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Rural mobility inequality is an important aspect of inequality-focused Sustainable Development Goals. To reduce inequality and promote global sustainable development, more insight is needed into human mobility patterns in rural areas. However, studies on rural human mobility are scarce, limiting our understanding of the spatial and social gaps in rural human mobility and our ability to design policies for social equality and global sustainable development. This study, therefore, explores human mobility patterns in rural China using mobile phone data. Mapping the relative frequency of short-distance trips across rural towns, we observed that geographically peripheral populations tend to have a low percentage of short-distance flows. We further revealed social gaps in mobility by fitting statistical models: as travel distances increased, human movements declined more rapidly among vulnerable groups, including children, older people, women, and low-income people. In addition, we found that people living with low street density, or in rural towns in peripheral cities with long distances to city borders, are more likely to have low intercity movement. Our results show that children, older adults, women, low-income individuals, and geographically peripheral populations in rural areas are mobility-disadvantaged, providing insights for policymakers and rural planners for achieving social equality by targeting the right groups. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

On the evening of 30 April 2021, a severe hailstorm swept across eastern China, causing catastrophic gale and damaging hailstones. This hailstorm event was directly caused by two mesoscale convective systems associated with strong squall lines, with mid-level cold advection from the northeast cold vortex, and strong low-level convergence associated with the low-level vortex and wind shear line. Double nesting of the high-resolution weather research and forecasting model (9–1 km) is utilized to simulate this hailstorm with five microphysics schemes. The radar-based maximum estimated size of hail (MESH) algorithm, differential reflectivity and fractions skill scores were used to quantitatively evaluate the precision. All schemes basically captured the two squall lines that swept through eastern China, although they appeared one or two hours earlier than observation. Particularly, Goddard and Thompson performed better in the MESH swath and fractions skill scores among the five different schemes. However, Thompson most realistically captured the reflectivity pattern, intensity and vertical structure of mesoscale convective systems. Its high-reflectivity column corresponded to the maximum center of the hail mixing ratio within the updraft region, which is consistent with the characteristics of a pulse-type hailstorm in its mature phase. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we propose a conceptual framework to elucidate transport-related social exclusion (TRSE) in rural China. Drawing from participant observations across 146 villages in Guangdong (2643 rural residents), we illuminate the multifaceted nature of TRSE in Chinese villages. In term of interregional transport challenges, rural residents are socially excluded due to inadequate transport infrastructure and services. In contrast, within the microcosm of intravillage transport, residents adeptly harness available transport resources to craft exclusionary strategies. This emergent form of TRSE, distinct from previous paradigms, sees villagers deploying transport as an instrument to deliberately exclude the Other based on the depth and nuances of their interpersonal relationships. This exclusion manifests through unique characteristics: the nebulous contours of marginalised groups, mutual exclusion between rural residents, ethical ambivalence, and its profound resonance with traditional cultural norms. Given the intricate layers that seem to eclipse the phenomena observed in urban contexts, we underscore the imperative for a more nuanced exploration of TRSE in rural landscapes. • Participant observation of 2643 rural residents in 146 villages in Guangdong • A novel form of exclusion based on the depth and nuances of interpersonal relationships • Villagers deploying transport as an instrument to deliberately exclude others • Transport-related social exclusion in rural China manifests through 4 unique characteristics • The nebulous contours of marginalised groups, mutual exclusion, ethical ambivalence, and resonance with traditional norms • Transport-related social exclusion in rural China is rooted in the bedrock of traditional Chinese culture [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reconsiders transport inequities through the lens of environmental racism. Based on participant observations of 1972 rural-to-urban migrants at 76 worksites and 25 residential communities in five cities in the Yangtze Delta Region, China, we identified two main challenges facing migrants experiencing ethnic discrimination during Covid-19. First, they were more likely to experience housing eviction and, consequently, bear heavier transport burdens when moving. Second, they were more likely to face difficulties when returning to the cities, such as repeated quarantine and displacement, long-time drifting on the highway and transport-related job uncertainty. Although the long-term effects of these policies on migrants' everyday activity-travel behaviour may be limited, their experiences during the early phase of Covid-19 had a significant impact on their Spring Festival homecoming the following year. Regionally targeted transport policies to prevent Covid-19 have fuelled ethnic discrimination by officially classifying people from some provinces as "dangerous". Moreover, transport policies favoured some ethnic groups over others, contributing to environmental racism and exacerbating transport inequity. • Participant observation in 5 cities in the Yangtze Delta Region. • Two main challenges migrants faced during Covid-19: housing instability and transport burdens it engendered, and barriers to returning to the cities. • Experiences during the early phase of the Covid-19 outbreak influence rural-urban migrant workers' Spring Festival homecoming in the long term. • Transport policies implemented in the early phase of the pandemic fuelled environmental racism and exacerbated transport inequity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Egalitarian thought has a long tradition in Chinese history. Synthesized with the socialist ideology, it was practiced nationwide in the first decades of Communist China. Alongside the well-reported quality of life improvements that the recent economic liberalisation reforms have brought about, Chinese people are experiencing an increasingly serious polarization between the rich and the poor. Consequently, an egalitarian tendency has represented itself within contemporary policy and popular discourse. This paper aims to explore how egalitarian thought has influenced public awareness of social inequities by using the case of public attitudes towards the Beijing congestion charge, which is currently still at its planning stage. Nine focus groups, with a total of 73 participants, were undertaken with residents living in different areas of the city. Results show that the perceptions of social inequities are significantly different between low-income and high-income people. Due to egalitarian thinking, low-income people expect the privileges of the rich to be abolished, however, they do not pay much attention to a wider redistribution of wealth and other social resources. By contrast, richer people tend to deny to a wider population the privileges they themselves received, and, to some extent, they are reluctant to accept policy outcomes that may favour those who are in lower social positions. The resentment against the rich, as another by-product of egalitarianism, considerably exaggerates actual social inequalities, thereby intensifying the feelings of being unequally treated. Highlights • Equity issues of congestion charging in the Chinese context are explored via focus group discussions. • Four types of inequities related to congestion charging are identified. • Chinese egalitarianism influences perceived inequities and intensify the feeling of being oppressed. • Chinese egalitarianism leads to an expectation of privilege deprivation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

China railway transportation is developing rapidly, the running speed of high-speed train is promoted. As the promoted speed, the running gear and gearbox of high-speed train produce more heat, causing hot axle easily. In view of the hot axle phenomenon of high-speed train during operating, in combination with the former failure condition of axle temperature monitoring system in terms of total composition, principle and failure condition during operating, analyzing the causes of system failure deeply, a new type of axle temperature monitoring system is designed. Through the test, it indicates that the system could monitor the axle temperature condition of high-speed operating train real-time and accurately, it plays an important role in ensuring the safe operation of high-speed train. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There has been a lack of clear understanding of the characteristics and correlates of rural residents' access to periodic markets. This study contributes to the new evidence for this by using data from face-to-face interviews with 4777 rural residents from 276 villages across China. The results show that village terrain is substantially associated with access to periodic markets. Rural residents living in the mountain, high plateau, and hilly areas are more likely to travel a long distance to the nearest periodic market than those living in the plain area. The proximity of the town center positively relates to access to periodic markets. In addition, we found a larger number of shop point of interests within a 2000 m circular buffer around the village center associate with better access to the neatest periodic market. These findings offer new insights for policymaking on improving access to periodic markets for residents in rural areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The outbreak of COVID-19 in China started at the end of December 2019. This led to a series of containment measurements to control the spread of COVID-19. Despite of the widely reported effects of these measures, inadequate attention has gone to their social impacts. The elderly, as one of the most susceptible populations, has experienced a considerable reduction in mobility. This paper explores the role mobility played and how the social environment influenced elderly mobility in the first 2 months of the COVID-19 outbreak. We surveyed 186 families with a total of 248 elderly people in Kunming. The results show that mobility improves the quality of daily living, such as access to grocery shopping, maintenance of outdoor activities for health cultivation and preserving social networks even during the pandemic. Four themes relating to social environment emerged from the data as elements influencing elderly mobility during the pandemic: social pressure, practice of the virtue of Xiao, the social norm of respecting the aged and the impacts of technological advances. Among them, the virtue of Xiao enabled the elderly to stay in place in the early phase of COVID-19 by fulfilling their needs for daily necessities and social interactions, whilst being less technology-savvy further excluded them socially by restraining them from restoring mobility after the lifting of travel restrictions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to explore the factors affecting users’ behaviors in a free-floating bike sharing (FFBS) system in China, a survey was conducted in Jiangsu province, China in 2017, and the travel characteristics of FFBS users were analyzed. A binary logistic model was applied to quantify the impact of various variables regarding residents’ usage preference based on 30401 valid questionnaires. The findings show that (1) FFBS was mainly used for short-distance travel in cities, especially for commuting and schooling, and the time period of travel in FFBS coincided with the rush-hour in urban areas; (2) a higher level of education, a higher daily transportation cost, the convenience of picking up and parking, and the contribution to users’ health could promote the usage of FFBS, while malfunctioning bicycles and limited regulations were major obstacles restricting the development of FFBS; (3) interestingly, people with high-incomes rather than those with low-incomes showed an inclination for FFBS owing to the charge mode. This research provides empirical evidence to facilitate the formulation of urban transportation policies and to improve the management of FFBS for the operators. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Human mobility is an important carrier of material flow, information flow, capital flow, and technology flow between locations. A better understanding of human mobility in rural areas could inform efforts to achieve rural revitalization. However, there have been limited evaluations of the characteristics of human mobility in rural areas. Based on human movements estimated from mobile phone data, we constructed an inter-town human mobility network and applied a complex network analysis method to study the spatial characteristics of the human mobility network in rural areas, with China's Greater Bay Area as a case study. We found that rural towns with high centrality were mostly located at the convergence of developed megacities. Rural towns with most connections were not necessarily the most central in the inter-town human mobility networks, leading to anomalous values of the centrality. We demonstrated that the anomaly of centrality values emerged due to the community structure of the network. We identified nine communities in the network and found that the geographical borders of communities partly matched the urban administrative borders. However, the results also showed that many rural towns on the fringes of a city were dissolved in their adjacent developed cities, independent of the urban administrative boundary effect. The formation of communities cannot be explained only by the impacts of urban administrative boundaries, but also by the growth of large cities and the geographic dispersal of economic activities. Finally, we identified seven roles of rural towns based on their pattern of intra-community and inter-community connections. These findings provide important insights into the pattern of interaction among rural towns. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Travel burden on rural residents is an important theme in transport geography. However, the empirical evidence for this remains scarce. This paper aims to shed light on rural travel burden by examining the relationship between the rural built environment and villagers' travel burden, as measured by the time and money spent on essential and regional trips. A national survey of rural residents in 287 villages across China is analysed. The results show that residents living in rural areas are more likely to be faced with travel burden than are urban residents when accessing livelihood opportunities in local rural settlements and regional urban centres. The built environment attributes are significantly correlated with residents' travel burden. Specifically, the distance from the village to the destination has the strongest relationship with essential trips compared with other built environment variables. Villagers tend to incur higher time costs for an essential or regional trip when paved roads, bus stations and high-quality roads are less accessible. Bus transfer times from the village to the town centre, the population density, and the accessibility of local facilities also show significantly correlation with villagers' travel cost. Moreover, those residents who are elderly, low-income, or have a physical disability are more likely to suffer from high travel burden. The findings will enhance our understanding of the role of land use and transport policies in releasing villagers' travel burden to achieve sustainable transport development in rural contexts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since many parents travel separately for escorting and commuting, certain hidden daily car trips may have been ignored in previous research regarding parental escort behaviors. By defining an escort-space model using the spatial relationships between home, the workplace, and school, this study focuses on the daily modal split among parental chauffeurs using data from Qujing, China, while focusing on the effects of different escort-space models: spatial aggregation, job-housing separation and school-housing separation. The descriptive statistics of parental chauffeurs’ travel mode choices under the influences of these three escort-space models are presented. The statistical results demonstrate that the modal splits of parental chauffeurs perform significantly differently under these three escort-space models. Furthermore, the determinants of the daily travel mode of parental chauffeurs, including escort-spaces and other selected variables, are investigated using a multinomial logit model. A model without the escort-space model is also presented for comparison. The results show that the model with the escort-space model has a more significant goodness-of-fit than the model without the escort-space model. Both the job-housing separation and school-housing separation of parental chauffeurs result in the increase of car trips, while the usage amount of car in daily journeys is higher than that in escort trips. Moreover, car ownership, bike ownership, household income, residential location, age, gender, income, and education level all significantly impact the daily travel mode choices of parental chauffeurs. These findings can help policymakers create suitable policies to reduce excessive car trips by parental chauffeurs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Governments worldwide have announced stimulus packages to remobilize the labor force after COVID-19 and therefore to cope with the COVID-19-related recession. However, it is still unclear how to facilitate large-scale work resumption. This paper aims to clarify the issue by analyzing the large-scale prefecture-level dataset of human mobility trajectory information for 320 million workers and about 500,000 policy documents in China. We model work resumption as a collective behavioral change due to configurations of capacity, motivation, and policy instruments by using qualitative comparative analysis. We find that the effectiveness of post-COVID-19 recovery stimulus varied across China depending on the fiscal and administrative capacity and the policy motivation of the prefecture. Subnational fiscal and procurement policies were more effective for the wholesale and retail sector and the hotel and catering sector, whereas the manufacturing and business services sectors required more effort regarding employment policies. Due to limited prefectural capacity and wavering policy motivation, the simultaneous adoption of fiscal, employment, and procurement policy interventions endangered post-COVID-19 work resumption. We highlight the necessity of tailored postcrisis recovery strategies based on local fiscal and administrative capacity and the sectoral structure.