The state of China's ecological environment has improved to some extent since the Chinese government initiated the Natural Forest Protection Programme (NFPP) in 1998. The logging prohibition and limitation policies adopted by the NFPP, however, have reduced domestic timber supply. Decreasing domestic timber supply, together with the thriving economy, continues to widen the gap between supply-and-demand. Importation is considered the primary solution to this issue, making China the world's largest timber importer. China's import origin structure indicates that its major timber suppliers are Russia, Malaysia, Papua New Guinea, New Zealand, and Gabon, among which Russia accounts for more than 61% of China's total timber imports. Data regarding imported timber categories show that the relatively cheaper conifers imported from Russia account for more than 60% of all imported timber, with volumes continually increasing because of the rapid pace at which China has been implementing its infrastructure projects. Furthermore, as living standards continue to improve, requirements for home decor and furniture also grow, bringing about an increase in the demand for tropical to temperate timber. In the long term, import will remain the main solution to the insufficient domestic timber supply in China.

The carbon sequestration of harvested wood products (HWP) plays an important role in climate mitigation. Accounting the carbon contribution of national HWP carbon pools has been listed as one of the key topics for negotiation in the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. On the basis of the revised Production Approach of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (2013) (IPCC), this study assessed the accounting of carbon stock and emissions from the HWP pool in China and then analyzed its balance and contribution to carbon mitigation from 1960 to 2014. Research results showed that the accumulated carbon stock in China’s HWP carbon pool increased from 130 Teragrams Carbon (TgC) in 1960 to 705.6 TgC in 2014. The annual increment in the carbon stock rose from 3.2 TgC in 1960 to 45.2 TgC in 2014. The category of solid wood products accounted for approximately 95% of the annual amount. The reduction in carbon emissions was approximately twelve times that of the emissions from the HWP producing and processing stage during the last decade. Furthermore, the amount of carbon stock and emission reduction increased from 23 TgC in 1960 to 76.1 TgC in 2014. The annual contribution of HWP could compensate for approximately 2.9% of the national carbon dioxide emissions in China.

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Abstract:China is the largest furniture exporter in the world. Its wood furniture industry has become an important part of the country's forestry economic development. Hence, investigating China's furniture industry cluster and export competitiveness is favorable for the sustainable development of China's forestry industry. This study indicates that, under the guidance of the export-oriented strategy of China's reform and opening up for 30 years, the country's furniture industry has formed three big industry areas, namely, the Eastern Pearl River Delta, the Yangtze River Delta, and the Bohai Rim Region. As the strategy shifts from export orientation to a focus on domestic demand, the Midwest area will take over China's industrial transfer. At present, China's furniture products have an important position in the world market. In 2010, furniture exports accounted for 27% of the world's total exports, with wood furniture accounting for $10.6 billion worth of exports, or 58% of China's total exports of furniture. Among the main export markets, the United States accounted for 39% of China's total exports. In terms of international furniture trade, an important mutual influence exists between China and the United States. China's office furniture and kitchen furniture have price advantages, whereas the bedroom furniture lacks price advantages. The production and export of mahogany furniture face the pressure of raw material shortage because of the protection of tropical forest resources. Hence, this challenge puts China's furniture industry in future competition from emerging countries such as Malaysia.

The article conducts a questionnaire survey and interview on the students and teachers in three different junior middle schools in Zhejiang Province of China. The results indicate that the effectiveness in English grammar teaching and learning is not satisfactory. And the grammatical competence is not correlated with the goals and objectives of the National English Curriculum. There is significant demand for teachers to encourage students to improve the efficiency and accuracy of English grammar. The outcome is useful for foreign language researchers to know better about current situation of grammar teaching and learning in Chinese junior middle schools. Some suggestions are presented to enhance the effectiveness of English grammar teaching and learning.