Energy transition is an effective path to peaking carbon dioxide emissions before 2030 and achieving carbon neutrality before 2060, which is an effective measure to bridge the gaps between urban and rural families' energy demand and realize energy equality. Based on the survey data from China Family Panel Studies provided by the Institute of Social Science Survey of Peking University, this paper takes the per capita residential energy cost as the key indicator, and applies three major tools to analyze the evolution of energy equality between urban and rural households during 2013-2017, including Gini coefficient and its decomposing technology, Lorenz curve and Lorenz asymmetry coefficient, Locally Estimated Scatterplot Smoothing, and Stepwise Regression. Then, the significance and economic burden of household energy transition was evaluated. The results show that: (1) On the whole, there are inequalities in household energy cost at present. However, with the implementation of national and local energy transition policies in recent years, the promotion of urban-rural integration, and the increase in the income of urban and rural households, the gap between urban and rural areas had been considerably narrowed during 2013-2017, thus its contribution rate to the national inequality dropped from 26.8% to 24.0%. (2) From the spatial perspective, energy inequality is most prominent in the temperate and humid region covering Yunnan and Guizhou, while the distribution of energy cost in the Yangtze River Delta, which is hot in summer and cold in winter, was relatively reasonable. Meanwhile, energy inequality has remained in the other regions to varying degrees. (3) Household income, household size, residential location, climatic conditions, and modern energy availability significantly affect household energy expenditures, which in turn affect energy equality within a region and between urban and rural areas. However, energy endowment does not have an obvious influence on the household energy expenditures. (4) In recent years, national energy transition had achieved remarkable results, and there had been a widespread coverage of advanced fuels. As the wide use of canned gas/liquefied gas, natural gas/pipeline gas, and electricity in rural areas, a rapid energy transition from primary to advanced fuels was accelerated. Meanwhile, compared with urban residents, rural households are often under greater economic pressure in the energy transition, that is to say, achieving energy transition in rural households will increase higher extra cost than that of urban households with the same per capita income. In addition, in the current process of energy transition, relatively low-income urban households and relatively high-income rural households are the main participants.

This study constructs a conceptual research framework for the protection of traditional villages, and focuses on the macro perspective of regional protection level and its influencing factors with geographic analysis techniques. The conclusions can be drawn as follows: (1) The conceptual research framework includes models of evaluation system and influencing factors. The evaluation system model includes three levels from macro to micro, namely, the spatial and temporal distribution, the overall protection level, and the single attribute. The evaluation of overall protection level is divided into the macroscopic regional protection and the microscopic community protection. Retention rates and distribution densities are the two important dimensions to evaluate the level of regional protection. The influencing factors model includes two types of basic analysis based on time, space, and the classification. (2) The regional protection levels of traditional villages in Southwest China show significant spatial differences, and five hotspots are formed in the boundary area of administrative divisions. (3) The geographical factors that affect the regional protection level of traditional villages in Southwest China are terrain, river system, central city, and arterial roads. Among the economic and social factors, the scale of intangible cultural heritage is the most important one. There are significant spatial differences in the correlation coefficients of population density, economic development, traffic construction, traffic flow, and the scale of intangible cultural heritage. Urbanization rate and industrial structure have no significant influence on the regional protection level. This research enriches the theoretical system for the protection of traditional villages from individual cases to an integrated study, from micro to macro, from scattered to systematic, from single to multiple methods, which has important theoretical and practical value.

Intangible cultural heritage (ICH) encompasses not only local traditional practice derived from the past, but also future-oriented modern cultural political and economic processes generated due to globalization. Therefore, this paper uses translocal theory as an entry point to move beyond the paradigm of localities in analyzing the socio-spatial processes of intangible cultural heritage, with a specific focus on the processes of formation, operation, and identity. Accordingly, this paper reconceptualizes the practice of ICH. Different from the prevailing rigid, intrinsically stable, and human-centered approach, this paper adopts the idea of translocal assemblage to consider ICH practices as rhizomatic networks. The network binds heterogeneous elements together by power mediation to form temporarily stabilized systems. The translocal assemblage of ICH practices firstly connects human and non-human components as well as tangible and intangible components in different localities. Second, due to the openness of the deep structure, a translocal assemblage is a complex, multifarious, non-linear, and unstable whole with exteriority. Lastly, the structural linkages woven by power relations improve the current flat understanding of the world and emphasize the need to distinguish the intensity and criticality of different connections. Case studies of Heqing silver-forging technology and Mosuo textile technology use the three aspects above to identify when and where heterogeneous elements are linked and influence local development. This paper further argues that for better safeguarding of ICH as well as promotion of local development by heritage practices, attention should be given to elements and processes beyond the local, including their interrelation mechanisms with the local place. In valuing the potential of intangible cultural heritage to support development strategies such as rural revitalization, the article calls for consideration of the impact of trans-localism on heritage authenticity and cultural values together with the enhanced linkages between intangible cultural heritage and local identities and livelihoods in the light of global production and consumption of heritages.