Search Results (54)

In the new development stage of China’s green and low-carbon transition, agricultural industry agglomeration serves as a key catalyst for sustainable agricultural practices. Its effects on agricultural carbon reduction and energy conservation urgently need investigation. This research uses panel data from 31 Chinese provinces spanning 2005 to 2021 to investigate the nonlinear effects of agricultural industry agglomeration on agricultural carbon emissions and energy consumption, employing econometric models such as the two-way fixed effects model, mediation model, and moderation model. The findings indicate that (1) there’s a clear inverted U-shaped pattern linking agricultural industry agglomeration to both carbon emissions and energy consumption in agriculture; (2) agricultural scale effects and socialized services are key mechanisms; (3) marketization and environmental regulation positively moderate this relationship; and (4) the carbon reduction and energy-saving effects are more pronounced in regions with higher agricultural modernization levels, higher urbanization rates, and plain areas. This finding contributes to optimizing the path of agricultural industry agglomeration and facilitates the synergy of carbon reduction and energy conservation in such agglomeration. Full article

Urban–rural integration and common prosperity are two major strategic goals in China that constitute the dual driving force for the transformation of urban–rural relations in the process of Chinese modernization. The digital economy provides new momentum for the simultaneous advancement and mutual collaboration of those working to achieve them. This study draws on panel data covering 30 Chinese provinces over the period 2013–2024 and employs a mixed-method approach that combines the entropy weight method, coupling the coordination degree model, geographically and temporally weighted regression (GTWR), and dynamic qualitative comparative analysis (QCA). It systematically investigates how the coupling-coordination degree between urban–rural integration and common prosperity has evolved over time and space, as well as the multiple pathways through which the digital economy drives this coupling coordination. The study found the following: (1) The average coupling-coordination degree rose from 0.467 to 0.580, with a clear spatial divide, specifically, high in the eastern seaboard and centrally administered cities, versus depressed levels in the west and southwest. (2) The significant positive driving effect of the digital economy is significant, with a more prominent marginal effect in underdeveloped areas. (3) The study reveals three interchangeable paths: technology–organization synergy, organization–environment linkage, and all-encompassing driving, with digital resources serving as the core common condition across all pathways. The study offers both theoretical and empirical support for designing digital economy policies tailored to local conditions, thereby advancing urban–rural integration and common prosperity, and thereby advancing sustainable development in China and offering valuable lessons for other developing countries. Full article

Against the backdrop of digital transformation, industrial integration between modern services and advanced manufacturing has become an important driver of sustainable industrial development. Nevertheless, existing studies have mainly examined its direct effects, while paying insufficient attention to temporal path dependence, spatial spillovers, and the underlying transmission mechanisms. Using panel data for 29 Chinese provinces from 2005 to 2024, this study investigates how industrial integration affects manufacturing upgrading in China within a dynamic spatial econometric framework. To this end, a dynamic Spatial Durbin Model, spatial mediation analysis, and instrumental-variable estimation are employed. The empirical results indicate that industrial integration significantly promotes manufacturing upgrading. In the benchmark model, a 1% increase in the coupling-coordination index between modern services and advanced manufacturing is associated with an approximately 0.121% increase in the manufacturing upgrading index. Manufacturing upgrading also shows strong temporal persistence, as reflected by a lagged dependent variable coefficient of 0.878. The decomposition of spatial effects further reveals that industrial integration produces both local promotion effects and cross-regional spillovers, with a direct effect of 0.135 and an indirect effect of 0.156. In addition, mechanism analysis shows that innovation efficiency serves as an important transmission channel linking industrial integration to manufacturing upgrading. These findings imply that industrial integration can support sustainable development by improving resource allocation efficiency, strengthening innovation capacity, and promoting more coordinated regional industrial development. This study enriches the literature on industrial integration and manufacturing upgrading from a dynamic spatial perspective and provides policy-relevant evidence for the design of differentiated and sustainability-oriented industrial integration strategies. Full article

High-quality agricultural development (HQAD) in China is essential to achieving Chinese-style modernization, which represents a uniquely Chinese path to modernization characterized by coordinated development across economic, political, cultural, social, and ecological dimensions. Against the backdrop of accelerating digitalization in global value chains (GVCs), exploring how it influences China’s HQAD carries significant theoretical value and policy implications. This study, for the first time, integrates GVC digitalization and HQAD into a unified analytical framework. Utilizing panel data from 30 Chinese provinces from 2009 to 2020, it empirically examines the relationship between them and the underlying mechanisms. GVC digitalization is measured with the interaction term between provincial digital GVC participation and global digitalization level, while HQAD is comprehensively assessed using a multi-dimensional evaluation indicator system constructed based on the new development philosophy, employing the entropy weight TOPSIS method. The findings reveal that GVC digitalization significantly promotes HQAD in China. For every one-standard-deviation increase in the degree of digitalization, the level of HQAD increases by an average of approximately 0.02 percentage points. Mechanism analysis further identifies industrial structure upgrading and rural integration of primary, secondary, and tertiary industries as two crucial transmission pathways. Heterogeneity analysis indicates that this promoting effect is more pronounced in major grain-marketing regions, provinces with better digital infrastructure, and those with higher levels of human capital. This research provides new empirical evidence for understanding agricultural transformation in the digital era and offers policy insights for leveraging GVC digitalization to advance HQAD. Full article

The ESG performance of energy-intensive firms is not only related to their long-term investment value and competitiveness but also directly affects national energy security, environmental protection and the sustainable development of the overall economy. This study conducts an empirical analysis based on data from Chinese A-share listed energy-intensive firms from 2014 to 2022 to examine the impact and mechanisms of supply chain digitalization on the ESG performance of energy-intensive firms. The result suggests that supply chain digitalization can improve the corporate ESG performance of energy-intensive firms. Specifically, supply chain digitalization promotes energy-intensive firms’ ESG performance by alleviating financing constraints and mitigating managerial myopia. The positive effect of supply chain digitalization on the ESG performance of energy-intensive firms is more significant in firms with lower supply chain concentration and regions with higher levels of digital inclusive finance development. Furthermore, supply chain digitalization has a promoting effect on energy-intensive firms’ environmental, social, and governance dimensions respectively. This study fills a research gap by directly establishing the link between supply chain digitalization and ESG performance in energy-intensive firms, a sector central to global sustainable development, and deepens the understanding of the underlying transmission mechanisms; it further enriches the research on the influencing factors and implementation paths of corporate ESG performance, expands the research boundary of the intersection between supply chain digitalization and ESG performance, and provides important practical implications for promoting the high-quality and sustainable development of energy-intensive firms under the background of modern supply chain construction. Full article

This article reinterprets Yinguang’s (1861–1940) “Eight-Verse Guiding Principles” as a program that integrates worldly ethics with supramundane liberation in modern Chinese Buddhism. On the ethical level, Yinguang established “fulfilling one’s duties and preserving sincerity” as the fundamental code, insisting that moral responsibility and the guarding of right mindfulness revealed the innate luminosity of the mind. Building on this, the article looks at “eliminating selfish desires and manifesting illustrious virtue” (gewu zhizhi 格物致知) as a way to connect ontology to practice, highlighting the significance of “refraining from all evils and cultivating all virtues.” The practitioner made progress toward the ultimate objective of “purifying the mind” by following these steps. On the liberation level, the bodhi-mind functions as vow-power oriented toward Buddhahood for self and others. This dual aspiration functioned as the inner motivation for rebirth in the Pure Land and the attainment of Buddhahood. The triad of “faith, vows, and practice” furnishes an accessible soteriological pathway for ordinary beings who rely on Amitābha’s vow-power to achieve rebirth with karmic burdens. Methodologically, the study combines close reading of primary writings with modern theories of religious ethics and lived religion to show how name recitation (chiming nianfo 持名念佛) concentrates the mind and conduces to the samādhi of recitation, where “the whole mind is Buddha, and the whole Buddha is mind.” Framed within the broader dynamics of Republican-era moral reform and global Pure Land transmission, the article argues that Yinguang’s eight-verse guiding principles embodied the ideal of “reaching Buddhahood by way of the human path,” providing a historically grounded yet contemporary salient model for understanding Chinese religious culture today. Full article

Industrial heritage—particularly large modern cement plants—serves as a crucial witness to the architectural and technological evolution of modern urbanization. In Europe, North America, and East Asia, many decommissioned cement factories have been transformed into cultural venues, creative districts, or urban landmarks, while a greater number of sites still face the risks of functional decline and spatial disappearance. In China, early large-scale cement plants have received limited attention in international industrial heritage research, and their conservation and adaptive reuse practices remain underdeveloped. This study takes the Huaxin Cement Plant, founded in 1907, as the research object. As the birthplace of China’s modern cement industry, it preserves the world’s only complete wet-process rotary kiln production line, representing exceptional rarity and typological significance. Combining social media perception analysis with the Hidalgo-Giralt four-quadrant model, the study aims to clarify the plant’s value positioning and propose a design-oriented pathway for spatial activation. Based on 378 short videos and 75,001 words of textual data collected from five major platforms, the study conducts a value-tag analysis of public perceptions across five dimensions—historical, technological, social, aesthetic, and economic. Two composite indicators, Cultural Representativeness (CR) and Utilization Intensity (UI), are further established to evaluate the relationship between heritage value and spatial performance. The findings indicate that (1) historical and aesthetic values dominate public perception, whereas social and economic values are significantly underrepresented; (2) the Huaxin Cement Plant falls within the “high cultural representativeness/low utilization intensity” quadrant, revealing concentrated heritage value but insufficient spatial activation; (3) the gap between value cognition and spatial transformation primarily arises from limited public accessibility, weak interpretive narratives, and a lack of immersive experience. In response, the study proposes five optimization strategies: expanding public access, building a multi-layered interpretive system, introducing immersive and interactive design, integrating into the Yangtze River Industrial Heritage Corridor, and encouraging community co-participation. As a representative case of modern Chinese industrial heritage distinguished by its integrity and scarcity, the Huaxin Cement Plant not only enriches the understanding of industrial heritage typology in China but also provides a methodological paradigm for the “value positioning–spatial utilization–heritage activation” framework, bearing both international comparability and disciplinary methodological significance. Full article

The Jianggang sand ridges (JSR) in the southwestern Yellow Sea are a radiating tidal sand ridge system that plays crucial roles in ecological preservation, coastal protection, and terrestrial resource supply. Clay and silt fractions constitute important sediment components of the Jianggang sand ridges. In this study, the Sr-Nd isotopes of clay fractions and the Pb isotopes of K-feldspar in the silt fractions, along with their elemental geochemistry, are investigated to reveal the provenance and transport patterns of clay-size and silt-size sediments in the study areas. The results show that in both the clay-size sediments and the K-feldspar of the silt-size sediments, Ba exhibits the highest content, with the ranges of 432.24 μg/g to 531.05 μg/g and 398.02 μg/g to 2822.36 μg/g, respectively. In contrast, Lu shows the lowest abundance (<0.5 μg/g and <0.1 μg/g, respectively). The ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr and ε_Nd(0) values of the clay fraction vary from 0.7158 to 0.7265 and from −14.65 to −10.92, respectively. The ²⁰⁶Pb/²⁰⁴Pb, ²⁰⁷Pb/²⁰⁴Pb, and ²⁰⁸Pb/²⁰⁴Pb of K-feldspar in silt fraction are 17.959~18.429, 15.450~15.689, and 38.066~38.551, respectively. Through the MixSIAR model, it is suggested that the Yangtze River Mouth is the dominant contributor to clay-size sediments in both the onshore and offshore sand ridges (53.9 ± 8.8% and 51.9 ± 8.4%, respectively), followed by the Modern Yellow River Mouth and the Old Yellow River Delta (sum of contributions: <36%). For the silt fraction, the primary sediment sources of the onshore and offshore sand ridges are the Yangtze River Mouth (46.8 ± 5.5%) and the Old Yellow River Delta (42.4 ± 5.3%), while the Modern Yellow River contributes less than 16%. The Northern Chinese Deserts and the Korean rivers make only minor contributions to both fractions. Elemental and isotopic tracers indicate that the silt-size and clay-size sediments derived from the Modern Yellow River are transported southward along the Jiangsu coast by the Subei Coastal Current. Meanwhile, the silt fraction from the Yangtze River Mouth is carried northward along the coast under the influence of the Subei Coastal Current, whereas the clay fraction of it has another longer path, which moves through the central Yellow Sea and migrates southward along the Jiangsu coast to the Jianggang sand ridges under the influence of the Yellow Sea Warm Current. This study enriches the geochemical dataset of the southern Yellow Sea. Full article

In the current context, where global ecological governance overly relies on technological intervention while neglecting the role of social and cultural resources, intangible cultural heritage (ICH), as a carrier of traditional ecological wisdom, is facing a crisis of inheritance disruption in the process of modernization. The ecological governance value it contains has not been effectively explored and integrated, resulting in a dual predicament of ecological protection and cultural inheritance. This study employs quantitative empirical methods to explore the characteristics of the synergistic development of Chinese ICH transmission and green governance, empirically test the benefits and regional differences of the synergy, and evaluate the promoting role of the digitalization process. The core conclusions are that (1) the synchronized evolution of the ICH transmission and green governance manifests itself as slowly but unequally gradual, with path dependency, club convergence across top performers, and spatially radiating demonstration effects; (2) the synergistic effects of the ICH transmission and green governance give rise to social, environment, and market benefits, but synergistic effects are culturally and regionally heterogeneous; and (3) the digital-intelligent transformation plays a multiplier effect in the process of generating multiple benefits through the synergy of ICH transmission and green governance. Full article

Against the backdrop of the deepening “dual carbon” strategy and the globalization of ESG investment, China’s construction industry, an important key carbon-emitting sector, faces a “triple institutional dilemma”. It includes high carbon lock-in, human capital alienation, and an ambiguous governance structure. Current research on the practical paths of ESG compliance and its localized adaptation in this industry remains limited. Drawing on the green transformation theory, this study systematically explores the theoretical logic, realistic picture, and breakthrough path of ESG compliance in the industry. Firstly, it clarifies the connotation of ESG compliance and maps out the industry’s policy framework and practical patterns. Secondly, it analyzes core dilemmas from three dimensions: environmental constraints related to technical pathways, social conflicts between labor and community arising from institutional imbalances, and governance inefficiencies caused by irregular information disclosure and imperfect structure. Finally, it proposes a “three-dimensional collaborative” mitigation mechanism. This study provides localized, practical pathways for ESG compliance in the construction industry and offers a theoretical reference for the sector’s green transformation, thereby contributing to advancing Chinese-style modernization and ecological civilization construction. Full article

(1) Background: In the context of rapid urbanization and climate change, Chinese traditional villages are facing severe challenges such as deterioration of hydrological environment, weakened social resilience, and degradation of cultural heritage. (2) Methods: This paper took Baoyan Village in Zhenjiang City, Jiangsu Province as the research object and constructs a research framework of “assessment of historical hydrological resilience–diagnosis of current problems–construction of enhancement strategies”, aiming to explore the paths and driving mechanisms for enhancing the resilience of traditional villages. The spatio-temporal evolution of historical hydrological resilience in Baoyan Village was quantitatively evaluated by establishing a three-dimensional resilience index system of “ecological governance–social adaptation–cultural continuity”, combined with the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) and GIS spatial overlay technology. (3) Results: The study found that ① The hydrological resilience zoning of Baoyan Village presented spatial differentiation characteristics of “core vulnerability-marginal resilience”, and the high-risk area was concentrated in the cultural building density area along the old Tongji River in the historical town area, indicating that this area requires key flood protection and resilience construction; ② this paper constructed a composite evaluation system of “Ecological Governance–cultural inheritance–social adaptation”, and the total score after evaluation was 0.67, indicating that the overall HHRI of Baoyan Village has declined. Specifically, the scores for Ecological Governance Resilience and Cultural Heritage Resilience were 0.48 and 0.46, respectively, reflecting a significant decrease compared to historical scenarios. Conversely, the score for Social Adaptation Resilience was recorded at 1.05, suggesting an improvement in this dimension. This enhancement can be attributed to advancements in water infrastructure and increased levels of community organizational support, which have bolstered the village’s capacity to withstand flooding events. ③ The integrity of weir fields, the transmission of traditional disaster prevention knowledge, and the stability of natural river channels are the main factors hindering the improvement of resilience systems. (4) Conclusions: Based on the assessment results, this study proposed the resilience enhancement path of “ecological space reconstruction-traditional water management wisdom activation–cultural resilience empowerment” for this case, and constructed a four-pronged driving mechanism consisting of government guidance, community participation, technology empowerment, and industrial synergy for implementation. Practice has shown that through specific strategies such as restoring the weir and field system, constructing sponge village units, and developing the rain and flood cultural experience industry, the key obstacle factors of the village can be effectively addressed, and the goals of flood safety and cultural inheritance can be achieved in a coordinated manner. This case provides an empirical reference that combines historical wisdom with modern technology for understanding the evolution of human–water relationships and the enhancement of resilience in traditional villages, and its research framework and methods are also of reference value for similar villages. Full article

China is vigorously promoting agricultural energy conservation and carbon reduction and accelerating the transformation of traditional agriculture towards green development, which is a key measure adopted by the Chinese government to advance agricultural modernization. Based on the panel data of 30 provinces in China spanning 2006–2023, this paper systematically studies the impact of agricultural cooperatives driving small-scale farmers on carbon emissions in the planting industry by comprehensively applying linear regression, mediating effect, threshold effect, and spatial econometric models. Studies show that cooperatives have significantly reduced carbon emissions for small-scale farmers, with a stable “carbon reduction effect”, and this effect is most obvious in the eastern region, presenting a regional gradient characteristic of “east > central > west”. The differences between major grain-producing areas and non-major grain-producing areas are relatively small, indicating that their emission reduction effect has wide applicability. Mechanism analysis indicates that improvements in agricultural technology and rural land transfers are key pathways to achieving emissions reductions. Further findings reveal that exemplary cooperatives have a dual threshold effect: they may initially experience a short-term “carbon increase effect”, but as the organization matures, it turns into a significant “emission reduction”. In addition, the development of cooperatives in this region has a positive spillover effect on the carbon emissions of the planting industry in the surrounding areas. This study makes up for the deficiency of the existing literature in the mechanism of “organization-driven individual” promoting agricultural green transformation; it reveals the path of cooperatives promoting low-carbon agriculture through technological promotion and land integration, enriches the theoretical system of agricultural green transformation, and provides replicable practical references for developing countries to promote energy conservation and carbon reduction in agriculture. Full article

Modernization in developing countries such as China has long been unsustainable. As a result, China has set the goal of achieving sustainable modernization characterized by harmony between humanity and nature. Against this backdrop, in this study, we apply spatial difference-in-differences (SDID) and double machine learning (DML) models using panel data from 30 provincial-level regions in China from 2009 to 2021. We examine the impacts of the National Big Data Comprehensive Pilot Zone policy and sci-technology financial ecology on the Chinese Path to Sustainable Modernization. The results show that big data pilot zones significantly enhance modernization and generate positive spatial spillover effects through demonstration and diffusion. Sci-technology financial ecology improves sustainable modernization and amplifies the role played by pilot zones. Heterogeneity tests reveal stronger effects in eastern provinces and in areas implementing urban–rural integration or green finance reforms. The results of the mechanism analysis show that big data innovation promotes modernization by strengthening sci-technology financial ecology, raising government attention, fostering inclusive intelligence development, enhancing green innovation efficiency, and upgrading industrial structures. Full article

County economies are the cornerstone of China’s economic and social development but face challenges such as a singular industrial structure and the outflow of production factors. As an important policy tool for rural revitalization, the impact mechanism of National-Level Modern Agricultural Industrial Parks (NMAIPs) on county economies remains inadequately explored. This study aims to quantify the dynamic economic effects of the NMAIP policy through rigorous empirical analysis and elucidate the core pathways driving county economic growth. Based on panel data from 44 counties in six central Chinese provinces from 2014 to 2024, this study employs a Multi-Period Difference-in-Differences (DID) model and finds a significant one-year lag effect of the NMAIP policy: in the year following park establishment, county GDP increased by an average of 8.5%, and this positive effect persisted until the fourth year but showed a trend of marginal diminution. Pathway analysis reveals that agricultural scale expansion (measured by gross output value of agriculture, forestry, animal husbandry, and fishery) and production efficiency improvement (measured by the ratio of output value to agricultural expenditure) are the core driving mechanisms, accounting for 48% and 35% of the total effect, respectively. In contrast, the mediating roles of industrial integration (comprehensive index) and industrial structure upgrading (share of agricultural services) were not statistically significant in the short run. The policy lag primarily arises from the conversion cycle of infrastructure investment to economic output, while pathway differences are closely related to the maturity of the county’s agricultural industrial chain and resource allocation efficiency. This study provides robust empirical evidence for optimizing the timing and pathways of the NMAIP policy design: policy effect evaluations require a 1–2 year “window period”; resources should be prioritized for projects that can rapidly enhance scale and efficiency (e.g., scaled planting, technology-driven efficiency gains), laying a solid agricultural foundation before gradually fostering industrial integration. This aligns with the spirit of “avoiding industrial hollowing-out” proposed in the 2024 Central “Thousand Villages Project” and provides the Chinese experience for the policy evaluation and path selection of global agricultural parks. Full article

Tourism learning resources refer to tourism attractions that carry learning content or stimulate learning behaviors for tourists, thereby determining the quality and effectiveness of tourists’ learning experiences. Actively developing tourism learning resources and manifesting tourism learning functions serves as an innovative practical path for cultivating new quality productivity in tourism and bears the contemporary mission of constructing a national lifelong learning system in the context of Chinese-style modernization. However, at the present stage, Chinese tourists, tourism enterprises, and government functional departments still lack a clear and systematic understanding of the connotations and characteristics of tourism learning resources. This knowledge gap restricts the depth and breadth of resource development. To address the identified gaps, this study begins by exploring the relationship between tourism and learning. Through a systematic literature review, it aims to develop a conceptual framework for tourism learning resources to promote lifelong learning and support sustainable tourism development. Taking this framework as a tool, this paper first explains the connotation and characteristics of tourism learning resources; secondly, classifies them into knowledge popularization, natural observation, skill experience, inspirational development, and cultural recreation types; thirdly, identifies their functional manifestations as acquiring experience, knowledge, skills, and wisdom; and finally, proposes development strategies for tourism learning resources. The most critical strategies identified are (1) enhancing tourism learning literacy, (2) optimizing learning-oriented products, and (3) constructing regionally integrated learning destinations. Full article