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As a crucial institutional form established since the Chinese economic reform, the system of competitive local governments has been shaping the characteristics of China's socialist market economy to a considerable degree.

This study not only adopts the view of existing studies that attribute the economic motive of local governments to rent and consider land public finance as a means through which local governments carry out strategic investment but also attempts to further develop the view within a Marxist analytical framework.

As a result, the local governments have helped to maintain an incredibly high investment rate over a considerable period of time, facilitating the continuous, rapid growth of the Chinese economy.

This study concludes that China's local governments function as the productive allocator and user of rent in the strategic investment based on land public finance and thereby embed themselves in the relative surplus-value production initially arising from competition amongst enterprises, forming the dual structure of relative surplus-value production unique to China's economy.

This paper aims to examine the effects of both transient and chronic loneliness on consumers’ variety-seeking (VS) behavior and to identify the various underlying mechanisms involved.

Four studies were adopted to clarify how transient and chronic loneliness affect consumers’ VS behavior.

Both transient and chronic loneliness promote consumers’ VS behavior. More importantly, the effect of transient loneliness on VS behavior is driven by perceived loss of control, whereas the effect of chronic loneliness on VS behavior is driven by need for uniqueness and sensation-seeking.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this research is the first to explore the differential roles of transient and chronic loneliness on VS behavior, which may open new avenues for future research. First, future research could investigate moderators that influence the impacts of transient and chronic loneliness on VS behavior. Second, future research could examine different participant populations and use cognitive neuroscience techniques to further verify the differential roles of these two types of loneliness on VS behavior.

This research contributes to marketing practice by providing practical guidance on how to effectively design different marketing strategies to promote VS for consumers with different types of loneliness. For consumers with transient loneliness, marketers can benefit from a concerted focus on improving consumers’ sense of control. Yet, for consumers with chronic loneliness, marketing strategies that improve consumers’ need for uniqueness will be more effective.

This research contributes to the literature on loneliness and consumer behavior, which has largely overlooked the distinct roles of different types of loneliness (i.e. transient vs chronic loneliness) in influencing consumer behavior. Specifically, this paper conducted a comparative analysis of the impacts of transient and chronic loneliness on consumers’ VS behavior and proposed that transient and chronic loneliness promote consumers’ VS behavior through divergent underlying mechanisms.

The purpose of this paper is to examine how Si-shu, a traditional form of local, private education grounded in classical instruction, responded to the rapid modernization of education during the late Qing dynasty and early Republic of China and to explain why these schools, once extraordinarily adaptable, finally disappeared.

The authors have examined both primary and secondary sources, including government reports, education yearbooks, professional annals, public archives, and published research to analyze the social, political and institutional changes that reshaped Si-shu in the context of China's late-19th- and early-20th-century educational modernization.

Si-shu went through four stages of institutional change during the last century. First, they faced increased competition from new-style (westernized) schools during the late Qing dynasty. Second, they engaged in a process of intense self-reform, particularly after the Xinhai Revolution of 1911. Third, they were marginalized by the new educational systems of the Republic of China, especially the Renxu School System of 1922 and the Wuchen School System of 1928. Finally, after the foundation of the People's Republic of China in 1949, they were considered remnants of feudal culture and forcibly replaced by modern schools.

This paper brings hitherto unexplored Chinese sources to an English-speaking audience in an effort to shed new light on the history of traditional Chinese education. The fate of Si-shu was part of the larger modernization of Chinese education – a development that had both advantages and disadvantages.

This study aims to solve the premature failure of the rubber stator due to wear, reduce the frictional resistance moment of the screw pump to solve the problem of a model of Daqing oilfield screw pump oil recovery system shutdown after the difficult start.

For the first time, the rotor surface of a screw pump was treated with dot-matrix texture to study the effect of dot matrix texture on the tribological performance of the stator-rotor friction subsets of screw pump. Reciprocating friction tests with different texture morphologies (S-shape, double tongue) and angular parameters (0°, 45° and 90°) were conducted at 10% of the texture area and pump silicone grease.

When point texture was added to the surface of the rotor sample, the friction coefficient and wear quantity of the sample were lower than those of the surface without texture treatment, and the double tongue 0° combination showed the best tribological properties. At this time, the average coefficient of friction and wear is reduced by 22.8% and 62%, 28.6% and 64.8%.

The introduction of texture can effectively improve the tribological performance of progressive screw pumps, and this paper provides important theoretical and experimental support for the design of progressive screw pumps in practical applications.

Sportswear brands are increasingly adopting co-branding strategies. Despite the success of marketing practices in co-branding remaining unclear, product category fit and partner brand name potentially play crucial roles. The aim of this research is to explore the effectiveness of marketing practices employed by sportswear brands when collaborating with different partner brands.

Due to internal data-sharing restrictions within companies, transaction data from second-hand platforms serve as a crucial source to compensate for the lack of first-hand market data. Using second-hand transaction prices effectively reflects long-term consumer demand and provides reliable support for evaluating product market value and brand marketing practices. A total of 315,584 records detailing trading information were collected from POIZON, a Chinese second-hand trading platform known for sportswear. These data were organized into 5,421 entries and analyzed by multiple regression.

The findings indicate that partner brand popularity negatively affects the price premium of co-branded sportswear (PPCS), with product category fit and partner brand name moderating this relationship. High partner brand popularity can lead to cue competition and consumer confusion, reducing PPCS. This challenges the assumption that higher brand popularity always correlates with greater perceived value. However, when product category fit is high, this negative effect is reversed. Additionally, while celebrity endorsements exert a positive influence on PPCS, their effectiveness diminishes when the partner brand name is related to a celebrity, suggesting an overshadowing effect.

Sportswear companies should prioritize product category fit when partnering with popular brands. Concurrently, they must thoroughly assess the naming style and distinctive attributes of partner brands when choosing endorsers. Similarly, marketing firms need to ensure that the endorsers’ values align seamlessly with the brand name to prevent any potential conflicts.

This study offers new insights by applying the competitive cue theory to demonstrate how partner brand popularity negatively affects co-branding effectiveness, moderated by product category fit. By validating the meaning transfer model, it shows that celebrity endorsements enhance the price premium of co-branded products in the secondary market. Additionally, the introduction of the overshadowing effect reveals how partner brand names moderate this impact. Supported by empirical field data, these findings enrich market research beyond conventional evaluations.

To control one of the joints during the actual movement of the hydraulically driven quadruped robot, all the other joints in the leg need to be locked. Once the joints are unlocked, there is a coupling effect among the joints. Therefore, during the normal exercise of the robot, the movement of each joint is affected by the coupling of other joints. This brings great difficulties to the coordinated motion control of the multi-joints of the robot. Therefore, it is necessary to reduce the influence of the coupling of the hydraulically driven quadruped robot.

To solve the coupling problem with the joints of the hydraulic quadruped robot, based on the principle of mechanism dynamics and hydraulic control, the dynamic mathematical model of the single leg mechanism of the hydraulic quadruped robot is established. On this basis, the coupling dynamics model of the two joints of the thigh and the calf is derived. On the basis of the multivariable decoupling theory, a neural network (NN) model reference decoupling controller is designed.

The simulation and prototype experiment are carried out between the thigh joint and the calf joint of the hydraulic quadruped robot, and the results show that the proposed NN model reference decoupling control method is effective, and this method can reduce the cross-coupling between the thigh and the calf and improve the dynamic characteristics of the single joint of the leg.

The proposed method provides technical support for the mechanical–hydraulic cross-coupling among the joints of the hydraulic quadruped robot, achieving coordinated movement of multiple joints of the robot and promoting the performance and automation level of the hydraulic quadruped robot.

On the basis of the theory of multivariable decoupling, a new decoupling control method is proposed, in which the mechanical–hydraulic coupling is taken as the coupling behavior of the hydraulic foot robot. The method reduces the influence of coupling of system, improves the control precision, realizes the coordinated movement among multiple joints and promotes the popularization and use of the hydraulically driven quadruped robot.

Merchant guild culture derives from business practices associated with medieval and early modern merchant guilds. This study aims to investigate the nexus between merchant guild culture and firm internationalization as well as the factors that moderate this nexus.

Based on the distribution of the ten merchant guilds in China and data on Chinese listed companies, this study uses the geographical proximity-based method to measure the intensity of merchant guild culture, which is the nearest distance between the ten merchant guilds’ origins and each firm’s registered address.

This study provides robust evidence that merchant guild culture positively relates to the degree of firm internationalization. It also documents that this nexus is stronger for firms with overseas background executives and those situated in highly marketized regions.

The findings of this study have valuable implications for both governments and firms. Governments can leverage local cultures to promote the internationalization of domestic firms, particularly in emerging economies with rich cultural heritage. Firms can further enhance their internationalization efforts by hiring more executives with overseas backgrounds.

This study advances the imprinting literature, provides a novel perspective on the antecedents of firm internationalization and expands research on the contemporary value of historical business culture.

The profound impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the film industry has underscored the growing significance of online movies. However, there is limited research available on the factors that influence the viewership of online films. Therefore, this study aims to use the signaling theory to investigate how signals of varying qualities affect online movie viewership, considering both signal transmission costs and prices.

This study uses a sample of 1,071 online movies released on the iQiyi from July 2020 to July 2022. It uses OLS regression and instrumental variable method to examine the impact of various quality indicators on the viewership of online movies, as well as the moderating effect of price.

After conducting a thorough analysis of this study, it can be deduced that the varying impacts on online movie viewership are attributed to disparities in signal transmission costs. Specifically, star influence and rating exhibit a positive effect on the viewership of online movies, whereas the number of raters has a detrimental impact. Furthermore, there exists an “inverted U-shaped” relationship between the number of reviews and online movie viewership. Additionally, within the consumer decision-making process, both price-cost and price-quality relationships coexist. This is evident as prices negatively affect online movie viewership but positively moderate the relationship between rating, number of reviews and online movie viewership.

The research findings of this study offer valuable insights for online film producers to effectively leverage quality signals and pricing, thereby capturing market attention and enhancing film profitability.

This study aims to explore the social networks and network interactions of bed-and-breakfast (B&B) entrepreneurs in rural China. In addition, it evaluates how such network interactions relate to rural resilience.

In-depth interviews were performed in two locations: Ningbo and Dujiangyan, China. Purposive sampling was combined with snowball sampling to select interviewees. The 154 interviews involved 29 B&B owners and relevant social actors. All codes and data were analyzed using the discourse analysis framework.

The B&B owners’ social networks were identified based on strategic goals, revealing a business operation network, business development network and business citizenship network. Challenges in seeking financial support for rural B&Bs during the pandemic were specified along with network interactions. The institutional adaptation approach was used to evaluate network interaction in rural B&B business. It was argued that other networks would react based on primary network members’ goal compatibility and the effectiveness of the primary network in addressing obstacles.

This study indicates that the rural B&B entrepreneurs’ interactions with various networks could influence on business resilience, community resilience as well as rural resilience.

By combining the institutional adaptation typology with social network theory, this study generates a new typology of network interactions for rural B&Bs. The typology helps to explain how and why B&B entrepreneurs make decisions and provides a broader scope of social networks involved in these business operations.