This paper examines the new dynamism of China’s urbanization in which urbanism has been actively pursued by municipal governments as a strategy to negotiate and contest with the new power relations established by the post-reform regime in the era of neoliberalization. The research identifies the salient features of urbanization and urban land development since the 1990s, probes into their social and political origins, and evaluates the effects of Chinese urban revolutions from above on economic growth, regional inequality and social volatility. The data analysed include those gathered from the national level and from the Guangzhou metropolis in southern China. The interwoven processes of state power reshuffling, urban land development and municipal finance in contemporary China are believed to have constituted a significant and controversial case for critical evaluation of the political origins of urban revolutions in the age of global urbanism and their uneven socioeconomic consequences.

The transition of the Chinese economy from plan to market has led to dramatic economic restructuring and urban transformation since the economic reforms and open door policy in 1978. The state and the market, which are the two basic regulating mechanisms, have significantly changed their role in economic and urban development in this transition in China. We attempt to examine the interplay of the state and the market in facilitating economic growth and producing ‘new’ urban space after replacing socialism with state capitalism. Four major waves of urbanisation and urban development have been identified, in terms of the interaction of the state and the market in producing different forms of urban development which also bring about economic transition in China. We further examine the new form of urban development in the fourth stage of urbanisation which is represented by the rapid growth of producer services and the resulting development of central business districts. Economic transition and urban transformation in China seem to converge with the development pattern of developed and other developing countries. However, embedded in a different state–market interplay, the experience of Chinese cities may be different and not be easily imitated by cities in other developing countries.

Chromobox (CBX) proteins are important components of epigenetic regulation complexes known to play key roles in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Little is known about the function of distinct CBXs in HCC. To address this issue, the study investigated the roles of CBXs in the prognosis of HCC using ONCOMINE, UALCAN, Human Protein Atlas, Kaplan-Meier Plotter, c-BioPortal databases. Over expressions of 8 CBXs members were found to be significantly associated with clinical cancer stages and pathological tumor grades in HCC patients. Besides, higher mRNA expressions of CBX1/2/3/6/8 were found to be significantly associated with shorter overall survival (OS) in HCC patients, while higher mRNA expression of CBX7 was associated with favorable OS. Multivariate analysis also showed that high mRNA expressions of CBX1/2/3/6/8 were independent prognostic factors for shorter OS of HCC patients. Moreover, high mutation rate of CBXs (51%) was also observed in HCC patients, and genetic alteration in CBXs was associated with shorter OS and disease-free survival (DFS) in HCC patients. Taken together, these results indicated that CBX1/2/3/6/8 could be prognostic biomarkers for survivals of HCC patients.