Abstract:The Chinese People’s Economy is both a response to the high-level opening-up strategy and an organic integration of theoretical distillation and practical innovation—one that aligns with the unprecedented global changes unseen in a century and addresses the limitations of traditional GDP accounting. Its core essence lies in shifting the value orientation of China’s economic development from scale expansion to quality improvement and well-being enhancement, thereby constructing a new economic form rooted in domestic development, radiating globally, underpinned by industries, supported by policies, and characterized by shared well-being. This form adopts an accounting system featuring GDP as the foundation and GNI as the orientation, enabling the coordinated development of the Chinese economy and the Chinese People’s Economy as an integrated entity with two wings. It transcends geographical boundary constraints, shifting the research perspective from economic activities within territorial boundaries to wealth creation and well-being enhancement centered on the national population. Grounded in the theoretical foundation of high-level opening-up, it breaks the center-periphery exploitation system dominated by Western capital logic and practices the concept of mutually beneficial global resource allocation. At the practical level, it consolidates the foundation of domestic real economy through high-end manufacturing upgrading and consumption quality improvement, expands global investment layout based on the “Belt and Road” Initiative, and relies on a comprehensive overseas integrated service system to strengthen support for cross-border development. At the policy guarantee level, it forms systematic support by expanding institutional opening-up, advancing income distribution and social security reforms, and synergizing two-way investment policies. Currently, constructing the Chinese People’s Economy faces challenges such as insufficient core technology support, poor adaptation to international rules, and underdeveloped well-being sharing mechanisms. It is necessary to enhance core competitiveness through scientific and technological innovation, improve global resource allocation capacity via rule alignment, and realize shared well-being by optimizing the distribution and security system. This provides academic support for promoting domestic and international dual circulation and advancing the in-depth integration of high-level opening-up and high-quality development, as well as practical guidance for enhancing people’s well-being in the process of Chinese-style modernization.

Abstract:The “Chinese People’s Economy” embodies the people-centered development philosophy and modernization philosophy of the Chinese path to modernization. Rooted in Marxist humanistic thought and the world market theory, this concept is both a response to China’s transition from introduce and go global to enter and upgrade, and a practical necessity for advancing the new development paradigm through higher-level opening-up. Its reconstruction of the accounting system reflects a paradigm shift in national wealth growth. The “Chinese People’s Economy” encompasses profound theoretical connotations: taking people as the most dynamic factor in productive forces as the development subject, scientific and technological innovation and industrial innovation in-depth integration as the development driving force, enhancing people’s well-being and promoting common prosperity as the development purpose, expanding development space through the domestic and international markets and resources, and pursuing common creation and sharing of national wealth globally as the development orientation, demonstrating a deep-seated, systematic transformation in China’s economic development model. Not developing in isolation, the “Chinese People’s Economy” is promoted and influenced by the “Chinese Economy”, with both dialectically unified in the global creation of national wealth and the Chinese path to modernization. Faced with the requirements of high-quality development during the 15th Five-Year Plan period, it is necessary to adhere to the close combination of investment in physical capital and human capital, build a modern industrial system with advanced manufacturing industry as the backbone, promote the integration of trade and investment and the cross-border layout of industrial chains, expand the space for two-way investment cooperation, and steadily expand high-level institutional opening-up, exploring practical paths for developing the “Chinese People’s Economy” from multi-dimensional perspectives such as innovation momentum, industrial foundation, value space, partnership network, and institutional mechanisms.

Abstract:The Fourth Plenary Session of the 20th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China points out that “we should accelerate high-level scientific and technological self-reliance and self-strengthening, and lead the development of new quality productivity.” New quality productivity is a new form of productivity development under the background of the digital technology revolution, with key features such as data elementization and the integration of artificial intelligence, which is promoting the reconstruction of industrial paradigms and the transformation of economic growth momentum. In terms of development trend, new quality productivity exhibits the characteristics of deep integration of digitization and intelligence. Its core production factor data has such attributes as non competitive overlapping low marginal costs, coexistence of non exclusivity and exclusivity, real-time interaction and positive externalities, and clear property rights to promote increasing returns to scale. These characteristics make new quality productivity significantly advantageous in promoting innovation and optimizing resource allocation. From an internal logic perspective, the digitization of data during the 15th Five-Year Plan period promotes the development of new quality productivity, mainly reflected in the integration of production capacity and intelligent decision-making, changes in organizational structure and resource allocation models, and the value effect of data assets. The elementization of data promotes the integration of production capacity evolving from traditional industry collaboration to cross domain intelligent collaboration, and the decision-making mode shifts from experience driven to intelligent driven. The organizational structure has shifted from hierarchical to flat and networked, the resource allocation method has shifted from passive adaptation to active optimization, and the production mode has transitioned from large-scale standardized production to customized production; The value creation of data assets is achieved through multiplier effects, network effects, and synergies. Under the integration of artificial intelligence, data elements lead to the reconstruction of industrial paradigms from multiple dimensions such as management decision-making, production processes, industrial structure, and supply chain systems. In terms of practical approach, in order to promote the development of new quality productive forces during the 15th Five-Year Plan period, it is necessary to overcome key core technologies and promote the deep integration of digital economy and real economy; expand the scope of labor objects and deepen the application of data elements; optimize the policy environment for innovation and entrepreneurship and the national governance model; orderly promote the coordinated development of industries and regions. These paths can provide strong support for building a modern industrial system and realizing Chinese path to modernization, thus promoting high-quality development of new quality productivity in the digital era, promoting China’s dominant position in global competition, and achieving sustainable economic growth and overall social progress.

Abstract:Since the founding of the People’s Republic of China, several generations have paved the way and built bridges across mountains and rivers, promoting China’s growing strength in transport. As an important component of transportation infrastructure, bridges have effectively promoted national economic integration and regional coordinated development. Chinese bridges span rivers, lakes, and seas, connecting deep valleys and ravines, tightly linking the two separated areas together, achieving complementary advantages and common progress. This not only brings development opportunities to underdeveloped areas, but also expands broader market space for developed areas, stimulating the driving force and vitality of economic and social development. To accelerate the construction of a strong transportation country, it is necessary to recognize the position of bridge construction in the development of the new era, analyze and judge the development process of bridge construction in New China, and deeply grasp the inherent relationship between bridge construction and national development. The paper systematically summarizes the main achievements of bridge construction in New China. New China’s bridge construction has a huge scale and rapid development, entering a new development stage of comprehensive innovation and surpassing the world’s advanced level. It has made major achievements, such as scale expansion and network formation, engineering breakthroughs and technological transition, as well as international cooperation and national image. Furthermore, the paper summarizes the historical role of bridge construction in combination with the characteristics of different stages of China’s economic development. From the 1950s to the 1970s, Chinese bridges broke geographical barriers in the central and western regions, serving the Third Front Construction projects and laying the foundation for industrial and economic development. In the 1980s, the investment and financing mode of borrowing to build bridges and collecting tolls to repay loans promoted the construction of bridges in the Pearl River Delta and greatly accelerated the pace of reform and opening up. At the end of the 20th century, with the implementation of the planning and strategic decisions for the five vertical and seven horizontal national highways, the construction of highways and bridges expanded rapidly, providing strong support for the coordinated development of China’s regional economy and the promotion of urban-rural integration, and driving economic takeoff. Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, China’s bridge construction is further integrated into the regional development strategies, optimizing transportation conditions in the western region, connecting the eastern coastal areas, and accelerating the construction of high-speed railway bridges to support the Eight Verticals and Eight Horizontals high-speed railway network, promoting regional coordinated development. In addition, the paper starts from the realistic conditions of bridge construction and summarizes the inherent driving force of bridge construction. Regional connectivity is an essential part of bridge construction, technological and institutional innovation is an important support for bridge construction, promoting economic growth is the fundamental purpose of bridge construction, and improving the quality of life is the value trend of bridge construction. The paper also proposes vision measures for the future development of bridge construction. Under the grand goal of accelerating the construction of a strong transportation country, it is necessary to coordinate the relationship between bridge construction and the production, life, and ecology of surrounding areas, adhere to the integrated planning of population, industry, urban areas, and transportation, accelerate the construction of bridges of all levels and types, and improve the comprehensive transportation network system; optimize and adjust the planning and layout around the bridge to meet the actual needs of production activities; deeply explore the aesthetic value of bridge construction and create diverse life scenarios for application; fully integrate the scientific concepts of diversified construction to achieve the value goal of ecological function.

Abstract:Transportation infrastructure construction can effectively reduce commuting costs and transportation costs, which plays an important role in optimizing industrial layout and advancing high-quality economic development. Based on identifying the overall effects of intra-regional commuting costs and inter-regional transportation costs on industrial agglomeration, this paper analyzes the heterogeneity of cities and industries in terms of geographic location, urban cluster spatial structure and the way of industrial factor concentration, and explores their mechanisms in terms of innovation level, talent attraction, market potential and labor mobility. It is found that the reduction of intra-regional commuting cost helps to promote industrial agglomeration and significantly improves industrial agglomeration efficiency; while the reduction of inter-regional transportation cost has an inverted U-shaped relationship with industrial agglomeration scale and a positive U-shaped relationship with industrial agglomeration efficiency. That is to say, when the transportation cost is reduced to a critical value, although it will prompt the industry to spread outward, it can improve the agglomeration efficiency. These effects exhibit heterogeneity across cities and industries. At the city level, the reduction of commuting cost is more significant for the industrial agglomeration scale of central and western regions and multi-center city clusters, and there is a positive U-shaped relationship between the transportation cost and the agglomeration efficiency of central and western cities. At the industrial level, the reduction of commuting cost favors the agglomeration of information-intensive industries, but has no significant effect on their agglomeration efficiency, while knowledge-intensive industries are more likely to spread outward. The reduction of inter-regional transportation cost helps to improve the agglomeration efficiency of knowledge-intensive industries, but the effect on information-intensive industries is not obvious. Mechanism test results show that the reduction of intra-regional commuting costs attracts talents to agglomerate, thus enhancing industrial agglomeration scale and efficiency. The inverted U-shaped effect of inter-regional transportation cost reduction on agglomeration scale is mainly realized by boosting urban market potential, and the positive U-shaped effect on agglomeration efficiency is realized by enhancing labor force mobility. It is further found that the impact of lower inter-regional transportation costs on the industrial agglomeration effect in neighboring areas does not show a clear U-shaped characteristic. The article concludes that it is necessary to promote the construction of transportation infrastructure according to local conditions, optimize industrial spatial distribution, and improve resource allocation efficiency. The eastern region and big cities can rely on the existing transportation network to promote the orderly transfer of industries; the central and western regions and small and medium-sized cities should strengthen the internal and external transportation connections and actively undertake industrial transfers; single-center city clusters need to reasonably guide the investment to avoid duplicated construction; multi-center city clusters should improve the nodal transportation system and promote regional synergistic development. In view of different industrial characteristics, it is necessary to focus on reducing commuting costs in promoting information-intensive industrial agglomeration, and strengthening inter-city transportation links in promoting knowledge-intensive industrial agglomeration. Finally, through differentiated transportation infrastructure construction and industrial layout optimization, China’s coordinated regional development will be promoted to a higher level, and sustained momentum will be injected into China’s high-quality economic development.

Abstract:Promoting the synergistic development of digital economy and rural revitalization in all respects is an important path to high-quality development, and it is of great significance to explore the new development path in the central, eastern and western regions of China. Based on provincial data from 2012 to 2020, the study adopts the entropy value method to establish an evaluation system of indicators for digital economy and rural revitalization, measures the synergistic development level of China’s digital economy and rural revitalization through the coupling and coordination model, analyzes the regional and temporal differences in synergistic development as well as the evolution of the synergistic development in China and the east, central and west regions by using the Dagum’s Gini coefficient decomposition and kernel density analysis, and uses the Markov chain model to explore the evolutionary trend of the synergistic development of digital economy on rural revitalization in China and the eastern, middle and western regions under different spatial lag conditions and make predictions. The results show that: 1) the degree of synergistic development of digital economy and rural revitalization in China and various regions shows a steady increase in time series; and spatially, it shows a basic pattern of high in the east and low in the west and similar agglomeration. 2) From the national scale, although the level of synergistic development of China’s digital economy and rural revitalization is unbalanced, the overall difference shows a shrinking trend, and the inter-regional difference is the main source of the overall difference. From the regional scale, the order of differences in the degree of coupling and coordination between the digital economy and rural revitalization is that the inter-provincial (municipal) differences in the eastern region are higher than those in the western and central regions. 3) The level of synergistic development of China’s digital economy and rural revitalization has been steadily rising. Disparities in this development level among provinces within the eastern region remain notable, with a diminishing polarization effect; the overall gap in the development level across the central region has been shrinking continuously, yet the gap with the eastern region is still substantial; the western region sees a relatively balanced level of synergistic development, but the overall development remains underdeveloped, and a trend of growing multi-polarization has emerged. 4) The synergistic development of China’s digital economy and rural revitalization is trending upward from a medium-high level to a high level; the eastern region, based on good synergistic development and giving full play to its existing advantages, is likely to transfer to a high level after three years, and vice versa will inhibit its development; the level of synergistic development of different provinces within the central region will converge to a higher level in the next three years, showing the obvious evolution of convergence in improvement; while the degree of synergistic development in the western region will decrease with the prolongation of the time span in the next three years, and will continue to show a downward trend. Accordingly, the following recommendations are made: first, implement national policies to consolidate the development gains and seek progress while maintaining stability; second, implement a localized approach to create advantages in coordinated regional development; and third, implement a differentiated development strategy and build a mechanism for regional exchanges and learning.

Abstract:The integration of the digital economy with various sectors of the economy and society is expanding in breadth and depth. Factor mismatch restricts the long-term and stable development of the economy. Based on the panel data of 287 prefecture-level cities in China from 2011 to 2022, this paper calculates the digital economy and urban-rural factor mismatch level, and explores the impact of digital economy on urban-rural factor mismatch. The following conclusions are drawn: 1) The digital economy mitigates factor mismatches in the agricultural and non-agricultural sectors and has significant spatial spillover effects; the digital economy mitigates the factor mismatches in the agricultural sector for the region but exacerbates the mismatches in neighboring regions. With the development of the digital economy, the non-agricultural sector mitigates the factor mismatch in the local and neighboring regions. 2) The digital economy ameliorates factor mismatch in urban and rural areas through the indirect effects of optimizing the employment structure and guiding the flow of production factors via foreign investment, and urbanization, government intervention, and the level of financial development mitigate factor mismatch in both sectors. 3) There is regional heterogeneity in the improvement of urban-rural factor mismatch by the digital economy, and the improvement effect of mismatch in the agricultural sector is the best in the east, followed by the northeast and the west; the improvement effect of mismatch in the non-agricultural sector is the best in the northeast. 4) The digital economy has a double threshold effect for mismatch in the agricultural sector and a single threshold effect for mismatch in the non-agricultural sector, and there is regional heterogeneity. This article makes up for the insufficiency of existing research that focuses mainly on the misallocation of factors among regions. Based on the analysis of the driving forces and entry patterns of the optimal allocation of urban and rural factors, it examines and describes the forms of misallocation of urban and rural factors that exist at the present stage, quantitatively identifies and tests the existence of the misallocation of urban and rural factors and its profound impact on the development of agriculture and rural areas and the welfare of farmers. It also analyzes the deep-seated institutional and mechanism roots, as well as the improvement mechanism for the mismatch of urban and rural factors under the background of the digital economy. Based on the framework of symbiotic development between urban and rural areas, this paper explores the paths for the digital economy to alleviate the mismatch of urban and rural factors from two aspects: the introduction of external factors and the activation of internal factors. The article provides empirical evidence for optimizing the allocation of urban and rural factors.

Abstract:The Fourth Plenary Session of the 20th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China proposes accelerating the all-round green transition of economic and social development and building a Beautiful China. Against the backdrop of significant progress in building a modernized industrial system and the rising tide of green development, industrial intelligence, underpinned by smart and digital technologies, can drive the adoption of clean energy and foster green production and consumption patterns. The deep integration and virtuous interaction between industrial intelligence and the green economy will contribute to establishing a new framework for high-quality development. How, then, does the coupling of traditional industries with intelligent technologies enhance green economic efficiency, and through what mechanisms is this achieved? Based on panel data from 221 Chinese cities between 2013 and 2021, this study theoretically analyzes the specific impact and internal mechanisms through which industrial intelligence influences urban green economic efficiency. Starting from the core connotations of industrial intelligence and green economic efficiency, an indicator system is constructed to empirically test the enabling effect of industrial intelligence on green economic efficiency, clarify its transmission pathways, and further elucidate the non-linear effects, regional heterogeneity, and spatial diffusion characteristics of this empowerment. The findings reveal that industrial intelligence significantly enhances urban green economic efficiency, and this result remains robust. Mechanism tests indicate that industrial intelligence effectively boosts urban technological innovation capability and environmental regulatory stringency, thereby promoting green economic development. Heterogeneity analysis shows that the driving effect of industrial intelligence is statistically significant in central and western regions, but not significant in eastern and northeastern regions. Threshold effect tests confirm a non-linear relationship between industrial intelligence and urban green economic efficiency. Spatial effect tests demonstrate that, under an economic-geographical distance matrix, industrial intelligence can further elevate the green economic efficiency of geographically proximate regions with similar economic development levels. Based on these findings, the following policy implications are proposed: unleash the potential of industrial intelligence by strengthening infrastructure, providing financial and talent support, and facilitating the commercialization of R&D outcomes; leverage the indirect driving forces of technological innovation and environmental regulation, emphasize industrial restructuring within the process of industrial intelligence development, and further harness the empowering effect of industrial upgrading; regions should develop strategies based on their local conditions and national functional positioning, and governments should exercise effective macro-regulation to achieve coordinated regional development.

Abstract:Due to similar publishing models, comprehensive journals of humanities and social sciences have long been trapped in the dilemma of same characteristics and low-level repetition. The above-mentioned difficulties can to some extent be attributed to the lack of topic planning, which leads to the lack of distinctive characteristics in publishing. The solution lies in vigorously strengthening topic planning and taking the path of characteristic development. Therefore, topic planning has become a common choice for humanities and social science comprehensive journals to improve the quality of publication and solve the problem of low-level repetition. Taking comprehensive journals of humanities from universities that have been selected as CSSCI source journals over the years as samples, panel data from 2008 to 2021 are constructed to measure the quantitative and qualitative influence of the journals based on the average citation frequency per article and the number of reprints of China Social Science Excellence. The effect of topic planning on the influence of comprehensive journals of humanities and social sciences is empirically tested. The results indicate that topic planning has a significant impact on both quantitative and qualitative influence of journals. Heterogeneity analysis shows that the role of topic planning is to enhance the academic influence of non 985 university journals, but the expected effect on 985 university journals has not been achieved; The stronger the humanities and social sciences discipline strength of the journal sponsor, the weaker the role of topic planning in enhancing the journal’s influence; The higher the proportion of internal articles, the weaker the effect of topic planning on enhancing the influence of journals, but this conclusion is not applicable to 985 university journals. Further analysis reveals that the internal structure of topic planning also affects its effectiveness. Firstly, both themed and non themed promotional topics can enhance the influence of a journal. Compared to the latter, the former brings more citations to the journal, but its effect on improving reprints is not significant. Secondly, social science topics have significantly increased the influence of journals, while humanities topics have not achieved the expected results. The sub sample test finds that selecting humanities topics significantly reduces the reprints of journals from 985 universities, but it could enhance the short-term quantitative influence of journals from other universities. Thirdly, the impact of single disciplinary topic selection on journal influence is significantly better than that of interdisciplinary topic selection, and the positive effects of interdisciplinary topic selection can only be reflected in qualitative and long-term quantitative evaluations. The sub sample test finds that the journals of 211 universities have planned more interdisciplinary topics that combine with the new technological revolution and social science hot topics, significantly increasing their short-term and long-term citation and reposting volume, and even having a better effect on reposting volume than single disciplinary topics. These findings have enlightening implications for optimizing topic selection strategies for humanities and social sciences comprehensive journals.

Abstract:There are significant differences between China and the United States in both the evolution and characteristics of their cross-border data flow policies. Security first and market-led reflect two traditional models of cross-border data flow rules in China and the United States, yet in an era of AI-driven great-power rivalry, these regulatory systems increasingly diverge from their original patterns. The transformation of the global governance landscape for cross-border data flows is underpinned by three fundamental dimensions of major-power competition: technological capabilities, development models, and discursive power. In particular, a comparative analysis of the evolution of China-U.S. cross-border data flow rules shows that these phenomena and their underlying logics simultaneously embody a shift in the two countries’ strategic positions within global value chains, especially in their contest for dominance over AI technologies. These changes exert a profound impact on domestic technological and economic development, while laying a new foundation for the future trajectory of global data governance. Whoever succeeds in designing cross-border data flow rules that are conducive to AI development will gain the upper hand in global AI competition. China’s trend toward greater openness is driven by the demands of corporate globalization and technological autonomy, especially the growing need for data to support AI innovation; the United States’ increasingly conservative stance is shaped by technological ethics and international competition, particularly its strategic adjustments in the field of generative AI. Together, these dynamics are pushing the global data governance order toward a more multipolar configuration.

Abstract:DeepSeek, a generative AI developed entirely by a Chinese team, has attracted tremendous response globally, not only opening up a low-cost + high-performance AI research and development path through innovative algorithms, but also promoting technology sharing and popularization through a completely transparent open-source strategy at the ecological level, and breaking the absolute dominance of the United States in the field of generative AI at the international level. Scientific and technological innovation is the fundamental driving force for the progress of human civilization, and DeepSeek’s domestic open source generative AI empowers the development and dissemination of Chinese civilization, which is the rightful significance of the increasing sophistication of science and technology and the advancement of Chinese civilization. Generative AI such as DeepSeek, by virtue of its unique advantages including technical integration, in-depth reasoning, Chinese corpus support, open-source sharing and free access, has provided new ideas and impetus for the development and dissemination of Chinese civilization. At the same time, in the process of empowering, it harbors the risks of technological dependence, algorithmic black box, decentralization, information disorder, and techno-national narrative, which will lead to the obstruction of the development and dissemination of Chinese civilization to varying degrees. In view of this, it is necessary to build a systematic and sustainable practice strategy from multiple dimensions. Specifically, to enhance the intelligent literacy of the whole nation in order to promote the creation of digital civilization; to promote high-quality content production and the prosperous development of the cultural industry; to build a digital gene pool of civilization and adhere to the position of the Chinese culture; to build a platform for intelligent interaction and promote civilization exchanges and mutual understanding; and to give full play to the advantages of a new type of state-raising system and promote equal dialogue among civilizations.Through the implementation of the above strategies, generative AI such as DeepSeek can be designed to become a powerful driving force for the development of Chinese civilization, and to help Chinese civilization revitalize its vitality and vigor in the new era.

Abstract:The great geographical discoveries have opened up a true process of economic globalization. Before the establishment of modern diplomatic norms of sovereign equality, war was an important means for the development of European capitalism into global capitalism. However, although warships could help the powers to monopolize production, control trade and plunder manpower and resources, they couldn’t create market demand. For countries like China that couldn’t be completely conquered by force, the great powers could only use opium as their primary means of plunder. The several changes in the consumption patterns of opium in modern times led to a significant increase in addiction among users, thus creating market demand through the process of from transmission to addiction and from addiction to transmission repeatedly. It can be said that the powers, at the cost of the wealth and health of millions of people, used a combination of opium and warships to channel the wealth of the world to Europe, accelerating European industrialization while also promoting economic globalization.

Abstract:Coffee has traveled northward from Ethiopia, Africa, traversing vast spaces across Europe, Asia, and America, undergoing continuous adaptation and integration in different regions and cultures, ultimately becoming a globalized substance and commodity. The differences in coffee globalization are a dynamically evolving process, with their distinctiveness primarily manifested at three levels: intercontinental differences, national differences, and socio-cultural differences. The main reasons for the emergence and periodic solidification of these differences include geographical proximity, disparate political systems, and varying degrees of cultural influence. Amidst the gradual expansion of global trade networks, continuous technological innovation, and close cultural exchanges and mutual appreciation of civilizations, these differences are increasingly diminishing. The narrative of differences in coffee globalization examines coffee as a material object, showcasing global and local interactions and competitions.

Abstract:Prior to the era of globalization, various international currencies emerged successively across the world, spanning multiple regions or even continents. Notable examples include cowrie shells in the South Asian trade circle, gold and silver coinage in the medieval Mediterranean trade network, and Song Dynasty copper coins in the maritime trade ring surrounding China. However, these currencies largely lacked cross-regional payment and settlement functions. Their characteristics as circulating commodities and their regional, localized circulation were more prominent, and behind them, there was no clear hierarchical order structure. In the early modern period, precious metal silver became the first international currency since the globalization era. It not only linked global economic and trade exchanges but also promoted the development of global payment and settlement systems. More importantly, a gradually emerging hierarchical order structure underpinned it. In this process, Ming China and Spain were among the first to be impacted by silver inflows, which influenced the trajectories of their national destinies to a certain extent.

Abstract:With the enactment of the Private Economy Promotion Law, the situation for the promotion of the rule of law of the private economy has undergone significant changes. The Private Economy Promotion Law has become the foundational legislation in the private economy sector, reshaping the framework of private economic legal regulations The promotion of the rule of law has evolved from legislative advocacy to enforcement and judicial facilitation, shifting theoretical focus from legislative theory to interpretive theory, thereby realigning priorities in the rule of law of the private economy. The role of economic law has transitioned from key participant to core driver, as the private economy increasingly relies on its facilitative function. Under this new situation, clarifying the economic law approach to promoting the private economy is timely. However, academic discourse still harbors misconceptions or ambiguities regarding economic law’s promotional role. These misconceptions primarily involve three aspects: Firstly, at the normative level, the economic law promotion of private economy development under the new situation is simplified into the implementation of the Private Economy Promotion Law; Secondly, at the functional level, there is a tendency to deny or abandon the support-for-the-weak function of the Private Economy Promotion Law; Thirdly, at the institutional level, there is a tendency to downplay the institutional tendency of the Private Economy Promotion Law to solve special problems of the private economy rather than common problems at the institutional level. In reality, while economic law’s promotion revolves around the implementation of the Private Economy Promotion Law, it extends beyond mere enforcement. Reducing economic law’s promotional role to the implementation of this law would fall into the cognitive trap of hasty generalization, appearing to oversimplify complex issues. Both correction and support are core functions of the Private Economy Promotion Law, neither of which should be neglected. Denying or abandoning the supportive function would artificially castrate the law’s promotional role, risking functional constraints. The Private Economy Promotion Law has a distinct tendency to address specific issues, which aligns with its status as a fundamental law in this domain. Undermining this issue-specific institutional orientation would contradict the problem-oriented legislative approach foundational to domain-specific jurisprudence, raising concerns about self-negation of value. Therefore, future efforts should center on advancing the implementation of the Private Economy Promotion Law and its supporting regulations, adhering to a normative framework that prioritizes promotive economic law while complementing it with restrictive economic law. Following a functional approach that advances both correction and support, we must focus on refining targeted promotional systems for the private economy. This involves constructing a multi-dimensional economic law pathway—from norms to functions to institutions—strengthening the promotion of the private economy under new conditions, and thereby fostering high-quality development in the private sector.

Abstract:The traditional international investment order, influenced by neoliberalism, advocates that host countries strengthen the protection of investors’ rights while weakening the security review of foreign investment. This is a structural product of capital-exporting countries safeguarding their overseas interests. However, the identities of traditional capital-exporting and capital-importing countries have become blurred in the process of economic globalization. This has led traditional capital-exporting countries to fear that foreign investment from traditional capital-importing countries would undermine their domestic social stability, economic security and technological development, sparking concerns that foreign investment threatens national security. To address the security risks posed by foreign investment, countries such as the United States and the European Union have revised their foreign investment security review systems, driven by security exceptionalism, arbitration protectionism, and legal instrumentalism. These efforts have restricted investor rights by expanding the scope of review, reducing transparency, and exempting foreign investment security review decisions from judicial review. This has disrupted the dual structural balance between host country regulatory power and investor protection within the foreign investment security review system, undermining the stability and predictability of the international investment order. In light of this, countries can safeguard host countries’ regulatory power over foreign investment by revising external restrictions, adjust the scope of national security to mitigate the risk of national security becoming generalized, reshape the principle of transparency to unveil the foreign investment security review system, reform the remedy model to strengthen the final barrier to investor rights protection, and promote the rebalancing of the dual structure of the foreign investment security review system with innovative concepts, pragmatic measures, and an open attitude. Meanwhile, China is in a transitional phase from a capital-importing country to a capital-exporting country. Under the guidance of the overall national security concept, it is necessary to improve the extraterritorial effectiveness of the foreign investment security review system. This can be achieved by strengthening investors’ right to know, refining the reporting mechanism of the Foreign Investment Security Review Working Mechanism Office, and improving the information disclosure mechanism to enhance the transparency of the foreign investment security review system. Furthermore, it is crucial to continuously optimize the jurisdiction system for foreign investment security review decisions to ensure investors have access to remedies. This will ensure that under the new development paradigm, China’s foreign investment security review system can both prevent systemic security risks in foreign investment and protect investors’ rights, thereby ensuring high-quality development with high-level security and ultimately forming a foreign investment security review system with Chinese characteristics.

Abstract:With the transformation of the principal contradiction facing Chinese society, the people’s ever-growing needs for a better life have put forward new and higher requirements for the public sports service system. By examining the evolutionary logic of the systems and means for providing public sports services from a diachronic perspective, it becomes evident that the construction of China’s public sports service system has undergone a gradual transition from being closed to being open. This provides an institutional foundation for further exploring the path of incentive-based legal regulation that effectively combines government governance with market mechanisms. Based on the current situation of the supply of public sports service in China, the current supply mode of public sports service still bears a strong government-led feature. This government-led model with the absence of market mechanism has realistic difficulties such as insufficient total supply, unbalanced regional development and slow growth. As the absolute main body of the supply of public sports services, the government controls the whole process of production, distribution, exchange and consumption, resulting in heavy political and financial burdens, and leading to insufficient supply of public sports services. In the choice of public sports service supply tools, the government often adopts the way of direct provision, and a single policy tool is easy to fail, making it difficult to resolve the dilemma of unbalanced supply. The combination of institutional mechanisms and inherent market problems has led to typical market failures in the supply of public sports services, which have failed to stimulate market vitality in the supply of public sports services. Incentive legal regulation is a governance strategy to stimulate the vitality of public sports service supply and promote the high-quality development of public sports service, and has functional advantages in overcoming the disadvantages of traditional supply means. Incentive legal regulation, without changing the existing market model and regulatory structure, couples the action strategies of various entities pursuing their own interests with the goals of public sports services through incentive compatible institutional arrangements. Specifically, according to the technical logic of “before， during， and after”, before admission, the rights, obligations, and responsibilities of market entities are scientifically allocated, market admission standards and subject qualification standards are relaxed, and the initial motivation of market entities is released. In the process of operation, through the combination of economic incentive tools, the income of suppliers is increased, the supply costs are reduced, and an effective internal incentive is formed for market players with reasonable sharing of cost and income. Afterwards, it is supplemented by a restrictive regulatory mechanism to strengthen the maintenance of market order and performance evaluation deterrence, prevent market failure and government failure risks, and leverage the joint advantages of the market and government to ensure the effectiveness of incentive legal regulation. Thus, an incentive legal regulatory framework that effectively combines government governance and market mechanism is set up to provide a feasible idea and suggestion for promoting the equalization of public sports services.

Abstract:Two typical cases involving digital collectibles in China have emerged within the new business models underpinned by new technologies, revealing the chaotic state of the digital collectibles trading market. Many viewpoints expressed in the judgments of these cases have sparked intense debate in both academic and practical circles, making them worthy of in-depth analysis. Firstly, the technical principles of the transaction preparatory actions and the transaction actions involved in digital collectibles trading have been clarified. It is noted that there is consensus on the legal regulation of transaction preparatory actions, but the primary dispute lies in the regulation of transaction actions, with three major viewpoints: The first viewpoint is the right to distribute regulation theory, which argues that transaction actions should be regulated by right to distribute, and under this premise, the principle of exhaustion of right to distribute should also apply to secondary transactions. The second viewpoint is the right of communication through information network regulation theory, which argues that although transaction actions resemble traditional distribution actions due to the new technology, they do not meet the requirement of tangible medium under right to distribute and thus should still be regulated by right of communication through information network. The third viewpoint is the credit rights regulation theory, which asserts that since digital collectibles are not physical objects, their transactions should not be regulated under the right to distribute in copyright law; instead, the purchase of digital collectibles should be regarded as a transfer of credit rights, regulated by relevant provisions in the Civil Code of the People’s Republic of China (hereinafter Civil Code). The fundamental cause of these disputes lies in the unclear legal nature of digital collectibles. Secondly, due to the lack of explicit provisions on the legal nature of virtual property in Article 127 of the Civil Code, disputes have arisen regarding the legal nature of virtual property, and as a type of virtual property, the legal nature of digital collectibles is also contested. Based on the contractual relationship between trading platforms and users, the credit rights theory holds that virtual property should be classified as a subject of credit rights, and the property rights associated with digital collectibles and other virtual properties should be considered as credit rights. The new type of rights theory argues that traditional civil law theory cannot explain new products arising under the development of new technologies such as virtual property, and thus holders of virtual property should be granted new types of rights. The property rights theory suggests that digital collectibles, with characteristics like virtuality, scarcity and exchangeability, and disposability and exclusivity, should be regarded as property rights protected by civil law. However, due to the current immaturity of relevant theories, such as the scope of protection, rights, and obligations of digital collectibles, property rights should not yet be elevated to the status of formal rights. The real rights theory asserts that virtual property is the object of real rights. The viewpoints of the credit rights theory, new type of rights theory, and property rights theory are all subject to further scrutiny, and the real rights theory can be established based on both the characteristics of the object and the content. Finally, once the legal nature of digital collectibles is clarified, it becomes clear that both the right of communication through information network regulation theory and the credit rights regulation theory are unreasonable. With the new changes brought about by the fixation of works and transfer of carriers in the context of NFTs, the right to distribute should be explained from a functionalist perspective. The issue of the tangible medium requirement of right to distribute should not prevent the application of right to distribute regulation to digital collectibles transactions, and the principle of exhaustion of the right to distribute should also apply to secondary transactions of digital collectibles, extending to digital collectibles trading scenarios.

Abstract:From ChatGPT to Sora and then to DeepSeek, generative artificial intelligence is constantly evolving and innovating, but its potential legal risks are also becoming increasingly serious. By analyzing the three-stage operation mechanism of preparation-operation-generation of generative artificial intelligence, it can be known that the core technologies involved in the three stages are different so that the existing legal risks also vary. Specifically, the core of the preparation stage of generative artificial intelligence lies in massive data and machine learning. The operation stage mainly involves algorithm techniques, manual annotation, and autonomous learning. The generation stage relies on data decoding and sample generation. Correspondingly, its legal risks mainly lie in the protection of privacy and personal information in the preparation stage, data security and algorithm bias in the operation stage, and copyright ownership, ideology and social order in the generation stage. However, the existing legislation fails to provide detailed guidance on the core contents such as the legal status, regulatory standards, and sample attribution of generative artificial intelligence. Based on this, on the basis of a comparative analysis of the governance paradigms and experiences of countries such as the United States, the United Kingdom, and the European Union, in combination with China’s national conditions and practical status, we should focus on the three-dimensional path of civil law protection-regulatory standard-industry norms to regulate the legal risks of generative artificial intelligence to safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of citizens. Firstly, at the civil law level, we should clarify the legal object status of weak generative artificial intelligence and the fictitious legal subject status of strong generative artificial intelligence, strengthen the protection of personal information through explicit authorization of private information and data encryption technology, and improve the intellectual property determination standards based on the attributes and rights ownership of generated samples. Secondly, at the regulatory standards level, we should implement the whole process supervision covering the preparation-operation-generation stage for technologies such as algorithms, enhance the transparency of related technologies by formulating technical transparency standards, introducing interpretable technologies and establishing an accountability-feedback guarantee system, and form a characteristic regulatory model of government-society-enterprise linkage that the government provides policy support for citizens and enterprises, citizens actively participate in regulatory governance and feed back infringement information to the government and enterprises, and enterprises, guided by government policies and citizens’ demands, contribute to social development. Finally, at the industry norms level, we should clarify the applicable liability principle for its infringement through the three infringement forms of generative artificial intelligence, implement the legal obligations of service providers and users that providers should undertake obligations such as content review and security guarantee, while users should fulfill obligations such as reasonable use and operation as well as information feedback, and open up social consultation and feedback channels to curb the occurrence of infringement phenomena and improve the efficiency of resolving infringement disputes by popularizing citizens’ rights and obligations, standardizing citizens’ usage methods, and enhancing the connection between enterprises and citizens.

Abstract:Public data licensing operation is an important component of the planning for the development and utilization of public data resources. However, there are still deficiencies in the current licensing operation in terms of responsibility allocation model, data ownership distribution scheme, and the smoothness of the circulation mechanism. The improvement approach should be to construct a system framework that combines theoretical explanatory power with practical adaptability. Data trust relies on its dual attributes of legal framework + technical governance. Through empirical tests of projects such as the UK’s ODI and the US’s One Florida+, it demonstrates innovative value in addressing the aforementioned dilemmas. In terms of licensing forms, compared to general entrustment, trust better reflects the purpose and pursuit of public data licensing operation: the management and long-term characteristics of trust relationships align with the cyclical pattern of data from generation to flow to processing and utilization, and also show institutional potential that matches licensing operation activities. In terms of the nature of the object, data trust has interpretability regarding the ownership of public data: both trust property rights theory and data property rights separation belong to the derivative of the bundle of rights theory, and the trust system, as a path for allocating data-related rights, has inherent adaptability. In terms of the feasibility of legal interpretation, firstly, public trust theory embodies the orientation of actively pursuing and passively safeguarding the value of public property. Public data with public property characteristics also have the necessity and feasibility of being managed in the form of trust. Secondly, the certainty of trust property is a legal prerequisite for the establishment of trust. The data registration system can ensure the independence of the data portion involved in trust through inventory management and technical traceability, clarify the correspondence of ownership with human compilation doctrine, and, in collaboration with the existing trust registration system, utilize a centralized trust registration institution to provide publicity and effectiveness support for the trustification of public data. Thus, the scope of public data invested in trust can be determined, thereby meeting the necessary conditions for the circulation of trustified public data. In terms of specific relational construction, further concretization and standardization of various relational elements in trust construction are needed: the trustor should enjoy the right to supervise that is differentiated from administrative supervision, and undertake the obligation to supply public data with reference to the separation of collection and transportation model; the trustee should enjoy the right to profit from the use of public data and undertake the fiduciary duty to fulfill the trust contract and maximize the beneficiary’s interests. In terms of trust income distribution, it is necessary to reasonably confirm the allocation scheme of operating income among public entities, specific data sources, and unspecified members of the public, achieving a balance between public welfare and profitability. In terms of liability determination, it is advisable to distinguish between the damage to the rights and interests of third parties caused during operations and the damage liability within the trust relationship, and to refine the determination of liability for each subject in different scenarios.

Abstract:The principal contradiction facing Chinese society in the new era has evolved into one between the people’s ever-growing needs for a better life and the inadequate and unbalanced development. This means that in the current stage, the process of realizing common prosperity in China is about enabling the public to comprehensively share diverse public goods. Based on the panel data in 31 provincial regions of China, this paper empirically analyzes the impact of social livelihood public goods on variables such as the public demand gap and the proportion of general public expenditure. According to the empirical results and the characteristics of livelihood public good?s, such goods are divided into two types: public goods that do not expand the public demand gap and those that do. The former is characterized by a rough balance between the government’s budgetary expenditure and fiscal revenue allocated to these public goods, yet it will drive up the government’s general public expenditure, such as pension and social assistance. The latter is distinguished by government budgetary expenditure for these public goods exceeding fiscal revenue, while it exerts no upward pressure on general public expenditure, such as resources and environment as well as medical and health services. The relationship between these two and general public expenditure reveals that the former demonstrates stronger public goods attributes.Based on an analysis of the suppliers of these two types of public goods and their interrelations, and taking the supply of public goods such as medical and health services during the COVID-19 pandemic prevention and control as a case, this paper proposes that the former may be primarily provided by third-sector entities, while the latter should be mainly supplied by market enterprises. This paper classifies livelihood public goods into two major types according to empirical results, which provides beneficial enlightenment for the proper selection of public goods supply subjects. The classification would be helpful to choose the appropriate public goods supply mode, improve supply efficiency, and promote the realization of common prosperity. For livelihood public goods, how the market or third-sector entities can effectively participate in their supply requires government departments to provide efficient guidance by means of public expenditure and other tools. It also requires the government to leverage robust administrative measures to effectively enhance the coordination among the three parties, thus establishing a cooperative mixed supply model involving the government, the market, and third-sector entities. This will ultimately address the demand for livelihood public goods and steadily advance the achievement of common prosperity. The government should grant sufficient fiscal and administrative powers to third-sector entities engaged in public goods provision to support their development, and set clear standards and norms for public goods supplied by market enterprises.

Abstract:Rural revitalization is an essential pathway to achieving common prosperity. Promoting farmers’ active participation in rural construction and fully enhancing their agency play a critical role in advancing the rural revitalization strategy and fulfilling people’s aspirations for a better life. The Decision of the Third Plenary Session of the 20th CPC Central Committee calls for giving full play to farmers’ agency, creativity, and initiative, while the 2025 No.1 Central Document emphasizes government leadership, farmers’ participation, and social engagement, providing clear policy guidance for strengthening farmers’ agency in rural construction. From an integrated perspective that combines Marxist theory of human needs with the humanistic potential approach, farmers’ participation in rural construction is a fundamental path to realizing people’s pursuit of a better life. Existing research has produced significant achievements in three key areas: rural culture, rural institutions, and farmers’ behaviors. Further analysis reveals that these areas influence the development of farmers’ agency through three levels: value, organization, and practice, forming an intrinsic logic of cultural drive-institutional foundation-behavioral support. A re-examination of current rural construction practices through this culture-institution-behavior framework indicates that under the overarching strategy of comprehensive rural revitalization, challenges such as diminished local cultural identity, institutional conflicts, and limitations in farmers’ behavioral development continue to hinder farmers’ active participation. This study applies the culture-institution-behavior framework to a case analysis of the Y Intangible Cultural Heritage Workshop in Guangxi, focusing on three dimensions: enhancing cultural identity through public events, creating participation pathways based on income-generating needs, and fostering comprehensive practical capacities through multi-role participation. It argues that effective rural construction practice should resonate to awaken cultural identity, coordinate to resolve institutional conflicts, and connect to overcome capability barriers, thereby stimulating farmers’ agency and promoting their active participation in rural construction. Moreover, the question of whose rural construction demands a multi-dimensional and multi-perspective analysis. A comprehensive consideration of cultural development, institutional reform, and behavioral empowerment can effectively foster farmers’ active participation, strengthen their agency, and contribute to achieving common prosperity through the rural revitalization strategy.