Lake Relationship

This paper addresses the change of the river-lake relationship in the Huai River and its causes due to environmental change and human activities. A preliminary analysis is made from three aspects: (1) the natural geographical change particularly captured by the Yellow River, (2) water conservancy project construction, and (3) socioeconomic development in the Huai River Basin. Key problems of changes in this river-lake relationship and the Huai River flood control are tackled, involving flood control and disaster alleviation ability of the Basin, engineering and non-engineering measurements applied to flood control and disaster mitigation, and water governance for adaptive management. Research shows that the Huai River is a rather complex one due to its complex geography with a hybrid wet and dry climate zoon, and higher population density. With the alternation of the river-lake relationship and socioeconomic development in the region, new problems keep arising, imposing new requirements on its sustainable water management. Thus, understanding the Huai River is a long and gradually improving process. Its future planning should keep absorbing new achievements of science and technology development, employing new technologies and methods, and gradually deepening our understanding of its fundamental principles. Water governance and adaptive water management will be new challenges and opportunities for the Basin in its river system change and flood control.

Statistical and Economic Issues Concerning the Rural Poor; Retrospect and Prospects

Decent living based on regular and secured earning is one of the fundamentals of prosperous life. For well-being/upliftment of rural poor some of the basic components required are basic education, productive and decent employment and health care. The amenities of common people＇s life do rotate around these. Due to geophysical and cultural diversities prevailing in our country, the nature and dynamics of development in different States has notable variations. Our rural areas have also progressed and changed but they still need a lot to be provided. To ensure a balanced development in our country we need to lay emphasis on upliftment of the rural and marginalized poor. To accomplish this task government is working in this direction. However, it is still felt that concerted efforts are required on the basis of micro level background information. It could be done by addressing some of statistical and economic issues. The notable among them are percentage of surpluses mobilized from labour saving technological change utilized for essential services such as health, sanitation and education to entertainment and cultural activities; variation in acreage from traditional food crop to cash crop; changing trend, of the prices of agricultural inputs vis-a-vis the cost of agricultural output and use of ground water in cultivation; trend of informal credits in relation to rising cost of cultivation; analysis of the dynamics of welfare Schemes regarding employment, healthcare and basic education etc. Inclusive growth was the cardinal principle of 11 th Five Year Plan of our country. It was further strengthened in 12th Five Year Plan by prefixing faster and sustainable features to it. Therefore, in order to ensure that this basic objective is being fulfilled; it is necessary that along with policy making there should be in-built components of data collection, monitoring and evaluation.

Suitability projection for Chinese ski areas under future natural andsocioeconomic scenarios

Ski tourism is extremely sensitive to climate change and is also heavily affected by socioeconomic conditions.Although some ski areas arestill profitable under current climate and socioeconomic conditions,they will become difficult to operate in the face of rising winter temper-atures,which will result in further economic losses,resource waste and environmental damage.This study projects variability in the suitability ofski area development across China in the coming decades.Natural suitability under three representative concentration pathway emission sce-narios(RCP2.6,RCP4.5 and RCP8.5),socioeconomic suitability under four shared socioeconomic pathways(SSP1,SSP2,SSP3,and SSP5)andintegrated suitability under four climatic-socioeconomic scenarios(RCP2.6-SSP1,RCP4.5-SSP2,RCP8.5-SSP3,and RCP8.5-SSP5)are re-ported.Furthermore,the suitability of 731 existing ski areas in China is assessed.The results show a substantial decline in integrated suitabilityfor most regions of China except for some very cold areas,where higher air temperatures will make visitors feel more comfortable and therelatively poor socioeconomic conditions will improve in the 2030s,2050s and 2090s.The average higher integrated suitability area(integratedsuitability values greater than 0.5)under four climatic-socioeconomic scenarios decreases from the current 29.9%e14.4%,5.0%and 4.5%bythe 2030s,2050s and 2090s,respectively.Under RCP2.6-SSP1,the higher integrated suitability area is projected to decrease from the current28.0%e5.2%by the 2050s and then increase to 5.3%by the 2090s.Under RCP4.5-SSP2,RCP8.5-SSP3,and RCP8.5-SSP5,the higher inte-grated suitability area is projected to continuously decrease from 30.3%,30.6%and 30.6%in the 2010s to 4.1%,4.4%and 4.4%in the 2090s,respectively.By the 2090s,41,138 and 277 existing ski areas are projected to be closed under RCP2.6-SSP1,RCP4.5-SSP2,and RCP8.5-SSP3/RCP8.5-SSP5,respectively.It is clear that emission pathways and climate change adaptation and mitigation strategies will greatly shape thedevelopment of China's regional ski tourism.

Data-driven integrated assessment of global wild-caught seafood exported to Hong Kong by 2030 in different representative concentration and shared socioeconomic pathways

Wild-caught seafood is an important commodity traded globally.As elimate change and socioeconomic development is affecting global marine capture fisheries,the impact on regional supply remains unexplored,especially for areas like Hong Kong relying on global trading to meet high seafood consumption.However,it is challenging to assess the global marine capture fisheries production using complex process-based models.In this study,a data-driven integrated assessment approach was developed to evaluate the change of global seafood supply from wild catch.With the catch data available from 1990 to 2014,machine learning models were trained and tested including environmental,socioeconomic,geographic,and technological features to estimate the catch by ocean grid cells for individual species.Nine popular seafood categories in Hong Kong were studied,which include 68 species in total.Important input features for estimating the catch were compared across species and the impacts of these input features were interpreted using partial dependence plots.The global marine wild catch of the 68 species by countries and the export to Hong Kong were projected by 2030 in RCP2.6-SSPi,RCP4.5-SSP2,RCP7.0-SSP3,and RCP8.5-SSP5.Performances of machine learning models demonstrate the reliability of data-driven methods to estimate the catch by ocean grid cells.The importance of geographic features rank top for the estimate while that of climate change and socioeconomic development varies significantly across species.The projection reflects a drop of squid exported to Hong Kong due to the reduction of squid supply from China's mainland during 2015-2019.The export of wild-caught seafood of the nine categories to Hong Kong willhave a slight decline by about 16%from the 2020 level by 2030.The projection also suggests no significant differences among the four climatic-socioeconomically interrelated scenarios regarding the export to Hong Kong before 2030.Top producers include China's mainland,United States,and Japan.However,China's mainland and Japan will suffer from the decline.The data-driven integrated assessment approach can be improved to provide more insights into the long-term change and sustainable management.

Population amount risk assessment of extreme precipitation-induced landslides based on integrated machine learning model and scenario simulation

In this study,the future landslide population amount risk(LPAR)is assessed based on integrated machine learning models(MLMs)and scenario simulation techniques in Shuicheng County,China.Firstly,multiple MLMs were selected and hyperparameters were optimized,and the generated 11 models were crossintegrated to select the best model to calculate landslide susceptibility;by calculating precipitation for different extreme precipitation recurrence periods and combining the susceptibility results to assess the landslide hazard.Using the town as the basic unit,the exposure and vulnerability of the future landslide population under different Shared Socioeconomic Pathways(SSPs)scenarios in each town were assessed,and then combined with the hazard to estimate the LPAR in 2050.The results showed that the integrated model with the optimized random forest model as the combination strategy had the best comprehensive performance in susceptibility assessment.The distribution of hazard classes is similar to susceptibility,and with an increase in precipitation,the low-hazard area and high-hazard decrease and shift to medium-hazard and very high-hazard classes.The high-risk areas for future landslide populations in Shuicheng County are mainly concentrated in the three southwestern towns with high vulnerability,whereas the northern towns of Baohua and Qinglin are at the lowest risk class.The LPAR increased with the intensity of extreme precipitation.The LPAR differs significantly among the SSPs scenarios,with the lowest in the“fossil-fueled development(SSP5)”scenario and the highest in the“regional rivalry(SSP3)”scenario.In summary,the landslide susceptibility model based on integrated machine learning proposed in this study has a high predictive capability.The results of future LPAR assessment can provide theoretical guidance for relevant departments to cope with future socioeconomic development challenges and make corresponding disaster prevention and mitigation plans to prevent landslide risks from a developmental perspective.