The integration of culture and tourism is an important part of Chinese modernization, and new quality productive forces are the core power to stimulate the vitality of factors of production and promote the integration and innovation of culture and tourism industry. Under the background of rural revitalization strategy, the empowerment of integration of culture and tourism through new quality productive forces has become a significant practical demand and scientific issue to accelerate the construction of a strong tourism country and promote the modernization of agriculture and rural areas. Based on the multiple perspectives of regional economy, rural geography, tourism geography and digital economy, this paper discussed the theoretical logic, scientific problems, practical challenges, practical paths and future trends of the integration of culture and tourism enabled by new quality productive forces from the perspective of rural revitalization. The following are the summary of the key findings: (1) New quality productive forces are the strategic support to promote the deep integration of culture and tourism and the comprehensive rural revitalization. Meanwhile, this process faces theoretical dilemmas and practical challenges. (2) New quality productive forces are the driving force for reshaping the concept of cultural and tourism resources and empowering heritage protection and inheritance. (3) Digital village construction serves as an important support for new quality productive forces to empower the deep integration and development of culture and tourism. (4) Professional talent cultivation is the fundamental guarantee for new quality productive forces to empower the deep integration and development of culture and tourism. In the future, special attention should be paid to cultural and tourism professionals, digital technology experts, and residents. (5) Technological innovation and policy support are the key supports for new quality productive forces to empower the deep integration and development of cultural and tourism industries. This study not only deepens the theoretical interpretation of issues related to the deep integration of culture and tourism empowered by new quality productive forces, but also provides decision-making references for relevant policy makers to formulate industrial policies and development strategies.

The economic transformation and upgrading and the improvement of international competitiveness are inseparable from metal resources, and their importance is self-evident. Under the great power game, it is very important for China to break through the “low-end lock” of value chain, become the leader of regional economy, and accelerate the development of metal industry of the host country in the metal resource industry outward foreign direct investment (OFDI). Based on country-specific data from 2009 to 2018, this study examined the impact of direct investment on the status of China and the host countries of metal resource industry OFDI in the global value chain (GVC), as well as the role of different investment modes and investment regions in improving the status of China’s metal resource industry in the GVCs. The results show that: (1) On the whole, greenfield investment in the metal resource industry significantly promoted the improvement of the division of labor in the value chain of metal minerals in China. (2) Compared with developed countries, China’s direct investment in underdeveloped countries at the high end of the value chain had a greater spillover effect. (3) China’s foreign direct investment in the metal resource industry can achieve win-win cooperation, which promotes the upgrading of the host countries’ metal resource industry in the global value chain, and has a more significant impact on underdeveloped countries. This research on the upgrading of the value chain in the metal resource industry is conducive to exploring strategies for promoting China’s role and power in global governance, and has certain reference significance for the government to better implement targeted policies.

Over the past 30 years, production fragmentation of value chains has promoted the rapid development of urban networks in China. Cities in China have increasingly been transformed from production bases in the “space of places” to network nodes in the “space of flows”. In the network paradigm, the green economic efficiency of cities would be increasingly more affected by network effects, especially their power to utilize vital network resources and knowledge spillovers from network partners. In this study, data on headquarter and branch locations of the largest 500 public companies in China in 2019 were subjected to the ownership linkage model to approximate the urban network, and the total green factor productivity of cities were measured based on the data envelopment analysis (DEA) windows model, then the impacts of network power and knowledge spillovers on urban green economic efficiency were examined by using two broad types of econometric models, i.e., the panel Tobit model and Hansen threshold model. The three main findings are as follows. First, network power and knowledge spillovers through pipeline have been playing an important role in the sustainable development of urban economy. Higher dominance of network resources and higher performance of partners’ economy both induce higher green efficiency. Second, China’s urban network is in the stage of increasing returns. Network power and knowledge spillovers have both threshold effects and increasing marginal effects on urban green economic efficiency. Third, compared with cities in the periphery position, in the central and western regions and with small population size, network power and knowledge spillovers show significant positive impacts on cities in the core position, in the eastern regions and with large population size, indicating that the green efficiency gap between cities in China tends to be widened in multiple dimensions. The analysis results have clear policy implications. In the future, the Chinese government should promote the flow of resources and knowledge within urban networks to achieve higher levels of green development, and pay close attention to the heterogeneous impacts of network development and actively respond to the possibly increasing gaps in urban green economic efficiency.

Examining the impact of environmental regulation on the adjustment of industrial structure by focusing on the mechanism of interregional flow of elements from the perspective of urban agglomerations has important theoretical and practical significance. This study constructed a comprehensive index of environmental regulation and an index of interregional flow of elements, and made empirical tests based on the data of China’s top 10 representative urban agglomerations from 2003 to 2018 to analyze the mechanism of influence of environmental regulation and interregional flow of elements on the adjustment of industrial structure. The results show that: (1) Environmental regulation can significantly promote the adjustment of industrial structure in all kinds of sample groups; (2) Environmental regulation can promote the adjustment of industrial structure through the interregional flow of labor, capital, and technology for the overall sample; (3) There is heterogeneity in the mediation effect for the subregional and regulatory level group samples: the three types of interregional flow of elements show significant mediation effect between environmental regulation and the adjustment of industrial structure for the eastern urban agglomerations and the group of medium level environmental regulation; only the interregional flow of labor shows significant mediation effect for the urban agglomerations in the central and western regions; and the mediation effects of the three types of interregional flow of elements are not significant for the high level environmental regulation group. Finally, the article put forward corresponding policy recommendations based on the conclusions in order to solve the resource and environment problems, explore the paths of optimal allocation of elements and adjustment of industrial structure of urban agglomerations, and promote the high-quality development of China’s urban agglomerations.

Exploring the separation of ownership, qualification right, and use right of homestead and promoting the withdrawal and reuse of idle homesteads is an important task for land system reform. In this study, CiteSpace and document analysis method were used for the bibliometric analysis to identify hotspots of homestead withdrawal and reuse research and analyze its progress. The results show that: (1) With the transfer of rural population to urban areas and village hollowing, the willingness and behavior of farmers’ homestead withdrawal became a hot research topic, and relevant studies gradually focus on the relationship between them and satisfaction of farmers in the process; the mechanism and models of withdrawal are the core of homestead withdrawal research. In existing research scholars have constructed the incentive and constraint mechanism of homestead withdrawal and income distribution and guarantee mechanism, and extracted and analyzed the homestead withdrawal models and their applicability in typical areas; the compensation of homestead withdrawal and farmers’ interest after withdrawal have also become the focus of research. (2) Under the background of “Separation of Three Rights”, research on the reuse of homesteads after withdrawal became the key and hotspots of reform of the homestead system, which focuses on the ways of reuse, models, and approaches. The ways of homestead reuse focus on reclamation for farmland and green land, and transfer to other farmers for the same use or as land for new industries and commercial activities; the models of homestead reuse can be divided into development model and organization mode; the approaches of homestead reuse include trading, leasing, equity, and joint operation. (3) In the future, the research of homestead withdrawal and reuse should aim at rural revitalization, focusing on homestead value evaluation, models of reuse, and benefits of reuse, promoting the reform of rural homestead “Separation of Rights”. Future research should also focus on sustainable livelihoods of farmers and rural social sustainability to improve the homestead withdrawal and reuse policy system, and promote land system reform.

Exploring the mechanism of voluntary and paid withdrawal of homesteads is an important measure to deepen the reform of the homestead system, promote the overall revitalization of rural areas, and optimize the allocation of human and land resources in urban and rural areas. Setting the policy objectives scientifically and adopting policy tools appropriately are the key contents of the construction of homestead withdrawal mechanism. Using text analysis and taking Yiwu City of Zhejiang Province, Yucheng City of Shandong Province, Yicheng City of Hubei Province, and Pingluo of Ningxia the four pilot areas of homestead system reform as case areas, this study conducted a comparative analysis of policy tools and practice of homestead withdrawal at the county level. Based on the local characteristics, we explored the adaptability of the homestead exit policy in the case areas, and summarized its characteristics. The results show that: (1) The choice of policy tools is different in different regions. Yiwu mainly uses supply-oriented policy tools, while Yucheng, Yicheng, and Pingluo mainly use environmental policy tools. (2) There are differences in the specific policy objectives of different pilot areas. Yiwu mainly focuses on the realization of economic goals while taking into account social and ecological goals. Yucheng and Pingluo focus on the realization of social goals and take into account the realization of economic goals. Yicheng pays more attention to social goals. (3) The types of policy tools used in different models of homestead withdrawal are not completely consistent with the policy instruments of the policy texts. Except for Yiwu in Zhejiang Province, the main policy tools in the other three places have changed in practice, and the policy objectives of different models are consistent with the policy texts. (4) The level of economic development, local financial strength, the importance of primary industry in economic development, the level of urbanization and regional cultural characteristics have a great influence on the choice of homestead withdrawal policy tools and policy objectives. Based on this, this paper proposes that homestead withdrawal policy should be scientifically set up considering local characteristics and realistic needs, comprehensively use a variety of policy tools to establish a long-term homestead withdrawal mechanism, and make differentiated homestead withdrawal plans according to the function value of homestead.

Developing a scientific and fair income distribution mechanism is an effective way to mobilize all parties in order to promote homestead withdrawal This study constructed a contribution-based increment income distribution model of homestead withdrawal under the alliance interest distribution mechanism. It also measured the typical counties and cities in Zhejiang Province and discussed the spatial differences of the contribution and distribution proportion of increment income of each party in homestead withdrawal. Important results are as follows: (1) Based on the opportunity cost of farmers and collective economic organizations and the capitalized cost of governments, the theoretical distribution proportions of increment income in homestead withdrawal are close to local policy standards and typical cases in practice. (2) The contribution of each party in the increment income of homestead withdrawal has significant regional differences and exhibits an urban-rural gradient. The contributions of farmers and collective economic organizations show the pattern of Cixi > Yiwu > Jiaxing > Taishun > Yunhe and a trend of village in the city > suburban village > exsuburb village > remote villages. The contributions of increment income of the governments show the pattern of Jiaxing > Cixi > Yiwu > Taishun > Yunhe. (3) Different regions and village locations correspond to different homestead withdrawal increment income distribution patterns. At the regional level, the distribution proportions of of increment income farmers are relatively high in Jiaxing, Cixi, and Yiwu, and the distribution proportions of governments and collective economic organizations are relatively high in Taishun and Yunhe. At the village level, the distribution proportions of increment income of farmers and collective economic organizations are relatively high in villages in the city and suburban villages, and the distribution proportions of governments and farmers are relatively high in exsuburb villages and remote villages. Therefore, it is necessary to develop a distribution mechanism of homestead withdrawal increment income following the principle of allocation fairness and efficiency, according to the location differences and the interest loss of all parties.

In the process of urbanization, the population loss in rural areas is serious, and a large number of homesteads are left unused. Reasonably reconstructing the complete value of homesteads and formulating an exit compensation pricing mechanism have become an inevitable measure to reuse rural residential land and promote rural revitalization. In this study, on the basis of examining the relationship between the property rights of homesteads in China, the types of homestead withdrawal were clarified. Based on the theory of marginal opportunity cost, the value evaluation system consisting of value cognition of homesteads-marginal opportunity cost analysis-complete value reconstruction was constructed from the perspective of the cost of homestead withdrawal. The results of the research are as follows: (1) The value of rural homestead is composed of its own value, development value, equity value, and intergenerational value. The part of the value lost when the homestead is withdrawn is the cost of loss of farmers; (2) Use cost losses to measure the value of homesteads, use marginal production costs to measure the development value of homesteads, use marginal user costs to measure the value of homesteads themselves, and use marginal externality costs to measure the value of homestead equity and intergenerational values; (3) Different types of homesteads have different values at the time of exit, and corresponding compensation should be made according to the cost loss in the exit compensation; (4) The marginal production cost of homestead and the loss of marginal user cost are mostly compensated by monetary means, and the marginal externality cost is compensated by monetary means combined with non-monetary means. Based on the results, a new mechanism of homestead pricing is explored, and relevant policy recommendations for homestead withdrawal compensation are put forward to provide a theoretical basis for the improvement of the rural homestead withdrawal system.

In order to innovate the ecological compensation system for adaptation to the new situation of unified management of natural resources and ecological restoration, this study analyzed and integrated three main policy dimensions including land consolidation, eco-compensation, and balancing occupation and compensation to propose a new concept of Ecological Voucher. This article explained Ecological Voucher in terms of its conceptualization, measurement framework, and policy analysis and recommendations, and the conclusions are as follows: (1) Ecological Voucher is the quantification of the degree of change of the Ecological Function-Efficiency of an ecological unit. The Ecological Function-Efficiency framework could effectively quantify the value of different land ecological restoration projects in diverse regions and periods, and could guide the transition of land ecological restoration projects from an engineering approach to low-input, low-dissipation, and naturalization; (2) Based on Ecological Function-Efficiency evaluation, regional revised coefficients, and maximum disturbance revised coefficients, the Ecological Voucher framework could optimize the layout of ecological restoration projects by taking into account top-down planning and local needs; (3) Compared with the existing eco-compensation system, the Ecological Voucher has been expanded in measurement standard, compensation subject, application scale, and application scope. Establishing an Ecological Voucher system that includes policies, regulations, monitoring systems, and technical standards can further improve the applicability and practicability of Ecological Voucher policy.

Improving water use efficiency is the key measure to realize the sustainable development of water resources. It is of great significance to explore the spatial pattern and dynamic change of water use efficiency in order to promote the ecological protection and high-quality development of the Yellow River Basin. In this study, we built a global Minimum Distance to Strong Efficient Frontier (MinDS model) based on unexpected output to accurately measure the water use efficiency of the Yellow River Basin from 2000 to 2017. The spatial pattern of water use efficiency of the Yellow River Basin was comprehensively depicted from the perspective of national, regional, and intraregional comparisons. The change of distribution dynamics of water use efficiency was investigated by an extended distribution dynamic model. The results show that the water use efficiency of the Yellow River Basin is higher than the average level in China. The water use efficiency of the lower reaches is higher than that of the upper reaches. A spatial pattern of “high in the east and low in the west” is very clear. The polarization of water use efficiency in the Yellow River Basin is obvious in some years. Spatial factors can significantly affect the regional distribution of water use efficiency. The interaction of water use efficiency in adjacent areas leads to the gradual narrowing of water use efficiency gap in the Yellow River Basin in the long term. And water use efficiency converges to the middle level.

The Yellow River Basin is also known as China’s energy basin. Rational and orderly exploitation of mineral resources and overall coordination of the relationship between mineral resources exploitation and ecological environment protection are of great practical significance for the sustainable development of energy and mineral resources and ecological protection in the region. Taking the Yellow River Basin as the study area, this study comprehensively analyzed the characteristics and spatial distribution of environmental stress of regional mineral resources exploitation using multi-indicator comprehensive evaluation method, stress coupling analysis method, and GIS spatial analysis from the perspectives of ecological background fragility, spatial stress to important ecological function areas, and the degree of stress to important ecological environment factors. The 46 mining cities in the Yellow River Basin were divided into eight types, including background stress areas, ecological function stress areas, development stress areas, background with development stress areas, development with ecological function stress areas, background with ecological function stress areas, comprehensive stress areas, and no stress areas. Finally, the article put forward the control path of mineral resources development areas in the Yellow River Basin in view of ecological environment protection, including: (1) Spatial management and control by strictly restricting large-scale and high-intensity industrialization and urbanization development, especially controlling the development boundary of mining areas. (2) Intensity control for areas with fragile ecological background, the intensity and the overall development scale should be controlled simultaneously. (3) Development mode control to pay attention to the structural adjustment and upgrading of energy and mining industries. It is necessary to focus on spatially concentrated development of mining in places where mining is suitable, of industry where industrial development is suitable, and of cities and towns where urban development is suitable.

The Yellow River Basin is an important energy base in China. The comprehensive energy efficiency of the Yellow River basin directly affects the ecological protection and high-quality development of the region. Using the super efficiency slack based measure (SBM) model to measure the comprehensive energy efficiency of nine provinces (autonomous regions) in the Yellow River Basin from 1997 to 2017, the nuclear density estimation method was selected to analyze the temporal and spatial change characteristics of comprehensive energy efficiency, and the driving factors of comprehensive energy efficiency were analyzed with the help of the geographical detector. The results show that: (1) From 1997 to 2017, the comprehensive energy efficiency of the Yellow River Basin showed a U-shaped trend of high-low-high. The comprehensive energy efficiency of the Yellow River Basin decreased from 1997 to 2003, decreased in 2009 after rapid growth from 2004 to 2010, and increased in 2015 after continuous decline from 2011 to 2017. (2) Spatially, the comprehensive energy efficiency of the western provinces of the Yellow River Basin is relatively low, and the comprehensive energy efficiency of the central provinces is greatly affected by multiple factors, while the comprehensive energy efficiency of the eastern province Shandong is significantly higher. The comprehensive energy efficiencies of the eastern, central, and western provinces and the upper, middle, and lower reaches of the Yellow River Basin have all changed from spatially unbalanced to balanced. (3) With regard to the driving factors, the explanation power of factors is in the order of financial decentralization, urbanization level, human capital level, and the degree of opening to the outside world. Expansion of local financial expenditure, acceleration of urbanization, upgrading of talent structure, and improvement of opening-up in the Yellow River Basin jointly drive the improvement of comprehensive energy efficiency. Give full play to the comparative advantages of the Yellow River Basin, and strengthen collaboration within the basin under various policies for promoting the ecological protection and high-quality development of the Yellow River Basin.

China announced plans on 1 April 2017 to create the Xiongan New Area,a new economic zone about 110km southwest of Beijing. The new area covers the counties of Xiongxian,Rongcheng and Anxin in Hebei province,and is home to Baiyangdian,a major wetland in northern China. This is a new area of national significance. It will cover around 100km² initially （termed as the start zone）and will be expanded to 200km² in the mid-term and 2000km² in the long term. It is important to reveal and analyze the land use pattern for planning and development. Based on remote sensing interpretation from Landsat OLI images,current land use features,potential of built-up land saving and intensive use,and spatial variation of arable land quality were analyzed. Three potential choices for the start zone are listed and compared. The results indicate that the proportion of arable land,built-up land and wetland are around 60%,20% and 10% respectively. The potential for rural built-up land savings and intensive use is large. The arable land quality and use intensity in Rongcheng and Anxin counties are much better than that of Xiongxian. Among three potential choices, the medium plot is the best suitable start zone. Policy recommendations on built-up land expansion,farmland saving and flood risk mitigation for the Xiongan New Area are discussed.

Metal resources are critical materials for Chinese economic development,and their security is closely related to national security. Here we systemically review the connotation and mechanisms,driving factors,evaluation methods,national strategies and policies of national metal resource security（NMRS）. The content of NMRS covers the security of supply,price and environment. The key factors that influence the security status of NMRS are resource endowment,economic development,technical progress,and ecological environment. In principle,existing studies apply three approaches to assess the criticality of metals,criticality matrices,criticality indices and quantitative future supply and demand analysis. The most used approaches in metal demand forecasting are the trend extrapolation method,bottom-up approach and mathematical statistics. The market power and pricing of metals are estimated by the Herfindahl-Hirschman index,Lerner index,and equilibrium game models. Different strategies and policy tools for metal security are adopted by countries or regions depending on their national circumstances. Based on these findings and the needs of social development,future study in NMRS should focus mainly on the following four areas:（1）comprehensive research on the mechanism of NMRS;（2）the influence of new technological revolution on NMRS;（3）impacts of changing international trade rules and pricing mechanism on NMRS;and （4）evaluation of the impact of international significant strategies on NMRS.

Carrying Capacity（CC）was first coined in biology and ecology in the 1920s,and later developed rapidly in related sciences such as natural resources science and environment science. The concept of Resources and Environment Carrying Capacity（RECC）,from theoretical investigation to practical implementation,has become an effective and operational tool to describe development restrictions and quantify regional sustainable development. RECC research has become a hot topic methodologically and theoretically in ecology,geography and natural resource and environment. It primarily focuses on the ultimate limit of population and economic development on earth. After briefly looking at the origin of the concept and early headway,we summarize RECC research from land resource carrying capacity,water resource carrying capacity,and environmental carrying capacity（environment capacity）. The following evaluating methods,including ecological footprint and virtual land （or the biological productive land by ecological footprint）,water footprint and virtual water （or the global flow of virtual water）,emergy analysis and virtual energy（or energy equilibrium）,are considered as important research progresses in the past century. However,there is still lack of a standard set of evaluation theories and methodologies for RECC research in China and globally,leading to much debate over the objectivity and comparability of resultant figures. Concerning this issue,we propose that RECC research in the future should pay more attention to enhancing exploratory studies in basic theories and carrying mechanisms,thresholds determination and synthetical calculation,technological standards/manuals setting,measurable assessment and systematical integration. More effort is needed to promote the standardization,digitalization and systematization of RECC research in China before according with national practical and operational demands.

National park systems are spreading widely around the world and aim to protect natural and cultural heritage owned by all people. In 2015,the Chinese government announced its pilot work in building national parks in 12 provinces,and the country has began to explore new approaches in protected area management. Under a framework of ecological civilization construction,the goals of China’s national park system include：establish a rational national park system that is unified and efficient for protected area management;build a replicable and propagable national park management model;promote optimization of China’s current protected area system;and reinforce the construction of ecological civilization system. Here we explore the identification and substantive characteristics of national parks that makes them different from other types of protected areas in China. Creating a national park system is an important step in the process of ecological civilization and governance innovation according to sustainable development theory,new public service theory,and adaptive governance theory. We then present a route for creating a national park system,including highlighting ecological protection in the first place,conducting unified and standardized management,clarifying natural resource property rights,innovating operation and management,and promoting community development. Several safeguard mechanisms to ensure success of the pilot,including sector coordination,planning,fund safeguarding,and public participation are needed. Ten issues for future research into national parks in China are proposed, covering issues such as resource management,organizational construction,rules formulation and community management.

National park construction is an important means of landscape protection and utilization. Functional partition and systematic design ensure the conservation and sustainable use of natural resources of national parks. Using the experiences of developed countries,the article summarized the scheme and technical methods of the functional zoning of national parks,and analyzed the functional zoning of the pilot area of Qianjiangyuan National Park. We found that functional zoning includes three principles：protect ecological system integrity,security community development,and moderately use recreational resource. National parks are generally divided into three to five functional areas by protection and use dimensions,with the spatial distribution in concentric rings. The root cause of the different partition mode is due to set goals and land use intensity. In general,the partition model is according to the intensity of development and utilization. When necessary,national dominance is ensured by land and resource acquisition. National park function areas should be divided according to dominant functions,control of usage areas,adjustment of land use,and to ensure the protection of the natural ecology,historical culture resources,and operability of partition leading function. According to analysis of residential areas and road distribution,the protection resources density distribution and land use type,we think that the pilot area of Qianjiangyuan National Park can be divided into four function areas：core protection area,ecological conservation area,recreation display area and traditional use area,to coordinate multiple relations among ecosystem conservation,community development and recreation utilization. National park functional zoning should select reasonable partition layout patterns adjusted to local conditions and combination relations,regulating the nature of the various types of land,and promotion of reasonable protection and utilization of all kinds of ecological resources.