Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Proceedings of The 23rd International Symposium On Advancement of Construction Management and Real Estate Fenjie Long (Editor)
Proceedings of The 23rd International Symposium On Advancement of Construction Management and Real Estate Fenjie Long (Editor)
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 ...
https://ebookmeta.com/product/proceedings-of-the-25th-
international-symposium-on-advancement-of-construction-
management-and-real-estate-1st-edition-xinhai-lu-editor/
https://ebookmeta.com/product/superalloys-2020-proceedings-of-
the-14th-international-symposium-on-superalloys-sammy-tin/
https://ebookmeta.com/product/principles-of-real-estate-
management-17th-edition-nicholas-dunlap/
https://ebookmeta.com/product/course-1-real-estate-essentials-
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/
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
• • •
Editors
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
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
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
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
xi
xii Contents
1 Introduction
2 Research Method
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
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
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)
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.
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
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.
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
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
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
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,
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
(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
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:
>
> 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
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.
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.
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
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!..."
"Héron! Hér..."
Robespierre threw himself on him, and pinning him to the wall, said
breathlessly—
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.
Robespierre could no longer hide his joy, at last he knew where to find
them!
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.
"Let them come!" he said impatiently. "I have a right surely to pardon
my own son!"
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....
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.
"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.
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!"
"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
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?
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!
"I saw a light through your window," said Lebas, "and knew you had
not yet gone to bed."
"Both of them?"
"By my orders?"
"Yes, alas!"
"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?"
"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?"
But Lebas had just closed the door, and wished him good night.
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.
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—
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.
"Yes, why?"
"Frightened you?"
The child then told him what had taken place in the night.
"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?"
"You should not have done so, it was nothing more serious than usual,
only the worry and bother that upset me so."
"Perhaps; ... it may be.... But, you see, now I am quite well."
"Now you know, and you won't give it another thought, will you? And
not a word, mind, not a word! Now go, child."
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!
"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.
"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."
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!
"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!"
"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—
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.
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.
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.
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