Download as pdf or txt
Download as pdf or txt
You are on page 1of 70

Proceedings of the 23rd International

Symposium on Advancement of
Construction Management and Real
Estate Fenjie Long (Editor)
Visit to download the full and correct content document:
https://ebookmeta.com/product/proceedings-of-the-23rd-international-symposium-on-
advancement-of-construction-management-and-real-estate-fenjie-long-editor/
More products digital (pdf, epub, mobi) instant
download maybe you interests ...

Proceedings of the 25th International Symposium on


Advancement of Construction Management and Real Estate
1st Edition Xinhai Lu (Editor)

https://ebookmeta.com/product/proceedings-of-the-25th-
international-symposium-on-advancement-of-construction-
management-and-real-estate-1st-edition-xinhai-lu-editor/

Geotechnical Aspects of Underground Construction in


Soft Ground: Proceedings of the Tenth International
Symposium on Geotechnical Aspects ... Cambridge, United
Kingdom, 27-29 June 2022 2nd Edition Mohammed Elshafie
https://ebookmeta.com/product/geotechnical-aspects-of-
underground-construction-in-soft-ground-proceedings-of-the-tenth-
international-symposium-on-geotechnical-aspects-cambridge-united-
kingdom-27-29-june-2022-2nd-edition-moh/

Geotechnical Aspects of Underground Construction in


Soft Ground: Proceedings of the Tenth International
Symposium on Geotechnical Aspects of ... Cambridge,
United Kingdom, 27-29 June 2022 1st Edition Mohammed
Elshafie (Editor)
https://ebookmeta.com/product/geotechnical-aspects-of-
underground-construction-in-soft-ground-proceedings-of-the-tenth-
international-symposium-on-geotechnical-aspects-of-cambridge-
united-kingdom-27-29-june-2022-1st-edition/

Proceedings of the 5th International Symposium on Water


Resource and Environmental Management Sustainable
Development of Water Resource and Environmental
Management Haoqing Xu
https://ebookmeta.com/product/proceedings-of-the-5th-
international-symposium-on-water-resource-and-environmental-
management-sustainable-development-of-water-resource-and-
Superalloys 2020 Proceedings of the 14th International
Symposium on Superalloys Sammy Tin

https://ebookmeta.com/product/superalloys-2020-proceedings-of-
the-14th-international-symposium-on-superalloys-sammy-tin/

Principles of Real Estate Management 17th Edition


Nicholas Dunlap

https://ebookmeta.com/product/principles-of-real-estate-
management-17th-edition-nicholas-dunlap/

Course 1 - Real Estate Essentials - Humber Real Estate


Education 7th Edition Real Estate Council Of Ontario
(Reco)

https://ebookmeta.com/product/course-1-real-estate-essentials-
humber-real-estate-education-7th-edition-real-estate-council-of-
ontario-reco/

Course 2 - Residential Real Estate Transactions -


Humber Real Estate Education 7th Edition Real Estate
Council Of Ontario (Reco)

https://ebookmeta.com/product/course-2-residential-real-estate-
transactions-humber-real-estate-education-7th-edition-real-
estate-council-of-ontario-reco/

Course 4: Commercial Real Estate Transactions - Humber


Real Estate Education 7th Edition Real Estate Council
Of Ontario (Reco)

https://ebookmeta.com/product/course-4-commercial-real-estate-
transactions-humber-real-estate-education-7th-edition-real-
estate-council-of-ontario-reco/
Fenjie Long · Sheng Zheng · Yuzhe Wu ·
Gangying Yang · Yan Yang Editors

Proceedings of the
23rd International
Symposium
on Advancement
of Construction
Management and Real
Estate
Proceedings of the 23rd International Symposium
on Advancement of Construction Management
and Real Estate
Fenjie Long Sheng Zheng Yuzhe Wu
• • •

Gangying Yang Yan Yang


Editors

Proceedings of the 23rd


International Symposium
on Advancement
of Construction Management
and Real Estate

123
Editors
Fenjie Long Sheng Zheng
Guizhou Institute of Technology Department of Land Management
Guiyang, Guizhou, China Zhejiang University
Hangzhou, Zhejiang, China
Yuzhe Wu
Department of Land Management Gangying Yang
Zhejiang University Guizhou Institute of Technology
Hangzhou, Zhejiang, China Guiyang, Guizhou, China

Yan Yang
College of Economics and Management
Guizhou Institute of Technology
Guiyang, Guizhou, China

ISBN 978-981-15-3976-3 ISBN 978-981-15-3977-0 (eBook)


https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-3977-0
© Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2021
This work is subject to copyright. All rights are reserved by the Publisher, whether the whole or part
of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations,
recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission
or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar
methodology now known or hereafter developed.
The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this
publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from
the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use.
The publisher, the authors and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in this
book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the publisher nor the
authors or the editors give a warranty, expressed or implied, with respect to the material contained
herein or for any errors or omissions that may have been made. The publisher remains neutral with regard
to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

This Springer imprint is published by the registered company Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd.
The registered company address is: 152 Beach Road, #21-01/04 Gateway East, Singapore 189721,
Singapore
Proceedings of the 23rd International
Symposium on Advancement of Construction
Management and Real Estate

Editorial Board

Fenjie Long Guizhou Institute of Technology


Sheng Zheng Department of Land Management, Zhejiang University
Yuzhe Wu Department of Land Management, Zhejiang University
Gangying Yang Guizhou Institute of Technology
Yan Yang College of Economics and Management, Guizhou
Institute of Technology
Jiaming Shan Department of Land Management, Zhejiang University
Yuxuan Chen Department of Land Management, Zhejiang University
Xiaofeng Sun Department of Land Management, Zhejiang University
Zhiyi Xu Department of Land Management, Zhejiang University
Hui Tang College of Economics and Management, Guizhou
Institute of Technology
Kai Wang College of Economics and Management, Guizhou
Institute of Technology
Liang Long College of Economics and Management, Guizhou
Institute of Technology
Xiongjin Wang College of Economics and Management, Guizhou
Institute of Technology
Qun Du College of Economics and Management, Guizhou
Institute of Technology
Xinyi Yang College of Economics and Management, Guizhou
Institute of Technology

Acknowledgements
The symposium gratefully acknowledges the support of the organizations below.

v
vi Proceedings of the 23rd International Symposium

Conference Organizer
The Chinese Research Institute of Construction Management (CRIOCM)
Guizhou Institute of Technology (GIT)
Co-organizers
College of Urban and Environmental Sciences, Peking University
Research Center of Urbanization and Industrial Development, School of Civil
Engineering, Tsinghua University
Hang Lung Center for Real Estate, Tsinghua University
School of Public Affairs, Zhejiang University
Real Estate Research Institute, Xi’an Jiaotong University
International Research Center for Sustainable Built Environment, Chongqing
University
Department of Real Estate and Construction, The University of Hong Kong
Department of Building and Real Estate, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University
Institute of Public Project and Engineering Cost, Tianjin University of Technology
Real Estate Research Institute, Guizhou University of Finance and Economics
Guangdong Zhongjianpulian co., LTD
Department of Land Economy, University of Cambridge
China Future City Lab, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
International Journal of Construction Management
Journal of Urban Management
Advisory Committee (In Alphabetical Order by Last Name)
Changhong Bai Nankai University
K. W. Chau The University of Hong Kong
Abdol R. Chini University of Florida, USA
Zuoji Dong Ministry of Land and Resources of China
Changchun Feng Peking University
Roger Flanagan University of Reading, UK
Kemei Hu Ministry of Ecology and Environment of China
Hongyu Liu Tsinghua University
Roger-Bruno Richard Université de Montréal, CAN
Geoffrey Shen The Hong Kong Polytechnic University
Weiguo Song Ministry of Science and Technology of China
Cifang Wu Zhejiang University
Zhangping Xin Urban Problems Journal
Guohua Zhang National Development and Reform Commission
Yiming Zhao Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development of
China
Proceedings of the 23rd International Symposium vii

Organizing Committee
Chairman
Fenjie Long Guizhou Institute of Technology
Yuzhe Wu Zhejiang University

Executive Chairman
Gangying Yang Guizhou Institute of Technology

Secretary-General
Wilson W. S. Lu The University of Hong Kong
Yan Yang Guizhou Institute of Technology

Executive Secretary-General
Jing Qiao Guizhou Institute of Technology
Li Zhou Guizhou Institute of Technology
Sheng Zheng Zhejiang University

Members (In Alphabetical Order by Last Name)


Helen X. H. Bao University of Cambridge, UK
Lin Chen Guangzhou University
Jianqun Chu Peking University
Zhikun Ding Shenzhen University
Shan Hai Construction Engineering Quality Supervision in
Shenzhen
Rowson K. H. Lee Hong Kong Continuing Professional Education Centre
Dezhi Li Southeast University
Weidong Liu Zhejiang University
Xinhai Lu Central China Normal University
Yi Peng Zhejiang University of Finance and Economics
Chengshuang Sun Harbin Institute of Technology
Yongtao Tan The Hong Kong Polytechnic University
Siu Wai Wong The Hong Kong Polytechnic University
Jing Wu Tsinghua University
Zhigang Wu South China Normal University
Donglang Yang Xi’an Jiaotong University
Gui Ye Chongqing University
Kunhui Ye Chongqing University
Yilin Yin Tianjin University of Technology
Mingxuan Yu Renmin University of China
Hongping Yuan Southwest Jiaotong University
Xiaoling Zhang City University of Hong Kong
viii Proceedings of the 23rd International Symposium

Zhenyu Zhao North China Electric Power University


Vivian W.Y. Tam University of Western Sydney, Australia
Bo Xia Queensland University of Technology, Australia
Siqi Zheng Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA
Jian Zuo The University of Adelaide, Australia

International Academic Committee


Chairman
Liyinn Shen Chongqing University
Martin Skitmore Queensland University of Technology, Australia

Members (In Alphabetical Order by Last Name)


Haijun Bao Zhejiang University of Finance and Economics
Edwin Hon-wan Chan The Hong Kong Polytechnic University
Stuart Green University of Reading, UK
Miklos Hajdu Szent Istvan University, Hungary
Xianjin Huang Nanjing University
Xiaohui Huang The Hong Kong Polytechnic University
Heng Li The Hong Kong Polytechnic University
Qiming Li Southeast University
Anita M. W. Liu The University of Hong Kong
Jian Lin Peking University
Guiwen Liu Chongqing University
S. P. Low National University of Singapore, Singapore
Wilson W. S. Lu The University of Hong Kong
Ping Lv Renmin University of China
Mona Shah National Institute of Construction M&R, India
Jonathan Shi Louisiana State University, USA
Miroslaw J. Skibniewski The University of Maryland, USA
Michael C. H. Yam The Hong Kong Polytechnic University
Jiayuan Wang Shenzhen University
Jianping Wang Guizhou Institute of Technology
Shouqing Wang Tsinghua University
Tingfang Wu Guizhou University of Finance and Economics
Xiaolong Xue Guangzhou University
Hongping Yuan Southwest Jiaotong University
Gui Ye Chongqing University
Hong Zhang Tsinghua University
Hong Zhang Zhejiang University
George Zillante The University of Adelaide, Australia
Saixing Zeng Shanghai Jiaotong University
Proceedings of the 23rd International Symposium ix

Patrick X. W. Zou Swinburne University of Technology, Australia


Jian Zuo The University of Adelaide, Australia

Conference Secretariat
Xiongjing Wang Guizhou Institute of Technology
Hui Tang Guizhou Institute of Technology
Xiaoji Zhang Guizhou Institute of Technology
Xinyi Yang Guizhou Institute of Technology
Contents

How Efficient is the Urbanization Process in China? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1


Yitian Ren, Weisheng Lu, Liyin Shen, Yu Zhang, and Zhi Liu
Empirical Study on the Performance of Environmental Efficiency
in the Chinese Provincial Capital Cities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
Yu Zhang, Jindao Chen, Yitian Ren, and Ya Wu
Re-Assessing Sustainable Urban Development from the Resident
Perspective: A Case Study of Shanghai . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
Hongyun Si, Daizhong Tang, Quanwei Xu, and Guangdong Wu
Rethinking “New Countryside Construction”: Lessons Learnt
from the Guangzhou Luogang District, China . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
Yao Dai, Siu Wai Wong, Bo-Sin Tang, and Jinlong Liu
Study on the Development Mode and Promotion Strategy
of Tourism-Oriented Characteristic Small Town
in Jiangxi Province . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
Qunhong Liu and Shuoyang Li
Temporal-Spatial Evolution Patterns of Population Urbanization
and Land Urbanization in China . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
Xi Yang, Xinhai Lu, Ruihong Liu, Zexiu Chen, Nan Ke,
and Weichen Shen
Dynamic Causal Linkages Among Urbanization, Energy
Consumption, Pollutant Emissions and Economic Growth in China . . . 90
Munir Ahmad, Zhen-Yu Zhao, Marie Claire Mukeshimana,
and Muhammad Irfan
Study on Competitiveness Evaluation of the Intangible Cultural
Heritage Town Based on Porter Diamond Model . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106
Mei Lu, Xingdi Tong, and Qi Li

xi
xii Contents

The Thinking on Spatial Management and Control of “Urban Growth


Boundaries” from the Perspective of Natural Resources . . . . . . . . . . . . 122
Zhiyi Xu and Yuzhe Wu
Evaluation on Performance of Ecological Welfare of Characteristic
Small Town——A Case in Chongqing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136
Jiuxia Tan, Yu Zhao, and Hao Wu
Problems and Countermeasures of Characteristic Development
of Small Towns in Qiannan Prefecture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151
Tong Yuesong and Wang Chao
How Weather Retain Migrants? Evidence from Floating Population
Dynamic Monitoring Data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159
Chengen Wu and Xiaonan Zhang
Measurement of New Urbanization Construction Level
and Diagnosis of Obstacle Factors——A Case of Urban Cluster
in the Central Plains . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 172
Han Jing, Yang Chun, Ke Nan, and Lu Xin-hai
Study on the Impact Between Rapid Urbanization and Fire Safety
Management——A China Perspective . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 185
Ying Zhang
Study on Land-Use Efficiency Evaluation of Development Zones Based
on DEA—Take Hi-Tech Zones as an Example . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 198
Yi Li and YuZhe Wu
The Evaluation of Land Development and Utilization Based
on 11 Prefecture-Level Cities in Hebei Province . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 214
Yongsheng Wang, Yuan Zhang, Yulong Li, and Guijun Li
The Study of the Expansion of Urban Functional Land in Ganzhou . . . 226
Xiying Hu, Cuiping Huang, and Wei Wu
Temporal-Spatial Evolution Characteristics of Economic
Development of Hangzhou Bay Area and Its Influencing Factors . . . . . 235
Na Liu and Yuzhe Wu
Impacts of Land Expropriation on the Entrepreneurial
Decision-Making Behavior of Land-Lost Peasants:
An Agent-Based Simulation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 251
Haijun Bao, Hao Dong, Jinshui Jia, Yi Peng, and Qiuxiang Li
Analysis of the Land Use Situation of China in the Last Decade . . . . . . 269
Juan-er Zheng, Ling-xia Cao, Wen-bin Tan, and Feng Deng
Research on the Governance Modality of Village-in-City Based
on Mitchell Score-Based Approach . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 278
Qin Wang and Yuzhe Wu
Contents xiii

The Legislation of Transfer of the Right to Use Homestead . . . . . . . . . . 305


Jianfeng Ye and Yuzhe Wu
Measures of Fire Protection Design for Embedded Substations . . . . . . . 317
Xiner Luo, Hong Yang, Peng Yu, and Changfu Sun
The Conceptual Model of Belt and Road Infrastructure Projects . . . . . 325
Jelena M. Andrić, Jiayuan Wang, Patrick X. W. Zou, and Ruyou Zhong
Developing a Fuzzy Evaluation Model of Safety Management for
Urban Water Environment Rehabilitation Project . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 341
Xingxiu Wang, Zhengqiang Yu, Tinglin Wang, Jian Liu, Zengwen Bu,
and Liu Ru
Total Safety Management Practice in an Urban Water Environment
Rehabilitation Project . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 353
Na Li, Weidong Huang, Jian Liu, Yunchu Chen, Zengwen Bu, Kejun Luo,
and Shujie Guan
Application of Causal Analysis Method in Quality Management
of the Maozhou River Rehabilitation Project . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 365
Min Dong, Huaxiang Zhao, Kejun Chen, Xiaoling Qin, Jian Liu,
Gang Wang, and Jun Wang
Environmental Management Scheme of EPC Model for Water
Environmental Treatment Project . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 376
Dongjie Chen, Yunchu Chen, Ningkang Li, Hui Zhang, Huabo Duan,
Jian Liu, and Peiwen Sun
Innovative Bioretention Facility for Siphonic Drainage System . . . . . . . 390
Zhan Yuan, Jianying Pan, Jian Liu, Xiaolei Wang, Zengwen Bu,
and Lingyi Wu
Estimating the Redistribution Effect of Affordable Housing
on Income Distribution: Case Study of Nanjing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 397
Junjie Li
Research on Relationship Between the Real Estate Prices and
Technological Innovation Through Human Capital in China . . . . . . . . . 412
Zhang Hong, Chen Yingying, and Li Vera
Research on the Commercial House Price of Supply and Demand
Elasticity Based on the Panel Data of China’s Four Municipalities . . . . 426
Yanming Lyu and Mengxue Chen
Capitalization of Urban Public Service Based on Urban
Administrative Hierarchy: Evidence of Housing Prices from 281 Cities
of China . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 437
Junhua Chen, Siyu Chen, Dingwen Zheng, and Yanhui Hao
xiv Contents

Overseas Social Security Housing Construction Pattern


and Its Enlightenment to China . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 448
Zou Run-yan, Huang He, Wen Jia-ming, Ying Qian-liang, Li Hong-yi,
and Dan Cheng-long
Research on Demand Forecast of Social Pension Facilities:
A Case Study of Chongqing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 457
Yu Zhao, Jiuxia Tan, and Yang Chen
An Evolutionary Game Analysis on the Choice of Urban Housing
Purchase Restriction Policy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 476
Guancen Wu, Shanshan Xi, and Huan Chen
Multi-objective Optimization for the Portfolio Selection on Economic
Prefabricated Component . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 493
Y. H. Gao and C. Mao
Exploration on the Path of Integrating State-Owned Public Housing
into the Housing System—Based on the Perspective of Social
Network Analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 503
Wenyue Ma, Ping Lyu, Miao Yu, and Bowen Yang
Household Registration Discrimination and Housing Choice
for Migrant Workers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 516
Wei Wei
Study on the Relationship Between Housing Land Supply
and Housing Price in Cities with Different Economic
Development Levels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 529
Yuxuan Chen and Yuzhe Wu
The Impact of Demographic Structure on Housing Price in Beijing
Based on System Dynamics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 546
Zhang Hong, Gao Wen, and Li Vera
A Review of the Application of Hedonic Pricing Model in the Nigerian
Real Estate Market . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 560
Rotimi B. Abidoye and Albert P. C. Chan
Research on the Large-Scale Development of Prefabricated Buildings
Using System Dynamics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 570
Yu Bian, Clyde Zhengdao Li, and Ru Sun
Study on the Policy Efficiency of Real Estate Tax Reform to Local
Real Estate Market Regulation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 580
J. M. Shan, X. P. Chen, and Y. Z. Wu
Research on the Allocation of Excess Revenue Between Public
and Private Sectors in Mega Construction Projects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 591
Qinghua He, Ting Wang, Daoan Fan, and Dongqi Wang
Contents xv

A Conceptual Framework for Identifying Performance Indicators


of PPP Urbanization Projects Based on Sustainability Goals . . . . . . . . . 604
Juankun Li, Wei Xiong, and Shiquan Wang
The Risk Sharing Mechanism of Developing Characteristic Town
in PPP Mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 617
Huang Yanqing, Yang Jianlin, and Zhou Hongji
Research on the Development of Green Real Estate Finance
in Guizhou Province . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 629
Kewen Zhang
3D Point Cloud Data Enabled Facility Management:
A Critical Review . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 641
Jinying Xu, Ke Chen, Fan Xue, and Weisheng Lu
Assessing Performance Characteristics of Concreting Equipment:
Reliability Engineering Approach . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 658
A. Ghosh, A. Hasan, and K. N. Jha
Social Impacts of Adopting Robotics in the Construction Industry:
A Systematic Literature Review . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 668
Bashir Tijani and Yingbin Feng
Prefabricated Construction: A Bibliometric Analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 681
Yulun Pan, Huanyu Wu, Jiguo Wang, Jingru Ll, and Jian Zuo
Text Mining Based Exploration of Smart City
Building Development . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 694
Zhikun Ding, Zongjie Li, and Ting Hu
BIM Research Progress in Chinese Construction Industry: Based
on Chinese First-Tier Literature Statistical Analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 710
Zhang Shang, Liang Yehua, and Shane Galvin
Visualization Analyses Using Citespace on Researches
of BIM Development from 2003 to 2017 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 720
R. B. Wang, P. Mao, J. Li, and Q. Wang
The Integrated Technology of BIM5D and VR is Applied
in the Construction Management of Building Engineering . . . . . . . . . . . 732
Min Zhou and Jiayuan Wang
Research on the Efficiency of 3D Collaborative Design Based
on P-BIM Cloud Platform . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 747
Fuping Zhou, Jiayuan Wang, Gejing Shang, and Jingya Li
Research on the Whole Life Cycle Information Management System
of Prefabricated Building Based on BIM+ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 763
Xingchong Wang, Bo Yu, and Jiayuan Wang
xvi Contents

Constructing a Building Information Modelling (BIM) Execution Plan


for Quantity Surveying Practice . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 778
Jing Wang, Anna Zetkulic, and Weisheng Lu
The Management of Full Life Cycle for Architecture Based
on BT and BIM Technology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 791
Zengwen Bu, Hong Yang, and Xingxiu Wang
A Framework of BIM-Based Value for Money (VFM) Evaluation
Methods of PPP Projects at Decision-Making Stages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 797
Xiaoyan Jiang, Wenfeng Ouyang, Xiaoya Dai, Kang Hu, Yong Liu,
and Bo Xia
Research on the Connection of Big Data and Construction
Management Based on Histcite . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 808
Hongyang Li, Yousong Wang, Nanxi Ouyang, Yuyan Lin,
and Cheng Wen
A Holistic Evaluation of Low Carbon City Performance in the Context
of Low Carbon Pilot Cities in China . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 819
Xiaoyun Du and CongHui Meng
Analysis on the Influence Factors of the Inert Construction Waste
Recycling in Chongqing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 839
S. Y. Sun
Comprehensive Evaluation of Urban Ecological Carrying Capacity
——A Case Study of Chongqing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 854
Li Qiulin
Overview and Analysis on the Effectiveness of Indicator Systems
for Evaluating Urban Carrying Capacity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 869
Zhi Liu, Yitian Ren, and Liyin Shen
Prediction on the Contribution of Green Building Development
to Carbon Emissions Reduction: A Case Study of Chongqing . . . . . . . . 888
Mengcheng Zhu, Vivian W. Y. Tam, Liyin Shen, and Yu Zhang
Evaluation of Low-Carbon City Construction Maturity—A Case
Study of Chongqing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 900
Linyan Luo, Qingqing Wang, and Xiaoyun Du
Study on Evolution of Urban Carrying Capacity of Resources
and Environment Under the Background of Big Data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 918
Jinhuan Wang
Comparison of Evaluation Standards for Green Building . . . . . . . . . . . 931
Wenjing Cui, Lin Zhang, and Jianghong Cao
Contents xvii

When to Maximize Green Benefits in the Construction


and Engineering Industry? Perspectives from Risk
Modifying Factors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 945
Qian Xu and Yujie Lu
Characterizing the Flows of Construction and Demolition Waste
in China . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 956
N. Zhang, H. B. Duan, P. S. Huo, L. N. Zheng, and H. Zhang
Innovative Design of the Sponge City Facilities in Changzhen Depot . . . 965
Yan Liu, Xiaolei Wang, Jian Liu, Jianying Pan, Zengwen Bu,
and Lingyi Wu
Carbon Emission of on Site Logistics for Tall Buildings . . . . . . . . . . . . 979
Xiaoqing Lu, Yuan Fang, and Yanjing Zeng
A Queuing Model to Improve the Utilization
of Concreting Equipment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 992
A. Hasan, N. R. Sahoo, A. Ghosh, and K. N. Jha
A Paradigm Shift from Green Buildings to Sustainable Cities:
Concept and Future Direction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1003
Cheng Siew Goh, Steve Rowlinson, and Chen Wang
A Model for Predicting the Generation of Demolition Waste During
the Urban Renewal Process . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1014
Bo Yu, Jiayuan Wang, Zhengdao Li, Huanyu Wu, Yani Lai, and Jie Li
Research on Forecast of Economic Benefits of Reduction Management
of Construction Waste . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1028
Jingrong Zhang, Jiayuan Wang, and Bo Yu
Occupant Behavior in Energy Efficiency: A Case Study in Sydney . . . . 1040
Vivian W. Y. Tam, Laura M. M. C. E. Almeida, and Khoa N. Le
Gaps Between Supply and Demand of Recycled Aggregate:
A Sydney Metropolitan Case Study . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1050
Vivian W. Y. Tam, Farid Sartipi, and Khoa N. Le
How Does China’s Low Carbon Pilot Program Perform?
Evidence from the First Batch of Low-Carbon Pilot Provinces . . . . . . . 1060
Wu Ya, Shuai Chenyang, Zhang Yu, Chen Jindao, and Song Xiangnan
Mechanical Lasting Effectiveness of Carbon-Conditioning
on Mixed Recycled Aggregate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1074
Vivian W. Y. Tam, Anthony Butera, and Khoa N. Le
Life-Cycle Assessment of Economic and Environmental Benefits
of Green Residential Buildings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1081
Zhikang Bao, Yuzhe Li, Jianli Hao, Weisheng Lu, and Chee Seong Chin
xviii Contents

A Practical Model to Assess Life-Cycle Greenhouse-Gas Emissions


for Australian Commercial Buildings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1097
Cuong N. N. Tran, Vivian W. Y. Tam, Khoa N. Le,
and I. M. Chethana S. Illankoon
Optimum Solutions for Green Buildings: A Life-Cycle
Cost Perspective Considering Transport and Land Use
and Ecology Credits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1106
Illankoon M. Chethana S. Illankoon, Vivian W. Y. Tam, Khoa N. Le,
and Cuong N. N. Tran
Preferences and Willingness-to-Pay for Vertical Greenery Systems
in Singapore . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1118
Ziyou Huang, Yujie Lu, and Xiangnan Song
Methods to Mitigate the Negative Effects on Durability of Recycled
Aggregate Concrete . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1132
Vivian W. Y. Tam and Mahfooz Soomro
Study on Countermeasures of Rural Living
Environment Improvement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1145
Gui Ye, Siyu Luo, Yi Chen, and Yuhe Wang
Sustainability Assessment for Rural Community Generated
from Land Consolidation: A Case Study in China . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1157
Yi Peng, Xinbing Gu, Xiaodong Zhang, and Zhimin Wang
Thinking on Spatial Restructuring of Traditional Villages
in the Ancient Miao Territory Corridor Under the Ground
of Rural Revitalization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1172
Dong Wang, Geng Ma, and Heng Liu
Investigation, Development and Application of Wood Structure
Dwellings in Qiannan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1185
Guiman Xu and Haiya Han
Research on Renewable Energy Utilization in the New Countryside
in Qinba Mountain: A Case Study in Bazhong, Sichuan Province . . . . . 1194
Zhuoling Zhong, Jiayuan Wang, and Cheng Fan
Research on the Welfare of Homestead Transfer Under the
Background of Targeted Poverty Alleviation—Based on Sen’s
Feasibility Analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1212
Ping Lv and Yuewen Gu
Optimising Facilities Provision in Retirement Villages - A Case Study
in Australia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1225
Bo Xia, Ayokunle Olanipekun, Xin Hu, Qing Chen, Xiaoyan Jiang,
and Yong Liu
Contents xix

Design of “Point Spirit” Cultural Heritage Protection Mobile Platform


Based on LIDAR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1237
Jie Zhao, Mengtian Cao, Shufang Wu, and Zhigang Wu
Discovering Spatial Interdependencies from Mobile Phone Data
and Transportation Data: Evidence from Guizhou Province . . . . . . . . . 1246
F. J. Long, L. F. Zheng, and L. Shi
Research Trends of Information Technology Application
in Construction Workers’ Behavior Monitoring . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1256
Gui Ye, Ran Lu, Jingjing Yang, and Xiaoyu Tang
The Visualization Analysis of Organizational Information Ecosystem
Development Based on Social Networks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1269
Wenjia Guo, Junwei Zheng, and Hongtao Xie
Research on the Mechanism of the Economic Compensation
to Prefabricated Building Based on the Loss
of Developers’ Revenue . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1282
Yang Chen, Hao Wu, and Jiuxia Tan
The Correlation Between Intangible Assets and Business Performance
of Listed Construction Enterprises in China . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1295
Yousong Wang, Jing Huang, and Hongyang Li
Structure Analysis of Information Flow in Project Design Stage Based
on Information Theory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1309
Yunshan Jiang, Pengpeng Xu, Chao Mao, and Yan Fu
The Influence of Culture Value of Civil Engineering Projects
on Their Life-Span . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1325
Zhuxin Tang, Xinyuan Wang, Xumeng Zhang, Bingbing Hu,
Yunyi Wang, and Jie Li
Typhoon Risk Perception and Positive Coping Behaviors
of Middle School Students in Ningbo City . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1347
Yi Peng and Fuying Zhang
Research on the Mechanism of Influencing Factors of Construction
Workers’ Unsafe Behavior Based on DEMATEL and ISM . . . . . . . . . . 1361
Gui Ye, Lijuan Yang, Jing Liu, and Yuan Fu
Study on the Information Flow for Construction Project Safety
Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1373
Yee Sun Hung, Jinjing Ke, and Xiaowei Luo
xx Contents

Factors Influencing Construction Workers’ Safety Behaviours


in the Off-Site Manufacturing Plants: A Conceptual Framework . . . . . . 1383
Qinjun Liu, Gui Ye, Yingbin Feng, and Minh Tri Trinh

Author Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1395


How Efficient is the Urbanization Process
in China?

Yitian Ren1,2(&), Weisheng Lu3, Liyin Shen1,2, Yu Zhang4,


and Zhi Liu4
1
School of Management Science and Real Estate, Chongqing University,
Chongqing, China
rrtyijia@163.com
2
IRCSBE (International Research Centre for Sustainable Built Environment),
Chongqing University, Chongqing, China
3
Department of Real Estate and Construction, University of Hong Kong,
Pokfulam, Hong Kong, China
4
Chongqing University, Chongqing, China

Abstract. China has been witnessing an unprecedented urbanization process


since the implementation of reform and opening policy in 1980s. And the
blueprint of Chinese urbanization program will continue for the coming future.
Nevertheless, the rapid urbanization progress in China has been consuming vast
amount of resources, and the conflicts between limited resources and rapid
urbanization development has become much more intensified. It is therefore
essential to pursue and improve efficiency during the urbanization construction
in order to save resources and achieve urbanization sustainability. This study
investigates the efficiency of Chinese urbanization construction by employing
“I-O” (input-output) indicators with considering not only desirable output also
the undesirable outputs of urbanization construction. The Super-efficiency SBM
(Slack-based Measure) model is adopted for conducting the analysis, and the
research data are collected from 30 Chinese provinces during 2008–2015. The
analysis results tell that the average performance of urbanization efficiency at
national level in China is relatively low, though an improvement has been
achieved during this surveyed period (2008–2015). There is significant variation
between top performers and bottom players, and the results suggest that those
socially and economically advanced provinces are found to be more efficient in
the process of urbanization construction. It is also discovered that East China is
much more advanced on the efficiency performance during the urbanization
process, however Southwest region presents the lowest urbanization efficiency
performance during the time period of 2008–2015.

Keywords: Urbanization efficiency  “I-O” (Input-output) dimensional


indicators  Desirable and undesirable output  Super efficiency-SBM model 
China

© Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2021


F. Long et al. (Eds.): CRIOCM 2018, Proceedings of the 23rd International Symposium
on Advancement of Construction Management and Real Estate, pp. 1–15, 2021.
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-3977-0_1
2 Y. Ren et al.

1 Introduction

Urbanization epitomizes the development of human society and is an important social


process in developing countries. And this is particularly the case in China [1, 2]. Since
early 1980s, China has witnessed a dramatic and unprecedented urbanization process,
the national urbanization level increased from 17% to 58% during the year 1978–2017,
with an average increase rate of more than 1% annually [2]. Comparatively, the average
annual increase rate of urbanization development worldwide is only less than 0.5% [3].
Whilst the urbanization progress in China has been consuming huge amount of
resources, for example, water, timber, coal, other natural resources and labor forces [4].
For example, it is reported that more than 400 Chines cities are facing the problem of
water shortage, and among these cities, more than 200 are under severe shortage or
water resources, which jeopardizes the urbanization development in these cities [4, 5].
However, resources particularly those non-renewable resources are of limitation,
especially for the country such as China which carries on large scale of population.
The conflicts between limited resources and urbanization development in devel-
oping countries have been widely appreciated [4], this is particularly the case in large
developing countries like China. With the aim of saving resources and achieving the
sustainability of urbanization process, it is important to pursue and improve efficiency
during the urbanization construction. Furthermore, a proper and adequate under-
standing about whether the resources are utilized efficiently is considered as a helpful
approach not only for evaluating the quality of urbanization development but also for
assessing the level of resource waste during urbanization construction process.
Urbanization can be appreciated as a complex “input-output” systematic develop-
ment process, and the efficiency of urbanization process can be assessed by examining
and comparing the benefits or outputs to the resources consumed (inputs) [6]. An
urbanization process with high efficiency is defined that the process generates more
benefits whilst consumes less resources. Different types of economic development
mode and different industrial structures will lead to different urbanization efficiency
performance [7]. By evaluating scientifically the urbanization efficiency of individual
provinces and regions, the experience from top performers and the lessons from bottom
players can be mined and shared, which can further enable the efficiency improvement
across the whole country of China. And the urbanization efficiency improvement can
also provide valuable references for the efficiency upgrading in other developing
countries worldwide.
Based on the above information, this study aims to examine holistically and
properly the efficiency of current urbanization construction in China, and analyze the
experiences and lesson in terms of efficiency performance from different provinces and
regions during its urbanization practice. Measures for improving urbanization effi-
ciency will also be investigated to promote the sustainable urbanization development.
How Efficient Is the Urbanization Process in China? 3

2 Research Method

Super-efficiency SBM (Slack-based Measure) model is employed in this study to


investigate the efficiency performance of urbanization construction process in China.
Based on the studies of Tone and Li et al. [8–11]. The applying procedures of Super-
efficiency SBM model (with incorporating not only desirable outputs also undesirable
outputs) are presented as follows.
Assume that an urbanization development system owns n independent and
homogeneous decision-making units (DMUs). And each DMU includes three ele-
ments, namely, consuming m types of inputs, generating s1 types of desirable outputs,
and producing s2 types of undesirable outputs (such as pollutant discharge).
The above explanation of parameters is accordingly denoted in details by three
independent vectors, namely, vector of input elements, x 2 Rm ; vector of desirable
output, yd 2 Rs1 ; and undesirable output vector, yud 2 Rs2 .
As assumed above, there are n independent and homogeneous DMUs in an system
of urbanization construction, then three matrices: X, Y d and Y ud can be obtained:

X ¼ ½x1 ; x2 ; . . .; xn  2 Rmn ;
 
Y d ¼ yd1 ; yd2 ; . . .; ydn 2 Rs1 n ;
 
Y ud ¼ yud
1 ; y2 ; . . .; yn
ud ud
2 Rs2 n ;

In line with the establish of above three vectors, a production possibility set (P) is
then described by the Eq. (1) below:
 
P ¼ f x; yd ; yud jx  Xk; yd  Yd k; yud  Y ud kg ð1Þ

In Eq. (1), k is the non-negative intensity vector, indicating that above Eq. (1) is
under the condition of constant returns to scale (CRS). And the inequality “x  Xk”
indicates that the actual level of input elements in the urbanization practice is greater
than the input level of production frontier. yd  Yd k indicates that actual level of
desirable output elements is below the desirable output level of production frontier.
And yud  Y ud k indicates that the actual level of undesirable output elements is greater
than the undesirable output level of production
 frontier.

A DMU to be measured is denoted as x0 ; yd0 ; yud 0 , its efficiency to be measured by
the Slack-based Measure (SBM) model is described by using the Eq. (2):
Pm s
1  m1 i
i¼1 xi0
q ¼ min P Ps2 sudr 
s1 sdr
1þ 1
s1 þ s2 r¼1 y d þ r¼1 yud
r0 r0
4 Y. Ren et al.
8
>
> x0 ¼ Xk þ S
<
yd0 ¼ Y d k  Sd
Subject to ð2Þ
>
> y0 ¼ Y ud k þ Sud
ud
: 
S  0; Sd  0; Sud  0; k  0

Where S means the redundancy of inputs, Sd refersto the desirable  outputs shortage,
 d ud
S refers to the undesirable outputs shortage, S ¼ S ; S ; S
ud
is called slacks. The
efficiency q assumes the values in the range ½0; 1: Only if q ¼ 1, and

S ¼d0; Sud ¼ 0; S ¼ 0, then the urbanization construction process of DMU
d ud

x0 ; y0 ; y0 is appreciated as SBM-efficient. However, if the efficiency value q\1, then


 
the urbanization construction of DMU x0 ; yd0 ; yud 0 is considered not efficient [8, 10].
In most conditions of the efficiency analysis, when the amount of DMU become
large, it happens that the q value of some DMUs becomes 1 at the same time, then it
will be difficult to further distinguish DMUs by its SBM-efficiency value q, which is
obtained by model (2). Thus, in order to further discriminate and rank the DMUs
according to their efficiency values, the Super-efficiency SBM model is used as
follows.  
Then, we assume that the DMU x0 ; yd0 ; yud 0 is efficient according to Slack-based
Measurement (SBM) model, i.e. q ¼ 1 by  employing  the Eq. (2). Under this circum-
stance, to further discriminate the DMU x0 ; yd0 ; yud with other SBM-efficient DMUs
  0
and rank the DMU x0 ; y0 ; y0 by a specific efficiency value, which may be larger than
d ud
   
1, a production possibility set Pn x0 ; yd0 ; yud is defined, spanned by X; Y d ; Y ud
  0
excluding x0 ; yd0 ; yud
0 , and this production possibility set is described in the following
Eq. (3).
    Xn Xn
Pn x0 ; yd0 ; yud
0 ¼ f x; yd ; yud jx  k x ; yd 
j¼1;6¼0 j j
k yd ; yud 
j¼1;6¼0 j j
Xn ð3Þ
k yud ; yd  0; k  0g
j¼1;6¼0 j j

 
Then the efficiency performance value of the concerned DMU x0 ; yd0 ; yud
0 , mea-
sured by Super-SBM model, which can be larger than 1, denoted as q , is measured by
the following Eq. (4):
1
Pm xi
 P i¼1 xi0
Ps2 yudr 
m
q ¼ min
s1 ydr
1
s1 þ s2 r¼1 y d þ r¼1 yud
r0 ro

8 P
>
> x  nj¼1;6¼0 kj xj
>
< P
yd  nj¼1;6¼0 kj ydj
Subject to P ð4Þ
>
> yud  nj¼1;6¼0 kj yud
>
:
j
x  x0 ; yd  yd0 ; yud  yud
0 ; 
y d
 0; k  0
How Efficient Is the Urbanization Process in China? 5

3 Research Data

This paper investigates the urbanization efficiency of 30 provinces in Mainland China


during the time period of 2008–2015, Tibet is excluded from the surveyed provinces
because of the data unavailability.

3.1 Establish of Input-Output Dimensional Indicators


In order to employ the method established in Sect. 2 of this study, and measure
properly the urbanization efficiency performance of 30 Chinese provinces during the
time period of 2008–2015, the inputs and outputs of urbanization construction process
should be comprehended and identified. By incorporating previous studies, this study
establishes the input-output elements of urbanization construction system, as presented
in Fig. 1. The inputs of urbanization construction system include capital, land, labor,
water resource and energy. The outputs of urbanization construction system include
both desirable outputs and undesirable outputs, for which desirable outputs include
population aggregation, economic growth, urbanization habitation, urban living qual-
ity, urban landscaping and urban-rural integration, and undesirable outputs include
greenhouse gas emission and water pollution.

Fig. 1. The input-output elements of urbanization construction system

In line with the established “input-output” elements of urbanization construction in


Fig. 1, and in referring to existing literatures, the specific indicators for measuring
urbanization inputs and outputs elements are determined.
Table 1 shows the input indicators of urbanization construction process: Urban
total investment in fixed assets (I1) for measuring the capital level [12–15]; number of
urban employed persons (I2) for the labor level [15–18]; urban construction land area
(I3) for measuring the consumption of land [17, 19]; total water consumption (I4) for
measuring the water resources consumed [20–24]; and total energy consumption (I5)
for measuring the energy invested in the urbanization construction process [21, 25, 26].
6 Y. Ren et al.

Table 1. Indicators for measuring the input elements of urbanization construction system
Input indicator
Elements Measuring indicator
Capital Urban total investment in fixed assets (I1)
Labor Urban employed persons (I2)
Land Urban construction land area (I3)
Water Total water consumption (I4)
energy Total energy consymption (I5)

Table 2 further presents the output indicators of urbanization construction system:

Table 2. Indicators for measuring the output dimensions in urbanization process


Output indicator
Type of outputs Dimension Indicator
Desirabel outputs • Population Urbanization rate (O1)
aggregation
• Economic increment Non-agricultural GDP (O2)
• Urbanization Urban built-up area (O3)
habitation
• Urban living quality Total retail sales of social consumer goods
(O4)
• Urban landscaping Green coverage in built-up area (O5)
• Urban-rural integration Income ratio of rural to urban residents (O6)
Undesirable • Greenhouse gas CO2 emission (O7)
outputs emission
• Water pollution Discharge of wastewater (O8)

The desirable output of population aggregation is assessed by the indicator O1


(urbanization rate) [27, 28], economic increment is assessed by the indicator O2 (non-
agricultural) [12, 27, 29], urbanization habitation is measured by the indicator O3
(urban built-up area) [30, 31], urban living quality is measured by the indicator O4
(total urban retails sales of social consumer goods) [32–34], urban landscaping is
measured by the indicator O5 (green coverage in urban built-up area) [35, 36], and
urban-rural integration is measured by the indicator O6 (income ratio of rural- urban
residents [30, 31].
In terms of those undesirable outputs of the urbanization construction process
defined in Fig. 1, greenhouse gases emission and water pollution are two most sig-
nificant undesirable output brought in the urbanization construction process. Accord-
ingly, indicator O7 (CO2 emission) is used to assess the emission level of greenhouse
gases, indicator O8 (discharge of wastewater) is used to assess the level of water
pollution [37, 38].
How Efficient Is the Urbanization Process in China? 7

3.2 Data Processing


In referring to the established input-output indicators listed in above Table 1 and
Table 2, the indicator data of 30 surveyed Chinese provinces during the time period of
2008–2015 are collected respectively from various official statistical publications,
including China Statistical Yearbook (2009–2016) and China Energy Statistical
Yearbook (2009–2016). Furthermore, in order to ensure the accuracy of analysis result,
the monetary variables are converted into the constant prices in the year 2007.
Specifically, variable I1 is deflated with the price index of investment in fixed assets,
variable O2 is deflated with GDP deflators, and variable O4 is deflated with consumer
price index (CPI).
In terms of the indicator O7 (CO2 emissions), there is no official statistical publi-
cation about the carbon emission at provincial level in China. With this background, in
referring to previous study, this research uses the calculation guideline of CO2 emission
published by the IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) [39]. Thus,
carbon emission can be calculated by using the Eq. (5) as follows.
Xn
ECt ¼ 44=12  i¼1
Eti  LCVi  CFi  Oi ð5Þ

Where ECt refers the total carbon emissions for an individual province from the
consumption of n types of fossil fuel in year t. In this study, 8 types of fossil fuel are
concerned, namely, natural gas, raw coal, kerosene, fuel oil, gasoline, rude oil, liquefied
petroleum gases and diesel oil. And number (44/12) in Eq. (5) indicates the ratio of
molecular weight of CO2 (44) to the molecular weight of carbon (12). And Eti denotes
the total consumption amount of fossil fuel i in the year t, LCVi refers the lower
calorific value of the concerned fuel i, CFi indicates the carbon emission factor of the
concerned fossil fuel i, and Oi refers to the oxidation rate of the carbonaceous fuel i.
And the above coefficient values of eight types of fossil fuels in China can be
obtained from official guideline [40]. Thus the indicator data of O7 of 30 surveyed
Chinese provinces during the year 2008–2015 can be calculated accordingly.

4 Data Analysis

In line with the research method established in Sect. 2, by employing the empirical
research data processed in Sect. 3, the performance value of urbanization efficiency in
30 surveyed Chinese provinces during the year 2008–2015 can be obtained, as shown
below in the Table 3.
8 Y. Ren et al.

Table 3. The analysis results of urbanization efficiency ( q )


Surveyed 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 Average Rank of
Provinces average value
Beijing 1.1641 1.1774 1.1791 1.1901 1.1993 1.2006 1.2043 1.1922 1.1884 4
Tianjin 1.2803 1.2686 1.2950 1.2809 1.2436 1.2648 1.2707 1.2818 1.2732 2
Hebei 1.0032 1.0034 1.0031 0.6669 0.5962 1.0082 1.0106 1.0087 0.9125 17
Shanxi 1.0021 0.5259 0.5819 1.0013 0.6017 0.5693 0.5361 0.5422 0.6701 21
Inner Mongolia 1.0202 1.0202 1.0148 1.0345 1.0482 1.0474 1.0375 1.0377 1.0326 9
Liaoning 1.0015 1.0029 1.0104 1.0122 1.0134 1.0095 1.0053 1.0082 1.0079 16
Jilin 1.0208 1.0215 1.0243 1.0407 1.0429 1.0357 1.0345 1.0406 1.0326 8
Heilongjiang 1.0332 1.0347 1.0325 1.0208 1.0192 1.0315 1.0348 1.0322 1.0299 10
Shanghai 1.0228 1.0225 1.0235 1.0193 1.0142 1.0172 1.0152 1.0160 1.0188 13
Jiangsu 1.0264 1.0408 1.0364 1.0485 1.0576 1.0089 1.0157 1.0482 1.0353 7
Zhejiang 1.0159 1.0185 1.0186 1.0172 1.0142 1.0091 1.0105 1.0197 1.0155 14
Anhui 0.6236 0.5781 0.5949 0.6055 0.5601 0.5060 0.5018 0.5234 0.5617 24
Fujian 1.0508 1.0452 1.0266 1.0197 1.0110 1.0130 1.0212 1.0042 1.0240 11
Jiangxi 0.6442 0.6805 0.6548 0.6354 0.5839 0.5205 0.4883 0.6295 0.6046 22
Shandong 1.0128 1.0106 1.0087 1.0241 1.0244 1.0284 1.0296 1.0290 1.0209 12
Henan 0.6408 1.0007 0.4381 0.4019 0.3778 0.4022 0.4867 0.5105 0.5323 25
Hubei 0.5673 1.0008 0.5323 0.5240 0.5947 1.0033 1.0014 1.0001 0.7780 19
Hunan 0.5250 0.4319 0.4658 0.4655 0.4759 0.5947 0.6786 1.0003 0.5797 23
Guangdong 1.1299 1.1320 1.1355 1.1388 1.1317 1.1213 1.1154 1.1117 1.1270 5
Guangxi 0.4480 0.5319 0.5820 0.5482 0.4367 0.4913 0.4847 0.5773 0.5125 27
Hainan 1.3835 1.3674 1.3490 1.3442 1.3481 1.3694 1.3646 1.3628 1.3611 1
Chongqing 0.6607 0.5715 0.6578 1.0011 1.0104 1.0065 1.0100 1.0128 0.8664 18
Sichuan 0.4851 0.5561 0.5002 0.4684 0.4672 0.3663 0.3678 0.4311 0.4553 29
Guizhou 0.4954 0.4528 0.4980 0.4994 0.4673 0.5881 0.4715 0.6030 0.5094 28
Yunnan 0.4269 0.3990 0.4381 0.3989 0.3987 0.5395 0.4008 0.5544 0.4445 30
Shannxi 0.5137 1.0002 1.0064 1.0173 1.0018 0.5345 0.5102 0.5277 0.7640 20
Gansu 1.0116 1.0108 1.0098 1.0056 1.0067 1.0072 1.0044 1.0093 1.0082 15
Qinghai 1.3099 1.1441 1.2162 1.2186 1.2223 1.1798 1.1574 1.2254 1.2092 3
Ningxia 1.0902 1.1024 1.1066 1.1164 1.1019 1.0913 1.0814 1.0803 1.0963 6
Xinjiang 0.5562 0.5707 0.5620 0.7198 0.4998 0.4620 0.4401 0.4248 0.5294 26
Annual average 0.8722 0.8908 0.8667 0.8828 0.8524 0.8676 0.8597 0.8948 0.8734

5 Discussion
5.1 The Performance of Urbanization Efficiency at National Level
in China
It can be seen from the analysis result in Table 3 that the urbanization efficiency
performance is relatively low during the surveyed period (2008–2015) across the whole
country in China, with the evidence that: For each surveyed year, the average urban-
ization efficiency performance of 30 provinces in China is less than 1, and this average
value is only 0.8734 for the whole surveyed time period.
Furthermore, the information in Table 3 tells that in 2008, 18 surveyed provinces
presented the performance of urbanization efficiency larger than 1, and this figure
becomes 20 by the year 2015. This growth indicates that the efficiency performance in
China has improved significantly during the surveyed time period.
How Efficient Is the Urbanization Process in China? 9

In fact, this improvement of Chines national urbanization efficiency is attributed to


multiple aspects, for example, the innovation of technology, which enables less carbon
emission and wastewater pollution in line with the improvement of productivity.
According to the empirical research data processed in Sect. 3 of this study, the annual
increase rate of carbon emission at national level decreased significantly from 5.71%
during 2008–2009 to only 0.97% during 2014–2015. And the annual increase of
wastewater emission has also decreased from 3.05% (2008–2009) to 2.67% (2014–
2015).
The analysis result information in Table 3 can also be presented by a graphical
approach, as shown in the following Fig. 2. The figure indicates that the performance
values of urbanization efficiency present significant variations between both provinces
and the surveyed years. And those provinces in the East China region perform better
efficiency during the urbanization construction process in the surveyed time period.

Fig. 2. Urbanization efficiency (q ) between individual provinces in China during 2008–2015

And China can also be divided into eight economic zones in terms of economic
performance perspective, including Northeast, North Coast, South Coast, East Coast,
Middle Yangtze River, Middle Yellow River, Northwest and Southwest, which can be
illustrated in Fig. 3.
10 Y. Ren et al.

Fig. 3. Geographic division of the eight economic regions in China

The analysis result in Table 3 can be further processed to show the average per-
formance value of urbanization efficiency of above eight economic regions in China
during surveyed time period. The regional urbanization efficiency performance is
described in Fig. 4. The figure further indicates that South Coast region has performed
best in terms of urbanization efficiency during surveyed time period (2008–2015). In
fact, it is widely appreciated that this region has been devoting great efforts in many
aspects to enhance the overall quality of the urbanization development. For example, it
was widely reported that the provinces of Guangdong and Fujian, two typical provinces
belong to the South Coast region, have been promoting the development of energy
saving innovation during the Chinese Eleventh and Twelfth 5-year plans.
Figure 4 further tells that the development of urbanization in the regions of North
Coast, East Coast and Northeast present relatively good efficiency during the surveyed
period, evidenced by the average efficiency performance values of 1.10, 1.02 and 1.02.
Nevertheless, the average urbanization efficiency performance in Southwest China is
very poor during the surveyed period. Actually the lagged behind condition of
urbanization development in Southwest China has also been echoed in previous studies
[1, 7, 36], locating at interior China and being at a disadvantage by China’s long term
unbalanced development strategies which focus more on the development of East part
of the country. Actually, in referring to the research data processed in Sect. 3, the
energy consumption and the carbon emission per unit GDP in the Southwest China is
much higher than the average level.
How Efficient Is the Urbanization Process in China? 11

Fig. 4. Average urbanization efficiency performance of eight economic zones in China

5.2 Comparisons Between Provinces on Urbanization Efficiency


Performance

Top Performers of Urbanization Efficiency in China. It can be seen from Table 3 that
the top 5 urbanization efficiency performers include Hainan, Tianjin, Qinghai, Beijing
and Guangdong. This section will take Guangdong as an example to investigate why it
can achieve relatively high performance in terms of urbanization efficiency during
surveyed period (2008–2015).
Guangdong ranked 5th in terms of the performance of urbanization efficiency during
surveyed period (2008–2015). In fact, Guangdong has devoted great efforts in pro-
moting energy conservation and improvement of resource utilization during its
urbanization construction practice. For example, the implementation of “Green
Building Action Implementation Plan”, and a series of policy instruments to conduct
green building standards in the aspects of government investment, public rental
housing, etc. Driven by the above policy forces, Guangdong has increased green
building of more than 8100 104 square meters, and conducted the energy-saving ren-
ovation work towards more than 2050 104 square meters in the existing buildings.
These measures have helped effectively reduce the undesirable outputs such as carbon
mission and wastewater pollution during the urbanization construction process.
According to the empirical data described in the Sect. 2 of this study, the annual
increase of carbon emission in Guangdong has decreased significantly from 8.7%
(2007–2008) to 3.5% (2014–2015).
12 Y. Ren et al.

Bottom Players of Urbanization Efficiency in China. Table 3 further tells that the
provinces of Yunnan, Guangxi, Sichuan, Guizhou, and Shannxi have poorest efficiency
performance during the urbanization construction in the surveyed period. These pro-
vinces dominantly have weaker economic force, weaker construction foundation, and
also lack of sustainable development consciousness. Taking Shannxi as an example,
there are lots of resource-dominated towns in Shannxi province, and the industry
structures of these townships are overwhelmingly single with the extensive develop-
ment pattern. Furthermore, the energy consumption amount of Shannxi is huge, which
presents great pressure on the mission of carbon reduction. Similarly, the urbanization
construction in Guizhou is driven by the extensive development pattern, and over-
whelmingly relying on the heavy industry. According to the research data in the Sect. 3
of this study, the energy consumption per unit GDP was 0.95 tce/104 RMB and the
carbon emission per unit GDP was 1.15 ton/RMB in Guizhou in the year 2015, whist
these two figures are only 0.29 tce/104 RMB and 0.27 ton/RMB in Beijing at the same
year.

6 Conclusion

This study considers urbanization development as an “I-O (input-output)” systematic


process, and points out that an input-output dimensional indicator system (incorpo-
rating not only desirable outputs but also undesirable outputs) should be employed to
examine effectively the efficiency performance of urbanization process. With adopting
the Super-efficiency SBM (Slack-based Measure) model, the research findings indicate
that the overall performance of the urbanization construction efficiency in China in the
surveyed period (2008–2015) is relatively poor although an overall increment has been
made. And the results also indicate that those provinces socially and economically
advanced are found to be more efficient in urbanization process. It is also found that
significant variations exist on the efficiency performance of urbanization construction
between different regions in China. The efficiency performance of East part in China is
much more advanced, and Southwest China received the poorest performance of
urbanization efficiency during surveyed time period (2008–2015).
The findings from this research provide essential references for investigating the
quality of current quick urbanization process in the context of China. With receiving
the assessment of efficiency performance of individual provinces and analyzing the
policy instruments, those poor urbanization efficiency performers can learn from the
top performers by implementing various effective measures to transform industry
structure, promote innovation in energy saving, and also enhance the quality of public
infrastructure and social service, etc. Furthermore, this research also contributes to
enriching the literature in the research discipline of urbanization efficiency. And the
research framework adopted for examining the holistic perspective in examining the
efficiency performance of Chinese urbanization development can also be employed for
examining the efficiency performance of urban-rural development in the context of
other developing countries internationally.
How Efficient Is the Urbanization Process in China? 13

Acknowledgement. The research of this conference paper is financially supported by two


research funding, namely, National Social Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 17ZDA062),
and National Social Science Foundation of China (15BJY038).

References
1. Shen, L., Ren, Y., Xiong, N., Li, H., Chen, Y.: Why small towns can not share the benefits of
urbanization in China? J. Cleaner Prod. 174, 728–738 (2018)
2. Liu, J., Low, S.P., Wang, L.F.: Critical success factors for eco-city development in China.
Int. J. Constr. Manag. 18, 1–10 (2017)
3. World Bank Open Data (2017). http://data.worldbank.org/
4. Bakirtas, T., Akpolat, A.G.: The relationship between energy consumption, urbanization,
and economic growth in new emerging-market countries. Energy 147, 110–121 (2018)
5. Guan, X., Wei, H., Lu, S., Dai, Q., Su, H.: Assessment on the urbanization strategy in China:
achievements, challenges and reflections. Habitat Int. 71, 97–109 (2018)
6. Chau, K.W.: Explaining total factor productivity trend in building construction: empirical
evidence from Hong Kong. Int. J. Constr. Manag. 9(2), 45–54 (2009)
7. Yin, K., Wang, R., An, Q., Yao, L., Liang, J.: Using eco-efficiency as an indicator for
sustainable urban development: a case study of Chinese provincial capital cities. Ecol. Ind.
36, 665–671 (2014)
8. Li, H., Fang, K., Yang, W., Wang, D., Hong, X.: Regional environmental efficiency
evaluation in China: analysis based on the Super-SBM model with undesirable outputs.
Math. Comput. Model. 58(5), 1018–1031 (2013)
9. Tone, K.: A slacks-based measure of efficiency in data envelopment analysis. Eur. J. Oper.
Res. 130(3), 498–509 (2001)
10. Tone, K.: A slacks-based measure of super-efficiency in data envelopment analysis. Eur.
J. Oper. Res. 143(1), 32–41 (2002)
11. Tone, K.: Dealing with undesirable outputs in DEA: a slacks-based measure (SBM) ap-
proach, GRIPS Research Report Series (2003)
12. Bian, Y., Yang, F.: Resource and environment efficiency analysis of provinces in China: a
DEA approach based on Shannon’s entropy. Energ. Policy 38(4), 1909–1917 (2010)
13. Chuanjiang, L., Guiran, H.: Analysis on relation of rual labor transfer and regional
competitiveness: an empirical analysis by taking Chongqing as an example. Chin. Popul.
Res. Environ. 23(7), 116–121 (2013)
14. Zhou, Y., Xing, X., Fang, K., Liang, D., Xu, C.: Environmental efficiency analysis of power
industry in China based on an entropy SBM model. Energ. Policy 57, 68–75 (2013)
15. Song, M.L., Wang, S.H.: DEA decomposition of China’s environmental efficiency based on
search algorithm. Appl. Math. Comput. 247, 562–572 (2014)
16. Nucci, F., Riggi, M.: Labor force participation, wage rigidities, and inflation. J. Macroecon.
55, 274–292 (2018)
17. Chang, Y.T., Zhang, N., Danao, D., Zhang, N.: Environmental efficiency analysis of
transportation system in China: a non-radial DEA approach. Energ. Policy 58, 277–283
(2013)
18. Temple, J.B., Rice, J.M., McDonald, P.F.: Mature age labour force participation and the life
cycle deficit in Australia: 1981–82 to 2009–10. J. Econ. Ageing 10, 21–33 (2017)
19. Nucci, F., Riggi, M.: Labor force participation, wage rigidities, and inflation. J. Macroecon.
55, 274–292 (2018)
14 Y. Ren et al.

20. Liu, Y., Song, Y., Arp, H.P.: Examination of the relationship between urban form and urban
eco-efficiency in China. Habitat Int. 36(1), 171–177 (2012)
21. Wu, H.Q., Shi, Y., Xia, Q., Zhu, W.D.: Effectiveness of the policy of circular economy in
China: a DEA-based analysis for the period of 11th five-year-plan. Resour. Conserv. Recycl.
83, 163–175 (2014)
22. Hubacek, K., Guan, D., Barrett, J., Wiedmann, T.: Environmental implications of
urbanization and lifestyle change in China: ecological and water footprints. J. Cleaner
Prod. 17(14), 1241–1248 (2009)
23. Domene, E., Saurí, D.: Urbanisation and water consumption: influencing factors in the
metropolitan region of Barcelona. Urban Stud. 43(9), 1605–1623 (2006)
24. Liu, Q., Wang, S., Zhang, W., Li, J., Zhao, Y., Li, W.: China’s municipal public
infrastructure: estimating construction levels and investment efficiency using the entropy
method and a DEA model. Habitat Int. 64, 59–70 (2017)
25. Shahbaz, M., Lean, H.H.: Does financial development increase energy consumption? The
role of industrialization and urbanization in Tunisia. Energ. Policy 40, 473–479 (2012)
26. Dogan, E., Turkekul, B.: CO2 emissions, real output, energy consumption, trade,
urbanization and financial development: testing the EKC hypothesis for the USA. Environ.
Sci. Pollut. Res. 23(2), 1203–1213 (2016)
27. Jia, S., Wang, C., Li, Y., Zhang, F., Liu, W.: The urbanization efficiency in Chengdu City:
an estimation based on a three-stage DEA model. Phys. Chem. Earth Parts A/B/C 101, 59–
69 (2017)
28. Bai, Y., Deng, X., Jiang, S., Zhang, Q., Wang, Z.: Exploring the relationship between
urbanization and urban eco-efficiency: evidence from prefecture-level cities in China.
J. Cleaner Prod. 195, 1487–1496 (2017)
29. Morais, P., Camanho, A.S.: Evaluation of performance of European cities with the aim to
promote quality of life improvements. Omega 39(4), 398–409 (2011)
30. Jianshuang, F., Xiaofen, Y., Lihua, Z.: Comprehensive efficiency level and driving factors of
china’s regional urbanization. Scientia Geographica Sinica 35(9), 1077–1085 (2015)
31. Chen, M., Lu, D., Zha, L.: The comprehensive evaluation of China’s urbanization and effects
on resources and environment. J. Geograph. Sci. 20(1), 17–30 (2010)
32. Song, L., Zhang, Y., Guo, Y.J.: The regional differences and spatial pattern of Shaanxi
Province under the restriction of environment. Hum. Geograph. 6, 016 (2016)
33. Rongtian, Z., Huafu, J.: Measurement and spatial correlation pattern of urbanization
efficiency in the Changjiang River Delta. Sci. Geogr. Sinica 35(4), 433–439 (2015)
34. Chen, Y., Ren, Y.T., Huang, Y.L., Shen, L.Y.: Indicators for guiding sustainable
development of townships in mountainous regions in Southwest China. In: Proceedings of
the 21st International Symposium on Advancement of Construction Management and Real
Estate, pp. 917–926. Springer, Singapore (2018)
35. Byomkesh, T., Nakagoshi, N., Dewan, A.M.: Urbanization and green space dynamics in
Greater Dhaka, Bangladesh. Landscape Ecol. Eng. 8(1), 45–58 (2012)
36. Deilmann, C., Lehmann, I., Reißmann, D., Hennersdorf, J.: Data envelopment analysis of
cities–Investigation of the ecological and economic efficiency of cities using a benchmarking
concept from production management. Ecol. Indic. 67, 798–806 (2016)
37. Zhang, J., Zeng, W., Wang, J., Yang, F., Jiang, H.: Regional low-carbon economy efficiency
in China: analysis based on the Super-SBM model with CO2 emissions. J. Cleaner Prod.
163, 202–211 (2017)
38. Zhou, Z.J., Hu, J.H.: Evaluation of low carbon economy development efficiency based on a
super-SBM model. Resour. Sci. 35(12), 2457–2466 (2013)
How Efficient Is the Urbanization Process in China? 15

39. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). 2006 IPCC guidelines for national
greenhouse gas inventories (2006). www.ipcc.ch
40. National Coordination Committee Office on Climate Change and Energy Research Institute
under the National Development and Reform Commission: National greenhouse gas
inventory of the People’s Republic of China. Chinese Environmental Science Press, Beijing
(2007). (In Chinese)
Empirical Study on the Performance
of Environmental Efficiency in the Chinese
Provincial Capital Cities

Yu Zhang1(&), Jindao Chen2, Yitian Ren1, and Ya Wu1


1
Faculty of Construction Management and Real Estate, Chongqing University,
Shapingba District, Chongqing 400045, China
zhangyu_0112@foxmail.com
2
Department of Construction Management and Real Estate, Tongji University,
Shanghai, China

Abstract. Environmental problem produced by energy consumption in China


is the issue that immediately needs to be resolved. City is the economic and
social center, which is the main machine for the social economic development.
Therefore, Environmental protection is the responsibility of every city. Many
cities have started the transformation from extensive economic development
mode to the sustainable development mode in order to contribute to the
environmental-friendly society. Devoting abundant endeavor and resources to
environmental protection, yet, it seems that little is known whether the devel-
opment is effective. This paper estimates the environmental efficiency (EE) of
the 30 Chinese provincial capital cities. Based on the Super-slack-based measure
(Super-SBM) model with both undesirable and desirable outputs, we adopted to
analyze the environmental efficiency performance of 30 provincial capital cities
in 2016. The practical results from this research suggest that there are 13 cities
were attained to have achieved ideal whole efficiency, giving the environmental
efficiency values of larger than 1. The top environmental efficiency performers
are Haikou, Guangzhou and Beijing, indicating that the environmental efficiency
performance is commonly better located in eastern China. The worst three are
Lanzhou, Taiyuan and Xining mainly located in western China. The results from
this study provide valuable references to policy-makers and administrators for
designing and adopting effective methods to develop the sustainable develop-
ment in the Chinese cities.

Keywords: Super-SBM model  Environmental efficiency  Undesirable


outputs  Sustainable development  Provincial capital cities

1 Introduction

Since China implemented the economic reform policy and opening up to the world in
1978, the economic development in this country have made extraordinary achieve-
ments [1–3]. For instance, China’s economy ranks second in the world since 2010 and
over the Japan [4]. City is the economic and social center, which is the main machine
for the social economic development [5, 6]. There are 657 cities in 2017 in China,

© Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2021


F. Long et al. (Eds.): CRIOCM 2018, Proceedings of the 23rd International Symposium
on Advancement of Construction Management and Real Estate, pp. 16–28, 2021.
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-3977-0_2
Empirical Study on the Performance of Environmental Efficiency 17

which is the largest number of cities in the world. Among them, 14 cities has the GDP
more than trillions Yuan such as Guangzhou and Shenzhen [7].
The urban economic progress has brought many benefits, such as more job
opportunities, increase of income and technologic development. Nevertheless, the
economic development mode is widely considered as extensive growth pattern in
China, which stands for ineffective in utilizing nature resources [8–10]. The extensive
development mode has caused many issues in the country. It was reported that CO2
emissions increased by 2.7 times during the period of 2000 to 2015, volumes of solid
wastes augmented by 4.0 times, and wastewater discharged increased by 1.8 times for
the same period [11]. Previous studies suggest that the air pollution problem affected by
the unparalleled urbanization and economic development in China has turn into one of
the dilemmas for the past few years [12, 13]. The study by Yan, et al. [14] shows that
many cities in China have suffered water pollution from the dramatic economic
development process. In fact, the problem of water pollution is considered as a main
risk to health in the country [15, 16]. And soil pollution over the past years was also a
serious problem in line with the urbanization progress in China [17]. More seriously,
China has experienced an unparalleled pace and scale of urbanization, which is well
considered as the major contributor to environmental pollution. The urbanization rate
has reached 58.5% in 2017. [18] and is currently estimated to increase to 75% by 2050
[19] which indicates the environmental protection in the urban district will face great
challenges.
Realizing the extensive development models brought these problems, the Chinese
government has been working to resolve these issues by presenting and implementing
many laws and policies. For example, Environmental Protection Law [20]. The Chi-
nese government promises to implement the ecological, green and low-carbon devel-
opment concept strategy in the “13th Five-Year Plan” economic and social
development plan [21]. Furthermore, for implementing these laws, policies and
strategies, China has been devoting a huge amount of efforts and resources on annual
basis. In 2000, the government invested RMB 100 billion to various environmental
protection programs [11]. This figure increased by 9 times in 2015. Whereas it is
significant to implement these environmental protection initiatives and devote resour-
ces for addressing the problems caused. It is also important to understand what effi-
ciency has been received from these efforts, which cities are good performers can share
the experience. In other words, resources may be wasted in the process of imple-
menting environmental protection progress. Thus, it is important to examine the EE in
the current urbanization practice, thus proper measures can be take to correct or
improve the current practice where necessary. And it will also make a great contri-
bution to global environmental protection.

2 Literature Review

In the literature, it is essential to use a multi-factor model to properly evaluate envi-


ronmental efficiency. Data envelopment analysis (DEA) is the usual method to evaluate
the efficiency of a production in previous studies. DEA was initially suggested by
Charnes, et al. [22] to assessing the comparative efficiency of decision-making units
18 Y. Zhang et al.

(DMUs) in 1978. Later, DEA has been commonly used to evaluate the efficiency
between inputs and outputs in numerous different areas such as agriculture, industry
and service industry. [23–26]. According to the above researches, DEA method is a
useful method to calculate the efficiency of a system in numerous different areas.
With regard to environmental efficiency researches, many research results has been
done. There are some previous researches using DEA method (as shown in Table 1).
The DEA method is generally applicable to measuring the environmental efficiency in
many previous studies at industrial and regional levels. For instance, by using DEA,
Chang, et al. [23] evaluated the EE of 30 Chinese transportation sectors. Zhou, et al.
[27] adopted entropy-DEA model in evaluating the EE of 30 Chinese provincial power
industries during the period of 2005 to 2010. Based on DEA model, Wu, et al. [28]
evaluated the environmental efficiencies of 30 Chinese provincial industries during
2007–2011. He et al. [29] measured the EE of the socioeconomic sectors at the
provincial level in China in 2010 by using DEA method. Lee et al. [30] measured EE of
11 port cities across the word, which shows that the best performance city is Singapore,
while Tianjin is the worst.
The above results propose that the DEA method has been usually engaged to
estimate the environmental efficiency at industrial and regional levels, few of them
focus on the Chinese provincial capital city. Therefore, this study aims to measure
value of EE in different provincial capital cities in China. Policy implications of the
research results will be discussed. These results are estimated to provide the govern-
ment and managers with a policy development reference to further improve environ-
mental quality based on the ambitious economic development plan promoted by
urbanization.
The rest of this article is structured as follows. Literature review was provided in
Sect. 2. Section 3 introduces the principle of undesirable outputs Super-SBM model.
Data source and statistics are presented in Sect. 4. The results and discussion are
showed in Sect. 5. Section 6 presented the conclusions.

3 Methodology

This paper uses a method to explore the environmental efficiency of Chinese 30


provincial capital cities in 2016, namely, Super-SBM with undesirable outputs. Super-
SBM model is an improvement of the traditional DEA method. It is commonly
appreciated that there are weighty limits to use the traditional DEA model. According
to the research by Tone [42], the traditional DEA method does not consider the
excesses in inputs and shortages in outputs (called slacks) in a Decision-Making Unit
(DMU). In addition, the traditional DEA method does not consider the undesirable
outputs (e.g., environmental pollutes), though the environmental pollutes in a DMU do
exist and have important impact on the efficiency of DMU. To surmount the above
discussion, the undesirable outputs Super-SBM model is uses in this study [37, 42–44].
Empirical Study on the Performance of Environmental Efficiency 19

Table 1. The application researches of EE.


Researcher Main concept Method Objective area Period
Zhang et al. Eco-efficiency DEA Chinese 30 provincial industrial 2008
[8] systems
Oggioni Eco-efficiency DEA 21 countries’ cement industry 2005 to
et al. [31] 2008
Zhou et al. Environmental Entropy- Chinese 30 provincial power 2001 to
[27] efficiency SBM industries 2010
Chang et al. Environmental SBM- Chinese 30 provincial 2010
[23] efficiency DEA transportation sectors
Wu et al. Environmental DEA Chinese 31 provincial industries 2007 to
[28] efficiency 2010
Chang et al. Environmental SBM- global 27 airlines 2010
[24] efficiency DEA
Liu et al. Environmental SBM- Chinese 30 provincial land 2009 to
[32] efficiency DEA transportation sectors 2012
Chen and Jia Environmental SBM- Chinese 30 provincial industries 2008 to
[33] efficiency DEA 2012
He et al. Environmental SBM- Chinese 30 provincial 2010
[29] efficiency DEA socioeconomic sectors
Bian and Environmental Entropy- Chinese 30 provinces 2006
Yang [34] efficiency DEA
Song et al. Environmental SBM- Chinese 30 provinces 2002 to
[35] efficiency DEA 2010
Wang et al. Environmental DEA Chinese 29 provinces 2000 to
[36] efficiency 2008
Li et al. [37] Environmental Super- Chinese 29 provinces 1991 to
efficiency SBM 2010
Yang et al. Environmental Super- Chinese 30 provinces 2000 to
[38] efficiency DEA 2010
Chen et al. Environmental DEA Chinese 30 provinces 2001 to
[39] efficiency 2010
Zhang et al. Environmental SBM- Chinese 30 provinces 2005 to
[40] efficiency DEA 2011
Li et al. [41] Environmental DEA Beijing 2005 to
efficiency 2009
Lee et al. Environmental SBM- 11 port cities in the world 2011
[30] efficiency DEA

3.1 The Super-SBM Model with Undesirable Outputs


Considering the researches by Tone [42–44] and Li et al. [37], the Super-SBM model
with undesirable outputs to evaluate EE in a DMU includes the next procedures:
20 Y. Zhang et al.

First, there are n DMUs, which has n  m input factors and n  s1 desirable outputs
and n  s2 undesirable outputs. Thus, there are three vectors: x 2 Rm , yd 2 Rs1 , and
yud 2 Rs2 . The definition of matrices X, Y d and Y ud as follows:

X ¼ ½x1 ; x2 ;    ; xn  2 Rmn [ 0;
 
Y d ¼ yd1 ; yd2 ;    ydn 2 Rs1 n [ 0;
 
Y ud ¼ yud
1 ; y2 ;    yn
ud ud
2 Rs2 n [ 0:

Now, the production possibility set (P) can be described:


  
P¼ x; yd ; yud jx [ Xk; yd  Y d k; yud  Y ud k; k  0 :

Where the P is under the condition of constant returns to scale (CRS).


According to SBM model proposed by Tone’s theoretical and combined the pro-
duction possibility set (P), the undesirable outputs SBM model can be measured as
follows [44]:
Undesirable outputs SBM
Pm
1
s =x
q ¼ min P1s1m P
i¼1 i i0
ð Þ
s2
1þs 1
sd =ydr0 þ sud =yud
8 1 þ s2 r¼1 r t¼1 t t0

>
> x0 ¼ Xk þ S
< ð1Þ
yd0 ¼ Y0d  Sd
Subject to
>
> y0 ¼ Y0ud þ Sud
ud
: 
S  0; Sd  0; Sud  0; k  0

Where the vector Sd represents the desirable outputs shortage, and vectors S and
S correspond to excesses of inputs and undesirable outputs. The target function q has
ud

values in the range [0, 1].


The values obtained from Eq. (1) are between 0 and 1. Nevertheless, some DMUs
have the same full efficiency values (efficiency value of 1) in some situations, which
cannot be effectively evaluated and ranked. To further provide accurate efficiency
evaluation values, the undesirable outputs Super-SBM model was given by Tone [44]
and Li et al. [37].  
Assume that the DMUk xk ; ydk ; yudk have the same full efficiency values, the
conforming undesirable outputs Super-SBM model is given as follows:
Empirical Study on the Performance of Environmental Efficiency 21

Pm
1 þ m1 s =xik
qSE ¼ min P i¼1 i P
1s þ1 s ð tk Þ
s1 s2
sdr =ydrk þ sud =yud
8 1 2 Pr¼1
n
k¼1 k

>
> x  x k  s
>
>
ik
Pj¼1;6¼k ij j i
>
> ydrk  nj¼1;6¼k ydrj kj þ sdr
>
< Pn
tk 
yud kj þ sud
ud
Subject to  P j¼1;6¼k ytjP t 
>
> 1  1 s 1
s d
=y d
þ s2
k¼1 k =ytk [ 0
s ud ud
>
> s1 þ s2 r¼1 r rk
>
> S  0; Sd  0; Sud  0; k  0
>
:
i ¼ 1; 2; . . .; m; j ¼ 1; 2; . . .; nðj 6¼ kÞ; r ¼ 1; 2; . . .; s1 ; t ¼ 1; 2; . . .; s2
ð2Þ

In the model (2), the value q can be larger than 1, which is the objective funtion.
Therefore, comparing with other DEA models, the undesirable outputs Super-SBM
model is more suitable to assess the EE.

4 Data Source and Statistics

4.1 Selection of Indicators and Data Source


Labor force and capital are usually as the basic input indicators [23]. Considering that
the sustainable development is indicated by effective use of energy and water [36].
Therefore, labor force and employment of total city, fixed investment, electricity
consumption and water consumption are selected as the input indicators for evaluating
environmental efficiency. In referring to output indicators, a production process pro-
duces have the desirable outputs and undesirable outputs. And, the desirable output is
commonly used to measure GDP. Also, urban area of green land is the standard to
measure the environmental quality. This study also adopts urban area of green land as
desirable output. Environmental pollutants are usually undesirable outputs, which
include wastewater, waste gas and waste residue. In this study, volume of industrial
wastewater discharged, SO2 (sulphur dioxide emission) and soot/dust emission is the
representative undesirable output. DMU is considered to be more efficient if it gets
better desirable output with both less input and less undesirable output. All data are
from China city statistical yearbook, China environmental statistical yearbook.
Appendix 1 shows the input and output indicators of 30 provincial capital cities.
Table 2 shows the descriptive statistics of each indicator. Table 3 shows the data of
input and output indicators.

5 Results and Discussion

5.1 The Best and Worst EE Analysis


According to the undesirable outputs Super-SBM model in Eq. (2) and the data in
Sect. 4, the results of environmental efficiency between Chinese provincial capital
cities in 2016 are shown in Table 3. According to the Table 3, the top 3 best perfor-
mance cities in environmental efficiency are Haikou, Guangzhou and Beijing. The three
22 Y. Zhang et al.

Table 2. Input and output indicators for analysis.


Input Unit Minimum Maximum Median Mean Std.dev
indicators
Labor force 104 34.21 791.52 132.00 200.73 180.83
persons
Fixed assets 104 8481120.4 115011503.2 33801873.1 34679513.2 22904926.2
investment Yuan
Energy 104 580836.00 14860200.00 2203278.00 3493773.03 3360796.77
consumption kwh
Water 104 ton 11445.00 320385.00 46429.5 73333.03 68589.19
consumption
Output Unit Minimum Maximum Median Mean Std.dev
indicators
GDP 104 8323994.0 187922597.21 41011667.2 55955162.24 46911106.7
Yuan
Area of Hectare 3872.00 144524.00 17906.5 32218.97 35373.04
Green land
Wastewater 104 ton 507.00 36599.00 5244.5 9339.3 8930.3
SO2 Ton 593.0 174048.0 27337.5 35921.9 33932.4
Soot (dust) Ton 156.0 83787.0 24819.5 32490.9 24474.2

cities are deliberated the model cities for improving environmental efficiency, which
are the model to get win-win balance between the economic development and envi-
ronmental protection. Thus, the other inefficient Chinese cities are able to learn from
their experience for integrated environmental efficiency improvement.
On the whole, Guangzhou’s environmental efficiency is higher than others. The
reason may be due to the great development of economy, technical innovation and
environmental protection in Guangzhou. In the economic part, Guangzhou, China’s
first special economic zone, has accomplished impressive achievements in recent years.
In the industrial part, environmentally friendly industries are main industries in
Guangzhou such as foreign trade export industry and electronic industry. In the
environmental part, according to Guangzhou Environmental Status Bulletin in 2016,
the government in Guangzhou has been implementing many policies and regulations
for environmental protection, such as air quality management policy and soil envi-
ronmental protection policy. Meanwhile, it also invests much capital and technology to
deal with wastewater and solid waste. For another example, Haikou, renowned for its
tourism, is also has very high environmental efficiency. The reason for the phenomenon
is that the industrial structure in Haikou is dominated by tourism rather than other high
pollution and high energy consumption industries.
Furthermore, Table 3 indicates that the three worst environmental efficiency cities
are Lanzhou, Taiyuan and Xining. The reasons of this phenomenon are in numerous
factors. Lanzhou is located in Northwest China in Gansu province, and the economic
development is relatively low. Meanwhile, according to Gansu Provincial Environ-
mental Protection Agency, Lanzhou is a typical heavy industry and resource-exhausted
Empirical Study on the Performance of Environmental Efficiency 23

Table 3. Sample research data for the 30 surveyed Chinese provincial capital cities in the year
2016
City Input indicators Output indicators
Labor Fixed assets Energy Water GDP Area of Wastewater SO2 Soot
force investment consumption consumption green land (dust)
Beijing 791.52 52609510.84 164491.00 10202704.00 171186681.32 82113.00 8515.00 10257.00 7874.00
Tianjin 286.04 85071789.12 87040.00 8079297.00 119277145.67 33069.00 18022.00 54539.00 57280.00
Shijiazhuang 99.54 37869506.58 49410.00 2257985.00 39531854.28 12423.00 13022.00 85815.00 52705.00
Taiyuan 104.05 13522754.35 36499.00 2348433.00 19710840.44 12655.00 3879.00 15707.00 21897.00
Hohhot 41.14 12332060.94 14819.00 698443.00 21164579.40 14416.00 2339.00 52316.00 79103.00
Shenyang 129.26 10881234.32 71483.00 2714322.00 36989112.38 28724.00 5547.00 37530.00 30130.00
Changchun 125.88 31071016.25 38588.00 1551000.00 39923260.85 18581.00 2548.00 21893.00 24451.00
Harbin 130.40 33611977.53 39362.00 1745478.00 40691456.94 13797.00 4235.00 26217.00 21781.00
Shanghai 627.78 45026736.19 320385.00 14860200.00 187922597.21 131681.00 36599.00 67376.00 72782.00
Nanjing 205.19 36903179.36 132652.00 5247900.00 70044334.87 91674.00 21624.00 28639.00 48592.00
Hangzhou 290.13 38962925.04 65087.00 5839636.00 75450884.93 34211.00 28382.00 39499.00 20414.00
Hefei 148.02 43356108.96 47891.00 1555875.00 41843642.38 18185.00 5130.00 9011.00 11483.00
Fuzhou 156.83 34574346.71 40551.00 1712776.00 41331877.55 11661.00 3696.00 39196.00 67548.00
Nanchang 125.98 30278881.22 42753.00 1473811.00 29043319.64 12290.00 10258.00 13800.00 33926.00
Jinan 135.90 26504676.50 42327.00 2483158.00 43589170.82 15942.00 5993.00 28458.00 54677.00
Zhengzhou 200.85 46673751.93 37259.00 3739035.00 54111807.24 17628.00 7966.00 34898.00 28977.00
Wuhan 213.26 46948162.74 132833.00 4171334.00 79444849.58 23217.00 12623.00 17917.00 54089.00
Changsha 120.93 44637548.39 60558.00 1759889.00 62400952.62 11177.00 4287.00 6634.00 6890.00
Guangzhou 325.23 38037049.13 228850.00 8235701.00 130361322.11 144524.00 19326.00 20726.00 8951.00
Nanning 97.45 25067512.60 55445.00 1488748.00 24697400.05 39718.00 3834.00 9381.00 9693.00
Haikou 51.42 8481120.38 22786.00 703442.00 8387333.30 5665.00 507.00 593.00 156.00
Chongqing 412.88 115011503.15 139456.00 8260454.00 118311478.68 59758.00 25875.00 174048.00 83787.00
Chengdu 552.73 55702579.55 111813.00 3605032.00 81162933.21 31084.00 9262.00 17318.00 19407.00
Kunming 133.60 26142864.15 44968.00 1108310.00 28677095.10 15901.00 5359.00 80083.00 25188.00
Xi’an 199.20 33991768.75 57396.00 2731240.00 41728951.41 20945.00 4030.00 4914.00 2853.00
Lanzhou 68.57 13277614.98 24059.00 1195118.00 15100096.01 7734.00 3342.00 19192.00 15892.00
Xining 34.21 9177092.85 15780.00 769658.00 8323994.09 3872.00 2050.00 56796.00 60483.00
Yinchuan 35.46 11391857.42 11445.00 580836.00 10788441.59 9683.00 3672.00 24366.00 11220.00
Urumqi 72.67 10722266.73 29655.00 2148571.00 16398843.42 28258.00 4489.00 40166.00 34024.00
Guiyang 105.74 22545999.37 34350.00 1544805.00 21058610.12 15983.00 3768.00 40373.00 8475.00

city, which leads to it use more energy and produce more contaminants [45]. It can be
found in Table 3 that the value of environmental efficiency only 0.3025 in Xining.
Xining is located in western China in Qinghai province. It is not only slower economic
development but also backward technology to reduce pollutant emissions.

5.2 A Regional Level of EE Analysis


By applying the Super-SBM model, this paper calculated the input-output environ-
mental efficiency of Chinese provincial capital cities. This research also examined all
efficiency characteristics in terms of their geographical distribution. According to the
value of efficiency in Table 3, the cluster map of integrated efficiency of the Chinese
provincial capital cities is demonstrated in Fig. 1.
24 Y. Zhang et al.

Table 4. Environmental efficiency value of Chinese provincial capital cities


City Environmental Rank City Environmental Rank
efficiency efficiency
Haikou 1.3457 1 Jinan 0.6515 16
Guangzhou 1.2672 2 Shenyang 0.6035 17
Beijing 1.1561 3 Xi’an 0.5945 18
Changsha 1.0921 4 Fuzhou 0.5858 19
Nanning 1.0725 5 Hohhot 0.5608 20
Yinchuan 1.0547 6 Chengdu 0.5535 21
Urumqi 1.0487 7 Kunming 0.5350 22
Shanghai 1.0371 8 Wuhan 0.5255 23
Changchun 1.0349 9 Chongqing 0.4985 24
Tianjin 1.0296 10 Shijiazhuang 0.4802 25
Zhengzhou 1.0236 11 Nanchang 0.4380 26
Hangzhou 1.0086 12 Guiyang 0.4346 27
Nanjing 1.0064 13 Lanzhou 0.4090 28
Hefei 0.7283 14 Taiyuan 0.3851 29
Harbin 0.6582 15 Xining 0.3025 30

Fig. 1. A regional level of environmental efficiency in the Chinese provincial capital cities
Empirical Study on the Performance of Environmental Efficiency 25

As it can be seen from Fig. 1, 13 cities achieved optimal overall efficiency, giving
the environmental efficiency values of more than 1 such as Haikou, Guangzhou,
Beijing, Changsha, Nanning, and Yinchuan. And, the environmental efficiency per-
formances of many cities in China were lower than 0.6 such as Xi’an, Xining, Taiyuan,
Lanzhou, Guiyang, Nanchang, and Shijiazhuang. It is indicated that these cities have
40% the potential to increase desirable outputs and reduce undesirable outputs. This
finding is consistent with _ENREF_14 Li et al. [37] and Song et al. [35], which also
suggested that the EE value in China is far from the SBM-efficient and relatively low.
In recent years, the economic development in the Chinese cities is growing rapidly with
the eco-environment is also deteriorated. Hence, it is widely considered that the
intensive economic development is the main development pattern for China to pursue
the sustainable.
It is worthy noted that from the figure the cities located in the eastern area have
better EE performance, which mainly relies on a good geographical position and
advantageous policies. Meanwhile, these cities have sound economic foundation,
advanced technique and talent resource foundation. Thus, they have the ability to adopt
pollution control and energy conservation policies and measures, which contributes to a
good environmental efficiency performance.

6 Conclusions

By establishing Super-SBM model for assessing the environmental efficiency of the


Chinese 30 provincial capital cities, this study suggested that 13 cities were found to
have achieved ideal overall efficiency, giving the environmental efficiency values of
larger than 1. The cities Haikou, Guangzhou and Beijing are the best environmental
efficiency performers, and Lanzhou, Taiyuan and Xining are the worst three. In a word,
these good environmental efficiency cities are located in eastern of China. Some
western cities also have good environmental efficiency performance, such as Urumqi.
The poor environmental efficiency performers are mainly located in western of China.
According to the above results, there are important policy implications. Policies for
the creation of both rapid economic development and environmental protection would
be made through the following proposals based on the different characteristics of EE of
the Chinese cities. (1) The best performance cities such as Guangzhou should be
facilitated experience -sharing with other cities. The eastern cities should be as the
model position, improving environmental efficiency through restructuring themselves
industrial structure and upholding the development of innovation technique, improving
the third industry’s proportion in the urban economy. (2) For the western cities, the
governments should improve management skills and methods, communicating and
cooperating more with other cities, which could be avoided secondary pollution.
The research team will investigate other Chinese cities’ environmental efficiency
such as prefecture-level cities in their further study.
26 Y. Zhang et al.

References
1. Ji, Q., Li, C., Jones, P.: New green theories of urban development in China. Sustain. Cities
Soc. 30, 248–253 (2017)
2. Lin, J.Y.: Demystifying the Chinese economy. Aust. Econ. Rev. 46, 259–268 (2013)
3. Shen, L., Wu, Y., Shuai, C., Lu, W., Chau, K.W., Chen, X.: Analysis on the evolution of low
carbon city from process characteristic perspective. J. Cleaner Prod. 187, 348–360 (2018)
4. World Bank: World Bank (2018)
5. Shen, L., Shuai, C., Jiao, L., Tan, Y., Song, X.: Dynamic sustainability performance during
urbanization process between BRICS countries. Habitat Int. 60, 19–33 (2017)
6. Shen, L., Wu, Y., Lou, Y., Zeng, D., Shuai, C., Song, X.: What drives the carbon emission in
the Chinese cities?—a case of pilot low carbon city of Beijing. J. Clean. Prod. 174, 343–354
(2017)
7. MEP: China City Statistical Yearbook. China Statistics Press (2017)
8. Zhang, B., Bi, J., Fan, Z., Yuan, Z., Ge, J.: Eco-efficiency analysis of industrial system in
China: a data envelopment analysis approach. Ecol. Econ. 68, 306–316 (2008)
9. Shuai, C., Chen, X., Shen, L., Jiao, L., Wu, Y., Tan, Y.: The turning points of carbon
Kuznets curve: evidences from panel and time-series data of 164 countries. J. Cleaner Prod.
162, 1031–1047 (2017)
10. Shuai, C., Chen, X., Wu, Y., Tan, Y., Zhang, Y., Shen, L.: Identifying the key impact factors
of carbon emission in China: results from a largely expanded pool of potential impact
factors. J. Cleaner Prod. 175, 612–623 (2018)
11. National Bureau of Statistics of the People’s Republic of China, China statistics yearbook
2016. China Statistics Press, Beijing (2016)
12. Yang, H., Chen, W., Liang, Z.: Impact of land use on PM2.5 pollution in a representative
city of middle China. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 14, 462 (2017)
13. Shuai, C., Shen, L., Jiao, L., Wu, Y., Tan, Y.: Identifying key impact factors on carbon
emission: evidences from panel and time-series data of 125 countries from 1990 to 2011.
Appl. Energ. 187, 310–325 (2017)
14. Yan, Y., Qian, Y., Wang, Z., Yang, X., Wang, H.: Ecological risk assessment from the
viewpoint of surface water pollution in Xiamen city, China. Int. J. Sustain. Devel. World
Ecol. 25, 1–8 (2018)
15. Wang, Q., Yang, Z.: Industrial water pollution, water environment treatment, and health
risks in China ☆. Environ. Pollut. 218, 358 (2016)
16. Tan, Y., Shuai, C., Jiao, L., Shen, L.: An adaptive neuro-fuzzy inference system (ANFIS)
approach for measuring country sustainability performance. Environ. Impact Assess. Rev.
65, 29–40 (2017)
17. Teng, Y., Wu, J., Lu, S., Wang, Y., Jiao, X., Song, L.: Soil and soil environmental quality
monitoring in China: a review. Environ. Int. 69, 177–199 (2014)
18. National Bureau of Statistics of the People’s Republic of China (2017). http://www.stats.
gov.cn/tjsj/zxfb/201710/t20171010_1540653.html
19. Li, H., Yu, L.: Chinese eco-city Indictor Construction. Urban Stud. (2011)
20. MEEPRC: Ministry of Ecology and Environment of the People’s Republic of China (2018).
http://www.mep.gov.cn/gzfw_13107/zcfg/fl/index_1.shtml?COLLCC=3566294797&
21. The State Council the People’s Republic of Chinax. The 13th Five Year Plan of China
(2016). http://www.miit.gov.cn/n1146290/n1146392/c4676365/content.html
22. Charnes, A., Cooper, W.W., Rhodes, E.: Measuring the efficiency of decision making units.
Eur. J. Oper. Res. 2, 429–444 (1978)
Another random document with
no related content on Scribd:
"No! Not yet!..."

Lebas, pretending not to have heard, called out—

"Héron! Hér..."

Robespierre threw himself on him, and pinning him to the wall, said
breathlessly—

"Don't call, I tell you! Don't call!"

Then lowering his voice he muttered in a dry whisper—

"Be quiet, man, I say! Be quiet! ... It is my son!"

"Ah!" and Lebas looked at him in stupefied amazement.

When he had sufficiently recovered from his surprise, he asked in a low


voice—

"Why do you not tell him so?"

Could Robespierre tell him? Tell the lad who loathed him! Would he
believe him? Olivier would say it was false, or how could he hate him so?

"Oh, no! I cannot tell him that I am his father!" he said sadly, sinking
down exhausted on a chair.

Lebas took his hand and pressed it sympathetically, deeply touched.

"You are right!" he murmured.

And turning to Olivier he said aloud—

"Then let us discover the prisoners without him!"

Olivier understood that matters were becoming very serious. However,


Robespierre looked discouraged. How was it possible to find the women,
under their assumed names, in Vendée? But Lebas remarked that they might
be in Paris. At this Olivier visibly trembled, which Lebas did not fail to
notice.

"Why," he continued—"why should he be so far from them?"

The point of this remark struck Robespierre.

"Yes, to be sure; you are right," he said, and interpreting Lebas's


thoughts he bade him take a carriage and drive to each prison and interview
every woman that had been arrested with a young girl. Lebas, who had
already put on his hat, remarked that he did not think the night would
suffice; there were so many women arrested with a daughter or a younger
sister. And what if Olivier spoke the truth, and his mother had been
inscribed on the prison-register under another name—her husband's, for
instance?

"Mauluçon," interrupted Robespierre, the name suddenly recurring to


him.

Lebas took out a note-book from his pocket. Was he a soldier, or a


magistrate, this Mauluçon? Robespierre could not say. All he knew of him
was that among the people represented as having gone into mourning for
Louis XVI. he had seen the names of Pontivy, his son-in-law Mauluçon,
and his daughter Clarisse.

"Clarisse!" repeated Lebas, stopping his note-taking.

Robespierre looked at him in surprise. In what way could that name


interest him? Lebas had now closed his note-book, deep in thought.
Clarisse? Olivier's mother was called Clarisse? But the woman who
implored Robespierre's clemency for her son, aged nineteen, the woman
whose letter he had refused to read just now ...

"Was signed Clarisse?" cried Robespierre breathlessly.

"Yes," replied Lebas.

"That is his mother!"...


And pointing to the young man, who was on the brink of swooning.

"You see, it is she! Look at him; there is no mistaking, it is she!"

"She is at the prison of La Bourbe, then," said Lebas.

Robespierre could no longer hide his joy, at last he knew where to find
them!

But he was interrupted by a cry of pain. Olivier, thinking his mother


now irretrievably lost, had fainted away. Robespierre ran to him, and
bending over tried to bring him to consciousness, gently reassuring him,
swearing he was going to give the prisoners their liberty.

But Lebas, who was also bending over the young man, reminded the
Incorruptible that Olivier no longer heard him. Then Robespierre, with
infinite precautions, assisted by Lebas, lifted him into an armchair, and
taking a bottle of scent left behind by the ladies, gently bathed Olivier's
temples with the perfume. Lebas, rather anxious lest Robespierre's paternal
solicitude should be discovered, remained on the watch, imploring him to
be prudent.

"Some one might come in!" he urged.

Robespierre, entirely taken up with Olivier, shrugged his shoulders.

"Let them come!" he said impatiently. "I have a right surely to pardon
my own son!"

Lebas recalled him to reality.

No! he had no right to pardon a chouan, who had insulted the Republic
the day before in presence of the whole nation. Robespierre's enemies
would seize the occasion to cite the example of Brutus sacrificing his son to
the interest of his country. They would exact from him a like proof of
patriotism....

Robespierre was trying to loosen Olivier's cravat, but not succeeding


asked Lebas's assistance. After all, he was right, especially as his enemies
on the Committee of Public Safety, out of hatred for him, would kill the lad
all the quicker. Opening the collar gently, he continued the while to reason
about it, saying that the only means of saving him was to throw him brutally
into prison, so as to mislead them, and to get him out secretly after three
days.

The young man heaved a sigh.

"He is coming to," said Robespierre, checking his speculations.

Lebas observed that it was high time to let others come in; they would
wonder at the length of the cross-examining. Robespierre assented, his eyes
fixed on his son, who seemed now coming to himself. As the Incorruptible
bent over him to ascertain if this was so, his lips touched the pale forehead.

But he heard steps, and had only time to pull himself up, when Héron
entered, followed by his men.

Héron looked straight at Olivier, who had now recovered his senses.

"What! Did he faint?" he asked.

Robespierre had regained possession of himself, and at once assumed a


brutal demeanour. Yes, the scoundrel had been playing a farce, and an
infamous farce too! The family now entered also, brimming with curiosity
and questions.

"Has the young man made a confession?"

"No; but he has betrayed himself, and I know all that I desired."

General satisfaction was expressed. At last, then, he was caught, and his
accomplices! At this moment Madame Lebas and Victoire discovered in
what a sad state Olivier was. Had he been ill, then? They would have come
to him; but Robespierre stopped them, assuming contempt.

"It was better," he said, "to leave the young madman alone, for he really
did not deserve that any one should take interest in him."
"Monster!" Olivier groaned.

Robespierre had heard the word. He took hold of Lebas's arm, as if for
support, and pressed it convulsively. Then, in a voice which he tried to
render harsh, he told him to conduct Olivier to the Prison de la Force.
Héron had only waited for this; and his men seized their prisoner, who at
the roughness of the police-agents gave a sharp cry.

"You brutes!" exclaimed Robespierre, in a faltering voice, taking a step


towards his son in spite of himself. But Lebas stopped him.

"Be careful!" he whispered.

Robespierre sat down, realising his imprudence.

Lebas again whispered to him—

"Don't be uneasy, I will watch over him."

And telling the men not to handle the prisoner too roughly, he went out
with them.

Robespierre watched his son disappear, and when he had gone he felt
some one take his hand. This made him tremble. It was Cornélie.

How tired he seemed! Every one was around him now. That young
madman had given him terrible trouble, hadn't he?

"Yes," he replied, wiping his temple, "it was very trying! Exceedingly
trying!"

Duplay remarked that, judging from the length of the cross-


examination, he must have learnt something very important. Robespierre
made a gesture, as if protesting. Then rising abruptly he took leave of the
company, on the pretext of urgent work.

"The lad can rest assured," said Duplay, "it is his death-warrant our
friend has gone to sign."
"What a pity!" observed Victoire; "the young fellow seemed so nice!"

But mother Duplay stopped her daughter indignantly, asking her if she
was mad. What would the Incorruptible say if he could hear her?

CHAPTER IX

HOURS OF ANGUISH

Once in his room, Robespierre sank exhausted into a chair. At last he


was alone! He could now give free vent to his long suppressed emotion.
The feeling uppermost at the moment was one of dread dismay, as the
terrible position rose before his mind, with all its fearful consequences. He
gave no thought to the insult, it was the fate of the two women which
haunted him. If he saved them it would atone for all in the eyes of his son.
They had been arrested, thrown into prison, and cast for death, but he would
set them free.

Who had arrested them? What had they done? Were they implicated in
some seditious plot which would render it difficult to deliver them? As to
Olivier's release, he would see to that. By causing things to drag a little,
Olivier's trial could be put off until Robespierre had the power in his own
hands, and could act as he liked towards his son. It was after all his concern,
for it was he whom Olivier had insulted, and not the Republic, which he
could not yet impersonate. Had he even been proclaimed dictator, and sole
representative of France, he would, he supposed, have had the right to
pardon. It would seem but natural that his first act on accession to power
should be an act of clemency! The most important thing then at present was
that Olivier should remain in prison as long as possible under the closest
supervision.
But again, why had the women been arrested? By whose orders? They
were perhaps at that very moment at the Conciergerie, on their trial, before
the Revolutionary Tribunal. He could, no doubt, secure their acquittal, but
what if the inquiry brought Olivier's name to light?

"I am wandering!" he caught himself exclaiming. How, indeed, could


the name of Olivier be mentioned during the trial? The young man had
nothing to do with it. He had insulted Robespierre, it was to him personally
he had to answer.

The Incorruptible rubbed his eyes, unable longer to follow the thread of
his own thoughts. He was suddenly reminded of the law to be submitted by
him next day to the Convention, the vindictive law which would ensure
conviction without proof, evidence, or even cross-examination. This law
would be of twofold service to him; it would rekindle the Terror, would
help Robespierre to get rid of those who were still in his way, and be the
means of reducing the two women to silence, thus saving not only Olivier's
life, but theirs also. Olivier would then see that Robespierre was not the
monster he imagined, for he would owe the lives of his mother and of his
fiancée to him, the very man he had so wantonly insulted!

Robespierre's reflections were suddenly interrupted by a knock. He


started up. Some one was calling him. He listened, and recognising Lebas's
voice, hastened to open the door.

"I saw a light through your window," said Lebas, "and knew you had
not yet gone to bed."

"Well, what have you learnt?" Robespierre asked anxiously.

"They are still at the prison of La Bourbe."

"Both of them?"

"Yes, both of them."

"Ah!" sighed Robespierre, with relief.


"And I have given strict instructions in your name, that they were not to
be allowed out, under any circumstances. I am quite satisfied on that point,
since the Concierge knows that they have been arrested by your orders."

"By my orders?"

"Yes, alas!"

And he whispered to the Incorruptible, as if fearing to be heard—

"They are the two women from Montmorency."

"The women of the forest?"

"Yes!"

Robespierre leant back against his desk for support. Lebas pulled an
armchair towards him, into which he sank quite overcome.

"You could not have prevented it!" said Lebas gently; "nowadays
surprises of that sort are common enough. How could you know?"

The Incorruptible gave no reply, but seemed lost in a dream.

"Take some rest now.... You must feel exhausted.... I feel so myself....
Au revoir till to-morrow. After all, why should you worry? Are we not the
masters?"

"That is the question!" murmured Robespierre, without lifting his eyes.

But Lebas had just closed the door, and wished him good night.

Robespierre, left alone, resumed his train of thought. He had, himself,


then, ordered the two women to be arrested. This made everything clear to
his mind! He now understood why Olivier had insulted him, and matters
were more complicated than he had imagined. But what was Clarisse doing
at Montmorency? How had she gained acquaintance with that man
Vaughan, who had proposed to him the Regency in the name of England?
For one moment he was vain enough to think that Clarisse had acted in
conjunction with the Englishman. She had perhaps an idea of winning
Robespierre over to the Royalist cause, and of rendering homage to his
exalted position and power, realising all the good he could do. If this were
indeed the fact, then she knew everything, was aware of the Englishman's
proposals, and of the forest interview! She was in possession of his secret
and could by a single word completely ruin him!

No! No! He was raving! ... Why! he was accusing the mother of his
child! For she was the mother of his son! Then he alone was in fault; ... he
who had her arrested for no reason! For no reason? Was that so certain?
And he sought about in his mind for excuses. Yes! he was the dupe of Fate,
the tool of blind Destiny! Why had Clarisse been there? Why had she been
implicated with the secret interview? Why? Ah! why?

With closed eyes, still repeating that unanswered "Why?" he fell into a
half sleep. Little by little the image of a cell in the prison of La Bourbe rose
before him; Clarisse was there. She appeared to him, as he had seen her in
her youth, at the Rue des Lions, with her sweet pale face, large blue eyes,
fair silken hair, so fair ... so fair.... He began to wonder that one so young
and frail should have a son so big as Olivier! His dream-thoughts became
more confused.... She was now Olivier's fiancée.... He was promising her to
marry them in London, through the intervention of Vaughan ... of Fox....
Fox was all powerful in England, as he, Robespierre, was in France.... His
head gradually sunk on his shoulder, and he fell asleep at last.

The lamp, turned very low, shed upon him a flickering light, pale and
subdued as the glow of a sanctuary lamp, softening as if in pity the stern
lines of his troubled countenance, which even in sleep did not relax the
painful contraction of its features. He had fallen asleep, dressed as he was,
his head aslant, his arms hanging by his sides listlessly. Now and then, his
whole frame would twitch and quiver nervously, and vague, incoherent
words escaped his lips at intervals; harsh, guttural sounds fell from him
suddenly in that silent apartment, whose curtains and drapery in the
subdued light assumed the soft and delicate tints of a young girl's chamber.

Its hangings were really of damask, with designs of white flowers on a


blue ground, cut out of an old dress by Madame Duplay. This was the one
obvious attempt at ornament. The Incorruptible's room was otherwise very
modestly furnished, containing only the armchair in which he had fallen
asleep, a few cane chairs, a very simple desk, a plain deal bookcase
overladen with books and fastened to the wall, and a bed of walnut-wood.

The room was situated, as already said, in a wing which connected the
main building occupied by the Duplay family with an outhouse opening on
the Rue Saint-Honoré. It also communicated with little Maurice's room, to
whom the Incorruptible in his leisure hours gave lessons in history, and on
the duties of a citizen. The child, who had been sent early to bed on the
arrival of the police-agents with Olivier, now slept soundly.

At about three o'clock, the boy awoke with a start. He heard a noise in
the next room, and, thinking he recognised Robespierre's voice, turned over
to sleep again. It was not the first time his good friend had talked aloud in
his sleep. But he was awakened again by the falling of a chair, and jumped
from his bed anxiously and ran to open the door. In the flickering light of
the nearly extinguished lamp he discerned the Incorruptible standing erect,
still dressed, and gesticulating wildly as if pushing some one back. The boy
advanced towards him, asking what was amiss. Robespierre stared at him
with a frightened look, then folding him in his arms, he fell on his knees
moaning. Between his groans the child could catch the words—

"My son! ... My son!"

Then the lamp went quite out.

The child gently disengaged himself. Bon ami had called him his son!
Yes, he was his son, his affectionate and dutiful son. Then with tender
solicitude he helped him to rise. The day was already peeping through the
half-closed shutters. Maurice with some difficulty succeeded in replacing
his friend on the armchair in which he had passed the night, and asked him
if he wished for anything. But Robespierre had fallen asleep again.

The boy returned to his room, walking backwards on tiptoe, fearing to


awaken him, and went to bed again.

At seven o'clock in the morning Robespierre opened his eyes. He


remembered nothing. The fact of having slept in his clothes, and in an
armchair, did not surprise him. He had often done so in the days of sore
trial. He drew aside the curtains, and the room was suddenly flooded with
daylight. Some one knocked. It was Maurice Duplay, asking if he could
come in.

The boy's early visit surprised Robespierre.

"Are you well, bon ami?"

"Yes, why?"

"Nothing ... only ... last night ... you know..."

"Last night? Well!"

"You rather frightened me!"

"Frightened you?"

"Yes, you frightened me!"

The child then told him what had taken place in the night.

"Are you quite sure?" asked Robespierre anxiously.

"Oh! quite sure, and since you called me your son it shows you
recognised me, and had not the fever so badly after all."

"Yes, you are right! It was nothing since ... as you said ... since I
recognised you; ... for it was you of course I called my son: ... you are my
good little son, are you not?"

And he patted his cheeks, adding—

"But you must not speak of it to anybody! not to anybody, mind! It is


not worth while worrying your father and mother."

"Oh no! I have never said anything!"


Robespierre began again to feel uneasy.

"How do you mean? You have never said anything?"

"Why, it is not the first time it has happened to you."

"Have you heard me before, then?"

"Oh yes! speaking loud in your sleep."

"And what did I say?"

"Oh, I never understood anything, ... disconnected words, that's all....


And then I was so accustomed, I did not pay much attention. But last night
it was too much and I got up."

"You should not have done so, it was nothing more serious than usual,
only the worry and bother that upset me so."

"It was the cross-examination of the Chouan yesterday which unstrung


you, I suppose?"

"Perhaps; ... it may be.... But, you see, now I am quite well."

As the lad was going he called after him.

"Now you know, and you won't give it another thought, will you? And
not a word, mind, not a word! Now go, child."

He was subject to such nightmares then?

"Perhaps I don't take enough exercise," he thought, and he resolved to


go out at once into the open air. A good walk to the Champs-Elysées would
completely revive him. He changed his clothes, shaved, powdered and
perfumed himself as usual, and had actually started, but went back and took
from a drawer in his desk the draft of the new law which he had prepared
the day before, and put it in his pocket. He had decided after reflection not
to submit it himself, but to confide it to Couthon, one of the most faithful of
his friends on the Committee with Lebas, Saint-Just, and Augustin. Couthon
would read the document from the tribune, and this would leave him fresh
and fit for the ensuing debate.

Having called at Couthon's house, and concluded this arrangement,


Robespierre made his way to the Champs-Elysées through the Tuileries
with his dog Blount, who gambolled joyously in his new-found freedom
after a three days' confinement in the house. The Incorruptible walked
quickly and briskly as usual, in spite of the intense heat, which was but little
diminished by the shade of the chestnuts lining the avenue. He was already
telling over in his mind those among his enemies who would be the first
victims of the new law. As to Olivier and the two women, it was quite
decided. They should remain in prison in the most absolute secrecy until the
time came for him to be master.

At the end of the avenue he turned into the Allée de Veuves and went
towards the Seine. Blount, who had scented the water, leapt and bounded
forward in high glee. On fine summer days the dog used to swim in the
river under the eyes of Robespierre. When he reached the banks of the
Seine Blount was awaiting him, and at a sign jumped in the water, and the
Incorruptible found some release from his harrowing thoughts in watching
the gambols of his dog in the river.

At the Convention the Bill read by Couthon was received with loud
protests, and the subsequent debate opened amid turbulence and uproar.
That the judgments of the Revolutionary Tribunal should be accelerated by
the suppression of evidence and cross-examinations had already frightened
not a few; but when it became a question of transmitting to the Committee
of Public Safety the right of life or death, the whole assembly was filled
with fear. Up to that time the Convention alone had the right to sit in
judgment on a representative of the people!

A voice was heard exclaiming—

"If that law is passed, nothing is left but to blow out our brains!"

Robespierre appeared in the tribune. The Bill was voted. The next day
several attempts were made in the Convention to repeal the atrocious law
which brought the Terror into their very midst, but all such efforts failed.
With so trenchant a law, a two-edged weapon which could be turned at
will either against the Committee of Public Safety or against the
Convention, according to the intricate windings of his subtle policy, with
such a weapon Robespierre could keep his enemies of the Committee at
bay. He had in future but to accuse them, and have them replaced by
creatures of his own, satellites of his will.

However, all was going well. His adversaries, blind and unwary, had
begun to tear each other to pieces in party disputes, and to split up into
factions, the very day after the passing of the atrocious law which made him
so dreaded.

The Incorruptible tried to take advantage of these cabals, but he was too
hasty. The Committee, realising their danger, united against him; and this
was the prelude to a terrible and decisive struggle, for in case of failure
there remained nothing for Robespierre but to have recourse to force.
Realising this to the full, he no longer attended the sittings of the
Committee, but worked silently in the shade, preparing the coup d'état
which was to rid him at once and for ever of all his enemies,—with Saint-
Just, whom he had sent for from the Northern Army, with Hauriot,
Commander-in-Chief of the armed force; Fleuriot-Lescot, Mayor of Paris;
Payan, Agent of the Commune; and Dumas, President; and Coffinhal, Vice-
President of the Revolutionary Tribunal. His design was very simple. He
would denounce his adversaries of the Committee of Public Safety at the
bar of the Convention and ask for their arrest and judgment. Should the
Convention resist, he would subdue them with the help of Hauriot and his
troops, and of all sections of the Commune, who on a sign from him and
from Fleuriot, Payan, Dumas, Coffinhal, and their friends, would be stirred
to insurrection, and would take the Tuileries by storm.

As to Olivier and the two women, they were always under his hand.
Olivier, at La Force Prison, was in no way disturbed. Clarisse and Thérèse
had been kept at La Bourbe by his orders. Twice the names of Olivier's
mother and fiancée had appeared on the list of the Revolutionary Tribunal,
and twice their names had been struck off by Robespierre, who, anxious and
watchful, took care that all lists should be submitted to him.
Soon the decisive hour approached. It was the 7th Thermidor. Six weeks
had elapsed since the memorable Fête of the Supreme Being, and the
passing of the horrible Prairial law, which had sent hundreds of victims to
the scaffold. The Terror was at its height, and France, prostrate before the
knife of the guillotine, was awaiting in distracted anxiety the result of the
struggle. The guillotine was also waiting, ready to devour whichever of the
two parties was vanquished—Robespierre's opponents or Robespierre
himself and his partisans.

The Incorruptible, driven to the last extremity, had fixed the battle for
the next day, the 8th Thermidor, when he would throw off his mask and
accuse his adversaries of the Committee of Public Safety in presence of the
Convention. Although he was almost certain of the issue, he deemed it none
the less prudent to take infinite precautions, and to put Olivier and the two
women in perfect safety, in case of defeat, however impossible it might
seem. They must be taken from prison, and all three placed in some secure
retreat, out of the reach of danger, from whence they could escape if
necessary.

Robespierre thought of the Hôtel de Ville, where he reigned supreme.


Behind this, in the Rue du Martroy, were some unoccupied apartments, in a
building connected with and forming part of the hotel. Clarisse might live
there with her niece and Olivier until they could with safety leave Paris. He
unfolded his projects to Lebas, who alone knew of the secret drama which
poisoned the private life of the Incorruptible at the very moment when his
public career was reaching its climax. Lebas approved the plan.

"I am entirely at your service!"

"Thanks. I was counting on your help. But don't let us be too hasty. To-
morrow will be time enough. Everything depends on the sitting. If you see
that the majority hesitate from the commencement, go immediately to La
Bourbe and take the two women out, then to La Force and see about my
son. The apartments are ready. You have only to take them there. But save
the women first. Olivier must find his mother and his fiancée when he
arrives."
Then taking two papers from his pocket, he added, "Here are the
warrants of release."

"Agreed!" said Lebas, after reading them.

Next day at the Convention, Lebas, a parliamentary expert, judged that


Robespierre would come out victorious from the contest, nor was he
mistaken. The Incorruptible had brought a general accusation, without
mentioning names, against members of the Committee of Public Safety and
General Security. This was received in anxious silence, a few only daring to
protest. But the printing of the speech, and its circulation in all the
communes of Paris, was none the less voted. It was an official accusation,
by the voice of Robespierre, of his adversaries, before the whole of France.
It was victory; and nothing was left but to name the victims.

But the implicated members of the Committee of Public Safety did not
give him time. Vadier boldly made for the tribune, followed by Cambon,
who, feeling it was a case of kill or cure, played a daring game, and replied
to the general accusation of Robespierre by a direct, personal accusation,
denouncing him openly to the astonished Assembly. The real traitor, he
declared, was this masterful Robespierre, who paralysed the will of the
National Convention!

There was a counter-wave of feeling among the members of the


Assembly at this public indictment, and censure of their slavish submission
to Robespierre. They seemed suddenly to realise their position, and the
more daring members, seeing the tide turn, prepared for the fight. Thus the
attacked were in their turn attacking.

Billaud-Varennes succeeded Cambon at the tribune.

"The mask must be torn aside, no matter whose face it covers!" he cried.
"I would rather my corpse should be the stepping-stone of the ambitious
than by my silence be an accomplice of their crimes!"

Others succeeded Billaud-Varennes, reiterating his accusations more


boldly and insultingly. Robespierre, disconcerted, tried to face the storm,
but it was too late. In confining himself to a general accusation, in
mentioning no names, he had frightened every one. The Assembly revoked
their previous decision, and amended the Bill. The speech was not to be
sent to the Communes, but to the Committee, to be examined.

"What!" cried Robespierre, "I have the courage to make before the
Convention revelations which I believe necessary to the salvation of the
country, and my speech is to be submitted for examination to the very men
whom I accuse!"

Victory had been followed by defeat; a partial defeat, it was true, for,
seeing the hesitating attitude of the Convention, Robespierre hoped to win
them back again the next day. He must, however, be prepared for every
emergency! That very evening he would take steps to organise an
insurrection of the Communes, which, in case of resistance, would
annihilate the whole set of dastardly cowards. The Incorruptible wished to
act within legal bounds as long as possible, and only to overstep them when
forced to do so.

Robespierre looked round for Lebas, but he had disappeared, and this
gave him grounds for hope that the two women, and perhaps Olivier, had
reached the private apartments chosen by him in the Rue du Martroy.

"I must go and make sure that all is well," he said to himself; "there is
not a moment to lose"—and leaving the Convention, he hastened in the
direction of the Hôtel de Ville.

CHAPTER X

THE TUMBRILS

At that very moment Lebas reached the Hôtel de Ville with Clarisse and
Thérèse. On leaving the prison of La Bourbe he had given a false address to
the coachman who drove the prisoners, and he followed them at a distance
in another carriage, accompanied by a man to superintend the luggage, who
was one of the attendants at the Hôtel de Ville, and a devoted adherent of
Robespierre. The second carriage soon overtook the first, when Lebas gave
the correct address to the driver—

"13, Rue du Martroy!"

Clarisse and Thérèse mounted the stairs more dead than alive, ushered
up respectfully by Lebas, and Urbain, the attendant, carrying their luggage.
Where were they going? Who were these people? Lebas at the prison had
scarcely spoken to Clarisse.

"For your safety," he had said simply, "for your niece's safety, do not
question me before we arrive at our destination."

For her safety? For Thérèse's safety! Then they were to be saved? Who
could save them? She would surely learn now who it was.

The two men stopped on the third floor, and Urbain opened a door.

"It is here!" said Lebas, making way for them to pass in.

The two women entered, and found themselves in a plain sitting-room


with fittings and furniture of dark grey wood. Urbain took the luggage to a
door opening on the left, through which a bedroom was visible.

"You must make yourself quite at home, here," said Lebas.

And he informed them that they were free, but from motives of
prudence he who had saved them, and for whom Lebas was acting, had
judged it advisable to offer them these apartments as a temporary residence,
where they would be entirely out of danger's reach. Clarisse and Thérèse
could not recover from their surprise, and wished to know to whom they
owed their deliverance. But Lebas would not tell them, having received no
orders to that effect. All he could say to reassure them was that their
protector was all-powerful at the Paris Commune, and that the apartments
were in direct communication, through a door which he indicated, with the
Hôtel de Ville, so that they were under his immediate care.

Clarisse started. She understood now. She owed her safety to the
Incorruptible! Her letter of the preceding month had reached Robespierre.
She knew this already, as he had acknowledged it in a few brief words three
days after receiving it—"Fear nothing, your son is safe!" And this was all
she had heard.

Lebas was still giving the women particulars of their new surroundings.
Everything had been arranged to render them as comfortable as possible.
The man who had accompanied them was entirely at their disposal, and it
was to his interest to serve them well. His wife would see also to their
wants, and take charge of their apartments, where they would be absolutely
free and unrestrained.

Only one precaution was earnestly recommended to them; to show


themselves as little as possible at the windows of their sitting or bed room,
so as not to attract the attention of neighbours. They were especially told to
avoid this in the afternoon, from four to six. The windows looked on to the
Rue du Martroy, through which the carts carrying the condemned passed.
The scaffold was now installed at the Barrière du Trône Renversé, and it
was the shortest way.

The two women shuddered.

"Unhappily we had no choice," Lebas added, seeing their repugnance,


"but you will be warned by the cries of the crowd, and you can then retire to
the dining-room which looks on to the courtyard. It lasts but a quarter of an
hour or twenty minutes, at the most."

But Clarisse scarcely listened, her whole mind occupied with one
thought, the longing to inform Olivier, whose whereabouts she hoped soon
to learn, of their release from prison.

"Could I write a few words to some one who is very dear to me?" she
asked. "I wish to set his mind at rest about our welfare."
Lebas replied in the affirmative, and she thanked him gratefully. He
politely protested; she owed him no thanks, these were solely due to him
whose orders he was executing. He then offered to take the letter himself,
saying he would return for it in a quarter of an hour, as he had another
urgent duty to fulfil. And he retired, leaving the two women with Urbain,
who busied himself arranging the furniture of the sitting-room.

Thérèse, now full of hope, gave thanks to God. They would perhaps
soon see Olivier again. What joy! But to whom did they owe their release?
She looked inquiringly at her aunt. Clarisse owned that she believed it was
to an ex-secretary of Thérèse's grandfather, now all-powerful, and to whom
she had written from the prison of La Bourbe. Thérèse seemed astonished
that her aunt had not told her of this. But Clarisse made the very plausible
excuse that she did not wish to raise her hopes, not knowing whether her
appeal would have success.

The young girl was now looking through the shutters of one of the
windows which Urbain had partly opened.

"Ah! there is a church!" she exclaimed, and immediately she thought


that if they were allowed to go out she would go and pray for their
protector, for he could not be all-powerful and not have done wrong; he
must belong also to the Government of Terror.

At the mention of a church, Clarisse approached the window. She


recognised the building; it was St. Gervais Church, on whose portal could
be read in large letters the sadly ironical inscription: "National Property, to
be let as a Warehouse."

At Clarisse's request Urbain had placed an ink-stand and blotting-paper


on the table, and Clarisse hearing it was ready turned round joyfully. "At
last I can write to Olivier!" she thought.

She then seated herself at the table and began to write, while Thérèse
was making a tour round the room, taking a survey of the furniture.
Suddenly catching sight of an illustrated paper on a sofa, she took it up to
pass the time away. It was five weeks old, and had been preserved no doubt
on account of the illustrations. Its pages gave an elaborate account of the

You might also like