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Enhancing allocation efficiency is vital for maintaining China’s position as a leading textile producer. The adoption of information and communication technology (ICT) can improve the efficiency of farmers’ input allocation. Nonetheless, limited evidence exists regarding the impact and extent of farmers’ access to digital agricultural extension through subscribing to agricultural WeChat public accounts (WPAs) on allocation inefficiency costs. Using a 2019 farm household survey of cotton farmers in Xinjiang, this paper employs a primal system model to calculate farmers’ allocation inefficiency costs and a two-stage residual inclusion approach model (2SRI) to estimate the effects of agricultural WPAs subscription on allocation inefficiency costs and allocation inefficiency. The empirical findings indicate that the average allocation inefficiency cost is 3.264 Yuan per kilogram, constituting 45.8% of cotton production cost. Our results demonstrate that subscribing to agricultural WPAs can significantly reduce farmers’ allocation inefficiency costs by 19.5% and decrease allocation inefficiency by 0.079. Consequently, promoting smallholder farmers’ access to digital agricultural extension serves as an effective strategy to enhance allocation efficiency and lower costs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) is an ambitious, contentious, and world-spanning project. Using Chinese Communist Party (CCP) documents, this paper examines one of the stated purposes of the BRI: to address regional inequality between China’s east and west, focusing upon Xinjiang. Through an analysis of regional economic data, the demographics of Xinjiang and Xinjiang governing bodies, and a case study of the Chinese steel industry, this paper shows that the BRI has so far failed to check increasing regional inequality in China and that job opportunities for local communities in Xinjiang are constrained by social and political factors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the process of mineral deposits formation, elements often show abnormal enrichment. Therefore, the inversion of element contents (the prediction of element contents in mineral deposits through hyperspectral data) has some indicative significance to the exploration of mineral resources. In order to solve the problem of nonlinear copper contents inversion using hyperspectral remote sensing, this paper put forward an improved Gradient Boosting Regression Tree (IGBRT) method to invert copper contents. The main innovations of this paper are: (1) replacing the simple average function with the k-nearest-neighbour weighted average function as the node prediction function to improve the accuracy; (2) using the adaptive reduction step instead of the fixed reduction step to improve the efficiency. At the end of the paper, taking the Altun region, Xinjiang province, China as the experimental area, the iron element which was high correlated with the copper was chosen as the intermediate variable, and the contents relationship between them was established to solve the problem of the small number of copper samples in the study area. Using the improved Gradient Boosting Regression Tree method to predict the iron contents, then the copper contents could be predicted through the relationship between them. The results showed that the IGBRT algorithm had the coefficient of determination (R2) of 0.744, which were 0.185 more than the traditional one, and the learning efficiency was increased by 39.4%. The results of this study can provide a reference for remote sensing inversion of copper contents in mineral deposits of uninhabited areas, and have some important significance for the delineation of copper prospects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

GM crops, as a widely researched and applied biotechnology, hold significant strategic and practical implications for promoting the commercialization of GM crops in China, driving agricultural industry upgrading, and fostering economic and social development. However, despite their potential benefits, the commercialization of GM crops in China has been consistently delayed. Therefore, this study aims to explore the trust relationship between the government and the public in the field of genetically modified organisms and the heterogeneous impacts generated at the production and consumption ends. We primarily focus on insect-resistant cotton and genetically modified papaya as representatives and base our research on survey data from Xinjiang and Guangdong. By employing factor analysis and establishing multiple Probit models with government trust, crop purposes, and farmer expectations as independent variables, and the commercialization of GM crops as the dependent variable, we conduct two sets of empirical analyses. The study finds that government trust has a more significant impact on consumer concerns about whether to consume GM products than on producers, who prioritize farmers' desire for agricultural product profitability. Age and education levels also influence the public's acceptance of planting GM crops, but the effects are not as significant as the core variables mentioned earlier. Based on this, we conclude that consumers and farmers have different positions and contradictions in the specific scenario of delayed GM commercialization in China. In this context, this paper argues that diversified strategies should be adopted to address the issue of commercialization of GM crops in China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) has become the most important vehicle for Chinese cooperation with Central Asian member states and Russia. China seeks to play an active role and exert strong influence in the SCO for both economic reasons and strategic considerations. China aims to resolve territorial and border issues with Central Asian states, maintain stability in Xinjiang, develop the economy of western areas, and ensure energy security by playing a leading role in the SCO. Analyzing China's role in the SCO and the related opportunities and challenges is the primary goal of this paper. The Chinese government uses economic cooperation to exert influence within the SCO. However, the Chinese government must still overcome numerous challenges, including reconciling mistrust and conflict among SCO member states, reducing Russian suspicion of Chinese intention, response to transformation of the SCO, and dilemmas regarding regional instability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Yingpan, Xinjiang, was an important site on the Silk Road of China. A large number of precious objects with exquisite patterns have been excavated from this site, and they provide valuable physical evidence for the study of the cultural exchanges between China and the rest of the world. The conservation methods applied to a pair of cloud pattern-painted boots excavated in Yingpan, Xinjiang, are introduced in this paper, and the various factors influencing the repair process are explained. The results show that an oil-in-water emulsifier with contaminant removal and antibacterial functions effectively softened the hardened and deformed ancient leather. The use of near infrared spectroscopy (NIR) to evaluate the dosage of the softening agent can prevent excessive use of softening agents on historical leathers. A silk crepeline method was used to influence the physical reinforcement of the boots without affecting their appearance. It improved the fiber strength of the ancient textiles. This article is a good reference for conservators seeking to repair ancient leather products with textiles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There are abundant oil resources in Xinjiang, and the exploitation of oil resources could easily pollute the soil. In this paper, the impact of oil pollution on permeability of the gray desert soil affected by freeze-thaw cycles under a dry and cold climate of Karamay region in Xinjiang was studied. First, varying-head infiltration tests were conducted on soil samples with different water contents and pollution intensity without exposing to freeze-thaw cycles. The variability of permeability were analyzed employing the scanning results of the polluted soil samples by an electron microscope. Then several freezing and thawing cycle tests were implemented on the samples. The test results shown that the soil permeability was optiomal and the permeability coefficient was highest when the crude oil pollution intensity was 0.61% and the water content was 15.53%. With the water content in soil samples being the same, the soil permeability coefficient increased in the beginning and then decreased as the pollution intensity increased. When the pollution intensity ranging from 0.5% to 1.75%, the freezing and thawing condition could be the leading factor affecting the soil permeability. However, when the oil content was within the range of 1.81% – 2.41%, the freezing and thawing condition could not be the leading factor affecting the soil permeability. The results provided in this study could serve as a relevant basis for the remediation of soil pollution in oil production plants in arid areas of Western China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Carbon dioxide (CO2) emission mitigation has recently been a critical policy-making concern in the financial area. To address this concern, we examine whether and to what extent financial development reduces CO2 emissions in China from a spatial dependence and heterogeneity perspective. The empirical results of applying a random effects eigenvector spatial filtering (RE-ESF) model and a RE-ESF with non-spatially varying coefficients (RE-ESF-SNVC) model to a provincial panel dataset over the period 1997 - 2017 indicate better goodness-of-fit due to the consideration of spatial effects. The role of financial development in mitigating CO2 emissions is confirmed at both the global level by using the RE-ESF model and the local level by using the RE-ESF-SNVC model. Moreover, the contributions of financial development display clear regional disparities, suggesting the inclusion of spatial heterogeneity when developing financial policies for CO2 emission mitigation. However, such contributions are restricted by financial constraints which increase CO2 emissions globally and locally, requiring a balance between financial development and financial constraints when expanding bank loans. Additionally, the one-way analysis of variance reveals the existence of a geographically dividing line approximately connecting the easternmost tip of Xinjiang and the easternmost tip of Fujian. It is observed that provinces above the line generally have stronger impacts of financial development on carbon emission reduction, while impacts in provinces below the line are generally weaker. These findings encourage the implementation of proactive fiscal and monetary policies to promote financial development. Considering financial constraints, cross-provincial and province-specific financial policies should be balanced when allocating more financial resources to provinces with greater contributions of financial development to CO2 emission mitigation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since the Soviet breakup, rural communities in the Kazakhstan–China borderlands have faced cataclysmic social, economic, and ecological transformations. Collective and state farms have been replaced by precarious smallholder agriculture suffering from a decline in financial inputs and the deterioration of infrastructure. At the same time, dynamic transformations of border permeability (and trans-border reconnections) between Kazakhstan and China have challenged the until relatively recent widespread Soviet rhetoric on Western China (or rather Xinjiang) as an underdeveloped space across the border. This article is based on several months of fieldwork between 2019 and 2021 in Panfilov District, located at major cross-border road and railway intersections and hosting important infrastructural objects, such as a dry port, a major railway transhipment hub, and a trans-border special economic zone. The article explores how the border situation (and the border's changing permeability for people, commodities, and ideas since the early 1990s) as well as the implementation of new trans-border infrastructures eventually shaped local discourses and practices in the socio-economic development of south-east Kazakhstan's agricultural sector. It is scrutinized herein how various forms of trans-border socio-economic interactions (although heavily regulated) and China's (agri-) economic policy in Xinjiang started to affect farmers' ambitions and practices across the border. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Direct seeding is a more cost-effective method for plant community restoration than transplanting pot-grown plants, but this method is not applicable to all plant species and all regions. To evaluate the effectiveness of direct seeding to restore mined cold desert vegetation without irrigation, Atraphaxis frutescens (L.) Ewersm., Calligonum junceum (Fisch. et Mey.) Litv., Peganum harmala L., and Seriphydium gracilescens (Krasch. et Iljin) Poljak. were directly sown in the bottom of dry furrows and on a flat site in the mined wasteland before the second snowfall in late autumn. Seedling emergence, survival, and growth were monitored for 3 years. For the four species, cumulative seed germination in the furrows ranged from 6.4 to 23.6% and the highest germination was 23.0 and 23.6% for A. frutescens and C. junceum, respectively. Survival at the end of 3 years was 7.0–56.1% for the four species. In the flat area, cumulative seedling emergence for C. junceum, A. frutescens, P. harmala, and S. gracilescens was 0, 0, 0.7, and 1.4%, respectively, and all seedlings died with the onset of drought. Thus, under natural precipitation conditions, the success of direct seeding depends on the microsite and species. We conclude that direct seeding can be an effective method for establishing the shrubs A. frutescens and C. junceum in mined wasteland if seeds are sown in furrows that have been created across the landscape. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of appendages on the maintenance of viability and germination of the diaspores of the three shrubs Calligonum junceum (Fisch. et Mey.) Litv., Atraphaxis pungens (Bieb.) Jaub. et Spach. and Reaumuria soongarica (Pall.) Maxim. that have high potential for restoration of degraded temperate arid regions. It has been hypothesized that appendages on diaspores of A. pungens, C. junceum, and R. soongarica help maintain seed viability during dry storage at room temperatures and during moist storage in soil outdoors, but they inhibit seed germination. Fresh diaspores of each species were tested for germination; and diaspores with and without appendages were stored in moist soil outdoors in Xinjiang Province of northwest China; and dry diaspores at room condition for 4 months. Viability and percentage of diaspores with and without appendages that germinated during burial were determined. After burial or dry storage, diaspores with and without appendages were tested for germination. Regardless of storage condition, appendages had no effect on diaspore viability of C. junceum and A. pungens but significantly reduced mortality of R. soongarica diaspores by 50%. During burial outdoors, appendages inhibited germination of C. junceum diaspores but not of A. pungens; no diaspores of R. soongarica germinated. After burial, appendages inhibited germination of A. pungens diaspores but had no effect on C. junceum. Appendages had no effect on germination of R. soongarica diaspores after storage in both locations. To use these three species for revegetation, it is recommended that appendages should be removed from diaspores of C. junceum and A. pungens before storage and sowing, but appendages should be retained on seeds of R. soongarica. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Permian Lucaogou oil shales in the eastern Junggar Basin have long been regarded as important source rocks and reservoirs for tight oil exploration. The oil shales can also be used to assess the provenance and tectonic setting of the East Junggar region using major, trace and rare earth element geochemistry. The low chemical index of alteration ratios (37.36–64.18, 45.54 on average), low plagioclase index of alteration ratios (26.99–62.95, 42.99 on average), and high index of compositional variability ratios (0.64–1.66, 1.10 on average) suggest that the Permian Lucaogou oil shales mostly consist of immature sediments that have experienced a weak weathering intensity. The samples have low TiO2/Al2O3 and TiO2/Zr ratios that indicate a felsic origin with minor intermediate igneous rocks. The high Th/Sc and Zr/Sc ratios suggest a felsic origin without sediment recycling. The samples show fractionated light rare earth elements and relatively flat heavy rare earth elements patterns with weak negative Eu anomalies, which implies that the main provenance is lower Carboniferous intermediate–acid volcanic rocks. In addition, multiple major- and trace-element‐based discrimination diagrams show that the parent rock of clastic sediments formed mainly in a continental island arc and active continental margin environment, consistent with previous studies on the tectonic background of the East Junggar region during the late early Carboniferous. Immature sediments are present in the Permian Lucaogou oil shales and have a weak weathering intensity. The provenance of the clastic sediments of the Permian Lucaogou oil shales was predominantly early Carboniferous intermediate–acid volcanic rocks. The clastic sediments of the Permian Lucaogou oil shales were developed in a continental island arc and active continental margin environments. The Permian Lucaogou oil shales provide crucial information for tectonic setting and evolution of the northern Xinjiang during the Carboniferous–Permian. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A new perlodid species of Filchneria Klapálek, 1908, Filchneria tianshana sp. n., from the middle section of Tianshan Mountains, Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, China is described and illustrated based on males, females, and eggs. Another species, Filchneria sp. CH-1, is described based on females and eggs from the same location. DNA barcodes of the two species are sequenced and analysed, revealing intraspecific variation of F. tianshana sp. n. and delimitation of the second species. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Crop classification is a crucial task in agricultural remote sensing, with the accuracy of such classification heavily relies on field sampling. Reusing historical samples can minimize the reliance on annual field sampling for crop classification. Although previous research primarily focused on the classification accuracy based on the reused historical samples, the underlying factors that influence the accuracy have not been adequately investigated. In this study, we employed a two-dimensional convolutional neural network (2D-CNN) model for crop classification reusing historical samples and investigated the factors influencing the classification accuracy. First, we calculated a normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) time series from historical data to characterize crop growth patterns. Secondly, we assessed three different time-series construction methods. Subsequently, we used the 2D-CNN model to automatically extract abstract features of crop growth patterns. Finally, we designed various strategies for reusing historical samples to explore the influencing factors. Experiments were conducted in Kuitun, Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, China, from 2016 to 2020, employing a long time series of Sentinel-2 images as remote sensing data. Our results indicated that optimal 2D-CNN models using an irregular satellite image time series (irSITS) outperformed random forest models in inter-annual classifications (the overall accuracies for 2016–2020 were 0.78, 0.61, 0.89, 0.89, and 0.70, respectively). In addition, we identified that the primary factors affecting classification accuracy were 1) the time-series construction method used; 2) the crop growth patterns; and 3) the sample diversity. By reusing historical samples and considering the factors influencing classification accuracy, this study provides valuable insights into high-quality crop classification mapping under limited field sample conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Northern Xinjiang in Northwest China is an important part of the Central Asian Orogenic Belt (CAOB) and is characterized by Fe, Cu, Ni, Pb, Zn, W, Mo, Au and rare metal deposits. Cobalt is a critical mineral resource and new energy material, but cobalt resources are scarce in China. Many by-product cobalt deposits have been found in the CAOB of Xinjiang. In addition to cobalt-dominant minerals that contain essential Co, cobalt mainly occurs in sulphides, with minor amounts present in arsenic, oxides, and natural metal elements in the form of isomorphic substitutions. Co deposits are mainly distributed in East Tianshan and Beishan, and minor deposits occur in Junggar and West Tianshan. We recognize five types of Co deposits in the Central Asian Orogenic Belt of Xinjiang: magmatic, magmatic-hydrothermal, volcanogenic, skarn, and sedimentary. Of these types, magmatic deposits are the most common. The ore formation in Co deposits can be divided into five mineralization phases: Early Cambrian, Early Silurian, Early Devonian, early Carboniferous, and Early Permian. Among these phases, the Early Permian was the main mineralization phase, in which magmatic-type (Cu–Ni–Co and Ni–Co) and skarn-type (Fe–Co and Ag–Cu–Pb–Zn–Co) deposits formed. The evolution of subduction, collision, and postcollision in the Paleo-Asian oceanic plate resulted in the formation of diverse types of Co deposits. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Kuba coalfield in Xinjiang Province is a new block for the development of coalbed methane in China, and in order to explore the resource potential the coal reservoir pore-fracture system characteristics need to be researched, and favorable reservoir selection needs to be carried out. To characterize the physical properties and the pore-fracture system of coal 4 sets of experiments and 2 technologies were performed. The results obtained in this study demonstrated that two coal seams in the Kuba coalfield, namely A5 and A7, are more favorable reservoirs compared with the other coal seams based on the perspective of pore-fractures, and these results provide a theoretical basis for coalbed methane development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Wulungu Lake is the second largest lake and the second largest fishery base in Xinjiang, but there are few studies on heavy metal pollution in water environment. In order to explore the characteristics and sources of heavy metal pollution in the water environment of Wulungu Lake, the distribution characteristics, ecological risks and pollution sources of 8 heavy metals (Cr, Cu, Cd, Zn, Ni, Pb, Hg and As) in water and sediments of 13 sampling points of Wulungu Lake were analyzed. Geological accumulation index method and potential ecological hazard index method show that Hg has a strong potential ecological risk, which leads to a high potential ecological risk in Wulungu Lake. The water quality of Wulungu Lake is good, but we need to pay attention to the health risk of as. Multivariate statistical analysis shows that Cu, Cd, Zn, Ni and Pb in the water body of Wulungu Lake are affected by the discharge of mining or enterprise wastewater. Hg and Cr may come from the use of fertilizer in farmland. Cr, Cu, Zn, Ni and As in surface sediments are mainly affected by regional geochemical characteristics, while Cd, Pb and Hg are also affected by human activities. The distribution of heavy metals in sediments is different from that in water, which should also be affected by the hydrological conditions of lakes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An assemblage of small, Middle Jurassic tracks from the Xishanyao Formation, located about 100 km west of Urumqi in the Junggar Basin, Xinjiang Province, is here designated the Nanshan site. The site reveals three ornithischian trackways identified as Anomoepus. These represent the eleventh report of the ichnogenus from the Jurassic of China. Two of the trackways show diagnostic hallux traces and indicate bipedal progression. A third indicates a quadrupedal gait. The biostratigraphic distribution of Anomoepus, and Anomoepus-like tracks indicates that they predominate in the Lower and Middle Jurassic of China and are rare in younger deposits. This distribution is consistent with that reported from North America and Europe. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article adopts a post-Copenhagen approach to securitization theory in order to critically analyze the security policies developed by the People's Republic of China (PRC) that have targeted the Uyghur community in Xinjiang province. The article explores the relationship between the language of security and threat, which has been invoked by the PRC leadership, and its role in justifying every-day and exceptional security practices that have been enacted against the Uyghurs since the start of the 1990s. The article makes two important claims. First, the article argues that the securitization of the Uyghur has proved counter-productive, potentially creating the very security threat that the securitization of an issue is supposed to prevent. Second, the article suggests that the role of various audiences, both domestic and international, even in an authoritarian or illiberal state like China, play a key role in the securitization process and the legitimization of the security measures that have been enacted against the Uyghur community. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article draws on critical scholarship on (counter-)terrorism as well as the authors' long-term fieldwork (conducted in Xinjiang from 2005 to 2017) to explore not only the securitizing agency of the state and counter-securitizing agency of "terrorists" but also the manner in which other societal actors (involving street-level bureaucrats, local Imams, and ethnic inhabitants) interact with these processes in China. This article argues that the practice of security, both in the Chinese province of Xinjiang and across China, has a performative quality to it, which manifests in not merely the official regulations and propagandas, but also the localized responses to their bureaucratic operations in the state project of "stability maintenance." While the "stability"-focused counter-terrorism activities in China involve supplementing the traditional model of retrospective intervention with a performance-based, preemptive approach that allows for more civic participation, the authors argue that the public performance of "stability" and "counter-terrorism" has become a means of professional advancement and/or survival for local cadres. In the unstable geopolitical environment of Xinjiang, where anxious contests have taken place between state and various non-state powers for control over territory, the government has been compelled to constantly seek out potential agents (referring in the present context to local cadres, Imams, and mosques) in order to forge local partnerships as part of the process of implementing counter-terrorism policies. The article examines how local cadres and ethnic inhabitants in Xinjiang, being motivated by their own survival and interests, react to and capitalize on the processes of implementing counter-terrorism policies in local societies, which ultimately challenges the ability of the state to rule and thus leads to unpredicted and unintended counter-terrorism policy outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research on Uyghur communities in China often focuses on the power and oppression of the Chinese state, neglecting the power situated in the domestic sphere and women's bodies. My research addresses how younger Uyghur women (aged 18–35 years old) feel suffocated by the expectations of their ethnocultural identity, and how those women both conform to and reject social norms. The themes of marriage and clothing illustrate how representations and discourses of the female body reinforce the boundaries of the Uyghur community. The pleasure and pain of Uyghur identity manifests in women's bodies during territorial insecurity of fading nationalist space. Multiple scales of identity in the body and household disrupt the imaginary cohesiveness and boundedness of territory. While the Chinese state polices Uyghur bodies, so too does Uyghur society police the bodies of other Uyghurs – especially women – as a security strategy of bordering the nation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]