Compared with their fellow citizens in the city, rural residents are more likely to be affected by ecological restoration programs and policies. Yet no one has conducted a large-scale study of how ecological conservation impacts rural livelihoods and the economic status of rural households, especially in China. To fill that knowledge gap, I collected and analyzed relevant data from 2007 to 2018 for western and eastern China. I found that the relationship between western China’s green coverage rate and rural income followed an inverted U curve whereas that between its green coverage rate and urban-rural income gap was instead U-shaped, suggesting that ecological restoration has come to eventually negatively impact the economic welfare of rural residents in western China; however, the complete opposite was found in eastern China. Greater urbanization, financial support, and infrastructure such as education, medical, and Internet services would help to improve the current situation in western China. This suggests the government should take actions—such as improving the quality of farmer training to the rural residents and improving infrastructure construction—to help farmers acquire a new source of income and narrow the urban-rural income gap in parallel to implementing ecological restoration projects.

In the current digital era, digital communication has a profound impact on the construction of product brands and affects the organizational performance of enterprises; thus, digital communication has become a power that cannot be ignored to improve the organizational performance of enterprises. This study demonstrated three hypotheses based on previous research and used a questionnaire survey to collect first-hand data from distributors of a China’s leading domestic down coat brand (named BRAND A in this study), and then studied and analyzed the relationships among digital integrated and interactive brand communication (DIIBC), brand value, and organizational performance through SEM analysis methods. The results showed that DIIBC had an indirect negative significant positive effect on organizational performance through brand value, while it had a highly significant direct positive effect on the organizational performance of this brand in China’s domestic down coat industry, and DIIBC’s final function on organizational performance was highly significant positive.

This study delves into the nuanced impact of leadership styles on state-owned enterprises (SOEs) performance in Northeast China. It aims to discern how transformational, transactional, and authoritative leadership approaches influence organizational outcomes, framed within the context of sustainable leadership theory. Employing a quantitative methodology, the research analyzes survey data from employees across various SOEs to assess the relationship between leadership styles and company performance, including aspects such as job satisfaction, employee motivation, and operational efficiency. The findings reveal a clear dichotomy: transformational and transactional leadership styles positively correlate with improved performance metrics, fostering an environment of innovation, motivation, and job satisfaction. Conversely, authoritative leadership is shown to detrimentally affect these same metrics, potentially hindering organizational growth and employee morale. This research contributes to the broader discourse on leadership and organizational performance by highlighting the critical role of leadership style in enhancing the sustainable development of SOEs, particularly within China’s socio-political and economic fabric. Practical implications suggest a shift towards more adaptive, employee-centered leadership approaches to spur performance and sustainability in SOEs. The originality of this study lies in its specific focus on the Chinese context, offering insights into the leadership dynamics within SOEs and proposing actionable strategies for fostering leadership that align with sustainability and organizational excellence principles.

This paper models 54,559 Chinese news items about education industry and scientific industry by machine learning during the COVID-19 epidemic to build China’s increased scientific research policy (ISRP) index. The result of interrupted time series analysis indicates that, the ISRP has an emphatic positive causality on the education industry advancement and promotes the development of the education industry. The ISRP also has a remarkable positive causality on the development of the scientific industry. Moreover, the result of causal network indicates that, a virtuous circle within the ISRP, the education industry and the scientific industry has been formed, which has promoted the sustainable development of the education chain.

Using data from 31 provinces, municipalities, and autonomous regions in mainland China from 2006 to 2019, we employ a double difference (DID) model and a spatial double difference (SDID) model to estimate the impact of the High-speed Railway (HSR) on the income gap between urban and rural residents, as well as its spatial spillover effects. Our research reveals several key findings. Firstly, the introduction of high-speed railways helps to narrow the income gap between urban and rural residents within local areas, but its spatial effects can lead to an increase in the income gap in neighboring provinces. Secondly, from a spatial perspective, intermediate variables such as industrial structure, education, science and technology, and foreign trade can also contribute to balancing the income gap between urban and rural residents, although the impact of population mobility is not significant. Thirdly, further analysis of the spatial effects demonstrates that education plays a significant role in balancing the income gap both within the local province and neighboring provinces. Additionally, adjustments in industrial structure, advancements in science and technology, and foreign trade have stronger spillover effects in reducing the income gap among neighboring provinces compared to their impact at a local level.