See discussions, stats, and author profiles for this publication at: https://www.researchgate.

net/publication/347995391

China’s rural revitalization and development: Theory, technology and

management

Article  in  Journal of Geographical Sciences · December 2020

DOI: 10.1007/s11442-020-1819-3

CITATIONS READS

15 1,667

3 authors, including:

Yansui Liu Yuanyuan Yang

Chinese Academy of Sciences Institution of Geograhpic Sciences and Natural Resources Research
275 PUBLICATIONS   12,077 CITATIONS    38 PUBLICATIONS   840 CITATIONS   

SEE PROFILE SEE PROFILE

Some of the authors of this publication are also working on these related projects:

Geographical Engineering View project

Land Use Research View project

All content following this page was uploaded by Yansui Liu on 16 January 2021.

The user has requested enhancement of the downloaded file.

J. Geogr. Sci. 2020, 30(12): 1923-1942
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11442-020-1819-3

© 2020 Science Press Springer-Verlag

China’s rural revitalization and development:

Theory, technology and management
LIU Yansui1,2, ZANG Yuzhu1,2, *YANG Yuanyuan1
1. Key Laboratory of Regional Sustainable Development Modeling, Institute of Geographic Sciences and Nat-
ural Resources Research, CAS, Beijing 100101, China;
2. College of Resources and Environment, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China

Abstract: The urban-rural transformation from dichotomy to integration is a gradual process.

Like rural areas in many countries, Chinese rural society is experiencing a decline in all
spheres due to depopulation, aging, lack of economic opportunity, and so on. Aiming at
solving the serious rural issues, China proposed the implementation of a rural revitalization
strategy and the promotion of an integrated urban-rural development for the first time in 2017.
This proposal marks the transformation of the urban-rural relationship, and the integrated
urban-rural development reflects a significant conceptual change. Researches on issues of
rural decline are urgently needed to determine the most effective method for rural revitaliza-
tion and development from the perspective of the urban-rural dynamics. In this context, this
paper focuses on studying the theory, technology and management of rural revitalization and
development. We construct a theoretical framework for urban-rural integration based on
population-land-industry-right between the urban and rural systems, regarding land engi-
neering for land capacity building as the technical support and the rural land system reform
and reconstruction as the policy support for management. This research will provide theo-
retical support for the implementation of China’s rural revitalization strategy.
Keywords: rural revitalization; rural decline; urban-rural integration; land capacity building; land consolidation
engineering; China

1 Introduction
Industrialization and globalization have transformed rural areas through different ways, re-
sulting in various types of countryside globally. Some rural regions experience economic
and social prosperity under driving forces like rural tourism promotion and
counter-urbanization stimulation (Canoves, 2006; Lowe and Ward, 2007) while some rural
regions are trapped in a vicious cycle of decline (Liu and Li, 2017). Rural decline, as a
global issue, is inevitably accompanied by increasing global levels of urban development

Received: 2020-05-14 Accepted: 2020-09-10

Foundation: National Natural Science Foundation of China, No.41931293, No.42071231; The Strategic Priority Research
Program of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, No.XDA23070302.
Author: Liu Yansui (1965–), Professor, specialized in human-earth science and rural sustainability. E-mail: liuys@igsnrr.ac.cn
*
Corresponding author: Yang Yuanyuan (1988–), Associate Professor, specialized in land use and rural development.
E-mail: yangyy@igsnrr.ac.cn

www.geogsci.com www.springerlink.com/content/1009-637x
1924 Journal of Geographical Sciences

(Markey et al., 2008). In the context of the broader structural trends wrought by globaliza-
tion, industrialization and urbanization, emerging rural issues have swept through both de-
veloping and developed countries and hindered rural sustainability, including out-migration
of working-age residents, rural depopulation and exodus, empty housing units, abandoned
land, rural poverty, industrial recession, culture decline, and environmental pollution, etc
(Milbourne 2007; Smith 2007; Long et al., 2011; McManus et al., 2012; Chen et al., 2014;
Liu et al., 2014; Hedlund and Lundholm 2015). In developed countries, such as Sweden,
many young people left the countryside for good education and better paid work in the
growing metropolitan regions (Hedlund and Lundholm, 2015). Meanwhile in developing
countries, such as Latin America, rural out-migration was induced by climate change and
agriculture intensification (García-Barrios et al., 2009; Gray, 2009). Nigeria, India and
China have also experienced rural population decline, labor shortage and social degradation
in recent decades. Rural areas are abandoned for reasons including mobility, poverty, tech-
nology, biased policy and inadequate land management (Liu and Li, 2017). As a result, the
development capacity of rural areas has weakened, threatening their sustainability and resil-
ience.
As responses to these problems, many countries have made ameliorative efforts through
rural renewal, revitalization and restructuring (Allison and Hobbs, 2004; Woods, 2005; Li et
al., 2016; Liu and Li, 2017). Especially, rural restructuring involves multi-dimensional cha-
racteristics— including the process of economic, social, demographic and environmental
changes—driven by the twin forces of technological and social modernization as well as
globalization (Woods, 2005; 2009). They formulated goals and strategies for turning the ru-
ral decline. Britain regarded key settlement policies as a panacea for the ills existing in all
types of rural area by implementing rural planning system like development plans and later
structure plans to solve the problems of rural out-migration, infrastructure shortcomings
since the 1950s (Cloke, 2013). French territorial planning was implemented during the “30
Glorious Years” period, which has constructed an endogenetic and long-term rural revival
mechanism aiming to solve the unbalances of territorial development (Cai, 1987; Benko and
Feng, 1988; Tang, 2013). Demonstration Cities and Metropolitan Development Act of 1966
was enacted in the U.S. to advance urban renewal and promote development of small- or
medium-sized cities or towns. During the 1960s, the strategy of rural industrialization arose
to encourage the movement of capital to rural areas as a means of creating employment, re-
ducing poverty rates and generally alleviating the relatively depressed economic conditions
in nonmetropolitan areas in the U.S (Summers and Gene, 1986). New village movement
(Saemaul Undong), strongly guided by the government, started in South Korea to solve the
imbalance between industrial and agricultural development and escape from rural poverty,
which scattered from countryside to all over the country (Chen et al., 2006; Zheng, 2006;
Piao, 2011). Meanwhile, these countries emphasize on implementation of agricultural sup-
port plans and rural environmental protection acts to promote rural restructuring.
Since the reform and opening up in 1978 in China, significant changes have occurred in
the urban-rural regional system, such as economic growth, rural governance, land-use
change, land system reform, social and cultural transition (Liu, 2007). A series of tighten-
ing policies or strategies with certain political tasks have been enacted to promote ur-
ban-rural transformation in their corresponding periods. The strategies in early stages give
LIU Yansui et al.: China’s rural revitalization and development: Theory, technology and management 1925

preference and priority to the developments of city and heavy industry while macro strate-
gies such as urban-rural coordinated development, new countryside construction and
new-type urbanization are subsequently implemented to solve rural issues and narrow the
gap between urban and rural areas. However, their effectiveness is finite and some contra-
dictions and problems have been intensified (Liu and Li, 2017; Liu, 2018a). Currently,
Chinese society faces a contradiction between unbalanced and inadequate development
and the people’s ever-growing needs for a better life. The government emphasized the
pursuit of a new rural revitalization strategy, prioritizing the development of agriculture
and rural areas. The core solution is to solve serious rural problems of urban-rural unbal-
anced and inadequate development, then compensate the rural short board for building a
well-off society.
In this new strategy, researchers and policy-makers emphasize the close relationship be-
tween rural development and the urban-rural dynamic. The urban-rural dichotomy has ex-
isted since the origin of cities (Haas and Westlund, 2017), and the separation of industry and
agriculture forms the main pattern of urban-rural opposition. After the industrial revolution,
the balance of urban-rural relationships shifted towards the growing dependence of rural
areas on urban economies (Davoudi and Stead, 2002). In the current post-urban world
(Westlund, 2014), urban-rural dynamics are far more complex than the traditional, simple
reciprocal exchanges between cities and villages. The urban-rural dichotomy has been dis-
solved (Haas and Westlund, 2017). The transformation of the urban-rural relationship from
separation and opposition toward integration is a gradual process (Liu et al., 2016). Mean-
while, researching rural issues and policies from the perspective of the urban-rural dynamic
is becoming a hotspot. The urban-rural integration (Chengxiang ronghe) is a process that
understands cities and rural areas as a universe web and that aims to promote the equal ex-
change of urban-rural factors (e.g., labor, capital and enterprise) as well as the balanced al-
location of public resources (Liu, 2018a). China treats the urban-rural integration as the first
way to achieve the goal of rural revitalization in the new era. This strategy is an innovation
and breakthrough for global rural studies, which needs systematic research integrating its
theory, technology and management.
This paper thereby aims to make a clear picture for the readers about China’s rural re-
vitalization and development based on the urban-rural dynamics. In the following sections,
we firstly analyze China’s rural development stages and review the key rural policies
mainly in the 21st century in a historical context, which provides readers with the research
context and describes the background for the following. Aimed at the solution-oriented
rural revitalization strategy, this paper focuses on the research of the theory, technology
and management of rural revitalization and development from the perspective of the ur-
ban-rural integration.

2 Chinese rural development stages and major rural policies

Since reform and opening up, with the acceleration of industrialization and urbanization,
China’s agricultural and rural modernization and urban-rural development experienced a
sustained progress. Overall, the evolution of rural China presents an S-shaped curve (Figure
1). Rural development in China could be divided into three stages according to its phase ob-
1926 Journal of Geographical Sciences

jectives, i.e., the society with adequate food and clothing (1978-2005), building a well-off
society (2005-2020) and achieving prosperity (2020-2035) (Liu et al., 2019a; Liu, 2020a).
Accordingly, the rural system shows three modes from the perspective of regional function,
including single agricultural system (1978-2005), multi-functional rural system (2005-2020)
and integrated urban-rural system (after 2020).
China has built a dual system of urban-rural demarcation during the period of planning
system. Then in 1978, the establishment of the rural household contract responsibility sys-
tem realized the separation of ownership and contractual management rights, which mobi-
lized the farmers’ enthusiasm and facilitated the rapid increase of food production and agri-
cultural modernization (Lin, 1992; Zhou et al., 2020). Yet, the subsequent urban reform led
to the rapid development of cities and the widening gap between urban and rural areas. Due
to the long-term influence of the urban-biased strategies, China experienced massive urban
expansion and rapid economic growth at the beginning of the 21st century. And the three
rural issues concerned agriculture, rural areas and peasants became increasingly prominent.
Rapid urbanization led to an expanded city scale and extended industrial park construction,
resulting in rural decline, a widening of the urban-rural gap, and severe rural problems (Liu
and Li, 2017). Rural functions emphasized the strengthening of social stability maintenance
and the security guarantee of peasants’ livelihoods. This emphasis introduced a long-term
lack of traditional agricultural restructuring and a general imperfection of modern agricul-
tural functions. Rural development lagged far behind urban development due to these un-
balanced policies. Commenters and researchers have been concerned about these serious
problems in rural China and have appealed to the government to promote rural development
since the 1990s.
Responding to these public voices, the central government introduced a series of policies
aiming to promote rural development. In 2002, balancing urban and rural development was
proposed for urban-rural coordination. Through agriculture restructuring and rural construc-
tion, this strategy aimed to eliminate the influence of the urban-rural dual structure system,
coordinate the urban-rural relationship by taking the combination of urban and rural devel-
opment mode. Due to the increasingly severe rural problems, China successively launched
several major development strategies, such as “five-coordinated strategies” (urban-rural de-
velopment, regional development, socio-economic development, harmonious man-nature
development, and domestic development) (2003), and “construction of new socialist coun-
tryside” (2005), etc. Consequently, important implementations were provided for achieving
the development of urban-rural coordination and integration.
By 2012, the development of the urban-rural relationship in China had been further im-
proved, and a gradual transformation from opposition to coordination and integration had
taken place. Then, solving the “three rural problems” still remained an important content for
rural development. In the context of a new era and a new normal, urban-rural transformation
provides a guarantee for the further improvement of the urban-rural relationship, as mani-
fested in the factor transfer, strategy change, and mechanism conversion of the urban-rural
regional system. In the process of urban-rural transformation, important measures including
targeted poverty alleviation (2013) and new-type urbanization construction (2014) were im-
plemented. In particular, rural areas are experiencing a gradual development and improve-
LIU Yansui et al.: China’s rural revitalization and development: Theory, technology and management 1927

ment in terms of infrastructure, industry, and eco-environment. However, rural impoverish-

ment still poses a significant obstacle to the rural development of China and, without solving
this problem, either coordinated urban-rural development or a prosperous and well-off life
for peasants are almost impossible to realize.
In 2017, China proposed the implementation of the rural revitalization strategy and
pointed out that the path of integrated urban-rural development is the first-choice for the
realization of rural revitalization; it represents a significant conceptual change that both re-
balances and reshapes the urban-rural relationship, and aims to create a new-type of ur-
ban-rural relationship characterized by mutual promotion of industry-agriculture, urban-rural
mutual complementation, comprehensive integration, and common prosperity. This strategy
aims to solve five main categories of rural problems, including the rapid loss of agricultural
production elements (e.g., agricultural labor, cultivated land, etc.), excessively fast aging and
weakening of agricultural social subjects, the increasing vacancy of rural houses and waste
of construction lands, the severe pollution of rural ecological environment, and the deep
impoverishment of rural poverty-stricken areas (Zheng and Liu, 2018; Liu, 2018a). The
strategy requires adhering to the priority development of agriculture and rural areas accord-
ing to the overall demands of industrial prosperity, ecological livability, rural civilization,
effective governance, and prosperous life (Figure 2). In 2018, three stages were set to
achieve rural revitalization, i.e., basically forming its institutional framework and policy
system during 2018-2020; making decisive progress in rural revitalization and realizing the
modernization of agricultural and rural areas by 2035; and fully revitalizing rural areas with
realization of strong agriculture, beautiful countryside and rich farmers by 2050. Especially,
the institutional framework and policy system of rural revitalization will be initially im-
proved by 2022. Figure 1 also shows the future direction of rural development, i.e., promot-
ing urban-rural integration and rural revitalization by 2025, basically forming the ur-
ban-rural integration and development system by 2030 and finally realizing urban-rural
equalized development by 2050. In addition, rural revitalization should be promoted tightly

Figure 1 The rural development stage and level of China from 1978‒2050
1928 Journal of Geographical Sciences

Figure 2 China’s rural revitalization and its objectives

with the dual circulation in the context of a changing world and the high-quality develop-
ment. The world faces a profound change that has not been seen in a century and China en-
ters a new stage of development during the 14th Five-Year Plan Period. More efforts should
be made to promote the high-quality development and accelerate the establishment of a dual
circulation development pattern in which domestic economic cycle plays a leading role
while international economic cycle remains its extension and supplement.

3 Theoretical framework of the rural revitalization

Urban-rural integration is the first way to realize China’s rural revitalization strategy in the
new era which is aimed at solving the main social contradictions and prominent problems of
rural regional system and narrowing the gap between urban and rural areas. The object of
urban-rural integration and rural revitalization is a regional multi-body system, which
mainly includes urban-rural integration, rural complex, village-town organism, and hous-
ing-industry symbiosis. The implementation of the rural revitalization strategy often takes
the county as the object, the village as the unit, and the farmer or the enterprise as the cell,
and emphasizes the comprehensive revitalization of the multi-body system of rural areas.
Rural revitalization focuses on promoting the reconstruction of urban-rural integration sys-
tem and constructs a multi-level goal system which includes networks of urban-rural infra-
structure, zones of rural development, fields of village-town space and poles of rural revi-
talization (Figure 3) (Liu, 2018a). Its core is to promote rural polarization development
through organization reconstruction, industrial reshaping and spatial restructuring of rural
system.

Figure 3 Multi-body systems and multi-level goals of rural revitalization in China (Cited from Liu, 2018a)
LIU Yansui et al.: China’s rural revitalization and development: Theory, technology and management 1929

Human-earth science is a new interdisciplinary subject which focuses on the coupling

mechanism, evolution process and complex interaction effects of human-earth system (Liu,
2020b). The human-earth areal system offers a theoretical basis for the research of ur-
ban-rural integration and rural revitalization. It is necessary to consider the urban-rural inte-
gration within the territorial rural system for the research of rural revitalization and devel-
opment, given that integrated urban-rural development is a dynamic process with an ultimate
goal of urban-rural equivalence. Rural revitalization aims to activate endogenous motivation
of factors including rural population, land and industry (Liu, 2018b; Long et al., 2019), so
the synergistic combination of man-land-industry constitutes the key to developing ur-
ban-rural integration. The urban-rural integration represents interactions between urban and
rural systems; moreover, the urban-rural integration is manifested in the factor transfer,
strategy change, and mechanism conversion of the urban-rural regional system, including
the transformation of the population pattern, industrial structure, land use, and spatial form.
Population and land constitute core factors of the human-earth relationship, and the indus-
trial structure offers a basic framework for the regional system of human-earth relationship.
Moreover, rights, reflecting the relationships between people and between people and land,
are requested to be equal between urban and rural areas as China’s urbanization has sacri-
ficed farmers’ rights and interests. In this context, a solution-oriented rural revitalization
strategy should fully implement the “four-revitalization” development of rural areas (i.e.,
revitalization of population, land, industry and right), effectively stimulate rural vitality, ca-
pacity, motivation and competitiveness, and systematically promote the urban-rural integra-
tion, coordination and equivalence.
Cities and rural areas constitute an organic whole, and a sustainable development can only
be achieved through reciprocal interactions between urban and rural department. The ur-
ban-rural integration was created and has evolved by the interaction mechanisms between
urban and rural systems. It has four cores: urban-rural strategic position equivalence, equal
rights and interests for urban and rural residents, urban-rural factor allocation balance, and
an integrated urban-rural development process. The theoretical framework of China’s ur-
ban-rural integration can be summarized as shown in Figure 4.
The key for the success of the rural revitalization strategy lies in the “people”. Currently,
the rapid non-agricultural conversion of agricultural production elements has induced the
loss of rural labor. Those migrating to cities are mainly young and middle-aged people,
while those left behind are mainly the “three types of left-behind groups” (i.e., the elderly,
women, and children) who cannot support modern agriculture and new countryside con-
struction. In the process of urbanization, peasants should be entitled to freely choose be-
tween cities and rural areas, and efforts should be made to rationally solve problems related
to peasant workers and their return to hometowns. At present, no institutional environment
exists in which peasants are encouraged to move their whole families into cities, especially
when considering the most important factors restricting their settlement in cities, such as
housing and children’s education.
Land provides an important resource for the survival and development of mankind, and it
constitutes the core of rural socio-economic development. However, rapid industrialization
and urbanization have caused a massive loss of high-quality cultivated land. Moreover, the
1930 Journal of Geographical Sciences

Figure 4 Theoretical framework of the urban-rural integration

scattering and fragmentation of small-scale cultivated land and the lack of adequate farm-
land infrastructure have resulted in a low utilization rate of cultivated land. Existing rural
problems related to people’s well-being, ecology, industry, and facilities can all be attributed
to the problem of land use. Rational land use provides a valid foundation for reinvigo-
rating land resources, optimizing spatial pattern, improving the eco-environment, and
supporting industrial development, which constitute the highlights of the urban-rural
integration.
The focus of rural revitalization is industrial prosperity and rural industrial development
is a motivational guarantee and inner mechanism of rural revitalization. On the one hand,
traditional rural industries must be protected while modern agriculture must be developed;
on the other hand, efforts should be made to cultivate both emerging and strategic industries
as well as to promote the integration of primary, secondary, and tertiary industries in rural
areas. For instance, unique tourism resources can be relied upon for the development of the
rural tourism industry, the sightseeing industry, the leisure agriculture and service industry,
and the rural new energy and new material industries (including e-commerce, informatiza-
tion, and other industries). To develop rural industries, an overall consideration should be
focused on the regional differences of rural areas, the bearing capacity and property rights of
land, and the related rights enjoyed by peasants. The operating entities of the new-type
countryside constitute a major force for rural revitalization, and by developing new tech-
niques, new modes, and new commercial forms of rural industries, urban-rural factor flows
can be promoted (such as labor flow, the flow of funds, technology flow, information flow,
and product flow).
The right of peasants to make their own decisions is important in rural revitalization,
and their rights of discourse, to autonomous development, to income distribution over
LIU Yansui et al.: China’s rural revitalization and development: Theory, technology and management 1931

collective land, and to social assistance and social security must all be safeguarded. In
the process of coordinated urban-rural allocation and the equal exchange of urban-rural
factors, the key lies in guaranteeing equal rights and interests to both urban and rural
residents. During the assets-oriented innovation of land, the property rights of peasants
must be safeguarded, such as their rights and interests over land assets both before and
after land consolidation as well as their right to income. At present, many regions have
explored the possibilities of implementing a joint-stock land consolidation mode, with
the purpose of safeguarding peasants’ rights to income and their right of participation
after land consolidation.

4 Land engineering for land capacity building as technical support

Land capacity is an umbrella term for land potential, productivity and functions, and a com-
prehensive embodiment of the natural potential, economic values, ecological functions, so-
cial security, and technical contributions of the land of a specific region (Liu, 2018b). Here,
land capacity differs from what we used to call land potential or productivity, as it is a sys-
tematic and comprehensive supporting service and guarantees capacity. The fundamental
goal of land capacity building is to introduce land engineering technique, create
high-standard farmlands, guarantee sustainable land use, and promote agricultural security
as well as sustainable rural development. Relying on agricultural land engineering, the pri-
mary approach of land capacity building is to explore the techniques of cultivating and mel-
iorating organic soil, and to make clear the coupling process of water-soil-climate-biology
and the occurrence theory of “three-micro elements” (i.e., microstructure, micromorphology,
and micro-mechanism) by conducting field observations and scientific tests of research
bases. It also aims to put forward a coordinated strategy of the agricultural ternary structure
with food crop, economic crop and forage crop, and an agricultural mode of produc-
tion-living-ecological integration, thus offering a scientific basis for the planning and deci-
sion-making of land use and rural sustainable development in typical cases and major re-
gions and at both national and global scales (Liu, 2017; Yang et al., 2018). Land consolida-
tion provides a critical means of realizing land capacity building and it is an indispensable
way of spatial restructuring in rural China, which will establish a platform for revitalizing
the countryside and realizing urban-rural integrated development (Long, 2014; Wu et al.,
2019; Zhou et al., 2020). With regard to the problems of inefficient land use and spatial
scattering and to achieve the goals of efficient land resource utilization and orderly land
space utilization, efforts must be made to scientifically promote the comprehensive consoli-
dation of rural land; to facilitate the integration of organizations, industry and space in rural
areas; and to effectively shape the new driving forces and new mechanisms of rural revitali-
zation and urban-rural integrated development in China. Land consolidation aims to raise the
efficiency of land use, strengthen production capacity of agriculture and highlight the value
of modern agriculture and rural areas. These factors help to enhance multi-functional and
high-quality agriculture, while simultaneously promoting intensive and ecological rural de-
velopment. The resources, assets, and capital attributes of land dictate that land has the fol-
lowing features which reveals that the process of land consolidation should also focus on
1932 Journal of Geographical Sciences

these aspects: (1) Economy—Land is the most fundamental means of production. Its eco-
nomic characteristics mainly include the scarcity of land supply, the dispersion of land use
patterns, the difficulty of land use type change and diminishing marginal returns. (2) Ecol-
ogy—Land requires conservation to solve ecological problems. In accordance with the re-
quirements of ecological civilization construction, the land ecological consolidation is ad-
vocated to thoroughly implement integrated ecological protection, restoration for mountains,
rivers, forests, fields, lakes, and strongly build ecological land. (3) Sociality—Land use has
the sociality and externality, and land is the key to securing people’s well-being. (4) Policy
and strategy—Land is the spatial carrier of human main economic and social activities. It is
a strategic resource. The core of ecological civilization construction, land spatial optimiza-
tion and the transformation of economic development mode, is the intensive and eco-
nomical use of land which is featured by policy-orientation. In 2018, the Ministry of Land
and Resources and the Ministry of Finance signaled continuous support would be offered
for the in-depth promotion of regional major project construction according to national
land consolidation planning in impoverished areas, old revolutionary base areas, major
grain-producing areas, border areas, minority areas, and other areas with abundant culti-
vated land reserves. This support had the purpose of pushing forward the targeted poverty
alleviation strategy and conducting the rural revitalization strategy as well as other na-
tional strategies.
According to the goals of land consolidation and the benefits generated by it, land con-
solidation plays a “five-guarantee” role for promoting rural revitalization: (1) Resources
guarantee—Land consolidation in China is mainly marked by the construction of
high-standard farmlands. Relying on land consolidation as well as other projects and tech-
niques, land resources can be effectively integrated, thus raising the quantity and quality of
cultivated land, while guaranteeing food security. (2) Engineering support—Land consolida-
tion is a systematic engineering construction activity which adopts engineering, technical,
biological and other measures to conduct the comprehensive consolidation of disused or
degraded land. It could increase the area of effective arable land and the efficiency of land
use, and promotes the integration of the production, living and ecological spaces. This
project is not merely technical; it is also a social project aiming to benefit peasant house-
holds through land consolidation. (3) Technical support—Land consolidation adopts the
technical means of remote sensing or unmanned aerial vehicles to conduct dynamic moni-
toring and all-round surveys in project areas, to acquire basic data through rapid remote
sensing interpretation and investigation, and to use a big data platform to provide scien-
tific decision-making for rural revitalization. (4) Industry guarantee—Agriculture is mul-
ti-functional. Promoting the integrated development of the primary, secondary, and tertiary
industries would constitute a basis for rural revitalization. Based on the increase of
cultivated land resources via land consolidation and the development of modern agricul-
ture and emerging industries through cultivation technical system of agricultural experi-
ment or land circulation, the aim is to increase the income and employment of peasants
and to realize a sustainable development of rural areas. (5) Institutional guaran-
tee—Measures are taken to guide the consolidated land through land transfer and owner-
ship adjustments, to determine land-use rights (instead of land itself), to allocate the rights
LIU Yansui et al.: China’s rural revitalization and development: Theory, technology and management 1933

and interests over newly increased cultivated land. It is important to entitle peasants to
more property rights through land consolidation, and to increase the asset income of
peasants. The breakthrough of rural land consolidation lies in innovating the rural land
system, i.e., in introducing a new-type mechanism to promote the development of land
consolidation (Wang, 2012). The roadmap for promoting rural revitalization through land
consolidation is shown in Figure 5.

Figure 5 Roadmap for promoting rural revitalization through land consolidation

A diversified range of land consolidation projects has been proposed, such as sandy soil
regulation, flood-damaged land governance, barren hilly land consolidation, hollowed vil-
lage consolidation, and polluted land remediation, etc. The essence of land consolidation is
to use engineering technique to convert degraded land into productive cultivated land; to
transform fragmented and inefficient cultivated land into high-standard farmlands; and to
increase peasants’ livelihoods resources, assets, and capital. To further protect the cultivated
land and to implement the national strategy of requisition-compensation balance, with quan-
tity increase and quality guarantee, China has systematically launched engineering applica-
tions of key techniques related to the comprehensive consolidation of disused or degraded
land. The following four main types have been identified in typical areas: (1) Hollowed vil-
lage consolidation project: consolidation of disused land in the villages of Yucheng, Shan-
dong Province—By revealing the evolvement course of rural hollowing, this project estab-
lishes a technical system of information acquisition, identification survey, potential assess-
ment, and decision-making for disused land of rural villages. The potential of hollowed vil-
lage consolidation in China was measured at 114 million mu (7.6 million ha) for the first
time (Liu et al., 2013). It proposes a “three-integration” mode (i.e., rural spatial restructuring,
organizational reconstruction, and industrial reshaping) that can adapt to the development
rules of rural transformation and build a spatial restructuring hierarchy for a city-town-
1934 Journal of Geographical Sciences

central village (community) composition. With regard to the different needs of the govern-
ment, peasant households, enterprises, and other concerned parties, this project supports to
return disused land to farmland and forest after consolidation; it also constructs residential
and industrial areas to achieve community-based residence, clustered employment and so-
cialized service. By developing the construction technology of healthy soil related with land
cultivation, soil layer compounding, and soil improvement, the problems faced by newly
increased cultivated land during village reclamation (such as instable structure and poor fer-
tility) have been solved. Currently, land consolidation in hollowed villages has become one
of the most important measures taken by the state towards rural sustainability (Li et al.,
2018). (2) Gully land consolidation project in Yan’an—The “Grain for Green” project in this
Loess Plateau has achieved a significant ecological construction effect, meanwhile, it has
also affected the local household livelihood and food security. Therefore, gully consolidation
became a key for strengthening the agricultural production capacity of gullies. Relying on
the gully consolidation mode of “grain for green up the hill and gully consolidation down
the hill”, this project has contributed to the optimization of land use structure and landscape
pattern, and help to guarantee the eco-security of watershed (Li et al., 2019). In the gullies
of Yan’an, the main cropping pattern is the single cropping of corn at present which does not
conform to the macro strategy of China’s agricultural structural adjustment. By innovating
the modern gully agricultural development pattern based on the production-living-ecology
integration, the land consolidation project has introduced forage rape into the agricultural
production chain after gully consolidation and promoted the multi-functional agriculture of
“planting + breeding + processing + sightseeing”. This innovation laid a foundation for re-
alizing the multi-functional gully agriculture pattern from single cropping (corn) into double
cropping (corn + rape) (Liu et al., 2019b), and from one industry into three industries in the
gully regions of the Loess Plateau, while simultaneously promoting the cooperative and
professional construction of agricultural bases (Liu et al., 2017; Liu and Wang, 2019). (3)
Barren hilly land consolidation project: the land consolidation and circulation project in
Fuping County of Hebei Province—The development of mountainous areas of Fuping
County is mainly based on a requisition-compensation balance. Damaged construction land
and unused land with a slope of less than 25° is developed into cultivated land which is used
for a requisition-compensation balance; furthermore, the surplus index of construction land
is transferred within the province. The intra-provincial transfer of the land-use index is a
market transaction of the land development right and a transaction between the rural and
urban land development rights (Liu and Wang, 2019). This transaction not only promotes
the bilateral flow and efficient integration of urban-rural resources while increasing the sup-
ply of urban construction land but also effectively increases peasants’ income from the as-
sets-oriented conversion of land by promoting the capitalization of land resources (Zhou et
al., 2019). Furthermore, taking the opportunities of land consolidation and migration reloca-
tion and implementing land transfer, the land management right is converted into shares by
area and circulated to the village committee. Then, on behalf of peasant households, the vil-
lage committee contributes in the form of land and engages with agricultural companies in
cooperative development and management. As a result, land consolidation creates employ-
ment opportunities and widens the employment channels for local farmers to increase their
income in the three forms of “share capital, dividend, and wage” (Wu et al., 2019). At the
same time, the land consolidation project consolidates geological disaster-stricken land into
LIU Yansui et al.: China’s rural revitalization and development: Theory, technology and management 1935

productive land; effectively reduces landslides, debris flows, and other natural disasters; and
efficiently achieves poverty alleviation and disaster reduction. (4) Sandy soil consolidation:
the “double-optimal” project (i.e., optimal formulation of soil layers and optimal selection of
improved varieties) for degraded land in Yulin—By analyzing the component structure and
evolutionary process of the sandy soil in the Mu Us Sandy Land of Yulin and by relying on
the physical complementarity of local sandy soil and red clay, this project experimentally
proposed a structural consolidation theory to rehabilitate sandy land into farmland by soil
body building, soil layer reconstruction, and soil quality improvement (Wang et al., 2020).
An innovative “double-optimal” matching mode was introduced for sandy soil consolidation,
whose objective is to understand how to grow optimal crops in particular soils, i.e., how the
growth of different crops influences and improves the land, and how different land compo-
nents affect the growth of crops. Consequently, land suitability and biological fitness are
perfectly combined. When applied to sandy soil regulation projects, the composite
land-forming technique efficiently transforms sandy soil in wind-blown sand regions into
high-productivity farmlands. Land consolidation also increases the quality of degraded land
and improves its ecological environment.

5 Rural land system reform and reconstruction for management

Rural land system reform is an important support for rural revitalization. Implementing the
rural revitalization strategy requires adhering to the priority development of agriculture and
rural areas and establishing a sound policy system for the integrated urban-rural develop-
ment. Optimization of the rural land system not only provides the premise to effectively
solve the “three rural problems” but also constitutes the key toward a thorough implementa-
tion of the rural revitalization strategy. Based on the proposed framework of the land-use
policy in China (Liu et al., 2014), we constructed a framework of the rural land-use policy
reform in China (Figure 6), which consists of one overall goal, two basic systems, five core
systems, and multiple basic guarantee systems. Specifically, the two basic systems are the
cultivated land-protection system and the intensive land-use system. In the context of rural

Figure 6 Framework of the rural land-use policy reform in China

1936 Journal of Geographical Sciences

revitalization, the rural land system reform mainly covers three fields: the rural contracted
land, the homestead, and the collective construction land. Its five core systems include the
“separation of three rights” (i.e., collective ownership, contractual right for peasant house-
holds, and management right for operators) system, the homestead exit system, the market
entry system of a collective profit-oriented construction land, the land expropriation system,
and the rural property rights transaction system.
The demands of rural revitalization require a further consolidation of the “separation of
three rights” system of rural land, thus extending the rural homestead system reform and
stimulating the endogenous power of the market entry reform of rural collective
profit-oriented construction land. In doing so, the innovation of the land expropriation sys-
tem can be deepened to provide a decision-making reference for improving the adaptability
of rural land system reform, and maximally strengthening the optimal utilization of rural
land resources. Details are summarized as follows: (1) Consolidate the “separation of three
rights” system for rural land—Efforts should be focused on perfecting the “separation of
three rights” system for rural land, and keeping the land contractual relationship stable as
well as unchanged on a long-term basis. In the case of no change in the subject of rural col-
lective land ownership, it is necessary to protect contractual right of peasant households,
accelerate the enlivening of land management right, and introduce a policy allowing the le-
gitimate use of the management right of rural contracted land as a mortgage for financial
institutions and as a contribution toward the industrialized management of agriculture (Wang
and Zhang, 2017). The current round of land contracts will be extended for a further 30
years upon expiry to provide a long-standing institutional guarantee for rural revitalization.
The “separation of three rights” reform of rural land does not affect the collective ownership
of rural land but divides the households’ contracted management right into two parts, which
include nontradable contractual rights of collective members and tradable rural land man-
agement rights by land transfer from collective members to agricultural producer (Han,
2016). The differences between land contractual right and land management right include
the subject of the right, the content of the right and the nature of the right (Xu et al., 2018).
This institutional arrangement aims to active the land transfer mechanism, satisfy the de-
mands of modern agribusiness, and ensure rural residents’ rights and social security (Li et al.,
2018; Xu et al., 2018; Zhou et al., 2020). (2) Expanding rural homestead system re-
form—According to the requirements of rural revitalization strategy, the rural homestead is a
critical index reflecting “ecological livability, rural civilization, and effective governance”.
Efforts should be made to perfect policies related to peasants’ idle homesteads and idle
houses. It is also necessary to explore the “separation of three rights”, i.e., to implement the
collective ownership of homesteads, to guarantee the homestead qualification right of peas-
ant households and the house property rights of peasants, and to moderately enliven peas-
ants’ use right over homesteads and houses. With regard to the problems faced by peasant
households (such as the difficulty of obtaining a homestead, extensive use, and unsmooth
release), the modes of safeguarding and acquiring homestead rights and interests must be
perfected. Furthermore, researchers must explore multiple forms of realizing the housing
security of peasants in different regions; the possibility of implementing paid use with re-
gard to the “over-standard occupation of the homestead”, “one household with multiple
homesteads”, and other circumstances caused by historical reasons; and the possibility of
LIU Yansui et al.: China’s rural revitalization and development: Theory, technology and management 1937

implementing a voluntary paid release or transfer of homesteads by peasants who have set-
tled down in cities within their collective economic organization. For example, rural resi-
dential land use right is suggested to be acquired at a stepped tariff rather than free of charge,
especially for those households with more than one residential plot or with the per capita
area beyond the prescribed standard (Gao et al., 2020). In 2018, China established an index
of newly-increased cultivated land and a mechanism for cross-provincial regulation of the
surplus index for linking the amount of urban and rural construction land. (3) Stimulating the
endogenous power of the market entry reform of rural collective profit-oriented construction
land—The market entry of rural collective profit-oriented construction land becomes the
biggest breakthrough for pilot projects in this new round of land system reform. To meet the
rural revitalization strategy, the market entry reform of rural collective construction land
should focus on stimulating the endogenous power of the system reform, abide by the basic
principles of “same price for same right, smooth circulation, and income sharing”, and iden-
tify the equilibrium point of interests among the state, the collective, and individuals (Du
and Huang, 2018). The primary tasks of this reform are to improve the property right system
of rural collective construction land, define the scope and way of entering the market, and
establish market transaction regulation and service monitoring system (Zhang and Li, 2018;
NPCC, 2018). This strategy aims to deepen the rural collective property rights system re-
form, safeguard the property rights and interests of peasants, and strengthen the collective
economy. (4) Deepening the innovation of the land expropriation system—The land expro-
priation system reform aims to realize the “three transformations”, i.e., resources into assets,
funds into shared capital, and peasants into shareholders. This measure is used to reinvigo-
rate land resources, solve land development problems, and safeguard the rights and interests
of peasants during land expropriation. The practice follows the pattern of contribution in the
form of land, i.e., peasants contribute in the form of land contracted management rights,
while agricultural companies contribute in the form of cash. In this way, peasants can re-
ceive an equity dividend from a joint venture they have jointly established. In this practice,
land is formally transformed into assets and assumes the credit and debt of the joint venture.
This method of land system reform can fully bring into play the resources allocation role of
the market, while continuously moving towards the same land, same price and same right for
cities and rural areas.

6 Discussion
The urban-rural relationship is a basic proposition of applied geography (Serra et al., 2014)
and an important field of concern for economics, sociology, and other disciplines. It typi-
cally experiences a gradual transformation from separation and opposition toward coordina-
tion and integration. The specific contents show China is attaching increasingly greater im-
portance to the issue of unbalanced urban-rural development, and the goal to build a
new-type of urban-rural relationship has been constantly raised to a higher level. To realize
industrial prosperity, ecological livability, rural civilization, effective governance, and a
prosperous life, rural revitalization must focus on the following core contents: the near-term
goal is to build a well-off society in an all-round way and to promote urban-rural integration;
the long-term goal is to ultimately achieve urban-rural equivalence through realizing the
staged process objectives of urban-rural coordination and integration. At the current stage,
1938 Journal of Geographical Sciences

the urban-rural integration is the path of first-choice for the realization of rural revitalization.
The rural revitalization strategy aims to solve increasingly serious rural issues. To solve
the rural problems caused by the ever-increasing rural decline, efforts should be made to
revitalize rural areas based on the urban-rural integration. Urbanization is an inevitable trend
of modernization and an effective means for achieving productivity increases. However,
China’s urbanization cannot solve its problems of rural development. In 2019, China’s ur-
banization rate was 60.60%, exceeding 60% for first time. Eventually, even when it may
reach 70% by 2030, almost 500 million people will live in rural areas. Therefore, rural revi-
talization requires a dual-wheel drive by urbanization and ruralization, both of which apply
to special periods and special groups. For instance, one of the biggest problems caused by
urbanization is the large-scale elderly people who are being left behind in rural areas, and
the development of this group demands ruralization. Ruralization is not the flipside of ur-
banization; instead, it advocates people-oriented urbanization and aims to realize urban-rural
strategic position equivalence and to promote the parallel, integrated, and synergistic devel-
opment of both cities and rural areas.
The regional system of the human-earth relationship offers a theoretical basis for studies
on the urban-rural integration, and the urban-rural integration manifests in factor transfer,
strategy change, and mechanism conversion of the urban-rural regional system. Moreover,
the synergistic combination of population-land-industry-right constitutes the key to devel-
oping the urban-rural integration. The key to rural revitalization lies in the “population”, and
its focus and root are industrial prosperity and land use, respectively. The land consolidation
project provides an important way of realizing land capacity building and is an important
engineering means for facilitating rural revitalization. Rural system reform, especially rural
land system reform, is an important support and a pivotal issue for rural revitalization. This
new strategy should fundamentally solve rural problems and energetically lay the foundation
of rural development. Therefore, it should follow the basic rules of problem solving, trans-
formation, development, and revitalization to fully revitalize rural population, land, right and
industry.
Ecological revitalization is an important support for rural revitalization. Promoting the
construction of ecological civilization and the formation of green development mode and life
style are the profound revolution of development concept. Green development is a sustain-
able mode of economic growth and social development. The essence of green development
is to achieve harmony and build a community of life between human and nature. It is essen-
tial to establish ecological environment management system and green development system,
then to construct three red lines including ecological function guarantee baseline, environ-
mental quality safety baseline and natural resource utilization top-line. In this way, agricul-
tural green, high-quality, characteristic and brand-centered development could offer a guide
for rural revitalization. When rural revitalization strategy is combined with green develop-
ment and targeted poverty alleviation strategies, the theoretical framework constructed in
this paper also does work. The people refer to decision makers, practitioners and managers
engaged in modern agriculture and green food; the land refers to the territorial space with
clear waters and green mountains and the efficient and livable production living space; the
industries refer to the modern organic industries which pursue green, low carbon and sus-
tainable development to realize ecological industrialization; the rights refer to ecological
compensation, service value and development rights.
LIU Yansui et al.: China’s rural revitalization and development: Theory, technology and management 1939

In implementing the rural revitalization strategy, five bottom lines should be maintained:
(1) The security bottom line—To maintain the security bottom line means to maintain both
the cultivated land protection red line and the food security bottom line. (2) The people’s
well-being bottom line—Universal access to health care represents the most important
well-being for people and balancing and fairness of interests constitute the most significant
institutional innovation. (3) The ecological bottom line—Maintaining the ecological bottom
line means to adhere to green, ecological, and circular development, ecosystem conservation,
and protecting the inner core and inner attributes of rural areas, instead of developing and
constructing at the cost of resource exhaustion and environment pollution. (4) The institu-
tional bottom line—This concept means the institutional design should be introduced on the
basis of adhering to the current collective land ownership and maintaining the social assis-
tance bottom line. Institutions are important platforms guaranteeing efficiency and fairness,
and institutional design must pay adequate attention to bottom line demands. (5) The risk
bottom line—With the exacerbation of landed estate and international problems, financial
risks and market risks are being increased. Various types of rural development and construc-
tion in the implementation process of targeted poverty alleviation and rural revitalization
cannot be promoted on the basis of debt financing. Considering the above five bottom lines,
the future rural development of China needs to be planned from the following five aspects:
(1) Maintenance of peasants’ subject position—The subject of rural revitalization is the rural
people, who are modern peasants and modern rural subjects. In China, the “three-separation”
of urban-rural relationship (i.e., urban-rural segmentation, divided land governance, and
human-land separation) has resulted in a decline of agriculture and rural areas as well as an
increase in the expansion of the urban-rural gap and many other prominent problems. With-
out solving these problems, the rural revitalization strategy will inevitably be fruitless. (2)
Consolidation of spatial carriers—Spatial pattern and spatial organization constitute the ba-
sis of factor allocation. Consequently, without rational spaces, efficient factor allocation
cannot work. (3) Enhancement of industrial entities—Industry constitutes both the motiva-
tion and inner core of rural revitalization, and the connotations of industry must be extended.
(4) Strengthening the governance regime—The regime plays its role mainly through strategy
design and implementation control of public governmental services. At present, the govern-
ment, enterprises, and the common people have different ideas and goals. For instance, for
new countryside constructions, the government stresses beauty, wealth, and power. However,
peasants choose to work in cities because rural areas cannot provide the resources they need
to keep them there. For this reason, grassroots organization and multi-organization syner-
gism must be emphasized, and system and institutional reforms must be deepened. (5) Pro-
tection of vulnerable groups—Driven by continuous development, the Matthew effect and
the Cliff effect become increasingly prominent and highlighted. Therefore, to emphasize the
protection of vulnerable poverty groups, efforts should be made from the perspectives of
institutional design and mechanism innovation.

7 Conclusions
The urban-rural relationship in China has gradually transited from separation and opposition
toward coordination and integration. China has implemented the strategy of rural revitaliza-
tion for solving rural problems and the urban-rural integration is the path of first choice for
1940 Journal of Geographical Sciences

the realization of rural revitalization. As factors determine the characteristics and functions
of the system through their interactions, this research constructs the theoretical framework of
the urban-rural integration based on the core factor flow between the urban and rural sys-
tems. Additionally, this research uses land engineering for land capacity building as the
technical support to solve rural issues and constructs a framework of rural land-use policy
reform in China for its rural land management. Key findings are as follows: (1) Urban-rural
integration should be considered within the territorial rural system for the research of rural
revitalization and development based on the human-earth areal system. The synergistic
combination of population-land-industry-right constitutes the key to developing the ur-
ban-rural integration. A solution-oriented rural revitalization strategy should implement the
“four-revitalization” development of rural areas (i.e., revitalization of population, land, in-
dustry and rights) to effectively stimulate rural vitality, capacity, motivation, and competi-
tiveness. (2) Land is the root of rural revitalization, and land engineering reinvigorates land
resources with land capacity building as the means of technical support. Consolidations of
hollowed villages as well as gullied, degraded and sandy land for high-standard farmland
have been implemented, providing an important approach in improving land productivity. (3)
Rural land system reform is the main line of rural reform and an essential institutional sup-
port for rural revitalization. To overcome obstacles of rural development at present and to
deepen rural studies, multi-disciplinary crossover and integrated studies of sci-
ence-engineering-social management must be strengthened, as well as comprehensive stud-
ies targeting problematic regions and regional problems. In the meantime, with regard to
complex rural systems, efforts should be made to establish big data-based and agent-oriented
optimal decision-making, reinforce the construction of a rural scientific method system, and
promote the opening of innovative paths at structured, informationized, and technological
levels for rural areas.

References
Allison H E, Hobbs R J, 2004. Resilience, adaptive capacity, and the “Lock-in Trap” of the Western Australian
agricultural region. Ecology and Society, 9(1): 3.
Benko G B, Feng B K, 1988. The regional policy of France in the early 1980s. International Journal of Social
Sciences: Chinese Version, (2): 93–114. (in Chinese)
Cai Z X, 1987. French territorial planning and its characteristics. Geography and Geographic Information Science,
(3): 46–50. (in Chinese)
Canoves G, Villarino M, Herrera L, 2006. Public policies, rural tourism and sustainability, a difficult balance.
Boletin De La Asociacion De Geografos Espanoles, (41): 199–217.
Chen R, Ye C, Cai Y et al., 2014. The impact of rural out–migration on land use transition in China: Past, present
and trend. Land Use Policy, 40: 101–110.
Chen Y F, Sun H, Liu Y S, 2010. Reconstruction models of hollowed villages in key agricultural regions of China.
Acta Geographica Sinica, 65(6): 727–735. (in Chinese)
Chen Z J, Zhou B, Tang W D et al., 2006. The practice of new village movement in South Korea and its enlight-
enment to the construction of new countryside in China. Agricultural Economic Problems, (2): 150–155. (in
Chinese)
Cloke P, 2013. Key Settlements in Rural Areas (Routledge Revivals). Routledge.
Davoudi S, Stead D, 2002. Urban–rural relationships: An introduction and a brief history. Built Environment,
28(4): 269–277.
Du W, Huang M, 2018. An analysis on the reform of rural land system in the context of rural revitalization strat-
egy. Journal of Sichuan Normal University (Social Science), (1): 12–16. (in Chinese)
LIU Yansui et al.: China’s rural revitalization and development: Theory, technology and management 1941

Gao J L, Liu Y S, Chen J L, 2020. China’s initiatives towards rural land system reform. Land Use Policy,
94(2020): 104567.
García-Barrios L, Galván-Miyoshi Y M, Valsieso-Pérez I A et al., 2009. Neotropical forest conservation, agricul-
tural intensification, and rural out-migration. The Mexican Experience. Bioscience, 59(10): 863–873.
Gray C L, 2009. Environment, land, and rural out-migration in the Southern Ecuadorian Andes. World Develop-
ment, 37(2): 457–468.
Haas T, Westlund H, 2017. In the post–urban world: Emergent transformation of cities and regions in the innova-
tive global economy. In: Urban-Rural Relations in the Post-Urban World. Routledge, 70–81.
Han C F, 2016. Triple property system of rural land is a new important innovation of China rural reform. Beijing:
Guangming Daily. (in Chinese)
Hedlund M, Lundholm E, 2015. Restructuring of rural Sweden: Employment transition and out-migration of three
cohorts born 1945–1980. Journal of Rural Studies, 42: 123–132.
Li A, Wu J G, Zhang X Y et al., 2018. China’s new rural “separating three property rights” land reform results in
grassland degradation: Evidence from Inner Mongolia. Land Use Policy, 71: 170–182.
Li Y H, Westlund H, Zheng X Y et al., 2016. Bottom-up initiatives and revival in the face of rural decline: Case
studies from China and Sweden. Journal of Rural Studies, 47: 506–513.
Li Y H, Wu W H, Liu Y S, 2018. Land consolidation for rural sustainability in China: Practical reflections and
policy implications. Land Use Policy, 74: 137–141.
Li Y R, Li Y, Fan P C et al., 2019. Impacts of land consolidation on rural human-environment system in typical
watershed of the Loess Plateau and implications for rural development policy. Land Use Policy, 86: 339–350.
Lin J Y, 1992. Rural reforms and agricultural growth in China. American Economic Review, 82: 34–51.
Liu Y S, 2007. Rural transformation development and new countryside construction in eastern coastal area of
China. Acta Geographica Sinica, 62(6): 563–570. (in Chinese)
Liu Y S, 2017. Land Engineering for Agricultural Sustainability: From China to the World. Abstract Book of the
First IGU-AGLE Commission Conference on Global Rural Development and Land Capacity Building
(2017-08).
Liu Y S, 2018a. Research on the urban-rural integration and rural revitalization in the new era in China. Acta
Geographica Sinica, 73(4): 637–650. (in Chinese)
Liu Y S, 2018b. Introduction to land use and rural sustainability in China. Land Use Policy, 74: 1–4.
Liu Y S, 2020a. The basic theory and methodology of rural revitalization planning in China. Acta Geographica
Sinica, 75(6): 1120–1133. (in Chinese)
Liu Y S, 2020b. Modern human-earth relationship and human-earth system science. Scientia Geographica Sinica,
40(8):1-14. (in Chinese)
Liu Y S, Chen Z F, Li Y R et al., 2017. The planting technology and industrial development prospects of forage
rape in the loess hilly area: A case study of newly-increased cultivated land through gully land consolidation in
Yan’an, Shaanxi Province. Journal of Natural Resources, 32(12): 2065–2074. (in Chinese)
Liu Y S, Fang F, Li Y R, 2014. Key issues of land use in China and implications for policy making. Land Use
Policy, 40: 6–12.
Liu Y S, Li Y H, 2017. Revitalize the world’s countryside. Nature, 548(7667): 275–277.
Liu Y S, Long H L, Chen Y F et al., 2016. Progress of research on urban-rural transformation and rural develop-
ment in China in the past decade and future prospects. Journal of Geographical Sciences, 26(8): 1117–1132.
Liu Y S, Wang Y S, 2019. Rural land engineering and poverty alleviation: Lessons from typical regions in China.
Journal of Geographical Sciences, 29(5): 643–657.
Liu Y S, Yan B, Wang Y F, 2016. Urban-rural development problems and transformation countermeasures in the
New Period in China. Economic Geography, 36(7): 1–8. (in Chinese)
Liu Y S, Yang R, Li Y H, 2013. Potential of land consolidation of hollowed villages under different urbanization
scenarios in China. Journal of Geographical Sciences, 23(3): 503–512.
Liu Y S, Zhou Y, Li Y H, 2019a. Rural regional system and rural revitalization strategy in China. Acta Geogra-
phica Sinica, 74(12): 2511–2528. (in Chinese)
Liu Z J, Liu Y S, Li Y R, 2019b. Extended warm temperate zone and opportunities for cropping system change in
the Loess Plateau of China. International Journal of Climatology, 39(2): 658–669.
Long H L, 2014. Land consolidation: An indispensable way of spatial restructuring in rural China. Journal of
1942 Journal of Geographical Sciences

Geographical Sciences, 24(2): 211–225.

Long H L, Zhang Y N, Tu S S, 2019. Rural vitalization in China: A perspective of land consolidation. Journal of
Geographical Sciences, 29(4): 517–530.
Long H L, Zou J, Pykett J et al., 2011. Analysis of rural transformation development in China since the turn of the
new millennium. Applied Geography, 31: 1094–1105.
Lowe P, Ward N, 2007. Sustainable rural economies: Some lessons from the English experience. Sustainable
Development, 15(5): 307–317.
Markey S, Halseth G, Manson D, 2008. Challenging the inevitability of rural decline: Advancing the policy of
place in northern British Columbia. Journal of Rural Studies, 24(4): 409–421.
McManus P, Walmsley J, Argent N et al., 2012. Rural community and rural resilience: What is important to far-
mers in keeping their country towns alive? Journal of Rural Studies, 28: 20–29.
Milbourne P, 2007. Re-populating rural studies: Migrations, movements and mobilities. Journal of Rural Studies,
23(3): 381–386.
National People’s Congress of China (NPCC), 2018. Summary Report of the State Council on the Pilot Reform of
Rural Land Expropriation, Collective Operational Construction Land Entry into the Market and Housing Land
System. http://www.npc.gov.cn/zgrdw/npc/xinwen/2018- 12/23/content_2067609.htm.
Piao L Z, 2011. The overview of new village movement in South Korea. Journal of Southwest University for
Nationalities (Humanities and Social Sciences Edition), 32(4): 55–59.
Serra P, Vera A, Tulla A F et al., 2014. Beyond urban-rural dichotomy: Exploring socioeconomic and land-use
processes of change in Spain (1991–2011). Applied Geography, 55: 71–81.
Smith D, 2007. The changing faces of rural populations: ‘“(re) fixing” the gaze’ or ‘eyes wide shut’? Journal of
Rural Studies, 23: 275–82.
Summers Gene F, 1986. Rural industrialization. The Rural Sociologist (USA), 6: 181–186.
Tang S S, 2013. “Decentralization” policies of French territorial planning during the 30 glorious years. Urban
Planning International, 28(3): 90–97. (in Chinese)
Wang K, 2012. Rural land reclamation in Anhui province and land system innovation research: Take Huaiyuan as
an example [D]. Hefei: Anhui University. (in Chinese)
Wang Q, Zhang X, 2017. Three rights separation: China’s proposed rural land rights reform and four types of
local trials. Land Use Policy, 63: 111–121.
Wang Y S, Li Y H, Li Y R, 2020. Land engineering consolidates degraded sandy land for agricultural develop-
ment in the largest sandy land of China. Land, 9: 199.
Westlund H, 2014. Urban futures in planning, policy and regional science: Are we entering a post-urban world?
Built Environment, 40(4): 447–457.
Woods M, 2005. Rural Geography: Processes, Responses and Experiences in Rural Restructuring. London: Sage.
Woods M, 2009. Rural geography. In: Kitchin R, Thrift N (eds.). International Encyclopedia of Human Geography,
vol. 9. Oxford: Elsevier, 429–441.
Wu Y F, Feng W L, Zhou Y, 2019. Practice of barren hilly land consolidation and its impact: A typical case study
from Fuping County, Hebei Province of China. Journal of Geographical Sciences, 29(5): 762–778.
Xu Y T, Huang X J, Bao H et al., 2018. Rural land rights reform and agro-environmental sustainability: Empirical
evidence from China. Land Use Policy, 74: 73–87.
Yang Y Y, Li Y H, Long H L, 2018. Report on the first IGU–AGLE commission conference on global rural de-
velopment and land capacity building. Journal of Geographical Sciences, 28(1): 124–129.
Zhang X, Li Z, 2018. Development of the rural land system. In: China’s Rural Development Road. Singapore:
Springer, 95–106.
Zheng W X, 2006. The achievements and lessons of new village movement in South Korea. Agricultural Eco-
nomic Problems, 27(10): 74–78.
Zheng X Y, Liu Y S, 2018. Scientific connotation, formation mechanism and regulation strategy of “rural disease”
in China in the new era. Human Geography, 33(2): 100–106. (in Chinese)
Zhou Y, Li X H, Liu Y S, 2020. Rural land system reforms in China: History, issues, measures and prospects.
Land Use Policy, 91: 104330.
Zhou Y, Li Y M, Xu C C, 2020. Land consolidation and rural revitalization in China: Mechanisms and paths. Land
Use Policy, 91: 104379.

View publication stats