Progress in China's Sustainable Development Research

J. Geogr. Sci. 2016, 26(8): 1176-1196 DOI: 10.1007/s11442-016-1321-0

Progress in China’s sustainable development research: Contribution of Chinese geographers

YANG Yu, *LIU Yi

Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, CAS, Beijing 100101, China

Abstract: Sustainable development has always been a hotspot in Chinese geographical research. Herein, we conduct a systematic statistical analysis of the contribution of Chinese geographers to sustainable development research using bibliometric methods. Based on the review of a vast amount of literature, we identify the main research teams, research funding sources, journals, and key research fields. The findings are as follows: (1) the resources and environmental institutes of the Chinese Academy of Sciences have a significant influence on sustainable development research; (2) China’s central government foundations (the National Natural Science Foundation of China and National Social Sciences Fund) are the main research funding sources; (3) most of the highly cited articles are published in journals sponsored by the Geographical Society of China; and (4) sustainable development theory and its research areas are being constantly enriched and perfected. Based on the statistics of keywords, the theory, research methods, research regional scales, and key research areas are summarized and expounded.

Keywords: sustainable development; geography; bibliometric analysis

1 Introduction The concept of sustainable development is proposed clearly in the report Our Common Fu- ture, submitted to the United Nations’ World Commission on Environment and Development (WCED) in 1987. Since then, the United Nations General Assembly has repeatedly organ- ized international conferences aimed at implementing sustainable development strategies to solve the current global environment and development problems. As a new development pattern, sustainable development has gained popularity in more and more countries, and has permeated every corner of economic development and humanity (Gan, 1993; Lv and Liu, 1998). China’s sustainable development theory and practice are different from those of de-

Received: 2016-02-15 Accepted: 2016-04-06 Foundation: National Natural Science Foundation of China, No.41430636, No.41590841, No.41371141 Author: Yang Yu (1984–), PhD and Associate Professor, specialized in energy geography and regional development. E-mail: [email protected] *Corresponding author: Liu Yi (1957–), Professor, specialization in sustainable development and regional policy. E-mail: [email protected]

www.geogsci.com www.springerlink.com/content/1009-637x YANG Yu et al.: Progress in China’s sustainable development research: Contribution of Chinese geographers 1177

veloped countries, which represent the common interest of developing countries and the special requirement of a distinctive large developing country (Zheng, 1994; Zhang et al., 1999b). In particular, as one of the most active fields at the forefront of research related to Chinese geography, sustainable development is the main area of recent economic geography research and has attracted extensive attention and discussion (Lu, 1994). The 33rd Interna- tional Geographical Congress will be held in Beijing in 2016. We would like to share the progress in China’s sustainable development research with our international peers.

2 Methods and data Nowadays, more and more Chinese scholars publish their sustainable development research in international journals. Most of the papers published in English can be searched and read on the Web of Knowledge and Science Direct. Thus, this paper focuses on the main studies published in Chinese, which are not easy for international peers to access and read. The data come from the China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI, www.cnki.net), which is the most comprehensive database of China’s academic journals. Taking sustainable development as the priority subject, 330,000 research results are returned. For a more specific analysis, we restrict the journal range to include only academic periodicals and journal titles including geography, ecology, or environment. With this restriction, our study contains 1170 journals and 12,040 papers. For a systematic formulation and introduction, we focus on not only the progress in theory and practice, but also the leading journals, research teams, and funding sources. It is worth noting that sustainable development research involves many aspects, and we inevita- bly miss some references by using sustainable development as the search subject. Beyond journals, some insightful studies have been published in books, and other valuable ideas are found in the form of reports, newspapers, and websites. However, our restricted statistical search method does not include the above publication formats. Since our search covers a wide range, this study reflects an objective overall review of relevant studies.

3 Overview of sustainable development research

3.1 Overview statistics

The number of papers published in the field of sustainable development has increased rapidly since the 1990s. Fewer than 10 papers are identified by our search for 1993. This number surges to 541 in 2000 and peaks at 801 in 2010. Though a small wave in the quantity of published articles can be seen after the year 2000 (Figure 1), sustainable development remains a constant research hotspot with Figure 1 Number of papers published on sustainable develop- relatively high numbers of publica- ment from 1993 to 2015

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tions. The implications of sustainable development research do not remain constant, but keep pace with the times. China’s regional policy and global situation significantly affect the popular research subjects. Following national development strategies (e.g., Major Function Oriented Zoning, China Western Development, and China’s Northeast Revitalization Strat- egy), research papers with related topics are seen to boom. International hot topics, such as energy consumption, low-carbon economy, carbon emissions, and global climate change, also result in a large number of publications concentrated on specific topics.

3.2 Main journals

The retrieved articles and their citations cover 1170 journals. Based on the original journal of publication and the citations, we analyze the leading journals and their influence. In terms of the number of published papers, China Population Resources and Environment ranks first with a total of 1518 relevant papers (more than 70 papers per year) followed by Ecological Economy (1328 papers). Seven other journals published more than 300 papers: Resources and Industry, Economic Geography, Journal of Arid Land Resources and Environment, Ter- ritory and Natural Resources Study, Resources Science, Resources and Environment in the Yangtze Basin, and Acta Ecologica Sinica. However, most of the above journals are not highly ranked and even disappear in Table 1 due to their low numbers of citations and influence. In terms of the number of citations, China Population Resources and Environment, Acta Ecologica Sinica, Resources Science, Economic Geography, Ecological Economy, and Journal of Natural Resources are the most cited journals, with each journal having more than 10,000 citations. The numbers of citations in Progress in Geography, Chinese Journal of Applied Ecology, Geographical Research, Resources and Environment in the Yangtze Ba- sin, and Journal of Arid Land Resources and Environment are more than 5000. These 11 journals make a great contribution to the academic communication of sustainable development research and the dissemination of science. In terms of high impact, Acta Geographica Sinica and Chinese Journal of Applied Ecology are the leading journals, with their high complex impact values ranking them as the top two. Each of them has an average of 50 citations per paper. Acta Geographica Sinica has the highest complex impact value of 188.86. Notably, 5 journals in the top 10 are sponsored by the Geographical Society of China (GSC): Acta Geographica Sinica, Progress in Geography, Geographical Research, Scientia Geographica Sinica, and Economic Geography. Five journals in the top 10 are hosted by the Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences (IGSNRR), making it the dominant institute in China’s sustainable development research.

3.3 Research team

We calculated the publications and citations by author affiliation. A total of 19 universities and institutes published more than 100 papers. IGSNRR ranks far ahead with 690 articles and 22,983 citations, and plays a leading role in China’s sustainable development research. Most of the directors of specialized committees are the renowned professors of IGSNRR with great academic attainments in their own disciplines. Following IGSNRR are Peking University (PKU), Nanjing University (NJU), Sun Yat-Sen University (SYSU), Beijing Normal University (BNU), Lanzhou University (LZU), and East China Normal University YANG Yu et al.: Progress in China’s sustainable development research: Contribution of Chinese geographers 1179

(ECNU); these universities are highly ranked in Geography in China’s university ranking system and possess great research and technological strengths. It is apparent that the institutes of resources and environment belonging to the Chinese Academy of Sciences demon- strate good performance in sustainable research, accounting for 20% of the top 40 institutions and universities.

Table 1 Main journals and their influence on sustainable development research from 1993 to 2015

Number of Number of Citations Impact Complex Journal title Rank publications citations per paper factor impact Acta Geographica Sinica 143 8,650 60 3.144 188.64 1 Chinese Journal of Applied 124 7,841 63 1.644 103.57 2 Ecology Progress in Geography 213 8,976 42 2.154 90.47 3 Journal of Natural 229 11,407 50 1.714 85.70 4 Resources Geographical Research 163 6,643 41 1.936 79.38 5 Acta Ecologica Sinica 338 16,382 48 1.604 76.99 6 Scientia Geographica Sinica 147 4,729 32 2.214 70.85 7 Economic Geography 467 12,207 26 2.122 55.17 8 Resources Science 437 12,738 29 1.686 48.89 9 Chinese Journal of Ecology 122 4,784 39 1.096 42.74 10 China Population 1,518 27,534 18 1.779 32.02 11 Resources and Environment Journal of Ecology and 71 1,973 28 1.085 30.38 12 Rural Environment Ecology and Environmental 164 3,716 23 1.184 27.23 13 Sciences Geography and 99 3,439 35 0.754 26.39 14 Geo-information Science Arid Land Geography 183 3,362 18 1.464 26.35 15 Human Geography 229 4,984 22 1.172 25.78 16 Resources and Environment 345 6,094 18 1.223 22.01 17 in the Yangtze Basin Tropical Geography 163 2,552 16 0.768 12.29 18 Urban Environment and 135 2,467 18 0.602 10.84 19 Urban Ecology World Regional Studies 91 1,217 13 0.718 9.33 20 Note: “Complex impact” is defined as citations per paper • impact factor. To maintain data consistency, the journal impact factors are from CNKI.

From the viewpoint of the academic influence of publications, the Chinese Academy of Sciences is dominant, occupying 60% of the top 10 most influential institutions and universities. Among them, the Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences (RCEES) ranks first with an average of 74 citations per paper. The Cold and Arid Regions Environmental and Engineering Research Institute (CAREERI), Institute of Applied Ecology (IAE), Nan- jing Institute of Geography and Limnology (NIGL), IGSNRR, and Northeast Institute of Geography and Agroecology (NEIGAE) also rank in the top 10 with more than 30 citations per publication (Figure 4). Zhejiang University (ZJU), Peking University (PKU), Nanjing Normal University (NNU), and Tsinghua University (THU) are the other universities in the

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top 10. The researchers’ areas of the study are diverse. Cheng Shengkui, Fang Chuanglin, Min Qingwen, Dong Suocheng, Ye Wenhu, Liu Yansui, Shen Lei, Chen Xingpeng, Ouyang Zhi- yun, Yao Shimou, and Liu Yi are influential scholars in sustainable research, with more than 20 papers published and many citations (Figure 4). These scholars and their teams are the most dynamic in mainstream research areas, including ecological system, urban geography, agricultural geography, ecological economics, natural resources, and economic geography. Most of the above scholars are from the Chinese Academy of Sciences (seven are from IGSNRR), Peking University, and Lanzhou University. Ouyang Zhiyun, Xu Zhongmin, Cheng Guodong, Fu Bojie, Peng Jian, Xia Jun, and Zheng Du are most influential, with more than 1,000 total citations and over 100 citations per publication. They are the leading researchers and authorities and should never be ignored when mentioning China’s sustainability research. Meanwhile, it is important to note that using sustainable development as the search term neglects some specific areas of research. For example, Fan Jie is China’s leading researcher in human geography and has made unparalleled contributions to major function-oriented zoning and the synthetic enduring capacity of resources and the environment. However, he does not seem to receive appropriate recognition in this study.

Figure 2 Research team and scholar identification based on publications and citations from 1993 to 2015 Note: Auxiliary lines (a), (b), (c), and (d) represent citations per person of 30, 10, 100, and 30, respectively.

3.4 Major research funding

China’s central governmental foundations are the main sources of research funding for sustainable development research. These sources include the National Natural Science Founda- tion of China (NSFC), Social Science Foundation of China (SSFC), National Basic Research Program (973 Program), National Key Technology Support Program, and National Key Technologies R&D Program of China. In particular, the NSFC and SSFC are the primary sources for a wide range of research areas; these two foundations supported 2,123 and 499 research papers, respectively. The Chinese Academy of Sciences deploys the most inde- pendent research with abundant capital. The Knowledge Innovation Project, 100 Talents YANG Yu et al.: Progress in China’s sustainable development research: Contribution of Chinese geographers 1181

Program, and West Light Foundation (Chinese Academy of Sciences) and the Knowledge Innovation Project (Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research) have funded more than 110 projects in sustainable research. The average amount of support per project from these programs is much greater than from the NSFC and SSFC. This explains why the Chinese Academy of Sciences is the overwhelming leader in sustainable development research. Provincial governments have different strengths in terms of their support for sustainable development research. The Hunan Provincial government lends strong support and set up 46 social science fund projects in Hunan Province, 24 soft science research projects in Hunan Province, 23 research fund projects led by the Hunan Provincial Education Committee, and 20 projects run by the Natural Science Foundation of Hunan for sustainable research; it was followed by Yunnan Province, Jiangsu Province, Shandong Province, Fujian Province, and Beijing (Figure 3).

Figure 3 Research foundations supporting more than 20 sustainable development projects from 1993 to 2015

4 Major hot fields in China’s sustainable development research

4.1 Keywords burst term

We conducted a statistical study on approximately 800 keywords used more than 10 times and classified them into seven research fields: theory exploration, research method, research scale, main research contents (economic and regional development, ecological system

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analysis, resources and environment), and strategy and countermeasures. Table 2 shows the top 10 keywords in each field determined using frequency statistics. Generally, China’s sustainability research, as well as economic and regional development studies, is dominant, with 1,562 keywords. Resources and environment studies rank second with 1,092 keywords. Indicator systems of sustainable development and evaluation methodology rank third with 842 keywords. For more detail, the keywords can be classified into three types: (1) classic research issues such as man–earth relationships and sustainable development mode studies; (2) the recent hot frontier problem, including global climate change, ecological civilization construction, and low-carbon development; and (3) the timely research and discussion targeted at special events at a particular time, such as the Three Gorges Reservoir area and mining cities (see details in Table 2).

Table 2 Main keywords and their classification related to China’s sustainable development from 1993 to 2015

Research field Frequency Main keywords (Frequency) sustainable development mode (71), sustainable development capacity (61), sustainability (49), man–earth relationship (46), influencing factor Theory 493 (43), compound system (42), harmonious development (37), mechanism (22), driving force (19), restraining factor (12) indicator system (206), evaluation (187), geographical information system (64), carrying capacity(44), analytic hierarchy process (34), coordination Methods 842 degree (33), energy analysis (29), remote sensing (27), vulnerability (21), system dynamics (18) China (119), resource-based city (81), Xinjiang (48), Yangtze River Basin Scale 796 (35), mining city (27), Jiangsu Province (25), Liaoning Province (22), Beijing (21), Guangzhou (19), Three Gorges Reservoir area (18) recycling economy (206), urbanization (85), agricultural sustainable de- Economic and velopment (85), economic development (74), ecology tourism (70), low regional 1,562 carbon economy (67), ecological economics (43), construction land (45), development intensive land use (41), industry structure (34) ecological footprint (199), ecological environment (118), ecological civi- Ecological lization (90), ecological system (87), ecological security (46), ecological Contents 720 system deficit (31), ecological protection (28), eco-compensation (27), ecological construction (21), ecological efficiency(20) land resources (118), mineral resources (86), climate change (81), land Resources and use (79), water resource (75), environmental protection (55), resource 1,092 environment saving (39), energy consumption (39), land reclamation (35), renewable resources (35) countermeasure (159), sustainable development strategy (75), sustainable utilization (55), economic transition (29), management (29), low-carbon Strategy and countermea- 599 transition (25), institutional innovation (28), scientific outlook on devel- sures opment (20), cleaner production (18), energy conservation and emission reduction (17) Note: Frequency based on statistics. Some keywords may have overlapping meanings.

Burst terms are useful for understanding changes in keywords with time. Burst term analysis identifies the keywords change from abundant keywords by using the frequency exploration. Different keywords burst in different years (Table 3). Sustainable research started at CNKI in the early 1990s, and “sustainable development” and “indicator system” became burst terms in 1994. Research related to these keywords boomed, and the burst words blew out in 1997. Attention to sustainable development presents a diversified ten- dency in four fields: resources, environment, economy, and society. Based on the burst words, China’s sustainable development research shows a strong policy orientation. The burst words were “Three Gorges Reservoir area” and “Xiji–Haiyuan–Guyuan region (Xi- YANG Yu et al.: Progress in China’s sustainable development research: Contribution of Chinese geographers 1183

haigu)” in 1997, “Yangtze River Basin” in 1999, “western region” in 2005, and “new urbanization” and “ecological civilization” in 2013. Meanwhile, recent Chinese studies show a preference for the hot international issues. For example, the burst words in 2001 were “ecological footprint” and “recycling economy,” and those in 2009 were “low-carbon economy” and “global change.”

Table 3 Burst terms in China’s sustainable development research

Year Burst term (Value) 1994 sustainable development (122.58), indicator system (20.08) resources and environment (17.28), regional sustainable development (13.35), countermeasures (11.37), agricultural sustainable development (7.43), Qinghai–Tibet Plateau (4.08), Three Gorges Reservoir area 1997 (3.92), evaluation methodology (3.84), population (3.63), regional economy (3.64), urban sustainable development (3.39), society (3.38), Xiji–Haiyuan–Guyuan region (Xihaigu) (3.27) 1999 Yangtze River Basin (6.04) ecological footprint (13.06), ecological civilization (9.09), recycling economy (6.62), comprehensive 2001 evaluation (5.56), energy analysis (4.36), town (4.05), sustainable development strategy (3.62) material flow analysis (4.5), tourism ecological footprint (4.09), mining rights (3.71), ecological deficit 2005 (3.39), water ecological environment (3.38), western region (3.31) 2006 rural tourism (4.82), water resources carrying capacity (3.35), ecological footprint model (3.24) 2007 agricultural recycling economy (4.3), tourism development (3.31) 2009 low-carbon economy (7.04), ecological system service (6.26), urbanization (5.21), global change (4.86) 2012 product structure (5.49), enterprise function (5.14), employment conflict (3.43) new urbanization (7.77), land reclamation (5.21), ecological science (4.05), green mine (3.82), ecological 2013 civilization construction (3.82), national land space (3.47) Note: Value is detected by CiteSpace. A higher value means a higher influence.

4.2 Theory exploration

Sustainable development theory has multiple connotations. Among numerous branches of sustainable research, China’s geographical research pays particular attention to man–earth system evolution. This is the frontier of geographical science theory development and the most promising way to solve major practical problems in sustainable development (Lu, 2002, 2015; Liu and Luo, 2007). Chinese mainstream geographers insist that sustainable development should emphasize the complex relationships among natural resources, economic growth, and societal development. Only comprehensive studies that combine natural and human factors, study struc- tural function, investigate interaction mechanisms, predict developing trends, formulate regulation and management measures, and carry out optimization sustainable development mode of different regions can provide a solid theoretical basis for regional development (Wu, 1991; Ye, 2001; Zheng and Chen, 2001; Zheng, 2002; Niu, 2008). The core of sustainable development theory contains two main tasks. The first is to find a balance between human and nature. This is involved in linking human development, resource consumption, environmental degradation, and ecological coordination to establish a reasonable relationship between human and nature. The second task is to achieve balance between generations gradually and thus to reveal the mechanism of the giant natural-economic-social complex (Zhang et al., 1999a; Niu, 2008, 2012a). In general, China’s classic sustainable development theories are based on man–earth areal system theory. Scholars have deepened the theory in many aspects by analyzing regional and

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interregional relationships and interactions among population, resources, environment, and development (PRED); discussing man–earth system characteristics, structure, and function; finding optimization development paths; summarizing the ideal model of sustainable development; and exploring the best way to control the complex system (Liu et al., 1996; Liu, 1996; Shi, 1997; Lv and Liu 1998; Shen and Mao, 1999; Mao and Yu, 2001). These are the core issues addressed by the sustainable development research of classic Chinese geographers. In view of the current situation of China’s sustainable development, ecological civilization, low-carbon economy, smart growth, ecological capacity, scientific and technological progress, energy conservation, and emissions reduction, vulnerability became the new focus of sustainable theory. These new issues have deepened the philosophy and ethics compo- nents of sustainable development theory and put forward a new mode of development (Niu, 2008, 2012b; Qi and Cai, 2010; Gu et al., 2013; Fang and Wang, 2015).

4.3 Indicator system and evaluation methods

The sustainable development indicator system and evaluation methods for measuring and modeling studies are important areas of sustainable development research (Liu et al., 1996). Evaluation and monitoring of the status of sustainable conditions form the foundation to establish comprehensive decision-making mechanisms and coordination mechanism. It can also supply suggestions to the government at different levels and provide effective information to the public (Zhang et al., 1999b; Xu and Zhang, 2000; Xu et al., 2000a). The regional sustainable development system (geographic system) is a complex and giant system. An effective way to better understand this system is from the qualitative analysis to the quantitative comprehensive evaluation (Qian, 1991). Geographers actively conduct integrated research on a combination of natural resources, natural disasters, and human environment from the macro-scale to the micro-scale; these studies involve the population, resources, environment, economic and social development, sustainable development mechanism, indicator system, dynamics model, and decision support system (Zheng and Chen, 2001; Li and Zheng, 2002). Mao (1996) established the sustainable indicator system for Shandong Province, covering four subsystems (economic growth, social progress, resources and environment, sustainability) and 90 indicators. Min and Li (2002) constructed the sustainable development degree evaluation methods and established a 14-indicator system. Liu’s research team proposed a set of regional sustainable development systems including a foundation system, coordination system, and potential system, and evaluated the sustainable development status of China. These systems take the foundation-process potential as the principal line and regard resources, economy, society, and ecological environment as the basic elements (Liu and Liu, 2003; Jia and Liu, 2003). In addition to the comprehensive evaluation of sustainable development indicator system, ecology of ecological security evaluation (Zuo et al., 2002, 2003; Wang et al., 2003), energy analysis (Li et al., 2001; Lu et al., 2003), ecological footprint (Xu et al., 2000b, 2003a; Zhang et al., 2000, 2001d, 2002b, 2003; Qin and Niu, 2003; Min et al., 2011; An and Cheng, 2014) and the resource environmental carrying capacity evaluation are also the representa- tive research methods of China’s sustainable development research (Fang and Zhang, 2001; Fang, 2009; Fan, 2007a, 2007b, 2013, 2015; Fan et al., 2015; Deng, 2010). YANG Yu et al.: Progress in China’s sustainable development research: Contribution of Chinese geographers 1185

4.4 Research scale

China’s sustainable development research covers different scales (e.g., national and provincial scales) and different types of areas (e.g., urban areas and special natural geographical units). National-scale research can be divided into two categories: (1) the analysis of China’s sustainable development conditions, development status, development level, development capacity, development pattern, space distribution, regional differences based on the comprehensive indicator system and ecological footprints (Liao and Liu, 2000; Niu, 2000; Zhang and Wang, 2001; Li, 2001; Xie et al., 2001a, 2001b; Wang and Zhang, 2001; Jia and Liu 2003; Liu et al., 2003; Cai et al., 2004; Fang et al., 2004; Liu and Yang, 2014); and (2) other aspects of national-scale sustainable development research, such as the sustainable utilization of water resources (Song et al., 2001; Zhang et al., 2001c; Huang et al., 2006; Zhang et al., 2009), rural and agricultural sustainable development (Lu, 1995; Xu et al., 2002; Liu et al., 2002b, 2009, 2010; Liu and Qiao, 2014), urban sustainable development (Ma, 2000; Fang and Sun, 2006; Fang and Yang, 2006; Fang and Wang, 2015), resources and environment issues in the process of urban and rural transformation (Li and Liu, 2013; Liu and Yang, 2015), disasters and regional sustainable development (Shi, 1996, 2002; Zhou et al., 2000; Wang et al., 2005a), etc. Sustainable development researches cover various China’s regional types. Here, we only summarize research fields that have received a large number of citations. Detailed contents will not be described. The large-scale studies cover the coastal areas, the northeast region, western region, the Pearl River Delta, Yangtze River Basin, etc. (Mao, 1997; Liu, 1999; Yu and Mao, 1999; Li and Yeh, 1999; Liao, 1999; Gu and Zhang 2000; Wang and Mao, 2000; Cheng et al., 2000; Yang, 2001; Chen and Song, 2004; Wang et al., 2005b; Li and Zhang, 2008; Gao et al., 2010). The provincial-level studies cover all of China’s provinces, with considerable attention focused on the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, Jiangsu Prov- ince, Liaoning Province, and Shandong Province (Mao, 1996, 1998; Zhang and Han, 1999; Zhang and Cui, 2001; Zhou, 2000; Huang et al., 2000; Li et al., 2003). City-scale researches are concentrated on the central cities such as Beijing, Nanjing, and Guangzhou (Xu and Zhang, 2001; Wang and Wang, 2001; Li and Liu, 2002; Guo et al., 2003; Zhu et al., 2003; Liu et al., 2004; Wu and He, 2006; Zhou and Guan, 2012). Attention must be paid to the special natural geographical units and special types of regions, which are also hot spots in China’s sustainable development research. These regions include the Three Gorges Reser- voir area (Liu and Feng, 2001; Zhang et al., 2001b), nature reserves (Sun, 1998; Yang and Zhang, 2000), coastal areas (Jin et al., 2001; Hong et al., 2003), arid areas (Fang, 2001; Fang et al., 2001; Xu and Yue, 2001), ecologically fragile areas (Huang et al., 2003; Qi et al., 2013), karst areas (Zhang et al., 1999; Zhang et al., 2001a), the Loess Plateau (Cui and Cao, 2000; Li and Liu, 2000), resource-based cities (Zhang et al., 2002a, 2004; Zhang et al., 2011a, 2011b), etc.

4.5 Main hot research fields

Sustainable development research covers all aspects of social and economic activities. Using keywords statistics and classification as a starting point, we briefly overviewed the significant research fields based on the top 10 keywords in Table 2. Generally, there are three pri-

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mary hot research fields. The first field is regional economy and sustainable development research. Taking low consumption, low emission, and high efficiency as the basic development model, a recycling economy is the most important way to strengthen the sustainable development strategy. Thus, recycling economy is one of the frontiers and hot issues in sustainable development and represents one of the important research fields. Within our search results, “circular economy” appears as a keyword more than 200 times and ranks first in this field (Zhu, 2000; Niu, 2004; Xie, 2004; Li and Qi; 2004; Feng, 2004). Urbanization, agricultural sustainable development, economic development, industrial structure, construction land, and intensive land use are traditional issues in sustainable development research. These topics receive continuous attention due to China’s rapid economic growth and urbanization-related construction; this attention is reflected in the relatively high frequency of related keywords. Scholars have conducted systematic and comprehensive studies from multiple aspects (Fu et al., 1997; Ye, 1999; Cai, 1999; Ge et al., 2000; Xie, 2000; Pan, 2002; Liu and Chen, 2002; Liu et al., 2003; Shao et al., 2005; Liu and Luo, 2007; Wei and Hou, 2007; Liu et al., 2007; Huang and Li, 2009; Chen et al., 2009, 2011). A low-carbon economy and ecological economy are the new focuses of economic development due to global climate change. It is of theoretical and practical significance for China, a superpower in greenhouse gas emissions, to enact an appropriate emission-reduction policy and achieve economic transformation. Thus, low-carbon economy and ecological economy have become new hotspots in sustainable development research (Fu et al., 2008; Zhang, 2008; Feng and Niu, 2009; Yao and Liu, 2010; Wang et al., 2010; Zhao et al., 2010). The second field is ecological system and sustainable development. Ecological system is the key natural capital of human beings. It is the basic condition of and foundation for the survival and development of human society (Zhang et al., 2001a). The ecological system is an important part of the Earth’s life-support system and a basic element of social and environmental sustainable development. It could even be considered that, to some extent, human survival and development within an ecosystem’s capacity are the core issues of sustainable development research (Chen and Zhang, 2000; Xu et al., 2003b). The safety and health of an ecosystem act as a fundamental guarantee of sustainable development for human beings (Ma and Wang, 1984; Ma et al., 2001). Ecosystem service function has attracted the attention of geographers in recent years and become an important area of sustainable development research. As shown in Table 2, ecological keywords mainly include “ecological footprint,” “ecological environment,” “ecological civilization,” “ecological security,” “ecological deficit,” “ecological protection,” “ecological compensation,” “ecological construction,” and “ecological efficiency.” Scholars conduct comprehensive analyses of China’s ecological environment, discuss ecological space theory, establish the ecological service and natural capital assessment systems, explain the service functions of the ecological system and its subsystems, and divide China into different ecological regions (Ouyang and Wang, 1999a, 1999b; Yang et al., 2000; Xu et al., 2000b, 2003b; Fu et al., 2001; Ma et al., 2001; Zhang et al., 2001b; Xie et al., 2001a, 2001b; Xiao et al., 2002; Zhao et al., 2016). The third field is resource and environment and sustainable development. Resources are the foundation and carrier of sustainable development. Rapid industrialization and urbanization increase the level of economic and social development and also induce accelerated re- YANG Yu et al.: Progress in China’s sustainable development research: Contribution of Chinese geographers 1187

source consumption and rapid environmental deterioration. Resources and environment system shows unsustainablility to population economic growth and social development. This now restricts harmonious economic and social development in China (Fang et al., 2013; Bai, 2013; Liu and Yang, 2014). To solve such problems, a large number of experts and scholars have carried out fruitful research in different disciplines on the national and regional scales. Based on keyword frequency, land resources, water resources, mineral resources, and environmental protection are the areas of study that receive continuous attention. The studies mainly focus on land resources, land use, and land reclamation, which are among the top 10 keywords in this field, as shown in Table 2 (Li, 1996; Fu et al., 1997; Liu et al., 2000; Cai, 2001; Yang, 2001; Zhu et al., 2001; Chen and Zhang, 2001; Liu et al., 2002a, 2002b, 2003, 2010; Liu et al., 2004; Qian, 2003; Liu, 2011; Long, 2013). Water resources and sustainable development research mainly concentrate on the carrying capacity, security, allocation, utilization, development, and management of water resources (Gao, 1997; Xu, 1999; Xu et al., 2003a; Li et al., 2000; Xia and Zhu, 2002; Cheng, 2002, 2003; Zhu et al., 2002; Jia et al., 2002; Wang and Lang, 2002; Min, 2004; Wang et al., 2004; Liu et al., 2005). Similarly, due to China’s large consumption of energy and mineral resources, scholars pay attention to issues related to energy and mineral resources, and discuss their impact on sustainable development; the relevant issues include the sources, security, and consumption of energy and mineral resources; economic growth; carbon emissions; energy efficiency; energy intensity; and renewable resources (Zhang, 1997, 2001, 2006; Shi, 2002; Wang et al., 2002; Chen, 2003; Han et al., 2004; Shen et al., 2004; Hu, 2005; Xu et al., 2006; Wang, 2006; Wu and Jin, 2008; Wang et al., 2010). Global climate change poses a great challenge to the development of the economy and human society. The effect of climate change on sustainable development is a new hotspot and frontier in China’s sustainable development. Scholars pay attention to the impact of climate change on the economy, society, resources, and the environment (Li et al., 2005; Qin, 2007, 2014; Zhang, 2008; He and Su, 2009; Liu et al., 2010; Xia et al., 2011; Ye et al., 2012).

4.6 Strategy and countermeasure research

Strategy and countermeasures are the most important practical parts of sustainable development research. Numerous studies mentioned above involve countermeasures for sustainable development of many different types. As shown in Table 2, the top 10 keywords related to countermeasures are “sustainable development strategy,” “sustainable utilization,” “economic transition,” “management,” “low-carbon transition,” “institutional innovation,” “scientific outlook on development,” “cleaner production,” “energy conservation,” and “emission reduction.” The details are not repeated here. Throughout China’s strategy and countermeasure research, China’s Agenda 21 and the Integrated Reform Plan for Promoting Ecological Progress are the most authoritative programmatic documents that expound upon China’s sustainable development policy and countermeasures. China’s Agenda 21, a white paper on China’s population, environment, and development in the 21st century, was compiled in 1994 as China’s national sustainable development strategy. It is the world’s first national agenda and includes the general strategy for sustainable development, social sustainable development, economic sustainable development, the rational use of resources, and environmental protection. China’s Agenda 21 has 20 chapters

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and 78 solution domains. It covers sustainable development strategy, policy, and action plans for the Chinese population, economy, society, resources, and environment. The plan consid- ers China’s economy, society, resources, and environment as a composite system and lays out a series of comprehensive, long-term, progressive sustainable development strategies and countermeasures. The Integrated Reform Plan for Promoting Ecological Progress is the national sustainable development plan for the new era. This plan aims to set out systematic strategies for improving the ecological system and to accelerate ecological construction progress. It emphasizes the correct relationship between humankind and nature, solves serious ecological and environmental problems, safeguards China’s ecological security, improves the environment, and ensures that resources are used efficiently. The plan is designed to establish a systematic framework composed of eight systems for promoting ecological progress, including a system of property rights for natural resource assets, a system for regulat- ing total consumption and conserving resources, a system for payment-based resource consumption and compensation of conservation and protection efforts, and the environmental governance system (http://www.gov.cn/guowuyuan/2015-09/21/content_2936327.htm). The plan put forward a series of new paths and implementation policies for sustainable development. It is the most important guidance document in China’s sustainable development.

5 Prospects Sustainable development research covers numerous subjects and requires complex and systematic research. Sustainable development should remain a main field of research in the area of Chinese geography for a very long time. From the perspective of geography, man–earth areal system theory should be regarded as the theoretical basis of sustainable development (Lu, 2002). Obviously, the Earth’s surface exhibits regional differences, and population, resources, environment, and development have different levels of importance. Geography has advantages in sustainable development research on different regional scale (Zheng and Chen, 2001). Sustainable development research is of great practical value for regional development. In the future, more regional studies should be included in the field of geography. Sustainable development research should continue to consider population, resources, environment, and development as a combined system. The most meaningful issues include the interaction mechanism among resources, environment, and development, and the internal interactions within each system; the positive and negative effects of human economic and social activities on resources and the ecological environment; resources and environment feedback mechanism; long-term resource and environmental monitoring in different areas, especially those facing serious development and environmental problems and specific natural geographical units; assessment and prediction mechanisms for environmental pollution; and prioritization schemes and scientific policy-making for different types of regional development.

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