The Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) has changed from a China-based initiative to an international consensus, and is becoming a platform for a growing number of countries in the world to explore new international economic governance mechanisms. Such a great change along with impressive achievements of BRI development has attracted academic attention from almost all disciplines except basic sciences, giving rise to huge literature. This paper will first explore data from China Knowledge Resource Integrated Database to summarize the characteristics of literature on BRI in general, and then review progress in research on major BRI topics related to geography. The paper finds: (1) the number of Chinese papers on BRI increased by 21 times in three years, from 1012 in 2014 to 21216 in 2017; (2) these papers cover various BRI-related topics but most of them are macroscopic and very general studies of BRI with a taste of public voices, implying that quality papers with deep academic studies are demanded to support the BRI development; (3) more frequently discussed topics are China's outward foreign direct investment, facilities connection, "going out", globalization, global economic governance, community of shared destiny and internationalization of Renminbi; and (4) specific topics that are more deeply studied by geographers are connotation and discourse of BRI, geopolitical analysis of BRI, China-Europe Express Train, global strategic shipping pivot, model of China's outward foreign direct investment and overseas industrial parks, trade pattern and its impacts on economic growth of both China and its trade partners. Lastly, the paper suggests enhancing the discursive construction of BRI and studies of new BRI mechanisms as well as studies of countries involved in BRI, and promoting dialogues and collaborations between Chinese scholars and foreign scholars on BRI studies.

“一带一路”经历了从中国倡议到国际共识的巨大转变,正在成为世界上越来越多国家和政治领袖们探索全球经济治理新模式的平台。伴随这种转变以及“一带一路”建设所取得的成就,“一带一路”研究已经深入到除了基础科学领域外的几乎所有学科。本文根据中国知网（CNKI）数据分析了4年多来“一带一路”研究文献的特征,而后总结了与地理学密切相关的“一带一路”核心议题的研究进展。研究发现：① 自2014年以来“一带一路”研究发文量迅速上升,由2014年的1000多篇飙升到2017年的20000多篇;② 文献比较庞杂,以宏观性、战略性和一般性文献为主,舆论性很高,基于深入研究的高水平学术文献少,还不能很好地支撑“一带一路”建设;③ 对外直接投资、互联互通、“走出去”、全球化、全球治理、命运共同体、人民币国际化等得到的关注较多;④ 地理学在“一带一路”的战略内涵和理论构建、地缘政治经济分析、“中欧班列”、海上航运战略支点、海外投资模式、经贸格局及其经济影响、资源环境问题等方面研究较为深入。最后,本文呼吁加强“一带一路”的理论建构以及建设机制和国别研究,并积极开展中外学者之间“一带一路”研究对话以及合作研究。

The development of a country at a certain stage is an outcome of a long-term historical accumulation process, which forms a mutually adaptive state of development among the main national factors such as institution, economic, cultural and technological systems. And the technology transfer breaking through the original level will cause a disorder among the institutional-economic-cultural-technological systems (IECT system), and produce the frictional effect of technology-environment. This paper constructed a conceptual model on the complex system among the institution, economy, culture and technology, and analyzed its major features. Then, we simplified the above model into railway-institution-economic-cultural model (RIEC system) and probed the adaptive mechanism between railway and institutional-economic-cultural system. Furthermore, we explored the institutional-economic-cultural adaptability of the Addis Ababa-Djibouti Railway. This article insists that Ethiopia and Djibouti had not experienced the large-scale industrialization. As an electrified railway, the Addis Ababa-Djibouti Railway is a "spanning transfer" of the technology and there is a misplacement between this railway and the developing stage of Ethiopia and Djibouti. And the construction and operation of this railway brought out an obvious challenge for the institutional-economic-cultural development of these two countries, which resulted in the inadaptability of local institutional, economic and cultural system, and the unbalance of RIEC system. This study can provide a scientific guidance for China's enterprises to construct railways and spread China's railway standard in the world especially in the less-developed countries.

国家在制度、经济、文化、技术等要素之间组成相互支撑、制衡、嵌套的平衡系统,而技术的跨越式转移将会引起系统的失衡,造成“技术—环境”摩擦效应。本文试图构建技术与制度、经济、文化平衡系统概念模型,进而凝练铁路—制度—经济—文化平衡系统模型,并以亚吉铁路为例,分析铁路技术跨越式转移与属地国制度—经济—文化系统的适应性。研究表明,埃塞俄比亚和吉布提仍处于农牧业阶段,而亚吉铁路作为电气化铁路技术,属于“跨越式”的技术转移,脱离了属地国的既有发展基础,造成铁路技术与制度、经济、文化的不适应性。本文的研究结论可以为中国企业在全球尤其是欠发达国家承担铁路建设运维与推广中国铁路技术标准提供理论指导。

Since the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) was proposed, the pace of projects investment and construction has been accelerated, which accumulated much experience in the going-out strategy in the context of BRI. Modern railway projects are characterized by "natural monopoly", as well as huge investment and extensive geographical coverage. Moreover, their construction is a typical transformative project, which embedded the necessary institution and culture. The countries along the Silk Road are characterized by weak institutional construction, lack of regulatory system, and underdeveloped industrial civilization, therefore they cannot operate and manage the railway system. In this context, all links, including financing, design, construction, and operation, should be considered in the going-out process of China's railway system. The transfer subject is the technology-institution-culture nexus which takes railway technology as the core. In other words, to achieve railway technology transfer successfully, the host countries should offer rational institutional guarantee and cultural adaptation. Besides, the technical standard of railway construction, management mode, and industry chain in the process of railway operation and maintenance need to be localized. Mombasa-Nairobi standard gauge railway is a successful going-out case of China's railway technology. Learning from the case, this paper proposed the concept of "embedded technology transfer" and constructed the theoretical model of technology-institution-culture nexus transfer. The results can provide references for the transfer of transformative projects or technologies between countries with different institutions and cultures.

中国与东道国之间制度与文化上的差异,已经成为中国企业“走出去”关注的重点,也是推动“一带一路”建设向高质量发展转变必须考虑的重要因素。现代化铁路项目具有“自然垄断”、投资大、涉及地域广的特点,其建设对运营制度与文化的依赖性强,属于一种典型的变革性项目和嵌入式技术转移。“一带一路”沿线国家制度建设相对薄弱,与中国文化差异较大,且往往不具备铁路运营技术与能力,因此中国铁路在“走出去”的过程中,必须从设计—建设—运营乃至投融资进行全链条考虑,并将铁路项目作为“技术—制度—文化”复合体进行培育,即通过制度保障、文化相互适应以及技术标准、管理模式、产业链条的属地化管理,来保障项目的成功运营。蒙内铁路是中国铁路“走出去”较为成功的案例,本文通过实地调研,总结了“技术—制度—文化”复合体海外发展模式,从而为推动海外项目建设与运营成功、“一带一路”建设向高质量发展提供借鉴意义。

The railway is an important geospatial element as well as an indispensable feature of a nation's infrastructure. It is a material element of a nation's transport network, and it also has social, national defense, military, and even political attributes. Therefore, it has a profound impact on the geographical system, which intensifies the spatial differentiation and reconstruction of the terrestrial system. This paper defines the conceptual connotation and basic characteristics of the railway ecosystem, and analyses the railway network structure, including its gauge structure and national distribution. Secondly, taking Eurasia as the research area, we explore the geographical differentiation of the Eurasian railway network, including gauge differences, the rail system, and the organization of the transport system. Thirdly, this paper investigates the dynamic mechanisms leading to the formation of the Eurasian railway geo-system, with a particular focus on technology dissemination, path dependence, geopolitics, and national defense. Finally, a geographic model of the track gauges of railways in Eurasia is developed. It is found that a complex pattern of railway gauge differences has been formed in Eurasia. Among the numerous railway regulations, three main types of gauge are identified, including 1520 mm, 1435 mm, and 1067 mm. Considerable variation in the coverage of different track gauges is apparent, which provides a physical and technological basis for railway system differentiation and network fragmentation. We find that eight geo-systems in continents of Europe and Asia are strengthened, which divide the Eurasian continent into discrete regions. These differences that geo-systems extend across different numbers of countries, have led to the formation of distinct geopolitical relationships, with five separate track gauge expansion modes, and a geographical confrontation between the 1435 space and 1520 space track gauge areas.

铁路是重要的地理空间要素和基础设施类型,是在运输属性基础上不断拓展而包含社会、国防军事乃至政治内涵的物质要素,对地理系统具有分异和重塑功能。本文界定了铁路地缘系统的概念与基本特征,并以亚欧大陆为研究单元,分析其铁路轨距结构,探讨了其地缘系统分异格局,包括轨距差异、路轨系统、运输组织系统等;考察了亚欧铁路地缘系统的形成机理,重点从技术传播与路径依赖、地缘政治与国防军事、殖民扩张与殖民统治等角度进行揭示;最后,总结了亚欧大陆铁路轨距技术的地缘传播模式。研究发现亚欧大陆形成了复杂的铁路轨距分异格局,但主流轨距是1520 mm、1435 mm和1067 mm,其覆盖里程规模与空间范围、地理区位均形成明显分异,成为铁路地缘系统形成分异、网络形成割裂的物理基础和技术源头。亚欧大陆形成了8个铁路地缘系统,分别割据亚欧大陆的不同地区,覆盖不同数量的国家和空间范围,形成了不同的地缘关系,尤其是产生了“1435空间”和“1520空间”的地缘对抗,并形成了5种铁路轨距传播的地缘模式。

In the process of urban development, the contradiction between the construction and operation of large-scale public infrastructure and the optimization and improvement of residential space quality has become increasingly prominent. With the continuous urban renewal, it has become the top priority of urban planning and construction to realize the win-win goal of efficient and rational use of planned land and livable and harmonious life of the people. The Beijing Capital International Airport has negative effects on surrounding residents due to its electromagnetic radiation, noise and solid pollution. As a result, it has been subject to constant complaints from residents and long-term petitions for decision. Due to the obvious negative externalities of airport facilities, its NIMBY (Not In My Backyard) has an impact on the prices of surrounding houses. This research uses the Hedonic Price Model (HPM) to analyze the impact of "distance from NIMBY facilities "on the housing price of Beijing Capital International Airport, characterizes the measurement of the spatial effects of NIMBY facilities under the influence of different factors, and analyzes the range of influence on residential prices of Beijing Capital International Airport radius. The main research conclusions are as follows: (1) The capital airport facilities have a negative impact on the price of surrounding houses. Within a certain range, for every 1% decrease in the distance to airport facilities, the price of residential houses will decrease by 0.586% on average. The influence of different factors is also different. Among them, the noise level also has a greater influence on the price of housing, with an influence coefficient of 2.145. The distance between the residence and the subway station and bus station also has a greater impact on its own price. (2) The spatial impact of airport facilities on residential prices is 10 km, and its spatial effects show a weakening trend as the "distance from the airport risk source" increases. In addition, there are 149 communities within the affected area, 83.2% of which are located in Shunyi District, and the number of affected households is approximately 130,000. (3) The spatial influence of airport facilities on NIMBY effect has different directions. The areas located to the west and south of the airport have an overall greater impact on surrounding residential prices than the areas located to the north and east of the airport.

城市发展过程中,大型公共基础设施的建设运营与居民居住空间品质的优化提升之间的矛盾日益突出。随着城市更新的不断深入,实现规划用地高效合理利用与人民生活宜居和谐的双赢目标成为城市规划建设的重中之重。由于机场设施存在较为明显的负向外部性,其邻避效应对周围住宅价格产生影响。本研究对首都国际机场运用特征价格模型分析“同邻避设施的距离”对住宅价格的影响,表征了在不同要素影响下邻避设施空间效应的量度,同时分析得出其对住宅价格的影响范围半径。主要研究结论如下：① 首都机场设施对周边住宅价格存在负面影响。在一定范围内,到机场设施的距离每减少1%,住宅价格平均降低0.586%。不同要素的影响力也存在差异。② 机场设施对住宅价格的空间影响范围为10 km,其空间效应随“同机场风险源距离”的增加而表现出减弱的趋势。此外,影响范围内的小区有149个,83.2%的小区分布在顺义区,受影响的户数约为13万。③ 机场设施的邻避效应空间影响存在方向异性,位于机场西部和南部的区域对周边住宅价格的影响范围整体大于位于机场北部和东部的区域。

Creative talents are the new dynamics to urban and regional economic development. However, limited attention was paid to the spatial agglomeration mechanism and driving factors of creative talents. Based on the theory of urban amenities, the paper establishes an index system of urban amenities to the spatial agglomeration of creative talents in design sectors in China. An extensive dataset with over 3 million designers registered in the online platform zcool.com was adopted as the sample for this study. It aims to examine the spatiality of China’s creative talents and its association with urban amenities for cultural production. Using the quantitative methods such as location quotient, geographic concentration index, and the negative binomial regression method, we investigate the characteristics and mechanism of the spatial concentration of Chinese creative designers. The results suggest that: First, the distribution of creative designers shows a significant spatial agglomeration. First-tier cities like Beijing are the most dominated, but emerging cities such as Hangzhou, Changsha, Wuhan, and Zhengzhou are also well-performed, even better than some first-tier cities. Second, amenity-based approach has a strong explanatory power in explaining the agglomeration of Chinese design creative talents. The cultural environment, educational environment, and natural environment are the core factors that affect the agglomeration of design creative talents. Third, this study echoes with some conclusions of the creative class theory. Cultural infrastructures, cultural heritages, cultural tourism, high-quality human capital, warm climate, and good air quality were essential to enhance the city’s attractiveness to creative talents. Simultaneously, it is found that scientific research investment has a significant crowding-out effect on the accumulation of creative talents. The amenity factors of the living environment that were emphasized by Western scholars have a limited impact on agglomeration of creative talents. In conclusion, this research adopted a more inclusive urban amenity theory, and proved that urban amenities matter in the process of concertation of creative designers. It also provides a reference for local governments to promote their brain gain policy for creative talents.

从城市舒适性理论出发，系统梳理了创意人才及其空间集聚过程的相关文献，构建了驱动中国设计创意人才空间集聚的城市舒适性指标体系，通过大数据方法从国内设计师社交平台站酷网获取设计创意人才的属性数据，运用地理集中指数、区位熵、负二项回归方法，深入剖析了中国设计创意人才的空间集聚特征与机理。研究表明：① 中国设计创意人才及其创作在空间上呈现出显著的集聚现象，以北京为主的一线城市最为集中，但杭州、长沙、武汉、郑州这些新兴城市也表现良好，甚至超过部分一线城市；② 城市舒适性理论在解释中国设计创意人才空间集聚时具有很强的解释力，其中文化环境、教育环境和自然环境是影响设计创意人才空间集聚的核心因素；③ 证实了西方创意阶层理论的部分结论，发现文化基础设施、文化遗产、文化旅游、高素质人力资本、温暖的气候与良好的空气质量是提升城市对创意人才吸引力的重要因子，同时发现科研投入对设计创意人才集聚具有明显挤出效应，并且西方学者普遍强调的生活环境舒适性因子对设计创意人才影响有限。为深入理解创意人才的空间过程及其影响机理提供了详实的实证案例，为地方政府改善城市创意环境提供了参考依据。

Western cities in China experience large-scale, rapid, and vast-invested transport infrastructure construction, which makes it particularly important to evaluate the social economic impacts of these projects. Based on trip survey data in Urumqi in 2014 and multivariate linear regression and multinomial Logit regression model with cross variables, this study explored the impact of bus rapid transit system (BRT) on job satisfaction. The results show that measured by commuting time, employment accessibility levels are lower for the low-income group, the male, property owners, and private car drivers, while accessibility levels are higher for commuters with shorter distance to BRT stops. In terms of job satisfaction, the low-income people are likely to report lower level of job satisfaction, while those with shorter distance to BRT stop and private car drivers are likely to report higher job satisfaction. It also shows that shorter time commuters do not necessarily report higher level of job satisfaction. These results indicate that overall public transport infrastructure has a positive promoting effect on both employment accessibility and job satisfaction, but the differential impacts of individual attributes also cannot be neglected. The policy implication of this study lies in helping with making the public policy to improve employment accessibility and job satisfaction of the low-income group of urban residents, which will further promote local employment stability and regional economy growth.

中国西部城市在大规模、快速度和高投资的交通基础设施推进的同时,审视其建设的社会经济效益就显得尤为重要。尤其对于城市低收入群体来说,公共交通基础设施投入是否能对提升就业水平、提升整体生活品质产生积极作用,值得规划者和决策者关注。论文基于乌鲁木齐2014年居民交通出行调查数据,采用带有交叉变量的多元线性回归和多元Logit回归方法,考察快速公交(Bus Rapid Transit, BRT)对于提升低收入群体就业可达性和通勤满意度的影响。分析结果显示：在就业可达性方面,低收入、男性和拥有住房产权者的通勤时间更长,距离BRT车站越近则通勤时间更短,私家车出行的通勤时间更长;在通勤满意度方面,低收入群体的通勤满意度水平更低,距离BRT车站近、选择私家车出行的通勤满意度水平更高。分析也表明,通勤时间短,通勤满意度水平不一定就高。这些研究结果表明,整体上公共交通基础设施建设对于提升就业可达性和满意度有着积极的带动作用,但个体经济社会属性的差异影响也不可忽视。研究乌鲁木齐公共交通基础设施对就业可达性和满意度的影响,有助于帮助西部城市制定提升低收入群体整体就业水平的公共政策,尤其对于促进地方就业稳定和带动区域经济发展有重要意义。

Mobility is an important factor that influences the quality of life of elderly population. Improving the mobility of the elderly is an important means to prolong their independent living time and thereby reduce the cost of elderly care of the society. Public transport is the most important transportation mode for the Chinese elderly population when they travel for a long distance. Despite many studies focusing on the elderly's mobility through walking, insufficient attention has been paid to the public transport-based mobility. This study took Wuhu City as the study area and examined the pattern of the elderly's public transport-based mobility using smart card data. In particular, three parameters—movement radius, movement frequency, and movement entropy—were first used to quantify elderly's public transport-based mobility. Spatial autocorrelation methods were applied to analyze how elderly's public transport-based mobility patterns are spatially aggregated in different seasons and how the patterns vary under seasonal changes. The results show that: 1) Elderly's public transport-based mobility shows an obvious spatial aggregation pattern. The clusters are circularly distributed across the city, with the city center, the periphery of the city center, and the edge of the city showing different aggregation characteristics. Specifically, the radius of movement shows a crossed distribution of cold spots and hot spots from the city center to the outskirts of the city; the movement frequency and movement entropy show a wide range of hot spots in the city center and the periphery of the city center, while the cold spots are distributed in groups on the edge of the city. The agglomeration characteristics did not show structural changes in different seasons, but there were differences in the location and range of agglomeration. 2) The spatiotemporal differentiation of the elderly's public transport-based mobility is compound. Although the overall influence of seasonal factors on the mobility of the elderly population is weak, there is a significant concentration in specific places. However, the sensitivity of different urban spaces to seasonal change is different, and it mainly increases from the city center outward. The study enriches elderly mobility research by developing an understanding on public transport-related mobility behavior of the elderly, and by exploring the spatiotemporal differentiations of public transport-based mobility across seasons. Empirically, this study can shed light on planning strategies and policy recommendations for developing elderly-friendly cities.

移动性是老年人生活质量的重要影响因素,提高老年人的移动性是延长老年人独立生活时间,从而减小社会养老成本的重要手段。公共交通是中国老年人较长距离出行的最主要交通方式,但已有研究对公交移动性的关注较少。论文从季节时空分异的角度出发,利用安徽省芜湖市智能公交卡数据,分析不同季节老年人公交移动性静态空间集聚特征以及季节变化条件下移动性变化值的空间集聚特征。结果表明：① 老年人公交移动性空间集聚明显,呈现圈层式分布的特征。不同季节、不同移动性指标在城市中心、城市中心外围和城市边缘的集聚现象存在较大差异。② 老年人公交移动性的时空分异现象是复合的,不同城市空间对季节变化的敏感程度存在差异,主要呈现出从城市中心向外递增的趋势。研究公交移动性的季节时空分异现象可以为老年友好型城市的规划建设提供更加适当的规划和灵活的政策建议。

China's economic development has entered a new stage of the industry promoting agriculture and city driving town. The China government has established a human-oriented development idea and is building a harmonious society to promote regional development. The infrastructure construction in rural areas plays a key role in protecting the rural production and life, but also is important for spiritual needs of rural residents and health needs. Rural infrastructure construction can expand living space of rural residents, bring out resources sharing and optimize the villagers living environment. The paper makes an infrastructure imbalance index model, and analyzed the level of infrastructure construction in the rural area of China's provinces contrast to population in village, area of village, GDP, fixed asset investment and rural investment. The results show that it is different in reigns about infrastructure investment, and the level of rural infrastructure and supply is not absolute high in some economically developed areas. The lack of total investment on infrastructure and the improper use of existing construction funds, it is just a key cause which led to a low level of the rural infrastructure supporting and construction conditions in China. At the same time, the scattered layout villages led to a low construction. On the basis of the construction of rural imbalance in regional infrastructure, the paper analyzed the reasons, referred some experience of rural infrastructure construction abroad, and proposed some suggestions to promote construction of rural infrastructure in China. The suggestions are 1) to strengthen the government's important role in the infrastructure construction of rural areas, to divide the properties of rural infrastructure, and to determine the part of public goods types of infrastructure; 2) to clear the policy focus on supply and services about rural infrastructure, actively to promote the key technology of infrastructure construction and services, and so on.

“一带一路”倡议的实施和中欧班列开通频次的增加带动了“一带一路”沿线企业生产组织方式的变化。以TCL波兰工厂为例,深入剖析其传统的生产组织方式和现有生产组织方式的特征及二者的区别,在此基础上系统论述了中欧班列对其现有生产组织方式的影响机制及作用方式。主要结论为:① 中欧班列对TCL波兰工厂现有生产组织方式产生了深刻影响,主要表现在:原料配送时间成本降低、供应链时长缩短;原材料的“零库存”效应;市场响应能力和效益的提升;生产更加准时化、精益化,产品品质和多样化程度提升等方面。② 在中欧班列准时化跨国运输的支撑下,TCL波兰工厂摒弃传统的以“刚性大规模生产”为主的福特制生产组织方式,吸收丰田制的精髓,形成了一种特有的生产组织方式——“全球流动的即时生产”。③ TCL波兰工厂现有的生产组织方式与传统的生产组织方式有明显区别,体现在原材料的运输方式及仓储方式的变化、生产线的变化、生产方式及质量检测组织的变化等方面。

The Belt and Road Initiative aims to promote the connectivity of Asian, European, and African continents and adjacent seas and establish and strengthen partnerships among the countries along the Belt and Road Initiative area. The construction of international air transport network and land transport and maritime shipping corridors constitutes the three basic parts of transportation infrastructure and connectivity. This article employs the OAG (formerly Official Airline Guide) flight schedule data of 2014 to first analyze the spatial pattern of international air linkages between China and the other 64 countries in the Belt and Road Initiative area, and then identify China's international hub airports and sub-regional hubs based on the graph theory model. The results indicate that: (1) the coverage and intensity of international air passenger linkages is broader and higher than that of air cargo linkages. China's international air passenger linkages mainly focus on Thailand, Russia, and Singapore; while cargo linkages are primarily with Russia; (2) both the international air and cargo linkages show the "hub-spoke" and "point to point" patterns; (3) among the domestic airports, international air linkages are concentrated in only a few. Shanghai, Beijing, and Guangzhou are identified as the international air passenger hubs and Shanghai as the international cargo hub to the Belt and Road Initiative area.

基础设施互联互通是降低贸易成本、增强国际联系、构建“一带一路”的基本条件。建设国际航空网络与陆路运输通道、海上航运通道,共同组成“一带一路”交通基础设施互联互通的基础。基于2014年的OAG计划数据,本文重点分析了中国与“一带一路”沿线国家的国际航空运输联系空间格局,并运用枢纽度模型识别国际航空枢纽。研究表明：①中国与“一带一路”沿线国家的航空客运联系广度和强度均高于货运,其中国际客运联系集中在泰国、俄罗斯和新加坡等国,而国际货运联系则主要集中在俄罗斯;②中国对外航空网络格局总体上表现为“轴—辐”与“点—点”模式并存;③上海、北京和广州为中国面向“一带一路”沿线国家的国际航空客运枢纽机场,上海同时还是国际航空货运枢纽。

Along with the global strategy written into national strategy in 2000 and the Belt and Road Initiative proposed in 2013, China is accelerating the pace of investment for overseas ports. This study constructed a data base of examples of overseas ports investment by Chinese enterprises from 1978 to date, analyzed the spatial change of investment pattern on a global level, and clarified the features and pathway for Chinese enterprises entering overseas ports from the aspects of regional structure, participants, ownership change, and so on. It also examined the main entry patterns of overseas ports, internal relationship between different entry patterns, and correlation and shift between different patterns. Finally this article discussed the development mechanism of China's overseas port investment based on, in progression, why Chinese enterprises went global, why these enterprises invested where they did, and why these enterprises chose certain pattern. The results show that: The process of Chinese investment for overseas pworts can be divided into five development stages—before 2000, these overseas ports scarcely distributed in North Africa; from 2000 to 2008 China's investment for overseas ports tended to distribute in its surrounding areas; from 2009 to 2012 ports distribution turned to a global spread; from 2013 to 2016 overseas ports tended to concentrate as guided by the opening strategy; since 2007 ports distribution has remained overall stable. The changing process of distribution reflects three features: 1) Country distribution is dispersed, while these ports assemble significantly in Northwest European and Mediterranean at the navigation area scale. 2) The investors include large shipping enterprises, wharf operators, and infrastructure enterprises, among which the core enterprises for overseas ports' stock acquisition include China Ocean Shipping (Group) Company and China Merchants Steamship Company, and the core enterprise for overseas ports' infrastructure construction is China Harbour Engineering. 3) The number of overseas ports invested through stock acquisition began to increase rapidly since 2013 and as the investment process constantly deepening, overseas ports investment changed from equity participation to holding. Overseas ports entry patterns include infrastructure project construction, transfer of port managerial authority, acquisition of port's stock, and port management export. The influencing factors for overseas ports investment can be summarized as national economic development context, key opening-up strategy, global shipping pattern, spatial substitution, and enterprise self-development demand. Leading factors and their functions changed at different spatial scales and stages of development.

伴随着2000年“走出去”写入国家战略和2013年“一带一路”合作倡议提出,中国正在不断加快海外港口投资的步伐。论文构建了中国企业海外港口投资案例的数据库,分析了1978年至今中国海外港口投资格局在全球范围的空间演化过程,并从地域结构、参与主体、股权变化等多个方面阐明了中国企业进入海外港口的特征与路径,总结了企业进入海外港口的主要模式,进一步探索了进入模式之间的内在关系,最后基于为什么“走出去”、为什么在这里布局、为什么选择这种模式3个递进的过程探讨了中国海外港口投资的发展机理。研究表明：中国海外港口投资的空间格局经历了零星分布、就近布局、全球扩散、局部集聚和总体稳定5个发展阶段,总体上集中布局于西北欧和地中海航区,投资主体包括大型航运企业、码头运营商和基建企业,海外港口投资的目标从参股转为控股。海外港口进入模式包括基础设施项目承建、港口经营权转让、港口股权收购和码头管理输出4种,进入模式具有交错演化的特点。中国企业进入海外港口的内在动因可以总结为国家经济发展环境、重大对外开放战略、全球航运格局和地理替代性和企业自身发展需求。

Promoting the construction of the Belt and Road initiative (BRI) towards a new stage of high-quality development raises new subjects for academic research, which demands in-depth study of existing BRI projects, summarizing experiences and lessons and theorizing construction models to guide future development. Research in the field of economic geography focused on outward foreign direct investment (FDI) of Chinese firms, but BRI construction is much broader in scope, consisting of not only FDI projects but also China-financed projects and emerging mixed projects. Case studies of BRI projects have shown that significant cultural and institutional difference between China and host country is the factor that tends to be ignored by Chinese firms in the "going global" efforts. Thus, revisiting the institutional and cultural turn in economic geography and employing its research framework to analyze BRI projects and summarize their construction models may contribute to the development of both economic geography and BRI. This article will first briefly review the background and research trends of the institutional and cultural turn; then summarize three major construction models of BRI projects, namely EPC (Engineering Procurement Construction)-based, concession-based and FDI models; finally draw on the institutional and cultural turn to classify BRI projects according to two indicators of "Breadth and Depth of Territorial Embeddedness" and "Destructive Effects of Technology and Project" into four types, i.e. transformative, supportive and ordinary projects as well as industrial parks. Different institutional and cultural sensitivity can be identified for each type of projects. The preliminary theorization proposed in this article may offer a potential framework for future research on BRI construction.

推动“一带一路”建设向高质量发展转变,对学术界提出了新命题,需要对已有建设模式和建设项目进行深入剖析,总结经验和教训,提出对“一带一路”建设具有指导意义的理论知识。以往地理学主要关注企业对外直接投资,而“一带一路”建设项目涉及的范畴要大得多,既包括中国的直接投资,也包括中国提供融资并承建的项目,还包括一些新兴的混合项目。已经进行的“一带一路”建设案例研究表明,中国企业“走出去”比较容易忽视的因素是中国与东道国之间在制度和文化上的差异。利用“制度和文化转向”研究思路来剖析“一带一路”建设项目,总结其建设模式,对于经济地理学的发展以及指导“一带一路”建设都具有重要意义。本文首先简要回顾了“制度和文化转向”出现的背景以及主要研究脉络;而后总结了“一带一路”建设项目的主要形式,提出了基于工程总承包（EPC）、基于特许经营和企业直接投资三大类建设模式;最后借鉴“制度和文化转向”的研究技巧,从“地域嵌入的广度和深度”和“技术及项目的‘破坏性’”两个维度,将“一带一路”建设项目分为变革性项目、支撑性项目、一般性项目和海外经贸合作园区4种类型,用以识别它们的制度和文化敏感性,并举例进行了说明。本文提出的分析框架为进行“一带一路”建设案例研究提供了一个思考方向。

Infrastructure has positive spillover effects on economic development. This study took Beijing as a research area and measured the direct and indirect contribution of infrastructure on economic growth, input-output relationships between infrastructure sectors and other economic sectors, as well as the coordination degrees of infrastructure with socioeconomic development level. This study indicates that: (1) the average rate of contribution of infrastructure to economic growth during 1978-2014 was about 34.9% in Beijing. In 1985-1990, 1990-1995, and 1995-2000, the contribution rates reached 45%. With regard to direct contribution, that is, the share of value-added of infrastructure sector in GDP, the postal-telecommunication infrastructure had the highest direct contribution, which accounted for 9% of GDP. This was followed by transportation, energy, and water-related sectors; (2) transportation and energy sectors had relatively high induction coefficients, indicating that the growth of other economic sectors increased the demand for these two infrastructure sectors, and hence drove their growth. It also reflects that these two infrastructure sectors were mostly demanded by other economic sectors and tended to have restriction effects on economic development, thus required to be constructed in advance; (3) infrastructure development in Beijing lagged behind the city’s socioeconomic development, especially for the water-related infrastructure, which is still the weakest of all infrastructure sectors and has the lowest coordination degree with the socioeconomic development level, despite that it has gradually improved. On the other hand, transportation, energy, and postal-telecommunication sectors have recently reached a highly coordinated state with socioeconomic development. Among them, the postal-telecommunication sector has developed with the most impressive rate. To conclude, the coordination degree of infrastructure and socioeconomic development in Beijing has entered a moderately coordinated stage since 2010.

基础设施对城市与区域经济社会发展具有正的溢出效应。本文以北京市为例,分别测度了北京市基础设施对经济增长的贡献率,基础设施部门对其他经济部门的关联关系,以及基础设施与经济社会发展水平的协调度。研究发现：①1978-2014年,北京市基础设施对经济增长的平均贡献率为34.9%,其中“七五”“八五”和“九五”时期基础设施建设提速,其贡献率高达45%左右;从各基础设施对GDP的狭义贡献度来看,邮电基础设施所创造的GDP最高,占到全市GDP的9%以上,往下依次为交通、能源和水务部门;②交通和能源部门的感应度系数较高,说明其他经济部门的增长将增加对该基础设施部门的需求,进而带动后者的增长,同时也意味着该基础设施部门易对经济发展产生制约作用,需要适度超前建设;③北京市基础设施发展水平相对滞后于经济社会发展,尤其是水务基础设施,虽然在波动中有所改善,但仍然是基础设施发展的短板,与经济社会的协调发展度最低。

The relationships among urban transportation, land use and urban spatial structure are always the key topics in the studies of urban geography, urban planning and urban transportation. With the emergence of the issues such as urban sprawl, low efficiency of land use and traffic jam, it has become more and more important to study how to coordinate land use and urban transport in the planning of city development. As we all know, public transportation is not only one of the elements of urban lives, but also a driving force of urban spatial devolvement. TOD (Transit Oriented Development) is an urban development model under the guidance of New Urbanism, which emphasize the innovation of transport technology and the recognition of humans themselves. TOD integrates a mass transit system into the urban spatial structure, i.e., residential areas and commercial areas, at the macro-level, and neighborhoods develop around the transit stations or stops at the micro-level. TOD encourages high density development in an appropriate scale, mixed land use, comfortable environment for pedestrians and a good public transit system, to harmonize land use and transport, and finally enables the urban spatial structure to develop compactly and orderly. This paper analyzes TOD's mechanism on urban land use and urban spatial structure, and has found that TOD plays an important role in urban land use by influencing land use density, land use structure, and land value. Meanwhile, TOD influences the urban spatial structure by unique road structures, urban scale and urban spatial distribution. Further study indicates that the construction of mass transit makes the curves of urban rental and land development density show "multi-peaks" characteristics, following the principle of "decreasing from the city center with the increase of travel time". Although there are differences between China and other countries in urban population density, mixed land use, land property and public transport service, this paper attempts to build a suitable TOD model for the cities in China. The TOD model is built in three parts (steps): gross urban development, urban spatial structure and design of TOD unit, which results in a hub-and-spoke urban structure, with mass transit routes as corridors and the TOD node as a hub. Based on the types of public transportations, a TOD can be classified as a BRT-oriented TOD or a Rail-oriented TOD. Each city can choose the type suitable to its urban population, GDP, financial capacity and traffics along the transit lines. Design of TOD units should consider land use principles including distance, density, diversity and design, and adopts a special land use strategy. Finally, this paper puts forward a series of measures, policies and suggestions to ensure a successful TOD implementation, with time and location as two major impacting factors. Generally speaking, when a city is developing and expanding its urban areas rapidly, construction of mass transit will greatly influence its spatial distribution; conversely, when a city is developing slowly or has already reached its mature period, the effect of mass transit on land use is relatively small. In a word, TOD emphasizes the integration of local efficiency and overall efficiency and is a suitable model for urban development in China.

城市交通、土地利用和城市空间结构的相互关系一直是城市地理学、城市规划学和交通地理学研究的核心问题。大容量公共交通、混合型土地开发、宜人的步行环境和高质量的公交服务是公交导向型开发(TOD)模式的主要特点。本文分析了TOD对城市土地利用和城市空间结构的作用机理发现:土地开发强度、土地利用结构以及土地价值是TOD影响城市土地利用的3 个主要方面,而TOD对路网结构、城市规模和城市空间布局的作用进一步影响城市空间结构及其演化。进一步研究发现:大容量公共交通的建设使得城市竞租曲线和开发密度具有多波峰的特点,遵循"随着时间的变化从城市中心向外围递减"的规律。基于中外城市发展背景差异,本文从宏观、中观和微观3 个层面提出建立以大容量公共交通为主轴、以TOD站点为枢纽的轴辐网络状城市空间结构,并提出了TOD站点开发的距离、级差密度、多样性和设计的4Ds原则。

The Pearl River Delta (PRD) is the global city-region in China’s southeast coastal areas and aims to create a comprehensive cross-border region across divergent institutional systems. The city-region in China has been long deemed as the engine of the regional growth in the past four decades. This article draws upon the theory of “new state space” to investigate the two regional projects in PRD, that is Shenzhen-Shanwei Special Cooperation Zone and Sui-Guan-Shen (Guangzhou-Dongguan-Shenzhen) intercity railway projects. By examining the theory of “new state space” from the lens of rescaling, we build up a conceptual framework capable to understand the rescaling of city-regional governance in post-reformed China. Based upon crises of capital accumulation and administrative governance, this article is committed to tracking the upscaling and downscaling of powers in regional governance and the overall rescaling processes of relations between provincial and local governments. In general, this article develops a China-contextualized conceptual framework and two empirical cases to problematize the rescaling of regional governance, both of which are central to shed lights on the rationale of China’s political economy. Three major findings are reported as follows. First, in the industrial collaboration project, in order to overcome the crises of weak institutional framework for intercity cooperation, provincial government is devoted to injecting resources, devolving administrative powers, deregulation, and empowering great autonomies to localities. These actions constitute to the downscaling of regional governance. Second, in the large-scale infrastructure project, in order to overcome the lack of the financial authority, provincial government is committed to building strong bargainer through horizontal power reconfiguration, recentralizing the developmental power from localities compulsorily, and delivering actual incentives for power recentralization. These actions constitute to the upscaling of regional governance. Third, considering the above-mentioned findings, this article argues that rescaling of regional governance in PRD is a flexible and polydirectional rescaling process, which is differentiated by concrete regional projects, rather than a unidirectional and mechanical rescaling process as suggested by conventional literature.

珠三角作为中国东南沿海的巨型城市区域,旨在构建跨越经济社会系统的多元协同的综合一体化地区。本文以深汕特别合作区与穗莞深城际铁路两个区域合作项目为例,借鉴“新国家空间”理论,基于区域治理所面临的经济发展困境与行政治理困境,分析区域治理过程中的权力上移和下移,即省市关系调整的弹性应对策略。研究发现：区域产业合作项目中,为克服城市间合作的制度化不足的行政治理困境,省政府进行了包括资源注入、事权下放、去管制和扩大地方自主权的区域治理权力的尺度下移;区域基础设施项目中,为了解决省政府财权不足的行政治理困境,省政府进行了水平权力重组以构建综合博弈体、强制性地方事权上收和以收权导向的行政奖励的区域治理权力的尺度上移。由此,本文认为珠三角区域治理并非单向、机械的尺度建构过程,而是区域项目建设导向下,以修复行政治理困境为目标,灵活多向的尺度重配过程。

Analysis of precarity has offered a critique of labour market experiences and politically induced conditions of work, housing, migration, or essential services. This paper develops an infrastructural politics of precarity by analysing energy as a critical sphere of social and ecological reproduction. We employ precarity to understand how gendered and racialised vulnerability to energy deprivation is induced through political processes. In turn, analysis of energy illustrates socio-material processes of precarity, produced and contested through infrastructure. Our argument is developed through scalar analysis of energy precarity in urban South Africa, a country that complicates a North-South framing of debates on both precarity and energy. We demonstrate how energy precarity can be reproduced or destabilised through: social and material relations of housing, tenure, labour and infrastructure; the formation of gendered and racialized energy subjects; and resistance and everyday practices. We conclude that analysis of infrastructure provides insights on how precarity is contested as a shared condition and on the prospect of systemic change through struggles over distribution and production.

Geographical scholarship has, since the late 1990s, shown how infrastructure was central to the making of urban modernity and the metabolic transformation of socio-natures. Meanwhile, the work of Latin American scholars including Aníbal Quijano and Maria Lugones has focussed attention on the imbrications between modernity and coloniality, in particular through the international racial division of labour. Moving between these ideas, I argue that there is intellectual and political ground to be gained by specifically accounting for the coloniality of infrastructure, in both its material and epistemic dimensions. I ground the analysis in the history of Recife, Northeast of Brazil, analyzing the role of British engineering in the production of the city's landscape and infrastructure, and address the epistemic dimensions of the coloniality of infrastructural by exploring infrastructural spectacle in 1920s Recife. Finally, I explore how the coloniality of infrastructure directs our attention to race, labour and finance.

Over the years, many studies have documented how the negative impacts of infrastructure investments are disproportionately borne by women, the poor and racial minorities. In this paper, we focus on the ways that unequal gender dynamics are a key feature of the production of infrastructure, a topic that has received far less attention. In particular, we show how masculinity is deeply embedded in the organizational structures, employment practices, symbolic narratives and systems of power that create the vast arrays of infrastructure globally. We discuss the implications of a masculinist network of infrastructure development, and point to directions for future research.

Libraries, laundrettes, and lidos. Pizzerias, plazas, and playgrounds. Sidewalks, swimming pools, and schools. These are just some of the kinds of spaces and facilities that contribute to the public life of cities. Drawing on the arguments of the sociologist Eric Klinenberg, this article develops the concept of “social infrastructure” as a way to research and value these kinds of spaces. Social infrastructure helps in recognising the public dimensions of often overlooked and undervalued spaces. It draws attention to the breadth, depth, and textures of sociality that can be afforded by different urban environments. In developing the concept of social infrastructure, this article pulls together four related strands of social scientific inquiry: work on infrastructure; publicness and public space; sociality and encounter; and the politics of provision. An infrastructural approach to the topic of public space presents geographers with some productive tools for understanding the public life of cities.

In Indian cities, a variety of state and non-state political actors and institutions play a role in regulating infrastructures in the everyday. Anthropological approaches to the everyday state have demonstrated how residents experience and discursively construct the state in relation to key services and amenities. However, less is known and theorized regarding how city-dwellers and public authorities understand and experience political space and power related to urban infrastructure that includes a variety of actors operating in tandem with, or even outside the bureaucracies and purview of, the state. This article partially addresses this lacuna through ethnographic research on (1) residents’ experiences and narrations of the everyday infrastructural governance of water and (2) the practices of key political actors who engage in regulating urban water infrastructures in Delhi’s neighborhoods. This research demonstrates that political actors’ and residents’ narratives and practices related to the infrastructural governance of water sharply contest both singular and dichotomous (state/non-state) readings of state power, instead revealing nuanced and situated understandings of hybrid and negotiated forms of “infrastructural power.” In particular, the practices and narratives of both residents and political authorities bring attention to the ways social and political power is decentered in the everyday and the porosity of the institutions of everyday infrastructural governance. My findings show the complex ways that infrastructures are tied to differing experiences, understandings, and articulations of power in relation to urban environments.

The history of Apartheid in South Africa presented the new democratic South Africa with numerous challenges such as poverty, inequality and inadequate access to basic services. These challenges are more prevalent in rural areas, leading to the need for rural development strategies aimed at poverty alleviation and the empowerment of rural societies. Limited access to social and economic opportunities is a common challenge faced by rural dwellers due to inadequate rural road infrastructure. Empirical evidence suggests that poverty is directly linked to isolation, inaccessibility and poor infrastructural development. Hence, the need for the development of adequate rural roads. The aim of this study was to investigate and compare the perceptions of rural communities regarding the role of roads as a poverty alleviation strategy. This study explored the influence of rural roads on the socio-economic conditions of rural communities. In addition, the research examined the impacts associated with inadequate rural road infrastructure on the access needs of rural dwellers. Thus, the study attempts to analyse issues relating to rural road infrastructure and its impact on poverty alleviation. Research was undertaken in two rural communities in KwaZulu-Natal: Ntshaseni and Njane. The study employed a mixed-method approach, using a combination of quantitative and qualitative research techniques. The findings from the study revealed that there was a relationship between the presence of adequate rural road infrastructure and improved access to basic services. The research findings revealed that there are differences in socio-economic conditions between a community with better access (Njane community) and a community that is isolated (Ntshasheni community) due to inadequate road infrastructure. In addition, research findings revealed that inadequate road infrastructure is an indication of the insufficient access the poor have to basic services such as healthcare and education.

This paper draws together animal and mobility studies to develop the concept of animals’ mobilities. It identifies the parallel intellectual interests in these fields that provide the intellectual foundations for this synthesis, in mobility (over movement), affect, relational space, and ordering practices. It explores what configures an animal’s mobility, knowledge practices for researching and evoking animals’ mobilities, and how animals’ mobilities are governed. The conclusion highlights what these fields gain from this synthesis, and identifies the empirical, political and conceptual contributions that this concept makes to geographical research. The argument is illustrated with examples of large, terrestrial mammals, especially bears.

This article develops a wider ontology of infrastructure. It argues that infrastructures not only hasten the flow of materials but produce non-human mobilities and immobilities that radically alter the dynamics of life. Infrastructures become a medium of life as natural and infrastructural ecologies meld, reorienting notions of design, architecture, planning and governance. Non-human life itself can be cast as infrastructure, with biopolitical implications for anticipating and managing the future. An infrastructural ontology moving beyond anthropocentric familiars generates new analytics and critical openings for the politics of governing human and non-human life.

Research on the integration of the human-environment system has been an important part of Chinese human geography for over a century, constituting the distinctive academic nature of the field. Human geography has been established as an interdiscipline of natural science and social science, highlighting the combination of academic inquiry and decision application, and exploring the interaction mechanisms and sustainable development model between the human sphere and natural sphere at different spatial scales. The development of the discipline is in line with the basic concepts advocated by the global research platform “Future Earth”, which has promoted the strong development of human geography in China, and has produced important societal influences. By selecting some of the most influential academic achievements, this paper briefly describes theoretical methods and social contributions to reflect the development process of human geography in the study of integrated human and environment systems in different stages in China. It also demonstrates the influence of the following elements on the adherence of Chinese human geography to the integration of human and environment systems: classical Chinese philosophical thinking on harmony between people and land, western theories of the human-environment relationship, Soviet economic geography research methods, the science of sustainability, the social demands of the construction of contemporary Chinese ecological civilization, ever-improving mathematical models and big data methods for studying enormous and complex systems, and management system reform and special scientific research system and background in China.

With the outstanding investment in infrastructure during the past decades, the evaluation of the infrastructure-environment nexus is highly required to achieve the sustainable development of economy, resources and environment, as well as human being. This study analyzes the supply-chain-wide blue water withdrawal occurred in China for global infrastructure development, and one step further, the potential effects of policy and human intervention on future infrastructure-related environmental performances. Our results showed that the blue water withdrawal in China was main for the domestic infrastructure construction because of its rapid-growing investment, coupled with that in the United States, Japan, and India. Energy-related products (e.g., “Electricity by coal”) and primary materials (e.g., “Basic iron and steel”), highly required for the construction of infrastructure, have played relatively great roles in China’s blue water withdrawal. For the future sustainable development of infrastructure, we also addressed that efficiency improvement and nonconventional water resource utilization could cover half of the blue water gap between the current development trend and the sustainable one. In light of the synergies among infrastructure development, environmental sustainability and socioeconomic intervention, it is vital to uphold economic and environmental efficiency in the decision-making of infrastructure development.

Along with the growing public awareness of the impossibility of separating nature from society and the difficulty of dividing the world neatly into spaces of 'human' and 'non-human', more-than-human geographies become increasingly popular in exploring the human-nonhuman assemblages in Western countries. However, existing literature demonstrates that the investigation of more-than-human geographies has received insufficient attention from non-Western countries, including China. Based on a systematic analysis of journal papers published in the Core Collection of Web of Science over the last 15 years, this article is dedicated to introduce the more-than-human geographical thoughts and approaches into China. The software Citespace has been used to analyze a total of 298 journal papers published from 2002 to 2017 in the Core Collection of Web of Science, among which the main themes can be generalized into five categories: new animal geographies and natural conservation, urban culture and political ecology, materiality and commodity economy, body and life health, climate change and environmental issues. New animal geographies have usually been understood as comprising the mainstream of more-than-human geographies, while the last two topics have been regarded as new fields. This article first investigates the core views of three philosophical and theoretical ideas which inspired the development of more-than-human geographies and explained how these insights influence the associated thoughts and approaches. Moreover, to show more details about what kinds of assemblages more-than-human geographies are interested in, this article introduces the content of each category with classical case studies. Finally, the primary contributions and critiques of more-than-human geographies are also presented. China's rich natural products and multiple social cultures, as well as the rapid development of science and technology mean that there is a potential for Chinese geographers to provide more interesting and vivid investigations for more-than-human geographies in the Chinese context.

随着现代科技发展与社会环境变化,人类与非人类的边界日益模糊,这使得以往研究中未能引起足够重视的非人类生命与物质逐渐引起学者们的关注。21世纪以来,在西方地理学界兴起的“回归唯物主义”思潮中,超越人类的地理学（MTHG）应运而生,并成为探索人类与非人类共同构成的世界的重要途径之一。通过对298篇相关期刊论文及著作的分析发现,超越人类的地理学主张“关系本体论”,其产生受到行动者网络理论、生物哲学与非表征理论的深刻影响,现有研究议题聚焦于新动物地理学与自然保护、城市社会文化与生态政治、物质性与商品经济、身体与生命健康、气候变化与环境问题等方面。本文通过梳理超越人类的地理学的理论源起并剖析各议题的经典研究案例,以期为中国地理学研究提供新的视域。

For 25 years, China has staked its development on domestic and global infrastructure expansion. This third progress report on geographies of infrastructure explores what China’s far-reaching infrastructure venture means for critical infrastructure studies. Reviewing China’s infrastructure-driven urban growth, the Belt and Road Initiative and their links, three recommendations are advanced: (1) a reengagement with the state that takes its geographical and temporal diversity seriously, (2) an approach to infrastructure as part of a complex network of state projects with long-term ends, and (3) a concern with infrastructures of repression and confinement in wider processes of making things ‘flow’.

Debates around infrastructure tend to focus on the global North, yet in the global South demand for infrastructure is huge and we see new and emergent actors engaged in finance and construction; China being pre-eminent among them. China’s interests in the global South have grown apace over the past decade, especially in terms of accessing resources and securing infrastructure deals. The role of Chinese banks and State-Owned Enterprises (SOEs) in financing and building the projects reveals a blurring between geopolitical and commercial interests and processes. The article situates China’s entry into the global South as part of a geopolitics that is simultaneously geoeconomic and interrogates these issues through case studies of Chinese-backed projects in Ghana and Cambodia. These projects are spatially and politically complex, with China adopting a range of financing models – often including an element of resource swaps – in which bank finance is critical and marks the Chinese as different from Western financiers. These international deals are secured at the political elite level and so bypass established forms of national governance and accountability in the recipient countries, while the turnkey construction projects remain locally enclaved. The cases also show that wider developmental benefits are limited, with ‘ordinary’ citizens – especially those in the rural areas – gaining relatively little from these major energy projects and the benefits accruing to urban-based elites.