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This paper examines the patterns of entry into self-employment in urban and rural China and across different reform stages, focusing on how communist cadres have responded to new market opportunities. Analysis of data from a national representative survey shows that both education and cadre status deter people from entry into self-employment in urban areas but not in rural areas. However, urban cadres have become increasingly more likely to be self-employed over time, and only those who became self-employed in the late reform stage have enjoyed higher income returns. The paper concludes that the labor mobility process should be taken into account in studying changes in advantages/disadvantages associated with different social groups in post-socialist transition economies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Effective and timely quantification of the spatiotemporal pattern of urban expansion in China is important for the assessment of its environmental effects. However, the dynamics of the most recent urban expansions in China since 2012 have not yet been adequately explained due to a lack of current information. In this paper, our objective was to quantify spatiotemporal patterns of urban expansion in China between 1992 and 2015. First, we extracted information on urban expansion in China between 1992 and 2015 by integrating nighttime light data, vegetation index data, and land surface temperature data. Then we analyzed the spatiotemporal patterns of urban expansion at the national and regional scales, as well as at that of urban agglomerations. We found that China experienced a rapid and large-scale process of urban expansion between 1992 and 2015, with urban land increasing from 1.22 × 104 km2 to 7.29 × 104 km2, increasing in size nearly fivefold and with an average annual growth rate of 8.10%, almost 2.5 times as rapid as the global average. We also found that urban land in China expanded mainly by occupying 3.31 × 104 km2 of cropland, which comprised 54.67% of the total area of expanded urban land. Among the three modes of growth—infilling, edge expansion, and leapfrog—edge expansion was the main cause of cropland loss. Cropland loss resulting from edge expansion of urban land totalled 2.51 × 104 km2, accounting for over 75% of total cropland loss. We suggest that effective future management with respect to edge expansion of urban land is needed to protect cropland in China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

China’s coastal cities are experiencing rapid urbanization, which has resulted in many challenges. This paper presents a comprehensive index system for assessment of the level of urbanization based on four aspects: demographic urbanization, economic urbanization, social urbanization and spatial urbanization. The developed index system also characterizes the environment based on three factors: environmental pressure, environmental level and environmental control. Furthermore, a coupling coordination degree model (CCDM) focusing on the degree of coordination between urbanization and the environment was established using panel data collected from 2000 to 2008 for Lianyungang, China. The results showed that: (1) the dynamic of coordination between urbanization and the environment showed a U-shaped curve, and both sub-systems evolved into a superior balance during rapid urbanization; (2) social urbanization and environmental control make the greatest contribution to the coupling system, indicating that they are the critical factors to consider when adjusting coordination development during decision-making; and (3) the two parameters (α-urbanization, β-environment) that have been widely used in previous studies had less of an effect on the coupling coordinated system than the other factors considered herein. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]