Yurui Li

Dynamic trends and driving forces of land use intensification of cultivated land in China

The aim of this study is to establish several important factors representing land use intensification in cultivated land (denoted by CII), using a multi-dimensional approach to achieve realistic and practical cultivated land use policies in China. For this reason, the theoretical framework was first built to explain the changes of land use intensification in the cultivated land, and then the variables and index were further developed for the purpose of characterizing the dynamic trends and driving forces of the land use intensification in the cultivated land at the provincial level. The study results indicate that the extent of CII significantly increased during the period of 1996 to 2008, due to the extensive use of fertilizers, machinery and pesticide, increased labor and capital input, and intensified land use. Moreover, the principal component regression results show that the productivity of cultivated land, economic benefits of cultivated land, labor productivity, and land use conversion are the main factors affecting the village development. The first three factors play a positive role, while the last one has a negative effect on the land use intensification in the cultivated land. According to these results, the main policies for sustainable intensification in cultivated land are proposed. First, the sustainable pathways for intensification should be adopted to reduce the unsustainable uses of chemical fertilizer, agricultural chemicals, etc. Second, the conditions for agricultural production should be further improved to increase the cultivated land productivity. Third, it is very necessary and helpful for improving labor productivity and land use efficiency from the viewpoint of accelerated the cultivated land circulation. The last step is to positively affect the production activities of peasants by means of reforming the subsidy standards.

Problem regions and regional problems of socioeconomic development in China: A perspective from the coordinated development of industrialization, informatization, urbanization and agricultural modernization

Identifying the problem regions and regional problems, and thus improving regional policies, are crucial for the sustainable development of various economic entities. The coordinated development of industrialization, informatization, urbanization and agricultural modernization (hereinafter referred to as “Sihua”) is not only a practical need but an important strategic direction of integrating urban-rural development and regional development in recent China, and it also provides a significant perspective for identifying problem regions and regional problems so as to improve the regional policies. This study mainly aims to: firstly, establish a comprehensive evaluation index system so as to explore the spatial pattern of coordinated development of Sihua in China at prefecture level; secondly, to develop an evaluation criteria system to identify the problem regions and regional problems from the perspective of coordinated development of Sihua. This paper comes first in the scientific community to evaluate the coordinated development state of Sihua in China at prefecture level and identify the problem regions and regional problems from the perspective of Sihua development by quantitative analysis. This study may benefit the improvement of regional policies and thus contribute to the sustainable socio-economic development of China.

Progress of research on urban-rural transformation and rural development in China in the past decade and future prospects

Urban-rural transformation and rural development are issues at the forefront of research on the topic of the urban-rural relationship in the field of geography, as well as important practical problems facing China’s new urbanization and overall planning of urban and rural development. The Center for Regional Agricultural and Rural Development, part of the Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research under the Chinese Academy of Sciences, was established in 2005. The Center has laid solid foundations for integrating research in the areas of agricultural geography and rural development in China over the past decade. The paper aims to review the major achievements in rural geographical research in China during the past decade, analyze innovative developments in relevant theories and methods, and suggest prospects and countermeasures for promoting comprehensive studies of urban-rural transformation and rural geography. The research shows that innovative achievements have been made in rural geography studies of China in the past decade as major national policy development, outputs of result and decision making support; new breakthroughs have been achieved in such major research projects as geographical integrated theory, land remediation projects and technology demonstration projects, new urbanization and urban-rural integration; significant progress has been made in actively expanding the frontiers of rural geography and pushing forward theoretical innovations in land and resource projects; and, with China’s development goals of building a moderately prosperous society in all respects and achieving modernization in mind, future innovative developments in agricultural and rural geography should aim to make research more strategic, systematic, scientific and security-oriented, with attention given to promoting systematic scientific research on international cooperation and global rural geography.

Differentiation regularity of urban-rural equalized development at prefecture-level city in China

The urban-rural equalized development (URED) as a definite measure and operating model is beneficial to gradually eliminating the dual-track structure of urban-rural development, bridging the gap of urban-rural development, and creating harmonious urban-rural interactions. This paper aims to explore the status quo of URED in China at prefecture level, and to reveal the spatio-temporal patterns of URED and its differentiation regularity. The results show that: (1) China’s URED level can be categorized into two parts, i.e., the eastern and the western, according to the “HU Huanyong Line”, presenting a pattern of “east high and west low” and the URED level improves on the whole with the increase of distance from the line; (2) China’s URED level can also be categorized into the northern and the southern parts according to “Kunlun-Qinling-Huaihe Line”, presenting a pattern of “north high and south low”, and the URED level reduces on the whole with the increase of distance from the line; (3) At the national level, China’s URED has a significant trend of spatial agglomeration, the high and low URED regions tend to be adjacent, namely, the URED level presents obvious regional unbalance; (4) The five sub-dimension indicators of the URED level in the geographical space also reveal similar regional differentiation pattern, and in the aspect of space a decreasing trend is found in the URED level from the eastern (northern coast, eastern coast and southern coast), the northeastern, the central (the middle reaches of the Yangtze River and the Yellow River) to the western (northwest and southwest); and (5) China’s URED at prefecture-level city can be divided into five types of differentiation areas. This study contributes to promoting the integrative cognition of the status quo of China’s URED and can serve as a scientific reference concerning the decision-making of coordinating urban-rural development and of pushing forward new-type urbanization strategy in China.

GIS-based effect assessment of soil erosion before and after gully land consolidation: A case study of Wangjiagou project region, Loess Plateau

The Loess Plateau is one typical area of serious soil erosion in the world. China has implemented ‘Grain for Green’ (GFG) project to restore the eco-environment of the Loess Plateau since 1999. With the GFG project subsidy approaching the end, it is concerned that farmers of fewer subsidies may reclaim land again. Thus, ‘Gully Land Consolidation Project’ (GLCP) was initiated in 2010. The core of the GLCP was to create more land suitable for farming in gullies so as to reduce land reclamation on the slopes which are ecological vulnerable areas. This paper aims to assess the effect of the GLCP on soil erosion problems by studying Wangjiagou project region located in the central part of Anzi valley in the middle of the Loess Plateau, mainly using the revised universal soil loss equation (RUSLE) based on GIS. The findings show that the GLCP can help to reduce soil shipment by 9.87% and it creates more terraces and river-nearby land suitable for farming which account for 27.41% of the whole study area. Thus, it is feasible to implement the GLCP in places below gradient 15°, though the GLCP also intensifies soil erosion in certain places such as field ridge, village land, floodplain, natural grassland, and shrub land. In short, the GLCP develops new generation dam land and balances the short-term and long-term interests to ease the conflicts between economic development and environmental protection. Furthermore, the GLCP and the GFG could also be combined preferably. On the one hand, the GFG improves the ecological environment, which could offer certain safety to the GLCP, on the other hand, the GLCP creates more farmland favorable for farming in gullies instead of land reclamation on the slopes, which could indirectly protect the GFG project.