Search Results (203)

Road markings support lane guidance, traffic regulation, and machine perception, but their field inspection still depends largely on manual surveys or local retroreflectivity measurements. This study presents a vehicle-mounted inspection framework that fuses LiDAR intensity with camera-based semantic segmentation for automated road marking wear assessment. The platform integrates LiDAR, a stereo camera, IMU, GNSS, and an industrial computer. LiDAR-inertial mapping provides spatial alignment, while ground filtering, region-of-interest extraction, and adaptive intensity thresholding generate preliminary marking candidates. A YOLOv11 segmentation model produces pixel-level marking masks, and LiDAR candidates are projected onto the image plane for semantic confirmation. Confirmed points are accumulated into grid cells and evaluated using reflectance, point density, fusion retention, and geometric coverage indicators. In a representative route, 2441 grid units were analyzed: 1210 units were valid for formal grading, with 1060 good, 131 slightly worn, and 19 moderately worn units; 1231 units were reserved for review. The mean composite score of the valid grids was 0.906. A five-report aggregate further showed that 87.2% of the units received valid wear categories. The results indicate that multimodal fusion transforms road marking inspection into a quantitative, spatially referenced, and reportable process. Full article

Overseas land investment has emerged as one of the most complex human–environment system challenges of the twenty-first century, yet its evolving role under global carbon-neutrality targets remains theoretically under-specified. This study conducts a systematic literature review and bibliometrically assisted analysis of 145 English and 38 Chinese publications (2008–2026) to map the intellectual landscape, identify divergent research priorities, and examine the implications of carbon-credit-based land investment. Our analysis reveals three distinct evolutionary phases, extending from conceptual emergence and mechanism analysis to interdisciplinary expansion. It also identifies three parallel divergences between Chinese- and English-language research: contrasting research stances, thematic priorities, and governance imaginaries. These divergences are rooted in China’s transitional position within a Western-dominated discourse system. The findings suggest that China’s transition from rule adaptation to active governance participation is important, and that priority pathways include property-rights protection, carbon-standard alignment, and polycentric governance frameworks capable of balancing food security, host-country development rights, and global ecological justice. These findings provide both theoretical synthesis and actionable directions for governing land-based carbon markets in an era of geopolitical fragmentation. Full article

Against the backdrop of China’s 14th Five-Year Plan, digital economy strategy, and dual-carbon goals, this study draws on panel data from Chinese A-share-listed firms over 2008–2024 to construct a provincial digital intelligence (DI) index using the entropy-weighting method, measure corporate green total factor productivity (GTFP) using the SBM–GML model, and examine the effect of DI on GTFP and the mechanisms underlying this effect. The results show that regional DI is significantly and positively associated with GTFP, and this association remains robust across alternative specifications and endogeneity treatments. Mechanism tests indicate that lower financing constraints and lower ownership concentration may serve as potential channels linking DI to GTFP. Human capital strengthens this positive effect, whereas total asset turnover weakens it. Heterogeneity analysis further shows that the productivity gains from DI are more pronounced among large firms. Although subgroup estimates are larger for firms without executives who have overseas experience, the between-group difference is not statistically robust and is therefore interpreted as exploratory rather than causal. These findings highlight the importance of integrating DI with green transformation, improving firms’ access to finance and human capital, and adopting differentiated support policies. Full article

Chinese native-place association buildings are important public buildings and built heritage of overseas Chinese communities, organized around migrant subgroups. Taking Melaka, Penang, and Singapore as cases, this article constructs a diachronic H-GIS database through field investigations and documentary research, and applies kernel density estimation (KDE), the mean nearest neighbor index (MNI), and the intergroup proximity ratio (R) to examine the urban distribution of these buildings and intergroup spatial relationships. In all three cities, association buildings were long anchored in port-commercial spaces and historic districts yet followed different trajectories: single-core continuity with local expansion in Melaka, north–south dual-core continuity in Penang, and postwar relocation from Chinatown to Geylang in Singapore. In the nineteenth century, different dialect-based migrant subgroups exhibited varying degrees of spatial segregation. From the twentieth century onward, association locations no longer strictly followed early dialect-based districts, and cross-subgroup juxtaposition within the same urban areas increased. Comparison across the three cities identifies three main factors shaping these layouts: port-commercial nodes, changing dialect-group boundaries, and urban expansion and renewal. The findings indicate that the heritage value of Chinese native-place associations lies not only in individual buildings, but also in their role as an urban heritage system recording interactions among urban development, identity, and community organization over time in overseas Chinese society. Full article

Amid the profound restructuring of global value chains, supply chain risk has mainly been linked to visible shocks such as pandemics, wars, and geopolitical conflict. Much less is known, however, about whether exchange rate volatility can become a source of operational instability within firms. We examine this question using Chinese A-share listed firms from 2007 to 2021. We construct an industry-level exchange rate volatility measure by combining ADB input–output tables with bilateral real exchange rate volatility, and measure firms’ perceived and disclosed supply chain disruption risk from the MD&A sections of annual reports using a word-embedding approach. We find that higher industry-level exchange rate volatility is associated with a significant increase in firms’ perceived and disclosed supply chain disruption risk. The mechanism evidence indicates that this effect operates through both supply-side operating frictions and demand-side pressure: higher industry-level exchange rate volatility reduces inventory turnover and weakens overseas revenue realization. The effect is weaker in industries with longer backward production length but stronger among firms facing tighter financing constraints. It is also stronger among firms located in more open regions, firms with overseas-experienced executives, and firms with greater export intensity, but weaker among manufacturing firms. These findings extend research on the real effects of exchange rate volatility by showing how industry-level exchange rate uncertainty can materialize as firm-level perceived and disclosed supply chain disruption risk and undermine the operational continuity and long-term economic sustainability of internationally connected supply chains. Full article

Y. T. Wu (Wu Yaozong, 1893–1979) was a prominent Christian figure in twentieth-century China. His most significant contribution was to the Three-self Patriotic Movement of Protestant Churches during the 1950s, which also rendered him a controversial figure among overseas Christians. Situating Wu within the broader context of modern China, this article contends that he belonged to the generation shaped by the May Fourth and New Culture Movements, and that his Christian thought was characterized by a strong sense of social responsibility from its inception. The Great Depression (1929–1933) and the outbreak of the War of Resistance against Japan in the 1930s prompted Wu to shift toward socialism, a position he articulated in relation to Christianity and social reconstruction. In the 1940s, Wu participated in the Chinese democratic movement, emphasizing Christianity’s role in the development of the New China. Social reconstruction actually constitutes a significant dimension of Christianity in 20th-century China. While closely related to indigenization, it highlights social concerns and engagement. An examination of Wu’s intellectual legacy prior to the 1950s clarifies this dominant theme within Christianity in Modern China. Revisiting Wu’s intellectual legacy from this perspective may broaden contemporary discussions of indigenization and contextualization while also addressing critiques rooted in subsequent political events. Full article

Amid the accelerated global transition toward sustainable electromobility, Chinese Electric Vehicles (EVs) have forged a complex, evolving communication ecosystem across overseas social media platforms. Conceptualizing global digital discourse as a complex adaptive system (CAS), this study integrates CAS theory with Competitive Framing theory to systematically elucidate the thematic configurations, framework dynamics, and ecological activation mechanisms underlying the international image of Chinese EVs. By integrating unsupervised BERTopic modeling, Large Language Model (LLM) semantic mapping, the Entropy Weight Method (EWM), and Social Network Analysis (SNA), this inquiry operationalizes a comprehensive computational communication framework to mine large-scale behavioral and textual data from YouTube. The empirical findings unveil that: (1) international audience perceptions have broken through the traditional “low-cost manufacturing” stereotype, spontaneously giving rise to a multidimensional, composite cognitive schema centered on smart ecosystems and design experiences; (2) driven by the interplay of rational and irrational user feedback loops, the ecological activation efficiencies across diverse discursive dimensions exhibit pronounced nonlinear variances, characterized by a “strong activation of intelligent ecosystems versus a long-tail stagnation of cost-effectiveness salience”; and (3) positive technological frameworks and negative geopolitical or regulatory risks engage in fierce, adversarial contestation and structural hybridization within a highly volatile network topology, culminating in a unique “dual-core” configuration. Theoretically, this study enriches the scholarly understanding of country-of-origin and corporate brand images through a complex systems lens; methodologically and practically, it offers a high-fidelity, actionable quantitative paradigm for global brand empowerment and targeted cross-border public opinion governance. Full article

Overseas Chinese Yanglou dwellings in Southern Fujian are important architectural heritage combining Western architectural elements and local construction traditions. However, their diverse facade forms and incomplete records make manual classification inefficient and difficult to quantify. Taking Jinjiang, China, as the study area, this research constructs a Yanglou facade image dataset and proposes a deep learning-based workflow for type recognition, model interpretation, and spatial analysis. Deep visual features and unsupervised clustering were used to identify three morphological patterns: traditional continuity, partial addition, and overall transformation. These patterns were further organized into a classification system of three categories and seven subtypes. YOLOv8n-cls, YOLO11n-cls, and YOLO26n-cls were compared for facade recognition, while feature map visualization, Grad-CAM, and t-SNE were used for model interpretation. GIS analysis suggests that traditional-continuity types are mainly distributed in inland plain and piedmont settlements. The Five-Foot Way type is widely distributed, whereas overall-transformation types are concentrated in several coastal or near-coastal villages. YOLO11n-cls achieved the best overall validation performance within the current Jinjiang sample set. The proposed workflow supports quantitative classification, interpretable recognition, and spatial documentation of Yanglou dwellings. Full article

Against the backdrop of the global green transition and China’s pursuit of high-quality opening-up, examining whether green industrial policy can improve firms’ OFDI performance is important for understanding how domestic green transformation can be translated into international competitive advantages. Firms’ OFDI performance is not only related to the long term returns of firms’ cross border operations, but also reflects the effectiveness of a country’s opening up strategy. Using Chinese A share listed manufacturing firms from 2010 to 2024 as the research sample, this study constructs a multi period difference in differences model to systematically examine the impact of Green Factory certification on firms’ OFDI performance. The results show that Green Factory certification significantly improves firms’ OFDI performance. This conclusion remains robust after a series of tests, including the parallel trend test, heterogeneous treatment effect identification, and instrumental variable estimation. Further mechanism analysis indicates that Green Factory certification promotes the improvement of OFDI performance mainly through two channels, namely enhancing total factor productivity and strengthening the green innovation-driven effect. The moderating effect results show that overseas investment experience strengthens the positive effect of Green Factory certification on OFDI performance. The heterogeneity analysis further suggests that the performance-enhancing effect is more evident among firms adopting wholly owned entry modes, firms operating in heavily polluting industries, non-state-owned firms, and firms investing in host countries with higher environmental performance. This study contributes to the literature on environmental regulation, green innovation, and international business by showing that Green Factory certification functions not only as a green industrial policy tool, but also as both an institutional signal and a capability-building mechanism, helping to convert firms’ green transformation capabilities into international performance advantages. Full article

The humid coastal Lingnan region of South China, including the Chaoshan area of eastern Guangdong, is frequently exposed to disaster-prone weather conditions such as high humidity, typhoon-related winds, heavy rainfall, and salt-laden coastal air. These long-term environmental exposures may contribute to surface deterioration risks of architectural heritage. Located in Shantou, Yingchuan Shijia has shown five visible surface deterioration types—cracks, staining, saltpetering, plants, and spalling—under the combined influence of environmental exposure, material aging, previous disturbance, and insufficient maintenance. To address the limitations of manual inspection, this study explores a conservation-oriented intelligent workflow integrating YOLO-based detection, digital documentation, and screening-level conservation interpretation. Digital documentation used UAV imagery, mobile LiDAR scanning, measured drawings, and SketchUp-based three-dimensional modeling. The dataset was built in three stages: a 99-image preliminary dataset, where YOLOv8 showed only basic learning capability with low performance metrics, including Precision of 33.0 ± 3.0%, Recall of 28.0 ± 1.0%, mAP50 of 25.0 ± 1.0%, and mAP50-95 of 11.0 ± 1.0%; a 362-image non-augmented case-study dataset, where YOLOv8 still showed limited performance, with mAP50 of 20.0 ± 1.0% and mAP50-95 of 8.0 ± 1.0%; and a final YOLO-format case-study dataset of 2000 images after training-set-only augmentation using 11 geometric and photometric transformation methods. After augmentation, YOLOv8 mAP50 increased to 62.0 ± 2.0%. Under the same augmented-data condition, YOLOv13 showed Precision of 89.0 ± 1.0%, Recall of 77.0 ± 1.0%, mAP50 of 84.0 ± 1.0%, and mAP50-95 of 65.0 ± 1.0%, indicating relatively higher validation performance than YOLOv8. In the normalized confusion matrix, the background missed-detection values for cracks and saltpetering were 0.29 and 0.22, respectively, indicating that weak-feature and low-contrast deterioration types remained challenging. Based on YOLOv13, a mini program was developed to organize detection outputs and provide field-oriented preliminary conservation hints. Overall, this study provides a preliminary workflow linking digital collection, image-based deterioration detection, Grad-CAM visualization, and assisted field recording for the preventive conservation of Chaoshan overseas-Chinese residences in humid coastal heritage environments. Full article

Red imported fire ants (Solenopsis invicta) have invaded Zhejiang Province in eastern China, but their introduction sources remain unclear. Using 42 microsatellite markers, we analyzed the genetic structure of 116 ant colonies from 35 locations across Zhejiang and seven other Chinese provinces. Our results reveal multiple, genetically distinct clusters within Zhejiang. The Ningbo population is highly differentiated from all other sampled Chinese populations, suggesting a possible overseas origin (e.g., via port entry), a hypothesis not previously considered. Despite geographical proximity, the Jinhua and Dongyang populations are genetically distinct, indicating separate sources: Jinhua from southern China via nursery stock transport, and Dongyang from imported logs. Populations in Wenzhou, Jiaxing and Hangzhou are genetically closer to samples from other Chinese provinces than to other Zhejiang populations. These findings demonstrate that S. invicta in Zhejiang originated from multiple independent introduction events, including both domestic and international sources. This complex genetic structure highlights the need for strengthened quarantine measures at ports (especially Ningbo) and reduced human-mediated dispersal within the province to prevent admixture that could enhance invasive potential. However, we acknowledge that the limited sample sizes (mostly three nests per population) may affect the precision of allele frequency-based estimates, and our findings should be interpreted with this caveat. Full article

To quantify the carbon footprint of cross-border bridges built by Chinese companies in Africa, based on the Janwani Bridge in Tanzania and the life cycle theory, it is divided into five stages: production, transportation, on-site construction, operational maintenance, and demolition and disposal. Using the emission factor method to construct carbon emission models for each stage, while considering cross-border supply chains and the addition of vegetation carbon sinks, we quantify the emissions for each stage. The research is based on the project design stage bill of quantities and construction organization data for prediction and estimation. The energy consumption parameters of construction machinery refer to the Chinese quota standards, and the energy consumption of lighting during the operation period is estimated according to the design parameters. The results show that the total carbon emissions of the life cycle of the bridge is about 41,668,548.20 kgCO₂e, with the production stage being the dominant position (87.48%), and cement and reinforcing steel contributing more than 95% of the emissions during this stage. The operational maintenance stage comes second (7.28%), mainly driven by lighting electricity (accounting for 73.65% of the total emissions in this stage), attributed to the local power grid dominated by fossil fuels. Sensitivity analysis shows that the key factors are ranked as cement > reinforcing steel > electricity > diesel. Considering the reality of insufficient supply of low-carbon materials and weak infrastructure in Africa, emission reduction measures are proposed from three aspects: optimizing concrete mix proportion, controlling construction machinery, and implementing intelligent lighting. The research contribution lies in incorporating the entire cross-border transportation chain and newly added vegetation carbon sinks into the LCA boundary of bridges, while considering the dual attributes of “technology output + localized operation”, and constructing a carbon emission accounting model adapted to the built-up areas of African cities. On this basis, the carbon emission characteristics of the life cycle were quantitatively analyzed, feasible emission reduction measures in the region were proposed, and the carbon reduction potential was calculated, providing scientific basis for low-carbon control of Chinese enterprises’ overseas bridges. Full article

This study explores the impact of internationalization on the financing decisions and finance costs of Chinese enterprises listed in Hong Kong, extending the pecking order theory to an international context. Utilizing data from 785 companies from 2010 to 2020, the research investigates how the degree of internationalization influences corporate finance strategies, with a focus on the mediating role of the pecking order and the moderating effects of international business factors. The findings reveal that while broader internationalization increases finance costs, deeper internationalization reduces them. Legal distance is found to negatively moderate this relationship, whereas the structure of the financial system positively influences it. The results suggest that multinational enterprises with extensive overseas resource allocation demonstrate greater flexibility in financing decisions, particularly in foreign markets characterized by strong investor protection and efficient direct finance mechanisms. Managers should be cautious about pursuing wide geographic expansion without adequate operating depth because a broad but shallow international presence may increase financing frictions. By contrast, deeper resource commitment abroad can strengthen financing flexibility and improve access to lower-cost funds, especially when institutional conditions in the financing market are favorable. Full article

The U.S. strategies of “friend-shoring” and “near-shoring,” aimed at enhancing supply chain autonomy, are profoundly restructuring global production networks. This study empirically evaluates the impact of these strategies on China’s factor-intensive industries. Utilizing the Asian Development Bank Multi-Regional Input-Output database, we constructed a Global Industrial Value Chain Backbone Network and applied the X-index Filtering Algorithm to identify core trade relationships. Policy impacts were quantified by comparing degree, betweenness, and closeness centralities between null and counterfactual models. The results indicate that “friend-shoring” exerts a significant “squeeze effect” on China, with resource-intensive industries facing severe decoupling risks that cascade into supporting services. Conversely, the impact of “near-shoring” remains limited, as Chinese firms mitigate trade diversion through strategic overseas investment. Scenario analysis further reveals that while new trade remedies targeting re-exports may bolster emerging hubs like Vietnam and Mexico in the short term, they increase the topological distance of global production networks, leading to a systemic decline in efficiency. These findings provide critical quantitative evidence regarding the evolution and systemic risks of global value chains under geopolitical intervention. Full article

Adopting a parent-firm perspective, this study investigates how digital transformation and its synergy with the specific advantages of emerging market multinational enterprises affect the performance of overseas subsidiaries. Using panel data from 448 Chinese listed manufacturing multinationals and their 1179 overseas subsidiaries over the period 2011–2021, regression analyses reveal that parent-firm digital transformation significantly enhances overseas subsidiary performance. Moreover, this positive effect is more pronounced when the parent firm exhibits a stronger Institutional void coping capability. The moderating analysis further indicates that the firm’s internal business group network strengthens this relationship, whereas parent-firm host-country experience does not show a significant moderating role. By examining how market multinational enterprises integrate home-country-specific advantages with digital capabilities, and by analyzing the contingent roles of organizational capabilities and host-country experience, this research extends the theoretical framework of multinational enterprises’ competitive advantage in the digital era. The findings provide a theoretical foundation for emerging market firms to enhance overseas operational efficiency and strengthen sustainable global competitiveness through digital transformation. Full article