Understanding China Through Big Data

Chen, He and Yan present a range of applications of multiple-source big data to core areas of contemporary sociology, demonstrating how a theory-guided approach to macrosociology can help to understand social change in China, especially where traditional approaches are limited by constrained and biased data. In each chapter of the book, the authors highlight an application of theory-guided macrosociology that has the potential to reinvigorate an ambitious, open-minded and bold approach to sociological research. These include social stratification, social networks, medical care, and online behaviours among many others. This research approach focuses on macro-level social process and phenomena by using quantitative models to statistically test for associations and causalities suggested by a clearly hypothesised social theory. By deploying theory-oriented macrosociology where it can best assure macro-level robustness and reliability, big data applications can be more relevant to and guided by social theory. An essential read for sociologists with an interest in quantitative and macro-scale research methods, which also provides fascinating insights into Chinese society as a demonstration of the utility of its methodology.

This book reviews and examines the reform and opening up in China from 1978 to 2011. It analyzes how China avoided to fall into the middle-income trap over those 33 years. The book makes a deep analysis of understanding how Chinese economy became a miracle in the world economic history and its development stages, as well as the overseas erroneous understanding of the existence of Chinese economy. The author analyzes from three aspects: how to break the “impossible triangle”, how to achieve middle-to-high speed growth in L model, and how to release a new dividend of urbanization. After Chinese economy entered the Lewis turning point, China faced the dilemma of labor transformation and the disappearance of demographic dividend, the demographic dividend turned to the reform dividend. The author points out and suggests that a new round of growth should be achieved by improving the total factor productivity in order to find a new way for the Chinese economy. This book plays an important role of comprehending Chinese economy under current complex economic situation. This book helps readers to understand Chinese economy from many aspects: impossible triangle, L model growth, Malthus trap, dual economy, aging problem, demographic dividend, reform dividend, trap of middle income, globalization, etc. The author as an economist aims for the public explaining the professional knowledge in a concise and easy way. This book delivers the information of discerning and understanding the economic trend, and predicting the future.

Big data is increasingly regarded as a new approach for understanding urban informatics and complex systems. Today, there is unprecedented data availability, with detailed remote-sensed data on the built environment and rich mineable web-based sources in the form of social media, web mapping, information services and other sources of unstructured "big data". This book brings together a group of international contributors to consider the geographical implications of mobility, wellbeing and development within and across Chinese cities through location-based big data perspectives. The degree of urban sprawl, productive density and vibrancy can be reflected from location-based social media big data. The challenge is to identify, map and model these relationships to develop cities at different places in the urban hierarchical system that are more sustainable. This edited book aims to tackle these issues through two inter-related geographical scales: inter-city level and intra-city level. The text is designed for graduate courses in planning, geography, public policy and administration, and for international researchers who are involved in urban and regional economics and economic geography.

In the era of big data, this book explores the new challenges of urban-rural planning and management from a practical perspective based on a multidisciplinary project. Researchers as contributors to this book have accomplished their projects by using big data and relevant data mining technologies for investigating the possibilities of big data, such as that obtained through cell phones, social network systems and smart cards instead of conventional survey data for urban planning support. This book showcases active researchers who share their experiences and ideas on human mobility, accessibility and recognition of places, connectivity of transportation and urban structure in order to provide effective analytic and forecasting tools for smart city planning and design solutions in China.

This book is the first practical case study on the application of big data in China's government management scenarios, which is important for comprehensively presenting the achievements of China's e-government and digital construction as well as deeply understanding the implementation of big data strategy in China. The author of this book is one of the earliest practitioners engaged in the study of big data applications, and has personally experienced the development, major events, application cases, and industry changes of big data in China. Cases in this book are all actual projects carried out. The author of this book explains the development history of big data she has personally experienced, presenting in an easy-to-understand way the basic concept and characteristics of big data and practical interpretation, which provides important reference for the practical work of government and enterprise managers. The application ideas of big data in management innovation are proposed, and scenarios are described and discussed in terms of accelerating research on sharing big data in government affairs, breaking barriers, realizing data flow information sharing, creating one-stop services, improving the corresponding policy system for sharing big data in government affairs, building public information platform for e-government, and strengthening network and information infrastructure. Especially for the government personnel in departments, this book will give them a better understanding of the charm and value of big data, intuitively understand the utilization and analysis of big data, carry out effective government management and make correct decisions, so as to improve the data literacy of organizations and individuals, form scientific support for their own government's decision-making and management, thus promote the continued construction of digital government, digital China, and digital economy era based on the application of big data.

This book introduces China’s current publishing industry in the new era, especially when facing the big challenge from social media and technology transformation. Based on the calculation for the first time, the book and overall size of the content data of publications in China, the book presents 15 cases of Chinese publishers looking for opportunities to develop business, using the technology of big data and Internet. For global readers, it may help to build an overview on China's publishing industry and business innovation cases of media companies.