Spatio-Temporal Analysis of Rural Development in China over the Past 40 Years

Over the past 40 years, rural China has witnessed drastic changes in its spatial and socio-economic development. In this study, we adopt a quantitative approach to analyze the spatio-temporal patterns of the rural development process. We build an indicator system with nine indicators from population, land, and industry dimensions and calculate the change rate of each indicator of 31 provinces in seven five-year development cycles from 1980 to 2018. Then, we identify five different development types and present their temporal evolution and spatial distribution. From the result, we can see that the predominant type changes under the influence of urbanization and industrialization processes and the development policies and strategies. The disparity between the western and eastern regions is obvious, and the city-clusters have a profound impact on the rural areas around them. We suggest that development policies and strategies should coordinate the relationship between population, land, and industry to achieve rural revitalization.