GLOBAL PRODUCTION NETWORKS, STRATEGIC COUPLING AND THE DYNAMICS OF INDUSTRIAL UPGRADING IN PEARL RIVER DELTA, CHINA

Ph.DDOCTOR OF PHILOSOPH

Infrastructure planning in China's polycentric region: a case study of the Pearl River Delta intercity railway.

Chen, Yanyan."Septembet 2011."Thesis (M.Phil.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2011.Includes bibliographical references (leaves 135-148).Abstracts in English and Chinese.Chapter Chapter 1 --- Introduction --- p.1Chapter 1.1 --- Background --- p.1Chapter 1.2 --- Research Problem and Objective --- p.2Chapter 1.3 --- Research Significance --- p.3Chapter 1.4 --- Methodology --- p.5Chapter 1.5 --- Organization of Thesis --- p.14Chapter Chapter 2 --- State Rescaling and Regional Planning: Concepts and Issues in the Western Countries and China --- p.16Chapter 2.1 --- Introduction --- p.16Chapter 2.2 --- The Reworking of State Power --- p.16Chapter 2.3 --- The Rescaling Concept --- p.19Chapter 2.4 --- "The State Rescaling Concept, Regional Development and Rescaling Process in Regions" --- p.24Chapter 2.5 --- The Regional Scale of Politics: Expressions of State Rescaling --- p.29Chapter 2.6 --- The State Restructuring and the Rise of Regions in China: A Review --- p.32Chapter 2.7 --- Summary --- p.36Chapter Chapter 3 --- Conceptualizing Spatial Planning as a Process of State rescaling: towards an Analytical Framework --- p.38Chapter 3.1 --- Conceptualizing the Spatial Planning as a Process of State Rescaling --- p.38Chapter 3.2 --- Regional Planning in China --- p.44Chapter 3.3 --- Towards a Theoretical Framework --- p.53Chapter 3.4 --- Summary --- p.58Chapter Chapter 4 --- The State in Transition: A Need for Planning Coordination in Cross-boundary Railways --- p.61Chapter 4.1 --- Changing Political Economy --- p.61Chapter 4.2 --- Institutional Structure in Planning Regional Railways --- p.71Chapter 4.3 --- Pearl River Delta: the Railway Planning Context --- p.82Chapter 4.4 --- General Propositions on Planning Coordination of Regional Railways in China --- p.86Chapter Chapter 5 --- Planning the Pearl River Delta Intercity Railway: Institutional Form and the Planning Mechanisms --- p.90Chapter 5.1 --- Introduction --- p.90Chapter 5.2 --- Planning the PRD Intercity Railway: an Introduction of Three Planning Phases --- p.90Chapter 5.3 --- The Planning Process of the PRD Intercity Railway: Interaction among Multiple Jurisdictions --- p.96Chapter 5.4 --- The Scalar Changes of Central-provincial-local State: State Rescaling Process --- p.122Chapter Chapter 6 --- Conclusion --- p.128Chapter 6.1 --- Major Findings --- p.128Chapter 6.2 --- Suggestions for Further Studies --- p.13

Dirty Industry Migration and the Environment - China as a Major Case for Study

Ph.DDOCTOR OF PHILOSOPH

Sustainable Smart Cities and Smart Villages Research

ca. 200 words; this text will present the book in all promotional forms (e.g. flyers). Please describe the book in straightforward and consumer-friendly terms. [There is ever more research on smart cities and new interdisciplinary approaches proposed on the study of smart cities. At the same time, problems pertinent to communities inhabiting rural areas are being addressed, as part of discussions in contigious fields of research, be it environmental studies, sociology, or agriculture. Even if rural areas and countryside communities have previously been a subject of concern for robust policy frameworks, such as the European Union’s Cohesion Policy and Common Agricultural Policy Arguably, the concept of ‘the village’ has been largely absent in the debate. As a result, when advances in sophisticated information and communication technology (ICT) led to the emergence of a rich body of research on smart cities, the application and usability of ICT in the context of a village has remained underdiscussed in the literature. Against this backdrop, this volume delivers on four objectives. It delineates the conceptual boundaries of the concept of ‘smart village’. It highlights in which ways ‘smart village’ is distinct from ‘smart city’. It examines in which ways smart cities research can enrich smart villages research. It sheds light on the smart village research agenda as it unfolds in European and global contexts.

Financing high-tech SMEs in China.

This thesis addresses a gap in the literature relating to the financing of technology-based SMEs in China, more specifically, it examines the sources and types of finance sought and used by high-tech SMEs in relation to the various stages of their development since China's 'reform and opening' in 1978. The central argument is that the development of high-tech SMEs in China has been strongly influenced by the availability of different sources of funding and the relationship between private enterprises and the banking sector in particular. The thesis analyses the financing of high-tech SMEs in relation to a three stage model of business development. It also draws upon concepts from institutional economies to interpret the changing relationships between high-tech SMEs and financial suppliers. The empirical evidence is based on the achieved 83 face to face interviews including 74 with owners/senior managers of high-tech SMEs and 9 with bank and government officials in the study region namely Guangdong and Guangxi. The results show that the ease of access to finance significantly varied through the three development stages. Internal finance and funds from individuate and private firms remained the key sources for high-tech SMEs at all three stages, with bank finance and venture capital yet to become significant sources at the start-up and early stages. A clear financial gap for medium and long-term funds was identified, placing a serious barrier on the ability of high-tech SMEs to invest in the R&D necessary for making radical and distinctive innovations at the start-up stage. Currently, the majority of Chinese high-tech SMEs are dependent on the application of existing advanced technology to products and services and rely on their low costs of production to compete with other high-tech companies

China power - thermal coal and clean coal technology export. Topical report

China is the world`s fourth largest electric power producer, and is expected to surpass Japan within the next two years to become the third largest power producer. During the past 15 years, China`s total electricity generation more than tripled, increasing from about 300 TWh to about 1,000 TWh. Total installed generating capacity grew at an average of 8.2 percent per year, increasing from 66 to 214 GW. The share of China`s installed capacity in Asia increased from 21 to 31 percent. The Chinese government plans to continue China`s rapid growth rate in the power sector. Total installed capacity is planned to reach 300 GW by 2000, which will generate 1,400 TWh of electricity per year. China`s long-term power sector development is subject to great uncertainty. Under the middle scenario, total capacity is expected to reach 700 GW by 2015, with annual generation of 3,330 TWh. Under the low and high scenarios, total capacity will reach 527-1,005 GW by 2015. The high scenario representing possible demand. To achieve this ambitious scenario, dramatic policy changes in favor of power development are required; however, there is no evidence that such policy changes will occur at this stage. Even under the high scenario, China`s per capita annual electricity consumption would be only 3,000 kWh by 2015, less than half of the present per capita consumption for OECD countries. Under the low scenario, electricity shortages will seriously curb economic growth

Policy innovation, asymmetric decentralization and local economic development in post-Mao China -- Case studies of China-Singapore Suzhou Industrial Park and Kunshan Economic and Technological Development Zone.

The Chinese government's economic reforms over the last couple of decades have led to rapid economic growth for the country. However, many empirical studies on the post-Mao China show that the economic transition towards market economy is in large part actually propelled by active local governments, which are encouraged to make policy innovations in order to promote better local economic development. This thesis aims to offer an understanding on how, why and under what circumstances the local governments of post-Mao China - while still controlled by a one-party communist regime- are able to make policy innovations to deal with business operating under market transition conditions. Theoretically, the phenomenon of local policy innovation can be analyzed with a framework involving three dimensions. First, local policy innovation can be seen to take place in order to respond to challenges presented by the changing macro development environments. Second, local policy innovation can be understood as a consequence of changing responsibilities and competencies between central and local governments. Third, local policy innovation may be related to the dynamics of local-central strategic interactions. Empirically, with the contextual approach as its chosen methodology, this theoretical framework is applied to two successful cases of innovation in Jiangsu province within the Yangtze Delta of post-Mao China: Kunshan Economic and Technological Development Zone (KETZ); and China-Singapore Suzhou Industrial Park (CSSIP). The history of these two national development zones identifies the former as a case of a 'locally initiated project' while the latter represents an example of 'local implementation of a centrally initiated project'. In terms of types of local-central dynamic interaction, 'state- intention to tolerate', 'ex-post state endorsement', and 'ex-ante state adoption' were seen sequentially in the case of KETZ, while 'marginalizing the local', 'local obedience', and 'local flexibility' operated simultaneously in the case of CSSIP. The thesis concludes that in post-Mao China significant local policy innovations were able to take place when localities encountered structural changes, including China's reengaging with globalization, changing local-central relations, and serious territorial competition. Actions of local policy innovations were ignited by agents, across scales, whose self-interests were highly involved in local economic development in the context of asymmetric decentralization. More specifically, in the post-Mao China context of economic decentralization to the local combined with political centralization under the party, career-minded local officials utilized their decentralized 'economic resources' to strive for more development, which in turn became their 'political capital' with the upper-level government to get themselves promoted