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    Spatio-temporal differentiation and influencing factors of China's urbanization from 2010 to 2020
    LI Ruzi, HUANG Xiaoling, LIU Yaobin
    Acta Geographica Sinica    2023, 78 (4): 777-791.   DOI: 10.11821/dlxb202304001
    Abstract3662)   HTML910)    PDF (4458KB)(2639)      

    As China's urbanization has entered the middle and later stage and the improvement of well-being of residents has become a core goal, the transformation from "top-down" system goals optimization on the supply side to "bottom-up" multi-dimensional goals coordination on the demand side has become a new perspective to understand the connotation of urbanization. Based on the perspective of the human living conditions, the humanities environment, and human-city relationship, this paper constructs a connotation framework and index system of urbanization. Furthermore, Theil index is employed to analyze the spatio-temporal differentiation characteristics of China's urbanization before and after the implementation of the new-type urbanization strategy. Finally, in terms of both direct and indirect effect mechanisms, the mechanism framework of urbanization differentiation is constructed, and its evolution pattern is revealed by using Variance Decomposition and Geodetector. The results show that: since the implementation of the new-type urbanization strategy in 2014, China's urbanization has made remarkable achievements, with a steady improvement in human living conditions and human-city relationship, and there is still much room for improvement in the humanities environment. The high-level areas of urbanization are mainly distributed in coastal areas, and expanding to inland areas along the Yangtze River Basin and Yellow River Basin. The regional differences of urbanization gradually decrease, but the contribution rate of inner-regional differences shows an expanding trend. Differences in human living conditions and human-city relationship are the main factors of urbanization differentiation, but the contribution of differences in humanities environment is gradually expanding after 2014. Opening up and scientific & technological innovation are the main influencing factors of the difference in human living conditions. With the implementation of the new-type urbanization strategy, the impact on differences in humanities environment of the government finance gradually diminishes. Resource endowments have a relatively strong influence on differences in human-city relationship. This study can provide theoretical and empirical support for promoting the development of urbanization in China.

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    Spatial pattern and determinants of international migration flows in Asia, 1990-2015
    LIU Ye, WANG Xiaoge, GUAN Jing, GU Hengyu
    Acta Geographica Sinica    2022, 77 (10): 2409-2425.   DOI: 10.11821/dlxb202210001
    Abstract3145)   HTML168)    PDF (2817KB)(693)      

    Understanding the characteristics of transnational migration in Asia is beneficial for China to formulate a reasonable international migration policy in the new era and promote the high-quality development of the Belt and Road Initiative. Based on the data of bilateral international migration flows from 1990 to 2015, this study tries to clarify the temporal and spatial patterns and influencing factors of Asian transnational migration by using social network analysis and spatial filtering panel negative binomial gravity model (ESF). The results are listed as follows: First, the main migration flows in Asia from 1990 to 2000 were concentrated in West Asia, South Asia and Southeast Asia, and most of them occurred between the adjacent countries and regions. From 2000 to 2015, there was a number of large-scale migration flows across the above three subregions. Second, the scale of the migration network in Asia is relatively low, and the degree of closeness between the Asian countries has increased first and then weakened over time. Third, political instability and war conflicts of the origin were important driving forces for transnational migration in Asia. Besides, the differences of economic development and national income between countries were the crucial driving forces, while multi-dimensional proximity factors played an important role in promoting transnational migration. Fourth, from 1990 to 2015, the effect of economic differences on transnational migration increased first and then weakened. In addition, political instability has always been the main influencing factors for migration. Besides, the development of import trade has positively promoted transnational migration, and the attractiveness of studying abroad has a fluctuating effect on transnational migration. Finally, non-economic and structural impacts were the most important factors influencing the transnational migration in Asia.

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    Pattern evolution and optimal paths of county urbanization in China
    LIU Yansui, YANG Ren, LIN Yuancheng
    Acta Geographica Sinica    2022, 77 (12): 2937-2953.   DOI: 10.11821/dlxb202212001
    Abstract3000)   HTML447)    PDF (5350KB)(1590)      

    The orderly development of county urbanization, as an effective driving force for the integrated development of urban and rural areas in the new era, promotes the interaction and flow of elements between urban and rural territorial system, the optimization and adjustment of industrial structures, the optimal allocation of resources and markets, and the organic integration of urban and rural territorial system. The results show that: (1) From 2000 to 2020, the county urbanization in China developed rapidly, and the regional differences in spatial and temporal dynamics were significant. The county urbanization rate in the eastern coastal, central suburbs and northern border areas was high, while it is low in southwest China, rural areas of the central region and most parts of Tibet and Xinjiang. In 2020, to the east of the Hu Huanyong Line, the northeastern region, northern Hebei, Shanxi-Shaanxi-Henan region, eastern Sichuan, and Yunnan-Guizhou region became high-value areas for urbanization rates at the county level. There are 716 counties with urbanization rates exceeding 50%, including the Pearl River Delta, the Yangtze River Delta, the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region, the Chengdu-Chongqing region, the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River, the border areas of Inner Mongolia, and the southeastern coastal areas of Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Fujian, accounting for 38.3% of the country's total. (2) The county urbanization in China is the result of the combined effects of factors such as population, economy, society, and culture. The level of economic development, natural environment conditions, infrastructure construction, geographic locations, public resource supply, professional entrepreneurial clusters, and macro policies affect the direction, scope and depth of county urbanization. It is predicted that by 2035, the urbanization rate of China will reach about 76.04%, and that of counties will be about 64.38%. In the future, we should strengthen the adjustment and optimization of county population, economy, society and spatial organizational structure. (3) There are five types of county urbanization in China, including factor agglomeration urbanization in counties around big cities, industrial agglomeration-driven urbanization in counties with specialized function, agricultural modernization-led urbanization in counties with main agricultural production areas, ecological conservation urbanization in counties with ecological function areas, and concentrated urbanization in counties with population loss. (4) County urbanization takes county and key towns as important spatial carriers for the agglomeration of urbanization elements, and forms a multi-level system of residence-industry and industry-city coordination. The rational spatial distribution of factors such as the development of industrial integration and population resources will further promote the interactive flow of urban and rural elements, the integration of urban and rural industries, the equalization of urban and rural residents, and the equalization of urban and rural infrastructure, and enhance urban-rural integration and network development.

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    The extent and spatial distribution of terrace abandonment in China
    DONG Shijie, XIN Liangjie, LI Shengfa, XIE Hualin, ZHAO Yuluan, WANG Xue, LI Xiubin, SONG Hengfei, LU Yahan
    Acta Geographica Sinica    2023, 78 (1): 3-15.   DOI: 10.11821/dlxb202301001
    Abstract2969)   HTML499)    PDF (2847KB)(1902)      

    With urbanization and industrialization, cultivated land in hilly regions of China has been gradually marginalized. Abandoned cultivated lands have ranged from inferior sloping land and extended to high-quality terraces. The abandonment of terraces will lead to a series of social and ecological problems, especially with large-scale abandonment. Therefore, the degree and spatial distribution of terrace abandonment should be evaluated scientifically to address the issue of abandonment as well as its effects. This study investigated the extent of terrace abandonment in China via a questionnaire sampling method. Based on 560 village questionnaires from 329 counties in China, the scale of terrace abandonment was calculated and the spatial heterogeneity characteristics and primary reasons for terrace abandonment were further analyzed. Study results showed that: (1) The phenomenon of terrace abandonment was observed throughout China, occurring in 54% of all the villages investigated; 9.79% of the total terraced areas have been abandoned. (2) The degree of terrace abandonment showed a spatial pattern of "high in the south and low in the north". The degree of terrace abandonment was higher in the southern hilly mountains, and the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River was the most serious. (3) The primary factors related to terrace abandonment were found to be labor migration, the degree to which terraces have been mechanized, irrigation conditions, and farming traffic conditions. Measures that include improving the degree of terrace mechanization should be enacted to address the problem of terrace abandonment. An orderly "conversion of cropland" could be applied to poor-quality terraces. Changing the planting structure, strengthening new agricultural infrastructure, and encouraging circulation and large-scale operations are options that could be applied to good-quality terraces.

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    On spatial effects in geographical analysis
    LIU Yu, WANG Keli, XING Xiaoyue, GUO Hao, ZHANG Weiyu, LUO Qinyao, GAO Song, HUANG Zhou, LI Haifeng, LI Xin, WANG Jiaoe, WANG Jinfeng, ZHU Di
    Acta Geographica Sinica    2023, 78 (3): 517-531.   DOI: 10.11821/dlxb202303001
    Abstract2724)   HTML438)    PDF (1266KB)(1827)      

    GIScience inherits the spatial analysis tradition of geography. Given that "spatial is special", GIScience needs to highlight spatial effects when constructing methods for geographical analysis. The research presents an explicit definition of spatial effect. By formalizing core GIScience concepts including space, location, field, distance, and region, we identify four types of spatial effects, namely spatial heterogeneity effect, neighbor effect in spatial dependence, distance decay effect in spatial interactions, and scale effect in spatial zoning. A unified framework is constructed to cover the four spatial effects based on the inherent linkages among them. We argue that spatial heterogeneity effect is the most fundamental one. While spatial dependence and spatial interaction are two basic geographical processes that represent the second-order relationships between two locations, neighbor effect and distance decay effect reflect the impacts of space. Scale effect is raised when aggregating attributes using regional units. Hence, the four types of effects form a hierarchical system. From a methodological perspective, this paper summaries related GIScience tools that implement different effects, and emphasizes the value of geospatial artificial intelligence for revealing and quantifying spatial effects.

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    Unbalanced trend of urban and rural development on the east and west sides of Hu Huanyong Line and micro-breakthrough strategy along the Bole-Taipei Line
    FANG Chuanglin, LI Guangdong, QI Wei, SUN Si'ao, CUI Xuegang, REN Yufei
    Acta Geographica Sinica    2023, 78 (2): 443-455.   DOI: 10.11821/dlxb202302011
    Abstract2100)   HTML275)    PDF (2438KB)(1129)      

    Under the background of promoting more balanced and fuller regional development in the new era, standing at the strategic height of national regional coordinated and balanced development, it is necessary to comprehensively consider the natural environment, the unbalanced situation of economic and social development and the reality of widening gap on both sides of the Hu Huanyong Line, and put forward the basic idea of the Hu Huanyong Line to achieve micro-breakthrough along the Bole-Taipei Line. The Hu Huanyong Line is an important dividing line of population geography, natural geography and ecological environment in China, the dividing line of national main function area and national ecological function area, the dividing line of new urbanization main area and non-main area in China, and the dividing line of unbalanced and inadequate economic and social development in China. In the past 40 years, the gap of economic and social development between the two sides of the Hu Huanyong Line has been widening at an accelerating speed. In the next 30 years, the gap can be narrowed to achieve micro-breakthroughs, focusing on achieving "ten 10%", namely, the proportion of population in the northwest half of China will be 10%, the proportion of total economy will be 10%, with the economic growth rate being more than 10%, the proportion of fixed asset investment in the whole society will be more than 10%, the proportion of local fiscal revenue will be more than 10%, the proportion of actual use of foreign capital will be 10%, the growth rate of per capita GDP will be more than 10%, the rate of increase in the absolute difference in the per capita disposable income of urban residents will be controlled within 10%, the rate of increase in the absolute difference in the per capita disposable income of rural residents will be controlled within 10%, and the absolute gap in education resources will be narrowing at an average annual rate of 10%. In order to achieve the strategic goal of micro-breakthrough, this paper puts forward the main paths and countermeasures to narrow the development gap between the east and the west of the Hu Huanyong Line and attain the micro-breakthrough from the aspects of population micro-layout, economic micro-layout, urbanization micro-layout, industrial micro-layout, moderate water diversion nearby, improvement of ecological compensation and transfer mechanism, construction of the Bole-Taipei Line and implementation of the strategy of further development in the western region.

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    Spatial evolution of new infrastructure and its determinants: A case study of big data centers
    WANG Jiaoe, DU Fangye, XIAO Fan
    Acta Geographica Sinica    2023, 78 (2): 259-272.   DOI: 10.11821/dlxb202302001
    Abstract1969)   HTML457)    PDF (2376KB)(1393)      

    Data center is a new infrastructure system based on new development concepts, technological innovation, and information networks. It provides services for digital transformation, smart upgrading, and integrated innovation to meet the needs of high-quality development. The new infrastructure covers the construction of 5G base stations, intercity high-speed rail, intercity rail transit, new energy vehicle charging piles, big data centers, artificial intelligence, and industrial internet. It could promote resource integration, nurture new growth points, and shape new locations. Analyzing the spatial patterns of new infrastructures and their influencing factors is of great significance for understanding the regional development advantages. Using the data center as an example, this paper explores the spatial distribution and determinants of new infrastructure. Since the data center is not only infrastructure but also a strategic emerging industry, it is different from traditional infrastructure in terms of technical requirements and energy consumption. Since this difference will be reflected in the spatial layout, this paper proposes the macro layout principle of the data center. Then, the evolution characteristics and influencing factors of the spatial pattern of data centers in China are analyzed, and the following conclusions are drawn: (1) The macroscopic distribution of data centers should follow four principles: demand-oriented, cost oriented, operating environment-oriented, and safety oriented. (2) The distribution of data centers presents a spatial structure centered on the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region, Yangtze River Delta, Pearl River Delta, and Chengdu-Chongqing urban agglomeration. (3) Economic development, internet development, the number of high-tech enterprises, labor costs, and educational institutions have a positive impact on the macro layout of data centers. The impacts of location conditions, land costs, and layout policies of data centers on their macro layout begin to appear at a certain stage. (4) There are three types of data center distribution models in China: demand-orientated, cost-oriented, and demand-cost-operating environment-oriented. At present, the data center in China is demand-oriented and will develop into a comprehensive demand-cost-operating environment-oriented model in the future. Our conclusion could provide guidance and suggestions for scientific site selection and the optimal layout of data centers.

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    Spatial and temporal changes and evolution mechanism of county-level administrative division adjustment in the Qing Dynasty
    ZHAO Yicai, WANG Kaiyong, HUA Linfu, WANG Fuyuan
    Acta Geographica Sinica    2022, 77 (12): 2972-2990.   DOI: 10.11821/dlxb202212003
    Abstract1695)   HTML176)    PDF (3834KB)(497)      

    Administrative division is an important part of the national governance system. A systematic analysis of the spatial and temporal change pattern and influencing factors of the adjustment of county-level administrative divisions in the Qing Dynasty can better learn from and give play to the supporting role of administrative divisions in national and local governance. Using the textual research results of the national Qing history compilation project Qing History·Geographical Chronicles, and referring to the Qing Dynasty archives in China's first historical archives collection, Qingshilu, Qinghuidian, Daqingyitongzhi, local chronicles and other historical documents, this paper comprehensively analyzes the overall evolution and adjustment of county-level administrative divisions from 1683 to 1911. The research shows that: (1) There are 9 kinds of adjustment forms of county-level administrative divisions in the Qing Dynasty. The key of the adjustment is the proposal power of the governor, and the governor system is the institutional guarantee for the adjustment and promotion of administrative divisions. (2) The frequency of administrative division adjustment was greatly affected by the governance concept of the supreme ruler, showing fluctuating changes. The Yongzheng period was the absolute peak of administrative adjustment in the Qing Dynasty, the Guangxu and Xuantong periods was a relative peak, and the adjustment of Daoguang to Tongzhi periods was the least. (3) The setting of county-level administrative divisions was the most frequent, followed by the change and splitting of subordinate relations. Level change and consolidation were 2 types with lower adjustment frequency. (4) In the Qing Dynasty, the 4 types of adjustments of upgrading, relocation, abolishment and new establishment were widely distributed in 23 provinces, with the highest uniformity of provincial distribution, and the 4 types of adjustments of renaming, merging, changing affiliation and changing at the same level were concentrated in provinces such as Zhili, Henan and Shanxi. (5) The formation of the adjustment pattern of county-level administrative divisions in the Qing Dynasty was the result of the joint action of many factors. Political consideration was the decisive factor. All this reflected the management concept of clear hierarchy, clear rights and responsibilities, adjusting measures to local conditions and step by step.

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    Regionalization of flash floods in China
    CHEN Yuehong, XU Congcong, ZHANG Xiaoxiang, ZHANG Ruojing, MA Qiang, LIU Changjun, REN Liliang, SHI Kaixin
    Acta Geographica Sinica    2023, 78 (5): 1059-1073.   DOI: 10.11821/dlxb202305001
    Abstract1609)   HTML365)    PDF (4275KB)(1267)      

    According to the Ministry of Water Resources of the People's Republic of China, the number of casualties in flash flood disasters accounts for nearly 70% of flood disaster casualties in recent years and flash flood has become one of the major natural disasters causing casualties in China. Flash flood regionalization is fundamental for implementing the local measures of the flash flood prevention and mitigation according to local conditions. Using results from existing flash flood relevant physiographical regionalization schemes, and in accordance with the principles of comprehensive, dominant factors, the relative consistency within units, the relative difference between units, the integrity of spatial distribution and the hierarchical divisions, this paper firstly constructs an index system of the flash flood trigger factors and its underlying surface environment for the flash flood regionalization in China. In the combination of top-down and bottom-up regionalization, the hybrid self-organizing-map-based spatial clustering algorithm is then built. Finally, nine homogeneous regions at the first-grade and thirty-three subregions at the second-grade are delineated for flash floods in China. The historical flash flood events and the Geodetector method are adopted to evaluate the developed regionalization schemes. Results show that the first-grade and the second-grade flash flood regionalization schemes in China can respectively provide the determinant power of 66.4% and 75.4% for the spatial distribution of historical flash flood events in the whole country, indicating the developed flash flood regionalization has a good spatial consistency with the distribution of historical flash flood events with different densities. The developed flash flood regionalization not only effectively delineates the regional differentiation pattern of flash floods, but also provides a scientific basis for the implementation of localized flash flood prevention and mitigation measures in China, which benefits for the sound development of flash flood disasters prevention and management in China.

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    China's regional economic development and policy system evolution: A three-dimensional analysis framework based on dynamic perspective
    XIA Tian, XIA Ying, LIU Xiaoyu, SUN Jiuwen
    Acta Geographica Sinica    2023, 78 (8): 1904-1919.   DOI: 10.11821/dlxb202308004
    Abstract1548)   HTML360)    PDF (2025KB)(1034)      

    Despite the initial development goals achieved, China's macro-economy is still deeply affected by the external environment and stuck in its own structure at the same time. In retrospect, not until 1949 with the founding of the People's Republic of China did China's budding regional economy witness the prominence of a fixed development pattern shifting from a spontaneous to an actuating one. After comparing the three regional economic practices, this paper finds that each development stage has its corresponding development strategy. At the same time, several development patterns, namely, the coastal and inland areas, the three regions, and four plates were formed accordingly. Furthermore, through combing the literature and historical facts, this paper determines the historical starting point, division criteria and division scheme of China's regional economic development before summarizing three main lines and also contradictions therein: the government-market relations against the background of market reform, the coastal-inland relations against the tide of economic zonation, and the urban-rural relations against the trend of urbanization. Based on the above, the paper constructs a three-dimensional model out of the spatio-termporal process of China's regional development before proposing new historical stages from the perspective of economic system modernization. These historical stages are: industrial economy, special zone economy, district economy, regional economy and urban network economy. Finally, from the urbanization angle, this paper concludes that for different urbanization stages, regional policies should be industrial policies, factor policies, fiscal and tax policies sequentially.

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    The novel pattern and driving factors of population spatial distribution on both sides of the "Hu Line" based on seventh census in China
    QI Wei, LIU Shenghe, LIU Zhen
    Acta Geographica Sinica    2022, 77 (12): 3023-3040.   DOI: 10.11821/dlxb202212006
    Abstract1404)   HTML99)    PDF (4316KB)(559)      

    The "Hu Line" is a geographical line connecting Heihe City and Tengchong City in China. It is densely populated on the southeast side of the "Hu Line" but sparsely populated on the northwest side. Since the implementation of New-type Urbanization strategy in 2014, the spatial pattern of population distribution on both sides of the "Hu Line" has changed a lot. We put forward the "Quasi-Hu Line" based on the boundaries of prefecture-level administrative divisions. According to the seventh population census data in 2020, this study focuses on the new characteristics of population spatial patterns and population growth patterns on both sides of the "Quasi Hu Line" from 2010 to 2020. We analyze the driving factors combined with the development of New-type Urbanization. The main conclusions are as follows: (1) The human-land relationship reflected by the "Hu Line" was still stable, and the overall distributions of densely populated and sparsely populated areas were also steady. In 2020, the population ratio of the southeast side to the northwest side was 93.5∶6.5. (2) The population share of the northwest side still increased slightly, but the increment was significantly lower than that before 2010. (3) The centralization index of the population on the northwest side turned from decline to increase after 2010, which indicated the concentration of spatial population distribution in the northwest half was similar to that in the southeast half. (4) The spatial differentiation of population growth on the southeast side has been strengthened. The negative population growth area accounted for 54.22% of the southeast side from 2010 to 2020, exceeding the positive population growth area. The population growth on the northwest side had also changed from the "relative balance" model to the "Matthew effect" model, with the negative population growth area accounting for 26.14% of the northwest side. (5) The relative population growth advantage of provincial capitals was becoming much more prominent. The spatial polarization process of population growth slowing down or negative growth was formed in the surrounding areas of provincial capitals. In addition, such a process on the northwest side was more significant than on the southeast side. (6) The driving factors, including the level of economic development, the scale of urban population size, and the level of administrative divisions, significantly impacted population growth. For the northwest side, the level of administrative divisions had a particularly significant impact on population growth, while the impact of urban agglomerations was not noticeable. In general, the northwest side had begun to present similar population spatial distribution patterns and driving factors with the southeast side. In the context of population migration and urbanization, the novel patterns of spatial population distribution reflected a kind of "breakthrough" of the "Hu Line". With China's total population turning to decline and urbanization entering the mid-late stages, more attention should be paid to the regional differences and coordination of demographical structures on both sides of the "Hu Line".

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    The characteristics and multi-scale governance of rural space in the new era in China
    GE Dazhuan
    Acta Geographica Sinica    2023, 78 (8): 1849-1868.   DOI: 10.11821/dlxb202308001
    Abstract1360)   HTML274)    PDF (3252KB)(904)      

    Deconstructing rural spatial characteristics is the precondition for building rural spatial governance system in the new era, and multi-scale rural spatial characteristics and its governance path would effectively support the modernization of the national governance system. Based on the comprehensive, regional and mobile thinking paradigm of geography, this paper deconstructs the multi-scale rural spatial characteristics, identifies its internal operating logics, summarizes its governance dilemmas, constructs a multi-scale rural spatial governance framework that is based on geographical analysis paradigm, explores feasible governance paths, and constructs a multi-scale rural spatial governance system research plan, namely, "characteristics identification-dilemma analysis-governance framework-governance path". The paper finds that: (1) to analyze the operating logics of the multi-scale rural space through the comprehensive, regional and mobile analytical thinking of geography, it is necessary to understand the mechanism of action of scale synthesis, scale differentiation and scale flow to the multi-scale rural spatial characteristics, highlighting the comprehensive characteristics of rural space, strengthening rural spatial heterogeneity, and integrating rural spatial mobility. (2) The lacking urban-rural spatial overall planning, unsmooth spatial mobile network and not-reflected different types of rural spatial value are the key dilemmas in the rural spatial governance, which need to be addressed. (3) The multi-scale rural spatial governance framework of "comprehensive spatial governance-spatial zoning governance-spatial mobile governance" could effectively solve the problems of urban-rural spatial integration, regional spatial coordination and spatial network blockage. (4) Integrating urban-rural comprehensive governance, innovating regulation control to improve regional governance and balancing the configuration of spatial development right to achieve mobile spatial governance are feasible paths for multi-scale rural space governance. In conclusion, clarifying the multi-scale rural spatial characteristics in the new era and constructing a scientific governance system could provide theoretical support to promote integrated urban-rural development and rural vitalization strategy.

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    Vegetation distribution and vegetation activity changes in the Hengduan Mountains from 1992 to 2020
    YANG Jing, DAI Junhu, YAO Huarong, TAO Zexing, ZHU Mengyao
    Acta Geographica Sinica    2022, 77 (11): 2787-2802.   DOI: 10.11821/dlxb202211007
    Abstract1340)   HTML77)    PDF (5353KB)(474)      

    The Hengduan Mountains is one of the most biologically diverse areas in the world, geographically located in the eastern part of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau and the upstream of several major rivers. These mountains are ecologically conservated, with an extremely important ecological barrier function. Since 1990s, China has implemented several significant ecological restoration and construction projects in the research area. Due to limited data and lack of field investigations, few studies explored the integrity and long-term vegetation changes in this area. Hardly any of them discussed the systematical relationship between vegetation changes and elevation factors of the Hengduan Mountains. In view of filling this research gap, we used the Climate Change Initiative Land Cover (CCI-LC) dataset for the period 1992-2020 and the Normal Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) dataset from MODIS for the period 2000-2020 to reflect changes in vegetation distribution and activity, respectively. Here, we used transfer matrices to investigate the transition relationships among different vegetation types, and used Theil-Sen Median trend analysis to explore the spatial and temporal trends of vegetation activities. We also used the partial correlation analysis to quantify the influencing factors of vegetation activities. Herein, the relationship between vegetation coverage area and mean elevation change was also investigated. The results showed that: (1) The most widely distributed vegetation in the study area contained evergreen coniferous forests and shrub-grass types. Vegetation changes were distributed in river valleys, and southern low-altitude areas. The grasslands were mainly converted to evergreen coniferous forests to gradually improve the vegetation coverage. This showed that ecological protection policies played an essential role. However, vegetation coverage changes are generally in the initial stage of policy implementation. (2) The overall vegetation activity showed an increasing trend. In unchanged vegetation regions, vegetation activities increased in more than 75% of the area, and more than 20% of the area increased significantly (P < 0.05). The changing trend of forest vegetation was more significant than that of grassland. (3) The environmental factors that significantly impact vegetation activities are climate change and topographic slope. Although vegetation coverage was enhanced by increasing temperatures, the precipitation influenced the vegetation in hot and dry valleys. Nearly 25% of the total research area shows a decreasing. This decreasing trend is due to natural disasters such as landslides and mudslides caused by much precipitation and steep mountain slopes. These findings can provide a reference for the evaluation of ecological protection policies, the comprehensive risk assessment of natural disasters, and the prediction of vegetation changes under the influence of future climate change in the Hengduan Mountains.

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    Spatio-temporal pattern of registered population in Nanjing from 1928 to 2017
    XU Di, XU Yan
    Acta Geographica Sinica    2022, 77 (10): 2439-2456.   DOI: 10.11821/dlxb202210003
    Abstract1315)   HTML90)    PDF (4765KB)(460)      

    Based on registered population data, this paper examined a variety of population density models to explore the spatio-temporal pattern of the registered population of Nanjing during the past century. The results showed that: (1) The number of registered residents in Nanjing from 1928 to 2017 showed a flat "S"-shaped growth trend, forming an extensive dispersion with localized concentration types. The population density was the greatest in the Qinhuai River area, which has been the main registered population center. (2) The spatial structure of the registered population included: point-single center, axis-double center, enclave compound-multi center, and radiation-circle polycentric center. (3) The polycentric model, which is based on the central place theory, provided the best explanation for the features of the spatial structure of the registered population. The registered population distribution pattern in Nanjing was attributed to the joint action of four spatial location rules: the distance-decay law, allometric growth effect, spatial polarization characteristic, and regional-edge structure. (4) The transitions in the city during the past century were not a de-urbanization but a temporary fluctuation because of social transformation. Notable differences remained between traditional-Chinese residential center and the central business district.

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    Spatial structure characteristics of intercity travel network of Chinese residents: Based on Tencent migration data
    PAN Jinghu, WEI Shimei, ZHANG Rong, YANG Liangjie
    Acta Geographica Sinica    2022, 77 (10): 2494-2513.   DOI: 10.11821/dlxb202210006
    Abstract1308)   HTML70)    PDF (9983KB)(328)      

    Based on the Tencent migration data in 2018, the Chinese residents' intercity travel networks were constructed respectively from different time periods (annual, daily, special holidays, and the Spring Festival travel period), different travel modes (aviation, railway, and highway) and different urban agglomerations (inside and outside). Using the social network analysis method, the spatial structure characteristics of residents' intercity travel networks were explored and depicted from the perspective of "point-line-network", and the internal and external travel patterns of major urban agglomerations were summarized to reveal residents' intercity travel laws systematically and comprehensively. The results showed that: the residents' intercity travel network in 2018 presents a spatial pattern of "dense in the east and sparse in the west", forming a top-level cross-regional "diamond" network structure with high central cities such as Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou-Shenzhen and Chengdu-Chongqing as the vertexes. Residents' intercity travel in the Spring Festival travel period is quite different from that in other holidays. The weighted gravity center of the residents' intercity travel is more inclined to the southwest during the Spring Festival travel period. The daily average travel scale of the Spring Festival is higher than that of other periods. There are significant differences in residents' intercity travel population scale, travel range and travel transportation network under different travel modes. The aviation intercity travel, railway intercity travel and highway intercity travel are responsible for the population gathering and dispersion of intercity travel at national level, regional level and local level, respectively. The internal and external residents' intercity travel networks of urban agglomerations respectively show a spatial pattern of "core-hinterland-periphery" and "region crossing-neighboring-locality", with obvious significant hierarchy. Affected by administrative barriers, intercity travel within an urban agglomeration is more to the capital city as the origin or destination, showing a multi-center dual-core travel pattern, while the external intercity travel of the urban agglomeration is mostly single-center single-core travel pattern.

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    Spatial pattern and influencing factors of shipping service industry
    WANG Liehui, CHEN Ping, ZHANG Nanyi
    Acta Geographica Sinica    2023, 78 (4): 913-929.   DOI: 10.11821/dlxb202304009
    Abstract1223)   HTML165)    PDF (5101KB)(711)      

    The shipping service industry is a major driving force in the economic growth and reorganization of port cities' spatial structure, as well as a core element in raising hub port cities' competitiveness. Recently, the global distribution and network connections of the shipping service industry have attracted significant attention, but few studies have analyzed the distribution differences and influencing factors of different shipping service industries. In this study, we divided the shipping service industry into upstream shipping auxiliary industries (ship owners, ship management, ship repair and construction) and downstream shipping derivative service industries (shipping finance, shipping insurance, maritime law). And based on Lloyd's Maritime Directory in 2019, we built a database about the world's shipping service industry. The spatial connection network of the global shipping service industry was then examined at the global, regional and city levels, using the correlation network model and the negative binomial regression model, which revealed the differences in distribution between the upstream and downstream shipping services. The affecting elements on upstream and downstream shipping services are explored in the last section. The results are as follows: (1) Europe and Asia are the primary distribution region of the upstream and downstream shipping service industries, a pyramid structure is shown under the variation in countries' distribution. The spatial distribution of the upstream industry is wider in range, closer in connections and stronger in agglomeration, compared to the downstream industry. (2) The global shipping service network presents a dual-center structure. Europe centers on London and builds a trans-continental radiation network of downstream shipping derivative services connecting to neighboring capital cities. Asia forms an upstream service network that connects Hong Kong, Shanghai and other cities with Singapore as the center. (3) The upstream shipping auxiliary industry is mainly distributed in non-capital seaport cities, while the downstream shipping derivative service industry is chiefly distributed in the capitals and other administrative centers. (4) The e-commerce index and the logistics performance index are positively related to the upstream and downstream industries. Otherwise, the upstream shipping auxiliary industry is also affected by the degree of economic freedom, the number of tourist arrivals, and the liner transport index, while the downstream shipping derivative service industry is mainly influenced by international trade and political culture. This study provides a theoretical reference for China to construct an international shipping center, reaches the linkage development between upstream and downstream shipping services, and improves the overall strength of China's shipping industry.

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    Analysis of urban expansion and fractal features in global 33 megacities from 2000-2020
    HOU Yali, KUANG Wenhui, DOU Yinyin
    Acta Geographica Sinica    2022, 77 (11): 2687-2702.   DOI: 10.11821/dlxb202211001
    Abstract1222)   HTML105)    PDF (6766KB)(443)      

    The ultimate form of urbanization is the megacity, which is the typical form of urban structural characteristics and population agglomeration effects. However, the comparative studies on the urban form and expansion patterns of megacities worldwide are still insufficient. This study first analyzed the spatiotemporal changes of land use in megacities based on the Global Urban Land Use/Cover Composites with a 30 m spatial resolution (GULUC-30) by using the method of urban expansion intensity differentiation index (UEDI). Then, the fractal structure and expansion patterns of megacities were investigated using the area-radius model. Finally, urban land use efficiency was assessed through a linear relationship between urban land area and its interna population. The findings include: (1) Southeast Asia and China had experienced the most dramatic urban land expansion (3148.32 km2 and 5996.26 km2) over the last 20 years, along with the average UEDI of both greater than 3. (2) In 2000-2020, morphological characteristics and sprawl patterns of megacities developed toward greater intensification and compactness, with the mean radial dimension increased from 1.54 to 1.56. Meanwhile, radial dimension difference showed a year-by-year decreasing trend, and the intra-city structure showed integration. (3) In 2020, urban land use efficiencies in both North America and Europe were low, with urban land area to its population ratio coefficients ranging from 0.89 to 4.11. On the contrary, high values happened in South Asia and Africa, from 0.23 to 0.87. Spatial patterns and morphological changes in megacities provide important reference values for the intensive utilization of urban land and its sustainable development. Controlling the scale of megacity expansion and promoting the balanced exploitation of urban land are the essential ways for building resilient cities and sustainable urban planning.

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    Dynamics of developmental vitality and equilibria of counties in China based on nighttime lights data
    LIU Lingcen, SUN Zhongxiao, WU Feng, LI Yuheng, ZHANG Qian
    Acta Geographica Sinica    2023, 78 (4): 811-823.   DOI: 10.11821/dlxb202304003
    Abstract1219)   HTML242)    PDF (4351KB)(831)      

    Eliminating inequality and achieving balanced development is one of the Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations. Accurate measurement of development equilibrium is a primary scientific problem to be solved urgently. Nighttime lights data have been proven to be a good proxy for economic activity, and they have been used widely due to their advantages of convenient acquisition and wide spatial coverage. Therefore, in this study, we applied the Gini coefficients derived from nighttime lights data and pixelized population data to evaluate the development equilibria for China's 2900 counties from 2002-2020. We then examined the nexus of the development equilibrium and developmental vitality represented by the average nighttime lights intensity within each county. The results showed that the Gini coefficients based on nighttime lights data have generally been decreasing for 96% of the counties in China during 2002-2020. Moreover, in general, the Gini coefficients present a spatial pattern of being lower in the east and higher in the west. The results illustrate the synergetic development pathways of economic growth and equilibrium promotion of the economically developed counties, although the variation of their equilibria is significant. On the contrary, there is still distinct room for improvement of development equilibria for 60% of the economically underdeveloped counties in China. The results provide scientific support for achieving balanced development and promoting common prosperity in China.

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    Evolutionary characteristics and zoning of ecosystem functional stability on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau
    WANG Qianxin, CAO Wei, HUANG Lin
    Acta Geographica Sinica    2023, 78 (5): 1104-1118.   DOI: 10.11821/dlxb202305004
    Abstract1195)   HTML265)    PDF (6316KB)(835)      

    As the third pole of earth, the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau is an important ecological security barrier in China and an ecologically sensitive area of global climate change. The increasing climate change has posed a major challenge to its ecosystem function and stability. This paper first analyzes the spatiotemporal variation characteristics of the ecosystem pattern of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau and its key functions including water conservation, soil conservation, windbreak and sand fixation from 2000 to 2020, clarifies the regional differences in ecosystem functions and their importance, and further evaluates the stability of ecosystem functions. And there is no doubt that the stable state will lay a scientific foundation for the plateau to build an ecologically civilized highland and launch protection and restoration projects. The results show that: (1) From 2000 to 2020, the wetland area of the study area increased and the grassland area decreased significantly. The water conservation and windbreak and sand fixation capacity were improved, and the annual change rates were 3.57 m3/(hm2·a) and 0.23 t/(hm2·a), respectively. However, the overall soil conservation showed a downward trend with an annual change rate of -0.16 t/(hm2·a). (2) The core areas of water conservation, soil conservation and windbreak and sand fixation accounted for 12.7%, 13.9% and 14.2%, respectively. The core water conservation barrier areas were mainly located in southeast Tibet, Sanjiangyuan and Ruoergai. The core windbreak and sand fixation areas were concentrated in the central and western parts of the plateau, and the core soil conservation areas surrounded the plateau. (3) From 2000 to 2020, the water conservation, soil conservation, and wind protection and sand-fixation functions have shown relatively high stability in the southeastern and central parts of the plateau, while relatively weak stability in the western part of the plateau. Combining stability assessment and ecological protection and restoration practices, we can divide the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau into three major categories of 16 ecosystem function zones and carry out differentiated ecological protection and restoration for different core ecosystem functions and zones.

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    Planform geometry and controlling factors of river networks in the Yellow River source zone
    LI Minhui, WU Baosheng, CHEN Yi
    Acta Geographica Sinica    2022, 77 (11): 2878-2889.   DOI: 10.11821/dlxb202211012
    Abstract1188)   HTML43)    PDF (2545KB)(239)      

    The landform of the Yellow River source zone is diverse, leading to various drainage patterns. To understand the drivers of planform geometry of river networks in the Yellow River source zone, 83 representative sub-basins, including dendritic, pinnate, rectangular and symmetric pinnate patterns are selected for studies. Attributes to characterize the planform geometry of river networks are calculated. The relationships between river network attributes and environmental factors are examined. The results show that the differences in the characteristics of the 4 drainage patterns are well reflected by the aspect ratio, drainage density and the maximum frequency of flow directions. Changes in drainage density and the maximum frequency of flow directions are well expressed by slope and precipitation variation. Aspect ratio is significantly influenced by precipitation. The pinnate networks are mainly distributed at the northern edge of the upper plateau where the climate is arid and the surface is bare. The mean basin slope of this pattern is 4.5o, and the mean relief is 730 m. The rectangular networks are concentrated in the Zoige basin where the mean basin slope and relief are 2.3o and 177 m, respectively. The climate of the Zoige basin is relatively humid and there are plenty of swamps and wetlands. The symmetric pinnate networks are more likely to occur in the high-relief valleys where the precipitation varies greatly. The average slope and relief of the symmetric pinnate networks are 16.9o and 1167 m, respectively. The dendritic networks are distributed mainly in mountainous areas of the middle reaches and fluvial plains in the northeast part of the source zone. The average slope and relief of the dendritic networks are 15.4o and 968 m, respectively. The vegetation coverage is better than that of the upper plateau. Our analysis suggests that topography is the main factor that leads to the differences of planform geometry among various drainage patterns. Climate and vegetation coverage play an important role in the development of river networks when the constraints of topography are reduced.

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    Spatio-temporal variation patterns of diurnal freeze-thaw cycles of the near-surface soil on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau between 2002 and 2020
    SHEN Qikai, LIU Xiuguo, ZHOU Xin, ZHANG Zhengjia, CHEN Qihao
    Acta Geographica Sinica    2023, 78 (3): 587-603.   DOI: 10.11821/dlxb202303006
    Abstract1108)   HTML203)    PDF (8122KB)(818)      

    The diurnal freeze-thaw cycle of near-surface soils on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau (QTP) significantly affects the exchange of water and energy between the soil and the atmosphere, which is important for an understanding of the response of the QTP to climate change. Based on MODIS, AMSR-E and AMSR-2 data, we first obtained the diurnal calibration coefficients from AMSR-2 to AMSR-E in the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau (QTP), and then used the Fourier nonlinear model to fusion diurnal freeze-thaw index with surface temperature, and further obtained the diurnal freeze-thaw condition of near-surface soils at 1 km resolution per day, and finally carried out a study on the spatial and temporal changes of diurnal freeze-thaw cycles of near-surface soils in the QTP between 2002 and 2020. The results indicate that: (1) The improved calibration method of AMSR series sensors in this paper is more suitable for the QTP region than the calibration method for global scale. The accuracy of the freeze-thaw product obtained by fusion using the Fourier nonlinear model was 80.96% for diurnal freeze-thaw discrimination, which was 3.95% higher than that of the unfused product. (2) The frequency of diurnal freeze-thaw cycles in the seasonal freeze-thaw process of near-surface soils on the QTP varies spatially, with the highest frequency occurring in the southern Tibetan region and the Qinghai plateau, and is cyclical in time, the high frequency region shows a shift to the northwest when warming and to the southeast when cooling. (3) In the past 20 years, the trend of diurnal freeze-thaw days in different parts of the QTP is varied, with the northern Tibetan plateau, southern Tibetan alpine region and eastern Tibetan region showing an increase and the Qinghai plateau showing a decrease. (4) There are regional differences in the beginning of the continuous diurnal freeze-thaw cycle on the QTP, with the beginning of the thawing process being gradually delayed from east to west and the beginning of the freezing process being gradually delayed from west to east. In the past 20 years, the starting time of continuous diurnal freeze-thaw cycle in near-surface soils has been changing, with 0.17 d/a earlier during thawing and 0.18 d/a earlier during freezing.

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    The evolutionary characteristics and innovation effects of technological knowledge polycentricity in Chinese urban agglomerations
    MA Haitao, XU Xuanfang, JIANG Kaile
    Acta Geographica Sinica    2023, 78 (2): 273-292.   DOI: 10.11821/dlxb202302002
    Abstract970)   HTML247)    PDF (5289KB)(671)      

    Technological knowledge polycentricity is a measure of the degree of polycentricity present in knowledge innovation; it can be used to model the spatial structure of technological knowledge production and cooperation within urban agglomerations, and can thus be used to gauge the level of innovation and the quality of development in an urban agglomeration. Drawing on patent application and inter-city patent cooperation data for 293 cities in China in the years 2000, 2005, 2010, 2015, and 2019, we used polycentricity measures, instrumental variables, and panel threshold models in order to explore the spatiotemporal evolution characteristics, type evolution trends, and innovation output effects of technological knowledge polycentricity in 19 urban agglomerations. Our results show that: (1) The evolution of the morphological and functional polycentricity of technological knowledge differs significantly between agglomerations—whilst morphological polycentricity showed a fluctuating trend (whereby a decline was followed by an increase and then a further decrease); in fact, we found functional polycentricity to have gradually increased over the study period. (2) Urban agglomerations with high morphological and functional polycentricity values were found to maintain higher innovation levels, while low morphological and functional polycentricity could be linked to lower innovation levels; the results of the type of distribution analysis, further, show that while morphological polycentricity did not present any obvious concentration or evolution trends over the study period, functional polycentricity increased significantly. (3) The modeling results show that the relation between the morphological polycentricity of urban agglomerations and urban innovation outputs has an inverted U-shaped relationship, with an inflection point at the value 0.438; functional polycentricity, in contrast, was found to maintain a consistently positive relationship with innovation outputs, confirming the importance of inter-city innovation cooperation when it comes to urban innovation output. Our conclusions on the development pattern of technological knowledge polycentricity can provide theoretical support for the formulation of innovation development strategies in urban agglomerations.

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    Spatiotemporal patterns and determinants of interprovincial migration in China between 2000 and 2020
    GU Hengyu, LAO Xin, WEN Fenghua, ZHAO Zhihao
    Acta Geographica Sinica    2022, 77 (12): 3041-3054.   DOI: 10.11821/dlxb202212007
    Abstract965)   HTML81)    PDF (1287KB)(445)      

    Understanding the geographical pattern and driving factors of China's population migration in the first 20 years of the 21st century has become a pivotal issue in promoting the construction of the new-type urbanization and interaction development between regions during the 14th Five-Year Plan period (2021-2025). Supported by the data of the sixth and seventh national population censuses and 2005 and 2015 national 1% population sample surveys, this paper aims to investigate the spatiotemporal evolution characteristics and influencing factors of interprovincial migration in China from 2000 to 2020. Relevant population geospatial analysis and the eigenvector spatial filtering Poisson pseudo-maximum likelihood estimation (ESF PPML) gravity model are employed. The following conclusions are drawn: (1) China's population migration patterns were generally stable from 2000 to 2020, where notable imbalance and network spillover effects were also detected. A large number of migrants from central, western and northeast parts of China tended to move to the eastern region. (2) The overall migration patterns between 2000 and 2020 revealed several changing characteristics. The degree of imbalance and spatial agglomeration of migration patterns gradually weakened. Yet, a north-south differentiation emerged. It is also found that the out-migration trend of the northeast region increased with the elaspe of time. (3) The ESF PPML model indicated that gravity factors (population scale, geographical distance), regional socio-economic factors (wage disparity, proportion of investment in science and technology and education, medical care), social network factors, environmental comfort (PM2.5 concentration) and living costs (proportion of housing price) drove the interprovincial migration pattern between 2000 and 2020. (4) The influence of regional economic differences on interprovincial migration reflected a weakening trend. The pattern of population migration gradually turned into the decision-making of diversified demands for the economy, public services and urban amenities, while the living cost factor represented by housing price had played a gradually significant part. The conclusion of this paper provides policy references for the construction of the new-type urbanization and coordinated development between regions during the 14th Five-Year Plan period in China.

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    Spatiotemporal interaction characteristics and transition mechanism of carbon intensity in China's service industry under the targets of carbon peak and carbon neutrality
    WANG Zheng, CHENG Zhanhong
    Acta Geographica Sinica    2023, 78 (1): 54-70.   DOI: 10.11821/dlxb202301004
    Abstract913)   HTML125)    PDF (3402KB)(695)      

    To realize carbon‐related nationally determined contributions and achieve the targets of carbon peak and carbon neutrality on schedule, low-carbon development of China's service industry is an inevitable trend. On the basis of the comprehensive application of multiple spatial analysis methods, the spatiotemporal evolution and dynamic interaction characteristics of carbon intensity in China's service industry from 2005 to 2019 are analyzed from the perspective of spatiotemporal interaction. Combined with quantile regression and the nested model of spatiotemporal transition, the driving mechanism patterns of carbon intensity in China's service industry under different transition types are revealed. The results are as follows: (1) The carbon intensity in China's service industry first increased and then decreased from 2005 to 2019, showing spatially unbalanced characteristics. (2) The kernel density curve demonstrates the dynamic convergence trend of regional differences in the carbon intensity of the service industry. And the carbon intensity also showed a significant spatial agglomeration phenomenon according to the spatial autocorrelation analysis. (3) Based on the evolution analysis of the spatial correlation pattern of carbon intensity in the service industry from 2005 to 2019, a path-locking feature was shown by few spatiotemporal transitions across different types. The eastern coastal region had relatively stable spatial structure and spatial dependence direction, while the central and western regions demonstrated the opposite. (4) The spatiotemporal network pattern of carbon intensity in China's service industry was dominated by positive correlations, although a certain degree of spatiotemporal competition was found between some neighboring provinces. (5) Regional differences existed in the spatiotemporal transition driving patterns of carbon intensity in China's service industry. Specifically, the eastern coastal provinces were mainly influenced by the population-urbanization restriction mode, while most regions in the northwest, southwest, and northeast were mainly influenced by the driving pattern of technology-regulation. From the northwest to the southeast, the spatiotemporal transition patterns showed an evolutionary characteristic of "synthetic development-synthetic restriction". Therefore, the formulation of the emission reduction policies should not only consider various driving/restriction factors but also emphasize differentiated emission reduction measures in China's service industry by combining different types of carbon intensity agglomeration and transition paths, as well as avoiding the regional closure of inter-provincial emission reduction policies through synergistic emission reduction.

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    Impact of city government relocation on economic growth
    ZHOU Huimin, SUN Bindong, ZHANG Tinglin, XIE Shiguang, PAN Yuqi
    Acta Geographica Sinica    2022, 77 (10): 2566-2582.   DOI: 10.11821/dlxb202210010
    Abstract913)   HTML44)    PDF (2100KB)(271)      

    Relocating government seats is a city administrative strategy for optimizing space and structural organization, and for promoting economic development through re-allocation of urban space resources. However, there is a disconnect between the central government's current cautious attitude toward government relocation, and local government's actual benefits from such relocation, which reinforces the demand for policy evaluation research. Previous studies paid insufficient attention to the impact of urban government relocations on the overall economy, and lacked empirical evidence of large samples. This paper uses China's urban panel data from 1996 to 2016, and adopts a Difference-in-Difference approach based on Propensity Score Matching (PSM-DID) to examine the effect of urban government relocation on economic growth. The results show that urban government relocations significantly promote urban economic growth. However, other urban characteristics will also affect the economic growth effects of relocation, and produce heterogeneous results. Among these, urban characteristics such as migration distance, economic development level, fixed asset investment rate, and government intervention amplify the economic growth effect of relocation, while the growth of construction land reduces it. The size of the city, on the other hand, has no significant regulating effect on the economic growth generated by government relocation. From the perspective of the time, the long-term economic growth created by urban government relocation increases after about 7 years of relocation. The findings of this paper not only support the positive effect of urban government relocations on a city's economic growth, and provide an academic basis for optimizing administrative divisions adjustments, but also provide an important resource for the governments in considering the relocation plans for local administrative centers.

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    Historical geographical evolution in Ladakh region
    ZHANG Xiaohong, CHEN Hao, HUANG Yu, XU Jianping, CHEN Fahu
    Acta Geographica Sinica    2023, 78 (9): 2358-2372.   DOI: 10.11821/dlxb202309015
    Abstract903)   HTML24)    PDF (3236KB)(145)      

    Ladakh is located in the northwest of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, the western section of the Himalayas, and the upper reaches of the Indus River valley. It is now part of Indian-controlled Kashmir. Since ancient times, Ladakh has been the "key point" from northwest South Asia to the Ngari Prefecture of Xizang and southern Xinjiang. However, most existing research on Ladakh focuses on its local history and culture. Although there are some related works on geopolitical relations, few have studied the historical changes of this region and its subordinate relationship and geographical value with China over a long time scale and analyzed the geographical significance of Ladakh. At the same time, some erroneous views and geographical maps have been disseminated on the Internet at home and abroad, which urgently needs a comprehensive correction from the academic level. Based on a variety of historical documents, map data, and a detailed review of previous research results, this paper demonstrates the changes in place names, historical evolution, and regional scope of Ladakh from the 1st to the 21st century and analyzes its significance in the homeland security of western China. The results show that: (1) As the native land of China's Xizang Ladakh was part of the Tubo Dynasty until the 9th century. After the collapse of the Tubo Dynasty in the middle of the 9th century, Ladakh was an essential part of the Ngari local administration established by the descendants of the Tubo Royal family. In the 13th century, Ladakh was again united within the territory of China's Yuan Dynasty and continued through the Ming and Qing dynasties. It remained until the mid-19th century when the Prince-state of Jammu in southern Kashmir invaded it and incorporated it into the British Indian colony. It was then occupied by the Indian army in 1947. (2) Ladakh region has a tortuous history with many changes in place names. However, when Jammu annexed it in modern times, Ladakh only referred to the upper reaches of Indus Valley between the Western Himalayas and the Karakoram Mountains, with Leh as the center. (3) The complexity of the historical and geographical processes in the Ladakh region makes it the central area of conflicts created by India in the western section of the China-India border. Therefore, China should adopt active strategies to avoid India's continuous "assimilation" policy.

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    Mapping spatio-temporal variation of river width from satellite remote sensing data and hydrometeorological response in the Yarlung Zangbo River
    XU Jiahui, WANG Shidong, SONG Lijuan, ZHANG Dapeng, SONG Chunqiao
    Acta Geographica Sinica    2022, 77 (11): 2862-2877.   DOI: 10.11821/dlxb202211011
    Abstract886)   HTML64)    PDF (5535KB)(276)      

    River width, as one of the basic parameters of river morphology, is very important to understand the hydrological process and ecosystem function on Earth. The Yarlung Zangbo River is not only a global plateau river with typical regional characteristics, but also an important international river. However, due to its remote location, mountainous terrains, and harsh environmental conditions, the gauge stations are sparsely distributed in the Yarlung Zangbo River, which greatly impedes a better understanding of its hydrological dynamic characteristics. Satellite remote sensing makes it possible to monitor and analyze the wide and long-term dynamic changes and to examine the hydrological characteristics of the Yarlung Zangbo River by providing multi-temporal image data. Based on the Global Land Analysis and Discovery (GLAD) dataset and the threshold segmentation method of water boundary inundation frequency, this study reconstructed the complete monthly water area of the study area, and then estimated the spatial and temporal distribution of the river width from 2000 to 2020. The results indicate that due to the seasonal differences in temperature and precipitation, the width of the river showed a significant seasonal variation from 2000 to 2020. The seasonal variation in the middle reaches was the largest (453.6 m), while that of the downstream was the smallest (90.3 m). Influenced by climate and topography, the spatial distribution of river width in the whole course of the Yarlung Zangbo River varies greatly. The narrowest part of the observed river channel is about 30 m, i.e., a spatial resolution of Landsat images. The maximum river width in the middle and lower reaches of braided rivers can reach 5935.7 m. About 50% of the river segments of the Yarlung Zangbo River are narrower than 150 m, and only 2.0% of the river segments are wider than 2000 m. From 2000 to 2020, the average river width of the main stream first decreased, then increased and finally decreased. There was a very significant positive correlation between the mean river width of the mainstream and precipitation and air temperature, and the correlation coefficient R was 0.7, which passed the confidence test of 0.01. In addition, the monthly river width based on GLAD was also evaluated by the river width results derived from 10 m resolution Sentinel-2 data. The results showed that both of the relative deviations were less than 2%, indicating that the estimation results were relatively reliable in general.

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    The evolution modes of town-villages construction pattern of typical counties:A comparative case study of three counties in Jiangsu province
    JIA Kaiyang, QIAO Weifeng, HU Xiaoliang, HUANG Xianjin
    Acta Geographica Sinica    2022, 77 (12): 2954-2971.   DOI: 10.11821/dlxb202212002
    Abstract886)   HTML98)    PDF (5940KB)(657)      

    Town-village shows a heterogeneous development trend in the urban-rural transition in China. However, previous studies focused more on the dynamics of the physical space of town-villages and the impact of natural factors while ignoring the shaping effects of the underlying socioeconomic changes. Scientific understanding of town-villages development rules at the county scale and the refinement of typical evolutionary modes can help construct an efficient and coordinated town-villages construction pattern (TVCP) that adapts to socioeconomic patterns according to local conditions. It also helps to promote industrial reshaping, organisational reconstruction, and spatial reconfiguration of town-villages. More importantly, it can build a new platform for urban-rural integrated development and thus achieve common prosperity for both rural and urban areas. This research aims to refine the evolutionary modes of TVCP in counties with different development paths. First, we analysed the logic and history of the differentiation of the TVCP evolutionary path from the perspective of "social process-space form". Then, a multicase method was used to compare and analyse the differences in the evolution of TVCP in three typical counties of Jiangsu province from 2009 to 2018. Finally, we generalised the experience into universal evolution modes. The results show that the TVCP evolution is a typical process of the production of space, and the transformation of the production mode leads to various evolutionary paths of the TVCP. Moreover, there are obvious differences in the spatio-temporal characteristics of the TVCP evolution and the mechanisms of influencing factors under different development paths due to the difference in spatial demands of element agglomeration and evacuation. Based on the comparative case analysis, we summarise three types of evolutionary modes with different changing trends and dynamic mechanisms. The agricultural production mode shows a trend of polarised expansion of Chengguan town and shrewd contraction of the villages, which is mainly driven by urbanisation combined with state power and social demands. The industrial production mode, driven by rapid capital circulation dominated by market power, shows a trend of polycentric expansion of towns and consolidation of villages. The ecological consumption mode is characterised by the divergence between the revival and decline of villages; the driving mechanism is commodification and authoritativeness in rural space. According to the three modes, we suggest that efforts should be made to equalise basic public services, realise the citizenization of the migrant agricultural population, and promote commercial cooperation between urban and rural areas in the future.

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    Hukou and non-hukou migration in China: Patterns, determinants and policy implications
    LIU Jiajie, LIU Tao, CAO Guangzhong
    Acta Geographica Sinica    2022, 77 (10): 2426-2438.   DOI: 10.11821/dlxb202210002
    Abstract856)   HTML61)    PDF (1974KB)(292)      

    The household registration (hukou) system divides China's internal migration into two types: hukou and non-hukou migration. Hukou migration is also known as permanent migration, while non-hukou migration is temporary migration. Permanent migrants are those whose registered place is the same as their regular residence place, and temporary migrants otherwise. Most temporary rural-urban migrants without local hukou cannot obtain the same public services as urban inhabitants, which affects the improvement of the quality of urbanization. Hukou migration is the last step of population urbanization. However, existing studies mostly focus on non-hukou migration, but ignore hukou migration. Also, to connect the behaviors and intentions of hukou transfer, it is necessary to explore spatial patterns and determinants of hukou migration. The comparison and integration of hukou and non-hukou migration contributes to constructing an integrated conceptual framework of China's internal migration, which is an effective way to theorize and internationalize China's internal migration research. This paper estimates the scale of hukou and non-hukou net migration at prefecture-level cities across the country from 2011 to 2017. We analyze and compare the basic spatial patterns of the two, and explore their influencing factors. The results showed that hukou and non-hukou migration have overall similar spatial positive autocorrelation and different local clustering characteristics in inland regions. Although two types of migrants are primarily concentrated in three coastal regions, there are significant internal variations due to local urban system. It is easy to change residential location but difficult to obtain local hukou in Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region, but totally contrast in the other two regions. The scale distribution of non-hukou migration is more polarized than that of hukou migration. We also found that the growth of the two is positively correlated with the existing floating migrants. The cities with more floating migrants will attract more hukou and non-hukou migrants to flow in. Hukou migration mainly responds to differences in economic opportunities, whereas non-hukou migration mainly responds to differences in public services such as education and health care. Non-hukou migration has gradually shifted from economic-driven migration to amenity migration, while hukou migration showed stronger market-oriented characteristics than before. But behind that, there is two-way selectivity between the big city and the talent group. Finally, the paper discusses the transformation characteristics of China's internal migration and the reform direction of the hukou system from the perspective of theory and policy. We suggest the amenity-based urban growth strategy against the context of changing residents' demands.

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    Spatio-temporal evolution mechanism of China's internal skilled migration
    GU Hengyu, SHEN Tiyan
    Acta Geographica Sinica    2022, 77 (10): 2457-2473.   DOI: 10.11821/dlxb202210004
    Abstract848)   HTML49)    PDF (1594KB)(270)      

    The migration of skilled individuals has become an important issue in promoting new-type urbanization in China and a key factor affecting China's regional innovation output and high-quality development. Considering the issues of zero inflation and network autocorrelation in skilled migration data, this paper combines the eigenvector space filtering (ESF) technique and the "two-stage" hurdle model into a comprehensive united framework to construct a longitudinal spatial hurdle gravity model. It then has been employed in the case study exploring the spatiotemporal patterns and influencing factors of interprovincial skilled migration in China during 2000-2015. The results are listed as follows: First, from 2000 to 2015, the mobility proportion of the skilled migration increased first and then decreased. The agglomeration pattern of skilled migration maintains the imbalance of its spatial distribution. With the elapse of time, the migration of skilled presents a dispersing trend and drives the decline of its spatial distribution and agglomeration. Talent migration presents a persistent and significant network autocorrelation, and its distribution presents a persistent and significant spatial autocorrelation. Second, China's interprovincial skilled migration during 2000-2015 was driven by gravity factors (population scales at origin and destination, distance), regional economic and scientific and technological development (average wage, spending on science & technology and education), natural amenities (average temperature difference, air quality), urban amenities (public health and education services, urban greening), and other factors (social networks, the cost of living, and population density). Third, the migration of skilled people can be regarded as a "two-stage" process, where factors affecting its migration probability and migration scale are different. Such differences are mostly reflected in factors of amenities versus economy. Fourth, the impact of economic growth, investment in science and education, natural amenities, and basic public services on skilled migration has increased over time, while the impact of wages and urban greening has weakened over time. The conclusion of this paper provides policy references for regional talent management and the balance of regional development.

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