China is a large agricultural country, and issues concerning agriculture, rural areas and farmers are closely related to national economic and social development. To achieve the "Two Centenary Goals", rural revitalization strategy has become the choice to resolve unbalanced urban-rural development and inadequate rural development in China. Rural development is a comprehensive process of cycle accumulation and dynamic evolution of rural regional system. Thus, it is of great significance to systematically analyze the process and regional pattern of rural development to scientifically promote the implementation of rural revitalization strategy in the new era. Based on the theory of human-earth areal system and human-earth system science, this study examines the process and features of rural development in China from 1978 to 2050, discusses the internal relationship between rural transformation and rural revitalization, reveals the spatial pattern of the level of county rural revitalization in 2017, and finally puts forward the key problems and countermeasures for rural revitalization in the new era. Results show that the evolution of China's rural development in the period of 1978-2050 can be divided into three stages, i.e. solving the problem of food and clothing (1978-2005), building a well-off society (2005-2020) and realizing prosperity (2020-2050). In general, it is a dynamic and continuous process from low-level and basic-type to high-quality and innovation-type. Rural revitalization is a special stage of rural transformation, and a strategic choice to solve the prominent problem in rural development when it has evolved to a certain stage, thus boosting rural development to a higher stage. In 2017, when rural revitalization strategy was initiated, the level of rural revitalization in 57.3% of the counties in China was between 0.40 and 0.50, and there was an obvious gradient differentiation from the east to the west, with significant clustering characteristics and positive correlation. Specifically, the counties featured by "high-high (H-H)" clustering were mainly distributed in the third step of the terrain and the middle of Sichuan Basin; while the counties featured by "low-low (L-L)" clustering were concentrated in western China except Sichuan Basin, the eastern part of Inner Mongolia and the north of Tianshan Mountains. Due to the regionalism, stage and the difference in constraints of rural development, the focuses of rural revitalization in the new era lie in scientifically identifying the targeting areas of rural revitalization, comprehensively judging the trends of rural development, and systematically diagnosing the dominant constraints of different types of rural areas, so as to take targeted measures to make up for the shortcomings of the modernization of agriculture and rural areas. Besides, it is necessary to fully understand the interactions between urban and rural areas, thus promoting urban-rural integrated development.

Under the background of unified management of urban and rural space, rural spatial governance has become an important part of the spatial governance system. Conducting in-depth theoretical and practical research on rural spatial governance and analyzing the mechanisms and path of rural spatial governance in national spatial planning will be conducive to improving the planning and control system of rural space. Starting from the connotation rural spatial governance, this paper constructs a theoretical analysis framework of rural spatial governance based on the comprehensive perspective of spatial governance, discusses the internal mechanism and feasible paths of rural spatial governance in territorial spatial planning, and then realizes the theoretical and practical research of rural spatial governance. The conclusions are as follows: (1) Rural spatial governance starts from the coordination theory of human-land relations in the rural regional system. Through planning and negotiation, it realizes effective control of rural space usage, and orderly allocation of space rights. Rural spatial governance highlights the comprehensive governance process that combines "top-down" and "bottom-up" participation by multiple subjects. (2) Through the "action-efficiency-target" system, the comprehensive governance analysis framework of "matter-organization-ownership" in rural space provides an effective scheme for the construction of multiple rural spatial governance that combines rigidity and flexibility, interaction between material space and space relationship, and superposition of spatial ownership and spatial organization. (3) The rural spatial governance features of interconnecting various scales (region-village-plot) are conducive to improving the rural spatial governance system. (4) The multiple governance means, participation modes and value-sharing mechanisms of rural spatial governance are conducive to enriching the territorial spatial planning system, promoting the integration of multiple regulations, refining the control of territorial space use, and ensuring good rural governance and ecological governance. (5) Rural spatial governance uses mobilization strategies of "top-down" and "bottom-up", and creates conditions for the implementation of practical village planning and revitalization strategies through the construction of new village operation models and reconstruction of organizational mechanisms.

Based on the essential connotation of rural vulnerability, this study constructs an indicator system for the comprehensive measurement of rural vulnerability in China at the county level. Through the selection of five typical representative transects, we will deepen the analysis of the regional differences in China's rural vulnerability and its formation mechanism and propose targeted coping strategies. The results show that: (1) The rural vulnerability of counties in China is generally within the threshold range of low and medium vulnerability characterized by obvious spatial differences. Along the "Bole-Taipei Line", there is a spatial pattern of north-south differentiation. Villages in southwestern China tends to have higher vulnerability than those in northeastern China. (2) External environmental factors are the leading factors that induce rural vulnerability. The rural ecological subsystem, composed of ecological exposure, ecological sensitivity, and ecological adaptation, is the fundamental influencing factor of rural vulnerability. The rural economic subsystem, which is composed of economic exposure, economic sensitivity, and economic adaptation, is the core influencing factor of rural vulnerability. The social subsystem, composed of social exposure, social sensitivity, and social adaptation, is also an important factor influencing rural vulnerability. (3) On the basis of "geographical location, the dominant driving factors of rural vulnerability and the degree of rural vulnerability", rural vulnerability in China at the county level can be identified into eight categories. According to the principle of adapting measures to local conditions, we should break down the regional embeddedness and path dependence. We should strengthen the prediction and monitoring of the sources of disturbance in the rural-area system and scientifically control the sensitivity of the system itself, then improve the adaptation of the rural system to ensure sustainable development of rural areas.

China has secured a comprehensive victory in its fight against poverty. After 2020, the focus of China's battle against poverty will shift from relative poverty to absolute poverty, and from poverty in terms of income to that in other dimensions. This study applies the county as the basic unit and 31 provinces (autonomous regions/municipalities) of China as the study area. It identifies poverty levels in each county by the average night light index and the county multidimensional development index. Using the multidimensional relative poverty identification method based on the sustainable models, we analyzed the current situation of China's poverty from two aspects—multidimensional poverty and relative poverty. Finally, we explore the poverty alleviation pathways in four aspects, namely, education poverty alleviation, agricultural poverty alleviation, industrial poverty alleviation, and tourism poverty alleviation. The results revealed that nearly 60% of counties in China were primarily in multidimensional relative poverty, most of which were classified as multidimensional relatively light poverty counties. According to the average night light index and the county multidimensional development index, the numbers of poverty counties in China were 602 and 611, respectively; as of 2018, the proportions of national poverty-stricken counties accounted for 63% and 79%, respectively. The result implied that the county multidimensional development index had a more comprehensive poverty identification mechanism. Moreover, the multidimensional poverty counties were concentrated in Gansu, Sichuan, and Yunnan. Meanwhile, the development of Jilin, Liaoning, and Heilongjiang should not be overlooked. From the viewpoint of pathways, 414, 172, 442, and 298 poverty counties were suitable to industrial poverty alleviation, education poverty alleviation, tourism poverty alleviation, and agricultural poverty alleviation, respectively. Some 61% of counties had more poverty-causing factors, implying that multidimensional poverty alleviation is suitable in most of the poverty-stricken counties. These conclusions can provide a crucial scientific basis for ensuring sustainable poverty alleviation.

The focus of China's battle against poverty will shift from relative poverty to absolute poverty. The fundamental measure in the new stage of poverty governance is to promote transformation of destitute areas by increasing their non-farm employment opportunities and ensuring fully effective employment for the poor. Based on county data from 2013 to 2017 covering 14 contiguous destitute areas of China, the spatial econometric model method was adopted to analyze the spatial growth trend of non-farm employment in these areas and its driving factors since the implementation of the poverty alleviation strategy, and the differences in the drivers of non-farm employment under different population sizes were distinguished. The results were obtained as follows: (1) Non-farm employment exhibits a strong spatial non-equilibrium. (2) The growth of non-farm employment is faster than the national average, with apparent characteristics of spatial heterogeneity and clear tendencies of convergence. (3) There is substantial spatial dependence on the growth of non-farm employment among counties in the study areas. Place-based factors and geo-structural factors have jointly affected the growth of non-farm employment in these areas. The level of initial employment has a restraining effect on non-farm employment growth. However, the regional economic scales, the availability of financial capital, the industrial structure, the level of basic education, the proximity of market to provincial capitals or megacities, and the flat or humid geographical environments have significantly contributed to the growth of non-farm employment in destitute areas. (4) The determinants of non-farm employment growth in counties at different scales have significant differences. This research provides support to further research on the growth of non-farm employment in poor areas as well as poverty governance and regional transformation and development in the new period.

Scientific determination of rural settlement system is one of the keys to implement the strategy of rural revitalization and promote the modernization of agriculture and rural areas. Meanwhile, understanding the distribution law of rural settlement size is helpful for the optimization of rural settlements. In order to provide a reliable theoretical basis for the study of rural settlement size distribution and the optimization of rural settlement system, this article took the Hehuang area as an example, and explored a more accurate expression and law of Rank Cumulative Size Model based on the original Rank Cumulative Size Model. Then we examined the applicability and accuracy of the model in rural settlement size distribution compared with the Rural Rank-Size Rule. We also studied the characteristics and evolution law of rural settlement size distribution in the study area. The results show that: (1) Rank Cumulative Size Model is a monotonously increasing concave function (P ≥ 1), and its expression varies with the change of the Pareto coefficient of rural settlements. When 1 ≤ P < 1.20225, S_i = aln(N_i) + b, there is a positive correlation between the fitting coefficient a and the size of first settlements. When P ≥ 1.20225, $S_i=be^{aln(N_i)}$ the coefficient of variation of settlement size and the size of the first settlements are negatively correlated with the fitting coefficient a, and positively correlated with the fitting coefficient b. (2) Rank Cumulative Size Model is more suitable for the study of rural settlement size distribution in Hehuang as it has better applicability and accuracy; while the Rural Rank-size Rule is not applicable. (3) The rural settlement size in Hehuang nearly shows the equilibrium distribution pattern of Pareto coefficient 2 and tends to be more concentrated. In the future, the rural settlements should be concentrated in areas with superior natural and socio-economic conditions, and the layout of regional rural settlements and villages should be planned reasonably. Based on this, we can develop a rural revitalization path with the harmonious coexistence between human and nature, as well as between urban and rural development.