Green finance constitutes a key initiative for China to advance green economic and social transition and achieve high-quality development in the new era. Based on an integrated “Production-Living-Ecology” analytical framework, this paper utilizes data from the China Migrants Dynamic Survey (CMDS) and city-level statistics to construct a multilevel Logistic regression model, empirically examining the specific impact of green finance on migrants’ settlement intention. The findings indicate that: 1) Green finance exerts a significant U-shaped influence on migrants’ settlement intention. In the initial stage of development, employment shocks resulting from the phasing out of industries inhibit settlement intention; however, after crossing an inflection point, the growth of emerging green employment and environmental improvements transition into significant promoting factors. 2) There is a significant human capital gradient in this impact, where the promoting effect on highly educated groups is substantially stronger than that on groups with lower educational attainment. 3) Mechanism analysis confirms that green finance operates primarily through three pathways: First, by restructuring the employment landscape, where the generation of green jobs provides the economic basis for settlement; Second, by enhancing social integration, utilizing green communities and digital services to strengthen the sense of belonging; Third, by improving environmental quality, where pollution reduction enhances urban livability. By evaluating the social effects of green finance from the micro-perspective of migrants, this article provides a valuable reference for coordinating the advancement of green transition and inclusive urbanization.

Given the challenges posed by the higher aging rates in rural areas compared to urban areas, along with the economic disparity between urban and rural regions in China, it is essential to explore the impact of multidimensional rural development on the health and longevity of the aging population. This study is key to promoting healthy aging and supporting rural revitalization strategies in China. This study develops a county-level multidimensional rural development index based on the sustainable livelihood framework. We analyze spatiotemporal patterns and examine the relationship between multidimensional rural development and self-rated health status and life expectancy of the aging population in China from 2010 to 2020. The results show that: 1) Higher development levels are predominantly observed in the southeastern coastal urban agglomerations and the Beijing-Tianjin region. While central regions, such as the Urban Agglomeration in the Middle Reaches of the Yangtze River and the Central Plains Urban Agglomeration, have seen notable improvements, most counties in the western and northeastern regions remain less developed. 2) The spatial patterns of health and longevity among rural older adults show a distinct east-west gradient, with higher levels concentrated in the eastern region. Regions with good self-rated health and higher life expectancy have gradually expanded from the eastern coastal areas towards urban agglomerations in the central and western regions. Meanwhile, the prevalence of regions with poor self-rated health and low life expectancy, as well as those with good self-rated health but low life expectancy, has significantly decreased. In contrast, the prevalence of areas with poor self-rated health but higher life expectancy has increased, particularly in the Yellow River Basin, northeast China, and central Inner Mongolia. 3) Rural multidimensional development has a positive impact on the health and longevity of older adults. The accumulation of financial and physical capital significantly improved self-rated health but had varying effects on life expectancy. Human capital enhanced self-rated health, although its positive impact on life expectancy diminished over time. The influence of natural capital on self-rated health weakened, and it had a detrimental impact on life expectancy in 2020. The reduction of environmental vulnerability has a positive impact on self-rated health and life expectancy in 2020. 4) In areas within high-level development, human capital and environmental vulnerability are the primary drivers of improving self-rated health and extending life expectancy. In areas within low-level development, financial capital, physical capital, and environmental vulnerability have a greater impact. This is the first study to quantify the differential impacts of various dimensions of rural development on the health and longevity of aging populations at the county scale in China. Theoretically, it deepens understanding of the link between healthy aging and rural development; practically, it guides targeted policies to promote rural healthy aging.

Population shrinkage is often accompanied by phenomena such as idle construction land, declining land-use efficiency, and mismatches in public service provision, which gives rise to human-land imbalance and constitutes a critical issue in the field of human-land relationship studies. Due to difficulties in obtaining data, this paper takes county-level units in Northeast China (excluding East Fourth League of Inner Mongolia) as the study area. Using census data and land-use data from 2000 to 2020, it first identifies areas experiencing population shrinkage, and constructs a multidimensional comprehensive evaluation framework from three dimensions to assess the degree of human-land imbalance. On this basis, the study analyses the spatiotemporal differentiation of human-land imbalance in population shrinking areas, and further explores the influencing factors and underlying mechanisms across areas with different degrees of population shrinkage. The results show that: 1) From 2000 to 2020, the degree of human-land imbalance in population shrinking areas generally declined, with significantly lower imbalance levels in slight shrinking areas than in severe shrinking areas. The most prominent imbalance areas gradually shifted from the Changbai Mountains area to the surroundings of Baicheng City. 2) Human-land imbalance in population shrinking areas is jointly shaped by economic development, industrial structure, government decision-making, and city size hierarchy. Industrial structure optimization serves as the primary driver for mitigating human-land imbalance, while economic development, government decision-making, and city size hierarchy jointly regulate its evolution. 3) The driving mechanisms of human-land imbalance vary significantly across areas with different shrinking degrees. In slight shrinking areas, human-land imbalance exhibits a three-dimensional overlapping effect of ‘development quality imbalance-change rate imbalance-spatial mismatch’. In severe shrinking areas, human-land imbalance is mainly reflected in the insufficient coordination of population-construction land development quality and the mismatch between population change and construction land adjustment.

China has entered a moderately aging society, and healthy aging has become the key to promoting sustainable socio-economic development. Based on “time-space” perspective and integrating theories such as the life course, this article expands healthy aging from a static concept to a dynamic framework. It constructs a healthy aging evaluation system covering “intrinsic capacity, functional ability, and life course”. Using the CRITIC-entropy weight method, the improved TOPSIS method, and the obstacle degree model, this study evaluates healthy aging in China, analyzes its spatio-temporal differentiation, and identifies and classifies obstacle factors. The results show that: 1) From 2005 to 2018, the level of healthy aging in China steadily improved, with significant spatial differences. The eastern region maintained a lead, while the central and western regions relatively lagged behind; however, the eastern and central regions showed significant growth rates. The spatial pattern shifted from “High in Shanghai/Hebei-Low in Jiangxi/Shaanxi/Hunan/Anhui” to “High in Beijing/Jiangsu-Low in Anhui”. Hotspot areas expanded to Shanghai, Beijing, Tianjin, and Hebei, while coldspot areas evolved into Shaanxi, Henan, Hubei and Shanxi. 2) The obstacle structure underwent a major shift: while functional ability remained the primary obstacle factor, its obstacle degree significantly declined. Conversely, the obstacle degrees of both life course and intrinsic capacity increased. The increase was more significant for the life course dimension. This shift indicates that the early-life experiences and lifestyle are becoming increasingly influential. Smoking history, community care, and social participation are common weaknesses across most provinces. 3) Regional differentiation of barrier factors: Beijing and Shanghai are characterized as the intrinsic capacity barrier type, requiring improvements in physical and mental health, respectively. Provinces in Northeast and Central China (e.g., Jilin, Liaoning, and Jiangxi) exhibit prominent barriers in community services, while provinces in the eastern coastal region and the Huaihai Plain (e.g., Shandong and Jiangsu) face significant barriers in social participation. Central and western provinces (e.g., Shanxi and Sichuan) are classified as the life course barrier type, constrained by early-life hunger experiences and lifestyle factors such as smoking; this is consistent with famine mortality rates and the prevalence of chronic lung diseases among the elderly. Therefore, strategies such as spatially differentiated responses to healthy aging barriers are proposed. This study contributes to localization of healthy aging theories and building an autonomous knowledge system for China’s geography of aging.

China’s interprovincial borders profoundly affect elemental flows and shape regional development patterns, particularly manifested in China’s internal migration. However, the intensity of their effects, underlying mechanisms, and spatial heterogeneity remain to be accurately measured and thoroughly analyzed. This paper defined the conceptual framework of interprovincial border effects on China’s internal migration. By introducing a causal inference framework to construct a gravity model, it quantitatively measured interprovincial border effects for the years 2005, 2010, 2015, and 2020, analyzing their overall characteristics, key mechanisms, and regional variations. The results reveal that China’s provincial borders play a significant barrier effect on internal migration, with its intensity showing changes from strengthening to weakening and then slightly strengthening again between 2005 and 2020. On one hand, the barrier effect of interprovincial borders has long persisted. On the other hand, the accumulation of migration patterns is related to fluctuations in the intensity of the border effect. Provincial borders weaken the pull effect of destination areas represented by healthcare resources, and a substitution relationship exists between provincial borders and migration distance. The barrier effect of distance is continuous, while the barrier effect of borders is sharp. The border effects between provinces are predominantly negative, though a small number present positive effects. Negative border effects are primarily observed among neighboring provinces in central, western, and northeastern regions characterized by significant population outmigration. Positive border effects are mainly found among neighboring provinces marked by single-directional migration patterns. Finally, the necessity of incorporating borders into the general theoretical framework of internal migration is discussed. The implications of borders and distance differ, requiring the understanding of borders as a specific type of obstacles.

China’s demographic landscape is currently undergoing a significant and transformative change. The decline in birth rates and negative population growth have become major questions for regional development. The continuous rise in family child-rearing costs is a major factor leading to the long-term low birth rate. Thus, it’s necessary to fully understand the composition, characteristics, and formation mechanism of family child-rearing costs. Against this backdrop, this study built a four-dimension child-rearing cost measurement system that encompasses economic, time, opportunity, and psychological dimensions, based on the special survey data collected in Fujian Province. Then the study used spatial analysis and multilevel regression models to interpret its spatial patterns and influencing factors. In terms of spatial patterns, areas characterized by high family child-rearing cost areas exhibit a gradual diffusion from coastal to inland regions. Notably, high opportunity and psychological costs are disproportionately concentrated in inland regions such as western Fujian, indicating a spatial intensification of non-economic burdens in less-developed regions. Regarding cost association types, family child-rearing costs manifest a multidimensional coexistence pattern: the comprehensive high-burden type is observed not only in economically advanced coastal counties but also in central urban districts or county-level cities in inland regions. This suggests that the escalation of child-rearing costs is increasingly decoupled from conventional economic gradients. The model results indicate that the spatial patterns of child-rearing costs are jointly shaped by individual and family level factors, regional economic development, and sociocultural contexts, with significant cross-level interaction effects. Fertility-related cultural norms demonstrate greater explanatory power than economic development alone. Furthermore, the interaction between high economic development and high paternal education significantly amplifies economic costs, while a higher proportion of young children and migrant family status are associated with elevated time costs. These findings underscore the necessity of context-specific, differentiated policy interventions that explicitly account for both geographic heterogeneity and intra-family diversity, thereby supporting high-quality population development and regionally coordinated growth.

It is of great significance to elucidate the mechanisms underlying the synergistic evolution of urban resilience and urban livability for advancing urban safety to a higher level and promoting high-quality urban development. Using 285 prefecture-level cities in China from 2010 to 2023 as the study sample, this study develops an urban resilience measurement framework along the dimensions of size, density, and morphology to capture the ecological disturbances caused by urban expansion, as well as an urban livability evaluation framework encompassing the economy, environment, safety, and quality of life. The Haken model and geographically and temporally weighted regression (GTWR) are employed to examine the evolutionary characteristics and influencing factors of the synergy between urban resilience and urban livability.The results show that: 1) During the study period, urban resilience in China showed a sustained decline, whereas urban livability steadily improved. Spatially, urban resilience exhibited a gradient pattern characterized by lower values in the east and higher values in the west, while urban livability displayed a spatial pattern of higher values in the north and south and lower values in the central region. 2) Urban livability serves as the order parameter in the synergistic evolutionary system of urban resilience and urban livability. The synergy level showed an overall upward trend and exhibited a concentric spatial pattern centered on north China, with values increasing outward. Its spatial evolution indicated a transition from “low-level clustering” to “medium-level convergence.” 3) The effects of different influencing factors on the synergistic evolution of urban resilience and urban livability exhibited significant spatial heterogeneity. Fiscal pressure and financial development mainly exerted positive effects. Overall, the mechanisms influencing synergistic evolution were characterized by the coexistence of north–south differentiation, east–west gradients, and core–periphery differentiation.

This article integrates methods such as big data mining, mathematical statistics, GIS spatial analysis, and negative binomial regression to analyze the spatio-temporal differences and influencing factors of urban innovation capacity in China from 1985 to 2020, based on data from three types of patents and trademarks across the dimensions of technological, design, and market innovation. The study found that: First, China’s urban innovation capacity exhibits a high degree of regional concentration, technological innovation is concentrated in municipalities and provincial capitals, exhibiting a spatial characteristic of large clusters with small dispersions. Design innovation is highly concentrated in eastern coastal cities, while market innovation displays a stepwise spatial distribution pattern, decreasing from the eastern coastal regions to the inland central and western regions. Different cities have developed diversified patterns of division of labor and collaboration in technological, design, and market innovation, shaped by their respective resource endowments and industrial structures. Second, different types of innovation activities exhibit distinct patterns of spatial differentiation and agglomeration. Urban innovation modes can be categorized into five types: leader, follower, technological innovation, soft innovation, and other types. Leading cities tend to concentrate in provincial capitals and economically vibrant cities with strong private sectors, while following cities account for the largest proportion and demonstrate strong spatial stickiness. Finally, R&D investment, foreign direct investment, human capital, entrepreneurial capital, and the rise of the internet are key factors influencing urban innovation capacity. R&D investment has a positive impact on all types of innovation, while foreign direct investment and human capital have a stronger influence on patents than on trademarks. The establishment of start-ups is more effective in stimulating incremental technological and market innovation. Additionally, there is a complementary effect among technological, design, and market innovation.

As China transitions toward high-quality development, urban economic vitality has emerged as a crucial indicator of sustainable regional growth. While the rapid expansion of the high-speed rail (HSR) network has fundamentally reshaped the spatial distribution of economic activities and factor mobility, its nuanced impacts—particularly distinguishing between the initial opening and subsequent infrastructural upgrades—remain underexplored. To ensure future HSR planning maximizes benefits and mitigates regional disparities, this study employs multi-period Difference-in-Differences (DID) and spatial Difference-in-Differences (SDID) models based on a comprehensive panel dataset of Chinese prefecture-level cities. We systematically investigate the effects of HSR opening and HSR development levels on urban economic vitality and its spatial heterogeneity. The empirical findings indicate that: 1) HSR opening significantly enhances urban economic vitality, with this effect being particularly pronounced in eastern China due to established agglomeration economies, but not significant in the central and western regions; 2) Improvements in HSR development levels (e.g., increased train frequencies and stations) do not significantly boost local economic vitality, suggesting a marginal diminishing return on localized infrastructure density; 3) At the national level, HSR openings in neighboring cities exert positive spillover effects. However, spatial heterogeneity is evident: eastern regions primarily benefit from local HSR openings, while central regions experience slight economic vitality loss due to the “siphon effect” caused by nearby HSR openings; 4) Overall, the spatial spillover effects of city-level HSR openings are not universally significant, but increased HSR development levels in central cities generate positive spatial spillovers that enhance economic vitality in surrounding areas through regional diffusion. Based on these findings, the study proposes differentiated policy recommendations, such as prioritizing initial HSR network coverage in central and western regions, avoiding overreliance on post-opening infrastructural investments, and strengthening regional coordinated development strategies. Ultimately, this study provides robust empirical evidence and decision-making references for the scientific planning of China’s HSR network and the promotion of high-quality, balanced regional economic coordination.

This study takes the central region of China as a case study and adopts a spatial dynamic simulation approach. Through a series of steps including spatial database construction, grid system implementation, growth pole coordinate system establishment, traffic contribution calculation, growth drive index computation, and network connectivity intensity analysis, it quantitatively assesses the spatial impact of high-speed rail on urban expansion. Subsequently, it summarizes the characteristics and effects of this impact and dissects its underlying driving mechanisms. The findings reveal that: 1) High-speed rail exerts four distinct driving effects on urban expansion in the central region of China: exponential enhancement, superposition enhancement, synergistic enhancement, and network enhancement. 2) The establishment and refinement of the high-speed rail network have intensified urban expansion and strengthened intercity connectivity in the central region of China, fostering a “networked development paradigm led by metropolitan areas”. 3) Compared to other transportation modes such as railways, highways, and civil aviation, high-speed rail has rapidly increased its contribution to urban expansion, showcasing notable driving advantages. While facilitating the rapid expansion of metropolitan areas and large cities, it has also engendered a spatial deprivation effect radiating from core to peripheral regions. 4) The higher the grade of high-speed rail lines, the earlier their full completion, the greater the proportion of operational sections, and the longer the total mileage, the more pronounced their driving effect on the expansion of adjacent cities. 5) To further optimize high-speed rail construction in the central region of China, efforts should be directed towards enhancing the high-speed rail network, optimizing station placement, improving station efficiency, and strengthening intermodal connectivity with other transportation modes.

Drawing on patterns of factor agglomeration and transfer across city-town-rural spaces, this paper explores the processes and mechanisms of factor reorganization and spatial restructuring involved in the cross-boundary development of edge towns within metropolitan regions. Taking Baohua Town in the Nanjing Metropolitan Area as a case study, the analysis reveals four main findings. First, as products of a “space of flows”, metropolitan edge towns present distinct stages of factor mobility: rural-town agglomeration, city-town transfer, and the more balanced evolution of city-town-rural relations. These changing patterns have driven successive rounds of spatial transformation and restructuring in edge towns. Second, mobility has become central to the cross-boundary development and spatial restructuring of edge towns in metropolitan areas. It represents an endogenous strategy through which local actors seek to overcome the constraints associated with peripheral development. By supporting spatial expansion and capital accumulation, factor flows facilitate the integration of resources across administrative boundaries, contributing to the formation of cross-boundary new towns and functional clusters closely connected to the central city. Third, factor mobility in edge towns results from the combined effects of government guidance and market forces. Local governments shape the factor-market conditions through policy instruments and continuously adjust the rules and pathways governing factor flows to align them with national or regional strategic objectives. Government guidance therefore provides the institutional foundation for the cross-boundary development of edge towns. Market forces, operating through price signals, supply-demand relations and resource complementarities, promote cross-boundary interactions, improve factor allocation and enhance the value generated through mobility. They consequently constitute the principal driving force behind cross-boundary development. Government guidance and market forces interact through repeated processes of development and adjustment, gradually producing a more sustainable development trajectory through dynamic processes of flow and adaptation. Finally, the paper considers the potential risks associated with the capitalization of urban functions arising from increased mobility and processes policy recommendations aimed at strengthening institutional-market coordination.

The urban heat island effect has a significant impact on the daily lives of urban residents. Alleviating the supply-demand contradiction of urban thermal environment is conducive to mitigating the heat island effect. Previous studies have mostly focused on the supply side, such as urban ventilation or blue-green spaces, to explore urban thermal environment issues, with insufficient attention to the differences in thermal comfort demands among different urban areas, which may lead to difficulties in identifying the areas urgently in need of improvement. This study constructs a research framework for the supply-demand matching of urban thermal environment regulation based on multi-source spatio-temporal data, including remote sensing images, building outlines, surveyed population, and mobile phone signaling. A bivariate local spatial autocorrelation model is then employed to identify the areas with imbalanced supply and demand of urban thermal environment regulation. A priority index is further used to determine the intervention priority levels of these imbalanced areas. Taking the area within the fourth ring road of Wuhan City as an example, the results show that: 1) There is a significant spatial mismatch between the supply capacity and demand level of urban thermal environment regulation. The high-supply areas are mainly distributed between the second and fourth ring roads, while the high-demand areas are mainly located in the high-density building zones within the second ring road; 2) Regions with the imbalance of “low supply-high demand” for urban thermal environment regulation account for 18.42% of the total study area, presenting a spatial pattern that radiates northwest and southeast along both banks of the Yangtze River with scattered spot-like distributions in peripheral areas; 3) The imbalanced areas with high intervention priority are mainly concentrated within the first ring road on the north bank of the Yangtze River. This area has a high development intensity and it is difficult to carry out large-scale transformation of blue-green spaces. It is suggested to construct ventilation corridors based on the main roads running east-west and the roads leading to the river. The methods and results of this study can provide theoretical and technical support for formulating strategies to improve the urban thermal environment.

The investment network of government-guided funds is a comprehensive examination of government-guided funds from an open, systematic and dynamic perspective. Based on a large sample of micro-level data on government-guided fund investments, this article employs complex network methods. It analyses the evolutionary characteristics of the investment network’s spatial and topological structures from 2007 to 2022. Additionally, it quantitatively examines the influencing mechanisms of the investment network using a weighted random exponential graph model (ERGM). The results indicate that: 1) The spatial structure of the government-guided fund investment network has evolved from a multi-polar “hub-and-spoke” model, centered around Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Shenzhen, into a “multi-center” networked investment structure. The “diamond” investment network pattern, with 5 major urban agglomerations at its core, is particularly significant. 2) The government-guided fund investment network exhibits characteristics of a small-world network with preferential connectivity and path dependence. The 3 major urban agglomerations in the eastern coastal regions, along with the urban agglomeration in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River, demonstrate high weighted in-degree and out-degree centrality. 3) The investment network of government-guided funds results from the combined influence of endogenous structural factors and exogenous dynamics. Cities with high levels of economic development, innovation, and entrepreneurship exhibit stronger foreign investment capabilities and investment attraction potential. Venture capital homophily also shapes investment relationships within the network. Furthermore, the formation and evolution of the investment network are influenced not only by multi-dimensional proximity factors—such as geographical, transportation, and institutional proximity—but also by network properties such as reciprocity, transitivity, preferential connectivity, and path dependence.

Driven by social media, internet-famous villages have become an important phenomenon of rural transformation in China. However, their spatial distribution patterns and underlying formation mechanisms remain insufficiently understood. Taking 649 internet-famous villages across China as research samples, this study employs GIS spatial analysis, content analysis, and other methods to reveal their spatial distribution characteristics, and applies the Geodetector method, together with the theory of “media pilgrimage”, to examine the factors influencing their spatial distribution and explain the processes shaping these patterns. The main findings are as follows: 1) The spatial distribution of internet-famous villages is uneven, generally characterized by more villages in the east than in the west, more in the south than in the north, and clustering in the east but dispersion in the west, with pronounced primacy and long-tail effects. 2) The clustered distribution of internet-famous villages exhibits a distinct structural pattern, forming a clear diamond-shaped structure across the Yangtze River Delta, the Pearl River Delta, the Chengdu–Chongqing region, and the Beijing region. Zhejiang and Guangdong are particularly prominent, and the overall pattern can be summarized as “two major clusters, two secondary clusters, and one development belt” . 3) Internet-famous villages can be classified into 6 categories: natural landscape-oriented, cultural heritage-oriented, industry-driven, experience-oriented, artificial landscape-oriented, and vacation-leisure-oriented, with each category exhibiting distinctive spatial differentiation. 4) Media pilgrimage consists of 2 stages: media representation and embodied visitation. From this theoretical perspective, the spatial distribution of internet-famous villages is jointly shaped by basic resource endowments, accessibility, and supporting conditions rather than by online popularity alone. Among these factors, cultural-tourism integration, economic conditions, population size, policy environment, highway accessibility, and cultural landscape resources exhibit particularly strong explanatory power. These findings contribute to a better understanding of the spatial distribution and underlying formation mechanism of internet-famous villages in the social media era and provide scientific references for promoting their sustainable development.

Digital geography has emerged as an important subfield examining how digital technologies mediate the relationship between spatial environments and social interactions. The intersection of digital geography with Feminist Geography, which scrutinizes the construction and transformation of gendered spaces, has catalyzed the dynamic research agenda of “feminist digital geography”. Through a comprehensive review of existing literature, this paper uncovers an epistemological coupling between the concepts of female space and female leisure. Facilitated by digital media, the core inquiries of both disciplines align to reveal how the relationships among gender, the body, and space are continuously reconstructed. Specifically, the geographical themes of spatiality, visibility, and mobility become deeply entwined with the leisure-oriented values of identity formation, equity, and empowerment. In practical terms, digital platforms function as a double-edged sword. On the one hand, they offer women diversified pathways for leisure and novel community spaces, acting as vital arenas for empowerment where they can construct identities and assert agency. On the other hand, these digital environments introduce sophisticated forms of discipline. Mechanisms such as digital self-surveillance and cyber violence often replicate or even intensify the patriarchal inequalities found in the physical world. To address these complexities, this paper proposes the establishment of a robust analytical framework that utilizes “spatial media” as the core interface. This framework integrates the three key dimensions of female space, including visibility, spatiality, and mobility, and categorizes practice into distinct modes: purely online spaces and hybrid spaces where offline routines and mobility are mediated by digital technologies. Furthermore, the paper advocates for grounding future research within the specific context of China. China’s unique digital ecosystem offers fertile ground for testing and expanding Western-centric theories. The paper emphasizes the necessity of adopting a life course perspective to examine the distinct digital leisure practices of women across different generations. By focusing on these localized and age-specific nuances, scholars can move beyond generic narratives and contribute significant non-Western empirical experiences to the global discourse, ultimately fostering a deeper understanding of how female subjectivity is reshaped in the digital age.

Against the backdrop of deepening globalization, China’s foreign aid has played a vital role in promoting global development, strengthening international cooperation, and enhancing national soft power and international influence. It has become an essential component of China’s “Going Global” strategy and foreign policy. In recent years, growing media attention on China’s aid practices has further highlighted its rising status in the global cooperation landscape. Although the positive effects of foreign aid have been widely acknowledged, its implications in the field of tourism remain underexplored. Therefore, investigating how foreign aid influences international tourism flows holds significant theoretical and practical value for understanding state interactions in the context of globalization. Based on panel data from 80 countries spanning 2002 to 2018, this study employs an extended gravity model to empirically examine the impact of China’s foreign aid on inbound tourism and its underlying mechanisms. The findings reveal that: Firstly, China’s foreign aid significantly promotes inbound tourism from recipient countries, exhibiting notable differences based on development level (with the effect in Africa being 5.7 times stronger than in Asia), income sensitivity (significant only for low- and middle-income countries/regions), and aid-type heterogeneity (with education and health aid showing the most pronounced effects). These findings support the positive correlation between the marginal utility of aid and demand elasticity. Secondly, aid affects inbound tourism through three main mechanisms: enhancing national image, strengthening bilateral relations, and promoting bilateral trade. Thirdly, the impact of China’s foreign aid on inbound tourism exhibits long-term effects and an inverted U-shaped threshold effect. The study theoretically expands the research perspective on the relationship between foreign aid and international tourism by constructing a theoretical framework for how aid influences inbound tourism, thereby providing evidence-based insights for policymakers.

The relationship between plant species diversity and remotely sensed vegetation indices (VIs) is often inconsistent because it is influenced by multiple ecological and observational factors. Plot size is particularly important because it affects the spatial correspondence between field biodiversity measurements and remotely sensed spectral information. This study investigated the effects of plot size on relationships between plant alpha diversity and VIs in typical freshwater marshes of northeastern China. High-resolution unmanned aerial vehicle multispectral imagery was integrated with field vegetation surveys. Species richness (Richness) and the Shannon diversity index were used to characterize plant diversity. The mean and standard deviation of six VIs, including the MERIS Terrestrial Chlorophyll Index (MTCI), first normalized difference red-edge index (NDREI1), normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI), green normalized difference vegetation index (GNDVI), corrected transformed vegetation index (CTVI), and modified soil-adjusted vegetation index 2 (MSAVI2), were calculated for plots of different sizes. Correlation analysis was used to evaluate scale-dependent relationships between spectral metrics and plant diversity. The results showed that the relationships between VIs and plant alpha diversity varied among vegetation indices, diversity metrics, and plot sizes. At the 1 m × 1 m scale, Richness was most strongly correlated with the mean values of NDREI1 and MTCI. At the 2 m × 2 m scale, Richness showed relatively strong correlations with the standard deviations of CTVI, NDVI, and GNDVI, while Shannon diversity was relatively strongly correlated with the standard deviations of CTVI and NDVI and the mean values of GNDVI and MTCI. These results indicate that plot size substantially affects the strength and form of vegetation index–diversity relationships and that different spectral metrics may require different spatial scales to achieve their strongest associations. The findings provide a basis for selecting appropriate field plot sizes in UAV multispectral biodiversity studies and can improve the accuracy and comparability of wetland plant diversity assessments.

Using high-precision lysimeters and high-frequency water sampling, this study investigated the response characteristics of soil water and dissolved carbon vertical transport processes to precipitation in an alpine meadow during the growing season. The results showed that: 1) The response of soil water to precipitation exhibited depth-dependent thresholds and hysteresis effects. The precipitation thresholds triggering responses at depths of 10 cm, 30 cm, and 75 cm were 3 mm, 15 mm, and 17 mm, respectively. The response in the 10 cm layer was influenced by rainfall intensity, being rapid under heavy precipitation (>20 mm) and delayed by approximately 2 days under light precipitation. The response in the 30 cm layer was synthetically regulated by precipitation amount, antecedent soil water, and the water condition of the overlying layer, with an average lag time of about 3 days. 2) The transport patterns of dissolved carbon varied with depth. The dissolved organic carbon (DOC) in the 0-20 cm layer showed a significant positive correlation with precipitation lagged by two events, while DOC in the 20-50 cm layer exhibited a significant negative correlation with the DOC content in the overlying (0-20 cm) layer, revealing a vertical migration pattern characterized by “surface depletion and deep enrichment”. The dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC) in the 0-20 cm layer was primarily influenced by precipitation input, whereas DIC in the 20-50 cm layer showed a positive correlation with the DIC content in the upper layer, indicating a top-down replenishment process. In summary, the infiltration of soil water in the alpine meadow in response to precipitation exhibits a threshold effect, which subsequently influences the transport processes of dissolved carbon. Under high soil water conditions, precipitation can rapidly carry DIC into deeper soil layers along soil pores, while DOC tends to be retained in shallow layers. Under low soil water conditions, precipitation requires a period of slow infiltration to transport DIC and a portion of DOC to deeper layers. This study elucidates the precipitation-driven vertical transport processes of soil water and carbon in alpine meadows, providing a scientific basis for constructing carbon-water coupled models in cold regions and predicting carbon transport pathways under climate change scenarios.

This approach increases the total volume of high-quality freshwater and helps alleviate regional water scarcity. This study investigated the feasibility of industrializing and scaling up saline groundwater utilization by focusing on key desalination technologies and constraints. A synergistic analysis framework was applied, integrating resource endowment, economic benefits, and environmental implications. An analytic hierarchy process combined with fuzzy logic modeling was used to evaluate the viability and limiting factors of saline groundwater resource utilization from a multi-criteria perspective. Policy recommendations and implementation pathways for the development and utilization of saline groundwater in typical regions were proposed accordingly. The results indicate that: 1) Favorable conditions for resource utilization in Tianjin are provided by a saline groundwater resource amount per unit area of 12.19×10⁴ m³/(a·km²), exploitable reserves of 13.40×10⁴ m³/(a·km²), and a single-well yield of 37.53 m³/h. 2) Nanofiltration desalination achieves a salt rejection rate exceeding 95% and a benefit-cost ratio of 1.78, demonstrating clear economic advantages over reliance on external water sources. To address the high costs associated with agricultural applications, policy instruments such as central budgetary investments, ultra-long-term special government bonds, and equipment renewal programs should be effectively leveraged to establish subsidies for agricultural water use and dedicated funds for technology dissemination. 3) The overall environmental impact is controllable, supported by compliant water quality and relatively high water recovery rates, but continuous monitoring is needed to prevent land subsidence and promoting the recycling of desalination product water and brine is also critical. 4) Saline groundwater resource utilization in Tianjin is considered highly feasible. Looking ahead, in light of the spatial disparities between development potential and utilization demands, a three-tiered accountability system will be established, comprising municipal-level policy formulation, departmental-level regulatory enforcement, and district-level on-site implementation. Concurrently, a multi-stakeholder collaboration mechanism integrating industry, academia, research institutions, and practical application sectors will be further refined to promote large-scale, industrialized utilization of saline groundwater resources.

The Weihe Basin, situated in the southern Loess Plateau, contains thick Quaternary lacustrine deposits that preserve significant paleoclimatic information. However, the paleoclimatic records there and its driving mechanisms are not yet fully understood. This study focuses on the Yujiacuncore from the central-eastern part of the Weihe Basin. A high-precision chronological framework was established using OSL, ESR, and paleomagnetic dating, and the paleoclimate evolution since 1.2 Ma was reconstructed by integrating grain size and magnetic susceptibility data. Our results demonstrate a positive correlation between grain size and magnetic susceptibility in the lacustrine sediments of the Yujiacun core, both indicating lake-level fluctuations under varying climatic conditions. Large grain size and high magnetic susceptibility represent low lake levels during arid phases, whereas small grain size and low magnetic susceptibility correspond to wet conditions and high lake levels, driven by the East Asian summer monsoon. These lake level variation cycles align with oxygen isotope records from deep-sea sediments. Moreover, the littoral lake facies deposited between 0.91 and 0.74 Ma correlate with key periods of tectonic uplift in the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau and terrace development in the Weihe Basin. These correlations collectively indicate that the Yujiacun sedimentary sequences are influenced by both global ice volume and regional tectonic activity. Regional stratigraphic correlation further reveals that under the combined influence of regional aridification and tectonic uplift, the Quaternary Sanmen paleolake gradually contracted and ultimately disappeared. Notably, the Yujiacun core preserves the most recent lacustrine sedimentary records in the Weihe Basin (ca. 0.03 Ma), owing to its low topography. In summary, our study demonstrates that the lacustrine sedimentation in the Weihe Basin was governed by the synergistic effects of global glacial-interglacial cycles and regional tectonic activity.