Author Archives: Chi-Han Ai

About Chi-Han Ai

Ph.D. candidate of EHESS ( École des hautes études en sciences sociales, Paris) focusing on regional economic development in China and Taiwan.

China’s New Urbanisation Plan (2014-2020)

New urbanisation

China’s New Urbanisation Plan (2014-2020) is drawn up based on the reports of the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, Decision of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China on Some Major Issues Concerning Comprehensively Deepening the Reform, China’s 12th Five-Year Plan, and the National Plan for Major Function-oriented Zones.

The Plan (2014-2020) sets forth a clear path for Chinese urbanisation, aims to improve comprehensively the quality of urbanisation, clarifies the main objectives and strategic tasks, and coordinates different institutional systems and policy innovation. This plan is a macroscopic, strategic, and fundamental guidebook for planning a sustainable Chinese urbanisation.

The content of the plan can be downloaded here.

Chi-Han Ai

Ph.D. candidate of EHESS ( École des hautes études en sciences sociales, Paris) focusing on regional economic development in China and Taiwan.

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Peter Daniels 教授接受重庆青年报访问

访问连结: http://www.cqqnb.net/ebook/201421/11314.html

彼得·丹尼尔斯(Peter DanielsPeter)是英国伯明翰大学地理系教授。他的研究领域主要以经济地理为主,集中于中国城镇化之下服务业的发展。在谈起借鉴世界城镇化建设的经验时,彼得·丹尼尔斯认为,中国城镇化建设的发展和趋势与欧洲相比,具有较强的特殊性。

中国无太多闲置土地来城镇化

重庆青年报:谈起中国的城镇化,我们总常说要借鉴国际经验。但在您的研究中,有没有发现中国城镇化的特殊性在哪里?

彼得·丹尼尔斯:中国和世界其他地方的城镇化相比,最大的特殊性在于它发展过于迅速。如果和欧洲的城镇化速度相比,中国的城镇化快得太多了。这就会带来很多问题,最明显的例子就是城市里的空气污染。如何合理正确地控制增长速度,比如合理地控制机动车数量的增长,就显得尤为重要。

重庆青年报:城镇化过程中难免会有一些问题存在,中国在城镇化过程中也面临着很多压力,这些压力在欧洲国家是否也同样经历过?

彼得·丹尼尔斯:中国和欧洲相比,最大的障碍在于中国没有这么多闲置土地来进行城镇化。中国拥有的能够养活众多人口、进行农业生产的优质土地相当有限。而且相比欧洲,中国的人口密度过大。随着人们变得更为富裕,收入提高,人们就会想要到外面去闯一闯,这就会带来城市更大的压力。

服务业快速增长面临人才瓶颈

重庆青年报:现在各大城市都在大力发展服务业,以您来看,中国服务业还面临哪些问题?

彼得·丹尼尔斯:中国在这方面的压力在于如何优化经济结构来维持就业,让中国的制造业发挥更大的作用,以及走向现代化。我的研究领域就是服务业的发展。随着城镇化继续发展,对于服务业的要求就会增加很多。中国面临的一个问题是服务业的不合理增加。第三产业发展过于迅速,导致知识、技能、教育远远落后于城市人口的发展,这也是很大的挑战。

除此以外,中国不仅仅存在着城镇化,同时也包含着制造业的现代化。在城镇化和现代化同时到来的情况下,作为发展中的中国,该何去何从?因为制造业的现代化要求的是高质量的生产性服务。但相比而言,中国的三个产业发展不平衡,对于第三产业的“倚重”让第二产业发展滞后。

只有在提升第二产业的情况下,才能更好地发展其他产业,从而使产业整体得到全面发展。而了解、研究生产性服务在中国是如何产生和发展的,同时它是如何运转的,也显得非常重要。

Chi-Han Ai

Ph.D. candidate of EHESS ( École des hautes études en sciences sociales, Paris) focusing on regional economic development in China and Taiwan.

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Peter Daniels interviewed by Chongqing Youth News

Peter DanielsProfessor Peter Daniels is an economic geographer with an international reputation for research, initially on the development and location of office activities in cities, and later on the rise of the service economy and its impact on cities and regions, as well as its role in globalization and the internationalization of service firms. The introduction of Professor Peter Daniels can be found here.

Chongqing Youth News: When it comes to China’s urbanisation, we usually talk about learning from other countries’ experience. From your point of view, what is the peculiarity of China’s urbanisation?

Peter Daniels: Compared with other countries’ cases, China’s peculiarity is its warp-speed urbanisation rate. China’s overall urbanisation is much faster than other cities in Europe. That is the reason why some problems are produced along the way. For example, air pollution. How to properly manage a reasonable growth rate, such as controlling the number of motor vehicles, is very important.

Chongqing Youth News: It is inevitable that some problems would come up during the urbanisation process. The urbanisation process often comes under extreme pressure. Did European countries experience this too?

Peter Daniels: China, unlike other European countries, has the biggest challenge of having insufficient idle land for urbanisation. China needs to feed a very large population, but fertile land is scarce. And compared with Europe, China’s population density is very high. As people earn higher incomes and want to live an affluent life, they’ll want to go outside looking for adventures, which will put greater pressure on cities.

Chongqing Youth News: Many Chinese cities are pushing for the development of the service industry. In your opinion, what are the problems faced by China’s service industry?

Peter Daniels: The imminent issue now for China is how to optimise the economic structure so as to maintain employment, a sustainable economic structure that may let China’s manufacturing sector play a greater role and become modernised. My field of research is the development of the service sector. As urbanisation continues, requirements for the services industry increase a lot. The problem China faces is that its service sector is increasing irrationally. Hasty development of its tertiary industry causes the levels of knowledge, skills, and education to fall far behind the rise of cities’ population, which also poses a big challenge.

In addition, China is not only undergoing an unprecedented urbanisation process, but also faces the challenge of modernising its manufacturing sector. Going through urbanisation and manufacturing modernisation at the same time is a hard task for China, as the latter requires producer services of high quality. However, the development of China’s primary, secondary, tertiary industry is not balanced right now. The heavy reliance on the service industry causes the secondary industry to lag behind.

To better develop other two industries, the elevation of the secondary industry is necessary; and the full development of the three industries as a whole is then possible. Consequently, understanding and studying how producer services can be developed in China and how it functions is of great importance.

This interview in Chinese can be found here

Chi-Han Ai

Ph.D. candidate of EHESS ( École des hautes études en sciences sociales, Paris) focusing on regional economic development in China and Taiwan.

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4th UrbaChina International Conference handbook

The 4th UrbaChina International Conference was held in Chongqing and was organised by Chongqing University. The entire conference included two days of discussion and a one day field trip. Participants visited Chongqing Liangjiang new area, the Jiangbeizui central business district, and a new rural village named Wubao Village in Jiangbei District.

Conference handbook

Chi-Han Ai

Ph.D. candidate of EHESS ( École des hautes études en sciences sociales, Paris) focusing on regional economic development in China and Taiwan.

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UrbaChina promotional bookmarks

From May 28 through May 30, the Fourth UrbaChina International Conference was held in Chongqing. Chongqing University organized a series of conference activities that went very smoothly. Each year, UrbaChina team made souvenirs in order to promote the UrbaChina China project. Last year, the souvenir was key rings; this year we have selected photos shot during the field researches conducted in four cities by UrbaChina research staff and made the beautiful photos into promotional bookmarks.

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The first photo was taken in Chongqing by François Gipouloux:

https://medihal.archives-ouvertes.fr/medihal-00814049

The second photo was taken in Kunming by Fu Jie:

https://medihal.archives-ouvertes.fr/medihal-00825111

The third photo was taken in Huangshan by Miguel Elosua:

https://medihal.archives-ouvertes.fr/medihal-00763782

The fourth photo was taken in Shanghai by SébastienGoulard:

https://medihal.archives-ouvertes.fr/medihal-00750620

The last photo was taken in Kunming by Hu Ying:

https://medihal.archives-ouvertes.fr/medihal-00820915

 

Chi-Han Ai

Ph.D. candidate of EHESS ( École des hautes études en sciences sociales, Paris) focusing on regional economic development in China and Taiwan.

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Industrial renovation and transformation of old Chongqing Dadukou district

One of the twelve downtown districts, Dadukou is located in the significant metropolitan area in Chongqing. In 1938, Hanyang Iron Factory, the predecessor of Chongqing Iron & Steel Group, was founded in Dadukou. The district developed rapidly ever since and is renown as the “Iron city” in the Southwest of China.

Nonetheless, the “Iron city” image has become less fitting in the face of the development of urbanisation nowadays. In 2011, Chongqing Iron & Steel Group moved their production chain, which helped transform the image of the district. In 2013, Dadukou district is the only place in Chongqing that is included in a national renovation plan proposed by the National Development and Reform Commission. The goal of the plan is to transform Dadukou into an “urbanised, social, economic” area.

The plan divides Dadukou into three areas:

  1. An old iron factory area (老重钢片区) of about 8100 acres is planned to become a new residential area.
  2. Diaoyu zui Peninsula area (钓鱼嘴半岛), an untapped land in Chongqing that will be turned into a recreation zone.
  3. Gold Aoshan – Small South Sea Area (金鳌山-小南海片区), a construction site of around 10 million square meters, which will be built into a tourism and recreational hotspot.

However, the transformation and renovation of this area will certainly have some difficulties, such as financing. Also, what is the reaction of citizens to this transformation and its relationship with the residents? How can this plan combine a strategic economic redevelopment of the area with the preservation of the place’s authenticity? These questions are worth investigating.

Dadoukou

Chi-Han Ai

Ph.D. candidate of EHESS ( École des hautes études en sciences sociales, Paris) focusing on regional economic development in China and Taiwan.

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Is Shanghai facing an industrial transformation challenge?

ShanghaiGlobalisation helps labour and resources flow freely. On the one hand, it causes the dispersal of global trade networks. On the other hand, it also brings about trade concentration, as certain professional services such as corporate accounting, marketing, law, and financing tend to concentrate on a few cities, exactly like the concept of global city that Saskia Sassen proposed. Therefore, in a globalised world, investment needs to be focused on the trade nodes spread around the global market.

On 29 September 2013, the Shanghai Pilot Free Trade Zone (SPFTZ) was established. Close to an international airport and Yangshan Bonded Port Harbor City, SPFTZ is the very first free trade zone in Shanghai and in China. The significance of the creation of this free trade zone is threefold. First, it represents the reform and policy opening-up of China, a reform that allows commercial activities, high-end services, and the offshore financial industry in Shanghai and speeds up Shanghai’s industrial transformation. Second, as a provincial municipality in the Yangtze River Delta, Shanghai’s establishment of a free trade zone will facilitate the development of its nearby cities in Zhejiang and Jiangsu. Third, in the future, features such as capital account convertibility of RMB and the marketization of interest rates will be implemented in SPFTZ, which will further boost the internationalisation of RMB. Nevertheless, does the establishment of SPFTZ indicate that Shanghai is focusing on the high-end service industry to achieve industry restructuring?

The Chinese 2013 Statistical Yearbook indicated that Shanghai’s GDP increased by 7.5% in 2012, the lowest growth of 11 provinces1. In 2012, Shanghai’s tertiary sector grew by 952.796 billion RMB, accounting for 61.6% of the total growth of GDP2. This number is not adequate when compared with other developed countries, whose tertiary industries account for more than 70% of growth. The problem is whether Shanghai can get its industry restructuring right and still have strong development. As economist William Jack Baumol stated, since the service industry grows relatively slowly compared with the manufacturing industry, putting emphasis on the tertiary sector may be detrimental to the overall economy, a dilemma called Baumol’s cost disease. Shanghai is now caught in this situation.

Shanghai has been concentrating on two strategic development models since the 1980s: first on the financial and commercial infrastructure in order to become a major high-end service centre, the other on the manufacturing sector3. When UrbaChina members conducted field research in Shanghai Lujiazui Financial Center, the government officials still stressed the importance of the manufacturing industry for the growth of Shanghai, such as equipment and automotive manufacturing and information industry when Shanghai faces the transformation into a hotspot for the tertiary sector. So, the question here is how Shanghai can successfully complete the transformation.

Producer services can be one of the solutions. It connects the manufacturing industry with the service industry. And the service industry, the main focus in SPFTZ, would need a way to combine the financial market and logistics. However, this model is highly similar to what Hong Kong has been doing. So, how should Shanghai cooperate or compete with Hong Kong? How can these two cities avoid triggering vicious competition between regions? These questions would make for a very interesting potential research topic.

  1. Zhongguo xinwen wang, http://finance.chinanews.com/cj/2013/01-23/4511666.shtml, accessed on 6 May, 2014 []
  2. Shanghai tongji, http://tjj.sh.gov.cn/sjfb/201310/263003.html, accessed on 6 May, 2014 []
  3. Francois Gipouloux, The Asian Mediterranean: port cities and trading networks in China, Japan and southeast Asia, 13th–21st century, Cheltenham: Edward Elgar Publishing, 2011. []

Chi-Han Ai

Ph.D. candidate of EHESS ( École des hautes études en sciences sociales, Paris) focusing on regional economic development in China and Taiwan.

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Call for paper- International conference on China Low-Carbon City

Conference

This conference is organised by Shanghai Advanced Research Institute and will be held from 19 to 22 November 2014 in Shanghai.

Abstracts submission deadline: 30 June, 2014

Full-length papers deadline: 30 August, 2014

Conference receipts deadline: 10 November, 2014

Arrival and registration 19 November, 2014

More information: http://clcf.csp.escience.cn/dct/page/65541

Chi-Han Ai

Ph.D. candidate of EHESS ( École des hautes études en sciences sociales, Paris) focusing on regional economic development in China and Taiwan.

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Stop food waste

城镇化发展虽然可以带来经济进步与生活便利,但相对也会引起一些负面的效应,食物浪费问题就是其中之一,食物浪费可能对环境造成严重危害,也对城镇化的可持续发展理念相违背。欧盟委员会因此拍摄了一系列影片、政策行动,倡导民众不要浪费食物。

为了杜绝食物浪费问题,欧盟各国都有不同的倡议与行动,这些行动不只来自于政府,更多来自于非营利组织,社团,例如:

–       英国废物和资源行动计划 (Waste and Resources Action Programme)

废物和资源行动计划成立于2000年,是一个由政府资助的非盈利公司。包括:环境部、食品和农村事务部、苏格兰政府、威尔士政府、北爱尔兰行政部和欧盟。英国废物与资源行动计划旨在帮助人们无论是在家还是在工作,多回收少浪费,提高经济和环境效益。

相关连结 : http://www.wrap.org.uk/

–       丹麦停止食物浪费运动 (Stop Wasting Food movement Denmark)

该行动是由非盈利政府组织所创立,是为了通过活动、宣传、新闻、讨论、辩论、事件和其他信息渠道,提高公众的反食物浪费意识,减少消费者的食物浪费。停止食物浪费运动还鼓励消费者在当地采取行动,例如捐赠剩余食物给无家可归者。

相关连结 : http://www.stopspildafmad.dk/inenglish.html

–       欧盟优化食物使用避免浪费策略(Food Use for Social Innovation by Optimising Waste Prevention Strategies ; FUSIONS)项目

FUSIONS是一个为期四年的欧盟FP7研究项目,致力于到2020年减少欧盟50%的食物浪费和20%的食品链资源投入。该项目由来自于欧盟的21个研究伙伴共同推动,汇集了学者、知识机构、消费者组织和企业共同实现这一目标。该运动旨在减少食物蓝给,通过协调量化方法,发展强大的利益相关者网络,通过试点研究的社会创新提出解决方案,以及指导欧盟共同的反食物浪费政策。

相关连结 : http://www.thinkeatsave.org/ch/index.php/partners/our-partners

更多相关组织,请参见 : http://www.thinkeatsave.org/ch/index.php/partners/our-partners与欧盟委员会网页: http://ec.europa.eu/food/food/sustainability/eu_actions_en.htm

Chi-Han Ai

Ph.D. candidate of EHESS ( École des hautes études en sciences sociales, Paris) focusing on regional economic development in China and Taiwan.

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Urbachina Work Package 2 conducted field research in Shanghai

With the help of Professor Huang Li (黄丽), members of Urbachina’s work package 2 visited the Party Member Service Center at Central Huaihai Road Sub district (淮海街道党员服务中心) and the Social Organization Service Center at Wuliqiao Sub district (五里桥街道社会组织服务中心).

In the morning of 10 April, 2014, members of Urbachina’s work package 2 visited Central Huaihai Road Subdistrict, a 1.41 km2 community with 98 798 Hukou-holding residents and 115 032 no-Hukou residents. During this field trip, we visited Shanghai Xintiandi (新天地) and Tianzifang (田子坊), and had an intriguing interview with the Party Member Service Center at this sub district about the centre’s role in the community and its everyday activities.

In the afternoon, we walked to the Social Organization Service Center at Wuliqiao Sub district. Volunteer workers at the centre introduced the elderly daycare centre service in their community, the elderly citizens’ association and their care services for people with disabilities.

Field research in Shanghai

Chi-Han Ai

Ph.D. candidate of EHESS ( École des hautes études en sciences sociales, Paris) focusing on regional economic development in China and Taiwan.

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New book: Urbanisation-China and Europe

113958636Published by Gold Wall Press, Urbanisation: China and Europe includes the perspectives of both Chinese and European experts and scholars on the problems and challenges of China’s urbanisation. Herman Van Rompuy, President of the European Council, wrote the preface, indicating that urbanisation in China can learn some useful lessons from European cities, which have years of experience blazing a trail for sustainable development. This book discusses urbanisation problems from different angles, from regional resources and new models of local governance, to methods of addressing financial obstacles. It also elaborates an integrated approach for the widespread implementation of policies to address the various challenges in the development of a city.

 

 

 

Chi-Han Ai

Ph.D. candidate of EHESS ( École des hautes études en sciences sociales, Paris) focusing on regional economic development in China and Taiwan.

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巴黎近郊实施「上学路队计划 (Pedibus)」

2013年7月时,我们曾介绍过在”大里昂21世纪议程”项目中,针对节能减排,绿色公交的 « Pedibus计划 (上学路队计划) » ,现在该项目的概念也延伸到法国不同的城市,例如在巴黎近郊玫瑰城(Fontenay-aux-Roses),随路可以看见「上学路队计划」的立牌,上面清楚写明路队接送孩子上学的时间与路线。这样简单的举措,让当地居民减少开车接送孩子上学产生的二氧化碳,更可以增进小区内民众间的感情,从小方面实践城市永续发展。

pedibus

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Chi-Han Ai

Ph.D. candidate of EHESS ( École des hautes études en sciences sociales, Paris) focusing on regional economic development in China and Taiwan.

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Dutch plan to build smart highways

2013年12月份,Studio Roosegaarde公司提出将建造智能公路,目的是要透过简单的技术,让公路的设计更人性化、省能、安全。

智能公路包括了交互式节能路灯,随着车辆的靠近亮度逐渐提高,车辆通过后关闭来节约省电。同时也包括了发光涂料与温度动力学涂料,发光涂料可以在白天利用太阳光来充电,以便在夜晚自动亮起,发光的时间可长达10小时。温度感光涂料是在当温度下降到负五度时,雪花图案的标志便会发光,来提醒驾驶路面状况容易打滑。

智能公路的这项革新性设计将在5年内成为现实,未来的公路将更具有环保节能与可持续性发展。

Studio Roosegaarde公司介绍智能公路 (Smart Highway 网站): http://www.studioroosegaarde.net/project/smart-highway/

 

 

Chi-Han Ai

Ph.D. candidate of EHESS ( École des hautes études en sciences sociales, Paris) focusing on regional economic development in China and Taiwan.

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Shanghai to modify residential rental management regulations

Shanghai street view, Ai Chi-HanThe Shanghai city government is currently trying to amend its residential rental management regulations; once passed, future residential renting will have the following changes:

First, the number of tenants per room shall not exceed two people, exclusive of those with relations of statutory duty of maintenance, legal obligation of support and dependence.

Second, the living area per capita shall not be less than five square meters.

Third, the lessor is explicitly required to sign a letter of guaranty for responsibility of public security with a police station.

Fourth, the penalty , which was originally between 5,000 to 30,000 RMB, will be raised after the amendment to 10,000 to 100,000 RMB.

For more information: http://www.dfdaily.com/html/3/2014/3/1/1123670.shtml

Chi-Han Ai

Ph.D. candidate of EHESS ( École des hautes études en sciences sociales, Paris) focusing on regional economic development in China and Taiwan.

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Compulsory food safety liability insurance to be launched in Shanghai

Food safty issue, Ai Chi-HanIn 2003, companies in Fuyang, Anhui, used poor quality milk powder, which led to several incidents of infant illnesses and deaths. In May 2013, farmers used highly toxic pesticides on ginger, leading to the outcry over poisoned ginger. People in China have been wary of China’s food safety problem. In February 2014, the head of Food and Drug Administration of Shanghai Yan Zuqiang (阎祖强) revealed that a compulsory food safety liability insurance will soon be launched in Shanghai1.

The business fields involved in the compulsory liability insurance include dairy product, baby food, cooking oil and other major food businesses, as well as large food wholesalers and supermarkets. If another food safety scandal breaks out, this insurance can help protect the consumers’ interest by providing claims settlement.

“Shanghai food safety information traceability management approach” draft《上海市食品安全信息追溯管理办法草案》has been included in the legal consideration list to be discussed and, hopefully, will be passed in the near future2. However, the compulsory food safety liability insurance is still a passive action in terms of protecting consumer rights. A more active way is for the government to take the initiative on inspecting production and ensuring the quality and safety of food in China.

  1. 2014 Nian qi shanghai tuiguang shipin anquan zeren xian, http://big5.chinairn.com/news/20140224/123625537.html, accessed on 24 February 2014 []
  2. Ben shi jinnian quanmian tuiguang shi an qiangzhi xian, http://xmwb.news365.com.cn/ms/201402/t20140222_1795462.html, accessed on 24 February 2014 []

Chi-Han Ai

Ph.D. candidate of EHESS ( École des hautes études en sciences sociales, Paris) focusing on regional economic development in China and Taiwan.

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