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Based on statistical data and population flow data for 2016, and using entropy weight TOPSIS and the obstacle degree model, the centrality of cities in the Yangtze River Economic Belt (YREB) together with the factors influencing centrality were measured. In addition, data for the population flow were used to analyze the relationships between cities and to verify centrality. The results showed that: (1) The pattern of centrality conforms closely to the pole-axis theory and the central geography theory. Two axes, corresponding to the Yangtze River and the Shanghai-Kunming railway line, interconnect cities of different classes. On the whole, the downstream cities have higher centrality, well-defined gradients and better development of city infrastructure compared with cities in the middle and upper reaches. (2) The economic scale and size of the population play a fundamental role in the centrality of cities, and other factors reflect differences due to different city classes. For most of the coastal cities or the capital cities in the central and western regions, factors that require long-term development such as industrial facilities, consumption, research and education provide the main competitive advantages. For cities that are lagging behind in development, transportation facilities, construction of infrastructure and fixed asset investment have become the main methods to achieve development and enhance competitiveness. (3) The mobility of city populations has a significant correlation with the centrality score, the correlation coefficients for the relationships between population mobility and centrality are all greater than 0.86 (P

China’s rapid socioeconomic growth in recent years and the simultaneous increase in many forms of pollution are generating contradictory pictures of residents’ well-being. This paper applies multilevel analysis to the 2013 China General Social Survey data on social development and health to understand this twofold phenomenon. Multilevel models are developed to investigate the impact of socioeconomic development and environmental degradation on self-reported health (SRH) and self-reported happiness (SRHP), differentiating among lower, middle, and higher income groups. The results of the logit multilevel analysis demonstrate that income, jobs, and education increased the likelihood of rating SRH and SRHP positively for the lower and middle groups but had little or no effect on the higher income group. Having basic health insurance had an insignificant effect on health but increased the likelihood of happiness among the lower income group. Provincial-level pollutants were associated with a higher likelihood of good health for all income groups, and community-level industrial pollutants increased the likelihood of good health for the lower and middle income groups. Measures of community-level pollution were robust predictors of the likelihood of unhappiness among the lower and middle income groups. Environmental hazards had a mediating effect on the relationship between socioeconomic development and health, and socioeconomic development strengthened the association between environmental hazards and happiness. These outcomes indicate that the complex interconnections among socioeconomic development and environmental degradation have differential effects on well-being among different income groups in China.

Background In the transitional stage of socioeconomic development, the traditional practice of home-based care in China is being tested. The evolution and factors of home-based care utilization are the prerequisites for the formulation of a support policy. However, no extant research has studied home-based elder care on a national scale. Aim This paper aims to examine changing caregiving relationships nationwide for home-based elderly individuals and investigate the changing factors of care utilization in a ten-year period, with special attention to the effects of “location” on care patterns. Methods The data come from the Chinese Longitudinal Healthy Longevity Survey (CLHLS). Andersen and Newman's behavioral model is employed as the theoretical framework for this research. The trends in care use from 2002 to 2011 are explored and multilevel multinomial analyses are performed to investigate the changing factors of care patterns between 2002 and 2011. Results From 2002 to 2011, China saw a sharp decrease in children as caregivers, a significant increase in spousal caregivers, and a gradual decrease in other caregivers. Compared to 2002, the effects of the predisposing and enabling factors are more important than the need factors in 2011. Location and the interactions of the north-south divide and the urban-rural divide had a significant effect on care patterns. Conclusions From 2002 to 2011, there was a decline in the traditional values-advocated care system and the elderly had to rely more on their own resources to find caregivers. In the design of a support program, there is an urgent need for policy makers to take social inequality among elderly individuals and the effects of location into consideration.

This paper makes a comprehensive analysis of the new trends in the economic activities in the Chinese rural areas in terms of the spatial process, spatial behaviour, spatial relations, spatial structure and spatial disparities. It also discusses the various "rural diseases" induced by the decentralization and incoordination of the spatial development in these areas. In the writer’s opinion, the study on the spatial development of Chinese rural areas should concentrate on the renewal of the existing theory and practice. Using the spatial economic system theory to replace the traditional agricultural location theory, allocation theory, areal differentiating theory and the community theory, the author has put forward Chinese rural spatial economics which can function as the basis and guidance for the study on spatial development of rural areas in China.