The digital competence of residents is a crucial component of personal and social development and significantly influences regional development patterns through its geographic distribution and dynamic evolution. It has increasingly emerged as a critical driving force in advancing common prosperity. This study constructs a measurement system for assessing the digital competence of Chinese residents with respect to common prosperity. It develops a theoretical framework to explore the underlying mechanisms through which digital competence promotes common prosperity, aiming to offer robust theoretical support and empirical evidence for policy design. This study employs spatiotemporal analysis, spatial variogram, spatial autocorrelation, Dagum Gini coefficient decomposition, and fixed effects models to systematically examine the spatial and temporal characteristics of residents' digital competence across 25 provincial-level regions in China, along with its multifaceted influence on common prosperity. The study presents the following findings: (1) From 2016 to 2022, the overall level of digital competence showed a generally rising but fluctuating trend, although the national average remained relatively low. Specific dimensions demonstrated upward yet uneven trajectories, including data and information literacy, digital communication and collaboration, and digital problem-solving. In contrast, declines in digital content creation and digital security raise concern, especially in regions such as Yunnan, Guizhou, and Sichuan, where consistently low levels are observed. (2) National spatial disparities in digital competence have been narrowed over time, yet the east-west divide remains the most pronounced. Coastal provinces exhibit relatively balanced internal development, whereas the Gini coefficient of hypervariable density contributes most significantly to national disparity and shows an increasing trend. (3) At the village and community levels, improvements in digital competence notably promote common prosperity, with pronounced benefits for inland and rural regions. This positive effect operates through multiple forms of livelihood capital - human, material, financial, social, and psychological - and varies across regions. The study enhances the theoretical understanding of the dynamic evolution of regional digital development and the digital divide, offering practical implications for advancing balanced growth in Chinese residents' digital competence and achieving common prosperity.

With the advancement of urbanization and the profound transformation of socio-economic development in China, land use transition has become a complex research field involving multiple disciplines and dimensions. This paper comprehensively uses bibliometric analysis and systematic review methods to systematically sort out the research progress of land use transition in China from following dimensions: development context, theoretical framework, model and methodology, effect and mechanism, and regulation path. The study finds that: (1) Since the introduction of land use transition research to China in 2001, the field has flourished in the aspects of project funding, publication of monographs, and talent cultivation. Through hotspot analysis, it is found that research has shifted from being technology-driven to policy and economic-driven, and finally focused on multi-functional synergy and sustainable development. (2) Theoretical research can be divided into three levels: description-explanation, process characterization and diagnosis, and mutual feedback mechanism and regulation, forming a research paradigm of "dominant morphology-recessive morphology" coupling. The transition measurement method presents a three-dimensional characteristic of integration of 3S technology, mathematical model simulation, and field investigation. (3) Driven by the dual strategies of rural vitalization and food security, the socio-economic effects of land use transitions are manifested as a cascading response of farmers' livelihoods, factor flow, and industrial upgrading; related ecological and environmental effects show the bidirectional characteristics of negative effects and positive synergistic effects. (4) The driving mechanism of land use transitions is analyzed from the "element-structure-system" perspective, and its regulation system is discussed from multiple dimensions such as engineering technology innovation, institutional innovation, policy intervention, and multi-dimensional collaborative governance. (5) Future research needs to focus on breakthroughs in multi-scale transition threshold identification, complex system feedback simulation, regional model extraction, and optimization and regulation of transition through theoretical and methodological innovations. This study provides not only knowledge support for the construction of a land use transition research theoretical system with Chinese characteristics, but also decision-making support for the modernization of national territorial space governance and urban-rural integrated development.

A series of regional major strategies has continuously been implemented since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (2012). The Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei, Yangtze River Delta, Pearl River Delta, and Chengdu-Chongqing urban agglomerations are the core spatial carriers of regional major strategies. In the new situation of decreasing and aging population, the growth of employment and the changes in employment structure in the four major urban agglomerations will have a profound impact on the regional sustainable development. Based on the location quotient model, and spatial autocorrelation analysis, the spatial and temporal patterns of employment size and employment industrial structure in the four major urban agglomerations were examined by using the sectoral population data from the 2000, 2010 and 2020 national population censuses. Comparative analysis was conducted in the context of regional major strategies to explore the regularities of urban agglomeration employment growth and structural transformation. The study finds that: (1) The scale of employment in the four major urban agglomerations continues to grow, but the overall growth rate slows down. The overall pattern of employment distribution remains stable, and the high-value areas of employment growth rate have shifted from the central cities to the surrounding cities of the urban agglomerations, forming a trend of balanced distribution and multi-point support within the urban agglomerations. (2) The trend of advanced and high-tech development in employment structure is obvious, and the distribution of employment types within urban agglomerations presents a clear "core-periphery" pattern. The central city always maintains a structure of "high-tech manufacturing and high-tech service industry", while the employment structure of the cities near the central city of the urban agglomeration is characterized by an alternating distribution of "low-tech manufacturing and high-tech service industry" and "high-tech manufacturing and low-tech service industry". The majority of employment in peripheral cities of urban agglomerations belongs to the structural type of "low-tech manufacturing and low-tech service industry". (3) The continuous growth of the employed population and the advanced and high-tech employment structure have created conditions for the four major urban agglomerations to carry out regional major strategies and participate in global competition. However, urban agglomerations face different challenges. It is essential to strengthen the multiplier effect of high-tech employment, promote the qualitative transformation of non-high-tech employment, and implement differentiated employment attraction policies to foster coordinated development among urban agglomerations and ensure the effective implementation of regional major strategy.

The differentiation of population growth and decline across regions has emerged as a prominent trend in China's demographic landscape, drawing significant attention from both academia and society. Revealing its patterns and mechanisms from a geographical perspective is of great significance for supporting high-quality population development and promoting balanced regional population development. This paper first proposes a geographical analysis framework for regional population growth and decline based on the spatial and comprehensive attributes of the geographical discipline and relevant classical theories. Within the analytical framework, the spatio-temporal patterns and mechanisms of population growth and decline in prefectural-level units in China from 1982 to 2020 are empirically analyzed using five population censuses from the perspective of compositional structure. The empirical results show that the differentiation of prefectural population growth and decline gradually intensifies since 1990. While natural population growth in most regions remains positive, the number of regions experiencing negative growth has increased over the past decade. The trend of net migration in and out of regions continues to diverge, with the number of regions experiencing net outmigration steadily rising. Regional population growth and decline are jointly determined by natural growth and net migration, with the contribution of net migration continuously increasing. There has been a continuous upsurge in the number of regions experiencing population decline driven by net migration alone, as well as those jointly driven by both natural growth and net migration. The spatial scope of the former has expanded from certain inter-provincial mountainous areas to vast regions in the northeastern, central, and western parts of the country, while the latter is predominantly distributed in Northeast China. Concurrently, areas with population growth have progressively narrowed, confining to eastern provinces, provincial capital cities, Xinjiang, Xizang, and other areas. Regional natural conditions, level of economic and social development, policies, and other factors affect population changes through their impact on natural growth and net migration. The pathways of these various factors are heterogeneous and evolve dynamically over time. This paper concludes with a discussion of the mechanisms behind regional population growth and decline differentiation, as well as the policy implications for promoting balanced regional population development.

Central cities, as drivers of regional economic development, have reemerged as a focal point of attention nowadays. However, their impact on the surrounding cities is inconsistent. Both positive and negative effects have been verified in different cases. One promising way to understand various impacts of central cities is to employ the dynamic lens. This paper focuses on the Central China Plains urban agglomeration, which developed and grew rapidly during the research period 2000-2020, and analyzes the dynamic impact of Zhengzhou on other small and medium-sized cities within the urban agglomeration (228 cities, counties, and county-level cities). The empirical analysis confirms that the role of central cities undergoes dynamic changes, and this case does not support the theoretical expectation of "siphoning first and then spilling over". Specifically, before 2005, there was no evidence of Zhengzhou's impact on the economic development of other cities in the Central China Plains urban agglomeration. Between 2005 and 2015, the evidence was inconsistent, hinting at a transitional phase between the two situations. After 2015, Zhengzhou mainly had a positive spillover effect on the development of cities within a certain geographical distance. The reasons for the aforementioned findings may lie in the fact that central cities, represented by Zhengzhou, focuses on attracting major resources from outside the province rather than within, and place great emphasis on and actively develop the manufacturing industry. Although a longer time period and evidence from more urban agglomerations are needed, the findings of this paper are a positive signal in favour of central city development strategies.

Ecological resilience refers to an urban agglomeration's ability to resist, adapt, and recover from external disturbances. Enhancing ecological resilience is crucial for promoting high-quality development in the modern era. However, few studies have evaluated the ecological resilience of urban agglomerations from the perspective of human-land interactions or explored its evolutionary mechanism. This study assesses the interannual variation of ecological resilience in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River urban agglomeration, focusing on resistance, adaptation, and recovery. The Least Squares Structural Equation Model is employed to analyze the impact degree and pathways through which human-land interactions affect ecological resilience. The results indicate that from 2000 to 2020, resistance, adaptability, and recoverability exhibited fluctuating trends over time and an unbalanced spatial distribution. Ecological resilience initially decreased but later improved, with significant spatial heterogeneity, forming a "higher in the southeast and lower in the northwest" pattern. Natural environment improvement (coefficient: 0.42) and regional policies (coefficient: 0.18) had significant positive direct effects on ecological resilience, while urbanization exerted a significant negative effect (coefficient: -0.26). Although green innovation had no significant direct effect, it exhibited significant indirect influence, with the most significant pathway being green innovation→regional policy→natural environment→ecological resilience (coefficient: 0.18). This study enhances our understanding of how the natural environment, green innovation, and regional policies shape ecological resilience, providing a scientific reference for urban agglomeration development that fosters harmony between humans and nature.

Rural construction, encompassing infrastructure, public services, and human settlement improvement, serves as a critical pathway to harmonize human-environment relationships in rural areas and a pivotal endeavor for advancing the comprehensive rural revitalization strategy. Integrated geographical research on rural construction offers a new opportunity for geography to serve national strategies. Despite substantial investments in rural construction in China, persistent gaps and underdeveloped regions remain, necessitating deeper theoretical and practical research to address these challenges. This study, based on a systematic review of the progress in rural construction research, elucidates the scientific connotations and practical requirements of rural construction from a geographical perspective. It further outlines the key areas for geographical research and innovative practical pathways to advance rural construction in the new era. Rural construction is a comprehensive, systematic undertaking that builds on current conditions while being geared toward the future. Against the backdrop of climate change, population mobility, and prominent sustainability challenges, it exhibits multidimensional, multilevel, and differentiated demands. In terms of the research, it is imperative to integrate interdisciplinary knowledge and construct a multi-objective, multilevel, and multi-stakeholder collaborative framework to distill differentiated regional models and optimization strategies based on comprehensive effects, implementation mechanisms, and problem diagnosis. From the perspective of practice, it is essential to actively explore more effective mechanisms for supply-demand matching, planning guidance, funding mobilization, subsequent operation and maintenance, and performance evaluation, thereby promoting a more inclusive, equitable, efficient, and sustainable approach to rural construction that effectively contributes to comprehensive rural revitalization.

State space is a pivotal theory in urban governance. Historically, there has been limited overlap between state space and traditional urban governance research in China. The transformation of urban governance in China has emerged from significant adjustments in state space, with evolving reforms in urban governance paralleling the ongoing construction of state space. Grounded in the theoretical origins of state space, this paper elucidates its theoretical core: leveraging the spatial allocation of national resources as an entry point to bridge governance research on enhancing holistic governance efficiency with the imperative of safeguarding social equity. The study posits that state space theory, through interdisciplinary dialogues spanning early state studies, neo-Marxist political economy, and sociological research, has established a tripartite interactive framework for urban governance research, from "resource allocation, social relations, and governance efficacy". In the context of Chinese urban governance studies, it is essential to prioritize localized models, focusing on governance efficacy, social relations, resource allocation, and their interactive relationships. The paper advocates for three paradigm shifts in future Chinese urban governance research: transitioning from analyzing institutional relationships to optimizing resource allocation, reconceptualizing cities not merely as organizational structures but as projections of national governance, and balancing multiple benefits from economic efficiency to multifaceted societal benefits.

Understanding the transformation process and regional differences of China's low fertility-aging types is of great importance for summarizing the historical experience of modernization with Chinese characteristics, and it is also a foundational task for improving population development strategies with a focus on addressing low fertility and aging. This paper constructs a joint framework of low fertility and aging to define the types of low fertility-aging, and uses population census data from 2000 to 2020 to analyze the spatiotemporal evolution characteristics of China's low fertility-aging types at multiple spatial scales. It also interprets the evolution characteristics and formation logic of typical regional low fertility-aging types. The study finds that: (1) In terms of temporal characteristics, most regions have experienced a transformation in low fertility-aging types over the past two decades, generally following a trajectory from multiple children-not aging, to predominantly low fertility-mild aging, and then to a balanced distribution of low fertility-moderate aging, low fertility-mild aging, and multiple children-mild aging. As the spatial scale becomes more detailed, the types and transformation paths of low fertility-aging tend to become more diverse and dispersed. (2) The spatial pattern of low fertility-aging type transformation exhibits a characteristic of expanding from points to areas: regions such as Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Shanghai, Beijing, and Northeast China are at the forefront of the transformation, followed by other eastern coastal and most central and western provincial-level areas, but most ethnic groups-inhabited areas in northwest and southwest China have not yet begun to transform. At the same time, the Central China Plains and southeast regions show a characteristic of asynchronous transformation in low fertility and aging. (3) Taking the county level as the evaluation unit, and based on local perspectives, the study identifies six typical regional patterns at the national level, including the Northeast, the Yangtze River Delta and Beijing-Tianjin, the Pearl River Delta, the Southeast, the Central China Plains, and the ethnic groups-inhabited areas in the northwest and southwest, by analyzing the commonalities and differences in the transformation process and main driving factors of low fertility-aging types. The conclusions not only provide theoretical references and practical guidance for various regions to deeply optimize national population strategies and improve fertility support policies in a location-specific manner, but also contribute new perspectives and insights to the study of population transformation, promoting the establishment of a community with a shared future for humanity in actively addressing low fertility and aging in developing countries.

Main function zoning (MFZ) is the fundamental system of China's territorial development and protection. Through differentiated functional orientation, the core objectives of MFZ are to guide the orderly flow of resources across regions and optimize the spatial pattern of national development. This study evaluates the impacts, their heterogeneities among four types of zones, and underlying mechanisms of MFZ planning on China's population redistribution using county-level data from the three latest national population censuses and causal inference tests through difference-in-differences models. The results show that: The MFZ effects generally align with policy orientation. Post-implementation, optimized development zones, prioritized development zones, main agricultural zones and key ecological zones experienced declining population growth rates, accelerated population agglomeration, accelerated population decline, and growth-to-decline transition, respectively. Using main agricultural zones as reference, the planning reinforced the population concentration advantages of prioritized development zones. The policy effect exhibits dual heterogeneity across regions and hierarchical levels. Population changes in agricultural and ecological zones mostly complied with planning guidance, whereas only 40% of county-level units within prioritized development zones achieved the policy goal of accelerated agglomeration. National-level prioritized development zones demonstrated approximately twice the impact of provincial-level counterparts. Population migration from restricted development zones to urbanized areas predominantly occurred through cross-regional migration rather than intra-prefecture movements, making the policy goal of "concentrated equilibrium" within prefecture-level cities difficult to achieve. The planning promoted shifts in influencing factors of population redistribution within each type of MFZ. The diminished role of secondary industries and enhanced influence of tertiary sectors in optimized zones, along with weakened economic drivers in ecological zones, aligned with planning objectives. However, industrialization in prioritized development zones failed to significantly boost population agglomeration, while agricultural zones remained profoundly influenced by industrialization and economic development, both deviating from intended planning orientations. The findings suggest that the new-round planning could moderately concentrate urbanized area layouts, clarify development sequences for prioritized development zones, and implement more targeted differentiated governance requirements for restricted development zones.

The urban-rural integration in the new era requires the coupled and coordinated development of new urbanization and comprehensive rural revitalization. This paper constructs an evaluation index system for new urbanization and comprehensive rural revitalization, and uses the modified coupling coordination degree model, spatial Markov chain, random forest model and other methods to quantitatively analyze the spatio-temporal evolution characteristics and influencing factors of coupling coordination types of new urbanization and comprehensive rural revitalization in Central China from 2007 to 2022. The results show that: (1) From 2007 to 2022, the coupling coordination type in the study area experienced a transition from moderate imbalance to minimal coordination, with regions of severe imbalance gradually disappearing and high-quality coordinated areas emerging, and the coupling coordination relationship has continuously improved. In terms of spatial distribution, high-value zones of coupling coordination level have remained concentrated in provincial capitals, while low-value zones have shifted toward western edge and the junction of Henan-Anhui-Hubei provinces, with boundary effects gradually emerging. (2) Regardless of the neighborhood conditions, the transition of the coupling coordination state exhibits "path dependence" and "self-locking" effects, while displaying "club convergence" phenomena, there is the possibility of transition to higher level but it is difficult to achieve leapfrog development. The geographical background plays an important role in the evolution of the coupling coordination state, which has an obvious spatial spillover effect, and the Markov prediction results also prove that spatial spillover effect will exist for a long time, the long-term evolution trend of the coupling coordination state is relatively good. (3) In the process of coupling and coordinated development, the level of industrial development plays a core leading role, the level of regional investment, the level of scientific and technological innovation, the level of human capital, and the employment structure of the population offer guarantees in terms of essential factors, and the geographical distance plays a restrictive role. Finally, this paper puts forward specific countermeasures and suggestions to provide scientific basis for the coordinated development of new urbanization and comprehensive rural revitalization in Central China.

Promoting social green transformation is an inherent requirement and a key task in the national strategy for a comprehensive green transformation of the economy and society. However, research on the quantitative characterization and spatiotemporal patterns of social green transformation remains relatively lacking. To address this gap, this paper introduces social psychology theory to construct a quantitative characterization framework for social green transformation. Using 19 urban agglomerations in China as the study area and following the "pattern-process-effect" research logic, the study integrates methods such as entropy-weighted TOPSIS, spatial Markov chains, and Random Forest model to sequentially reveal the spatiotemporal evolution patterns, spatiotemporal transformation, and dynamic impacts of the social green transformation on the economic green transformation. Finally, a comprehensive quantitative framework for regional green transformation is proposed. The results show that: (1) During the study period, the level of social green transformation in China's urban agglomerations showed a fluctuating upward trend, with the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei, Yangtze River Delta, and Pearl River Delta urban agglomerations leading in social green transformation, while those along the middle reaches of the Yangtze River, the northern slope of Tianshan Mountains, Lanzhou-Xi'an region, and Ningxia along the Yellow River were relatively lagging. (2) There is a phenomenon of club convergence and spatial spillover effects in the social green transformation of urban agglomerations, and the transformation exhibits path dependence and spatial dependence, with low probabilities of cross-level and cross-regional transitions. (3) Social green transformation serves as a significant driving force for the green transformation of urban economies, and this driving effect has been strengthening over time. The role of social green transformation in advancing the strategy of ecological prioritization and green development is increasingly profound. Furthermore, this study helps to improve existing research on regional green transformation evaluation, providing new methods and ideas that better align with and respond to the current comprehensive green transformation strategy.

The rapid and intricate evolution of socio-culture poses critical challenges to the development of cultural geography. Currently, tourism has emerged as a crucial cultural phenomenon; however, it has long been neglected by the academic community. This paper, grounded in the tension between reality and theory, addresses the necessity of tourism research within cultural geography and the specific nature of such research required. Its aim is to stimulate the development of cultural geography through interdisciplinary dialogue. This study reviews the current status and trends of tourism-related research within the realm of cultural geography, both domestically and internationally. It then examines the "newness" of tourism culture from two approaches: the spatial study of culture and the cultural study of space. At the ontological and epistemological levels, the paper discusses the following aspects: (1) Tourism has become an omnipresent cultural fact, providing a continuous and vivid empirical foundation for cultural geography research; (2) As a distinctive phenomenon, tourism has opened up frontier topics that facilitate the contextual application and perspective shift of theories; (3) Tourism, functioning as an intersecting "interface", links multidisciplinary thinking and offers platforms and experiences for interdisciplinary integration; (4) Tourism, as a "metaphor", indicates a new cultural perspective that transcends traditional cultural geography research, presenting a dynamic of integration, development, and anti-structuralism. This paper advocates for the cultural geography community to re-evaluate tourism, reversing the past neglect of tourism-related research and thereby fostering equitable interdisciplinary communication and academic innovation.

The well-being of people's livelihood is an important issue that goes hand in hand with the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation, and it is also the fundamental purpose and ultimate destination of human development. This paper explores the evolution and influencing factors of the well-being level of urban and rural residents in China based on the data from the 2012-2021 China Livelihood Survey, using principal component analysis, cold- and hot-spot analysis, spatial kernel density estimation and multi-layer linear modeling. The findings are as follows: (1) China's urban and rural residents' well-being level shows a fluctuating upward trend, with both urban and rural well-being levels increasing. (2) China's urban and rural residents' well-being shows significant regional differences, with levels of the Northwest and the Northeast being higher than those of the others. (3) China's urban and rural residents' well-being level has obvious clustering characteristics. In 2021, there was a "hot-shrinking-cold-shrinking-hot-expansion-cold-shrinking" development trend, and in 2018-2021, the agglomeration of urban and rural residents in areas with high levels of well-being gradually increased, while the agglomeration of areas with low levels of well-being tended to weaken. (4) Individuals, gender, age, education, work status, and household type, were the most important factors in the well-being of urban and rural residents in China. At the individual level, gender, age, education level, working status, and hukou type have an impact on the well-being of urban and rural residents; at the regional level, GDP per capita, population density, city level, and geographic location have a nonlinear impact on the well-being of urban and rural residents. (5) Compared with the eastern region, the negative effect of unemployment on urban residents' well-being is relatively more pronounced in the central and northeastern regions. Similarly, in the central and western regions, unemployment has a relatively stronger negative effect on rural residents' well-being. Compared with the eastern region, the positive association between per capita GDP and urban residents' well-being is relatively weaker in the central and western regions, whereas in the northeastern region, this association is relatively stronger. The results of the study are intended to provide useful insights for studies on well-being and Chinese-style modernization.

As part of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), China has actively participated in global port construction over the past decade. This study aims to evaluate the outcomes of these efforts and enrich the theoretical framework of BRI development. We constructed a port vitality index (PVI) using shipping big data. The PVI was calculated across four key dimensions (production, maritime, service, and radiation) using 17 fundamental indicators based on the port transportation chain model. This study evaluated the vitality of port development over the past decade. The results were as follows. (1) There was significant growth from 2013 to 2022 in the overall vitality index of ports invested in China, with Asia and Europe being the primary hubs of port vitality, and Africa emerging as a major center of growth. (2) There was higher vitality growth among ports where China was involved in both investment and operations, compared to ports where China's role was limited to construction. (3) Chinese port construction companies held global power by helping developing countries or regions lacking transportation capacity quickly establish international transportation capabilities. (4) Terminal operators and shipping companies invested in ports with strong underlying conditions, located on key shipping routes with minimal economic risks, to ensure effective investment outcomes. (5) Some small and medium-sized ports gained rapid production vitality through investment, yet lacked maritime vitality, as insufficient urban market growth hinders the increase in maritime vitality. The port vitality evaluation method proposed in this study provides insights for adjusting China's future port investment strategies and optimizing location choices for enterprise investments. It also enriches the theoretical framework of the BRI development and provides practical evidence of China's commitment to fostering shared prosperity with the Global South through port infrastructure development.

Based on the context of "goal-strategy-path", the logic and content framework system of the modernization transformation of rural China towards urban-rural integrated development were explored. The study reveals several findings: (1) There is an inherent logical connection of collaborative interaction between the modernization transformation of rural China and the integrated development of urban and rural areas. Guided by the logic of goal transmission, the modernization transformation of rural China is achieved through three compound mechanisms: the transition of land use morphologies, the reconstruction of industrial models, and the innovation of spatial governance. (2) The modernization transformation of rural China has compound values such as facilitating the flow of factors between urban and rural areas, promoting the upgrading of industrial structure, and improving the relationship between human and land in rural areas. By adjusting the operation status of the rural territorial system through the logic of supply matching, it responds to the demands of urban-rural integration. (3) In the system of rural modernization transformation in China, the optimization of the land system driven by the qualitative change in land use patterns has stabilized the development foundation and solved the practical problems such as the extensive utilization of rural space, the disorder of powers and functions, the imbalance of functions and the decline of efficiency. The reconstruction of industrial models has established a modern platform for the transformation of rural economies and their integration into the large-scale economic circulation pattern of urban and rural areas, with a focus on resolving the structural predicament caused by the lagging industrial system within rural areas. Innovation in spatial governance has bridged the inherent institutional gap between urban and rural areas. Through multiple mechanisms such as institutional optimization, policy support, and digital means, it has coordinated the integrated governance of urban and rural areas and guaranteed the interests of multiple subjects. (4) By leveraging land use transition regulation, multifunctional rural development, and synergistic governance combining institutional adaptation with technology enablement, China's rural modernization transformation constructed a pathway system designed to serve and advance urban-rural integration.This paper offers valuable insights in response to the contemporary proposition of Chinese modernization.

Urban-rural equivalent integration signifies a dynamic process wherein urban and rural areas substantially realize interactive population mobility, equitable land valuation and tenure, synergistic industrial chains and agglomerations, harmonized infrastructure deployment, equitably accessible public services, collaborative ecological conservation and governance, and integrated information networks. This constitutes the ultimate objective of urban-rural integrated development under the paradigm of Chinese-style modernization. The core tenet of urban-rural equivalent integration is the equivalence of quality and well-being of life across urban and rural settings, represented by diverse lines of equivalence. Throughout distinct phases of urbanization and urban expansion, the fluctuation of urban-rural equivalent lines and the degree of urban-rural integration exhibit variability, theoretically charting an evolutionary trajectory characterized by an initial gentle gradient, followed by a steep ascent, and culminating in a return to a gentler slope. The driving mechanisms for urban-rural equivalent integration encompass identity equity for urban and rural residents, free flow for urban and rural construction land, intelligent mobile connectivity across urban-rural areas, market-based adjustment, and policy interventions. Quantitative indicators of urban-rural equivalent integration include 31 indicators across five dimensions: living standards, infrastructure, public services, ecological environment, and informatization. Empirical evidence from 1980 to 2023 indicates that China's overall urban-rural equivalent integration predominantly remained within a medium stage (30%-60%), while some indicators achieved a medium-high stage (60%-90%), demonstrating a progressive trajectory towards high equivalence. Notably, the urban-rural living standards and the urban-rural informatization exhibit a medium-high stage of equivalent integration, and the urban-rural infrastructure and public services are situated at a medium level, whereas the ecological environment persists in a state of non-equivalence (< 30%). Conclusively, while the trajectory towards high urban-rural equivalent integration remains a protracted and challenging endeavor, the outlook for achieving such integration is nonetheless optimistic. This research offers significant theoretical underpinnings and pragmatic guidance for advancing urban-rural profound integrated development in China.

As China experiences rapid population aging and the diversification of elderly care, the scale of residential mobility among older adults is rising. This trend poses challenges to individual health, family well-being, and the governance of an aging society. Drawing on existing theories of elderly residential mobility, this paper develops an analytical framework tailored to China's unique institutional and socio-cultural context. Using longitudinal data from the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (CHARLS) from 2011 to 2018, this study employs panel logit regression models to examine the mechanisms influencing relocation intentions and behaviors among older adults, with a focus on two key dimensions: relocation conditions and motivations. The main findings are as follows: (1) While the overall relocation rate of older adults in China is comparable to that of developed countries, relocation intentions remain relatively low, with unplanned relocations and abandoned intentions being common. In general, urban residents exhibit higher relocation rates than their rural counterparts. Both relocation intentions and behaviors are more prevalent in larger cities. (2) Residential mobility of older adults in China typically follows a nonlinear decision-making process, influenced by demographic characteristics, socio-economic conditions, family and intergenerational relationships, and life-course events, while health, environmental and institutional factors have minor impacts. (3) The factors affecting relocation intentions differ from those affecting actual relocation behaviors: external environmental features and life-course events strongly shape relocation intentions, while socioeconomic conditions and intergenerational relationships play a critical role in actual relocation behaviors. The transition from intention to behavior is significantly mediated by relocation capability.

Climate change significantly affects the arid/humid processes and patterns in China, directly impacting management decisions related to adaptive agriculture and water resources management, desertification control, and spatial ecological restoration. However, current studies primarily focus on changes in arid/humid climate variables, lacking quantitative characterization of the dynamic evolution of areal systems and their nonlinear responses. Based on the data of national meteorological stations from 1961 to 2020, we systematically quantified the nonlinear response of arid/humid patterns to climate change. The results revealed that 6.98% of eco-geographical arid/humid regions underwent type shifts over the past six decades, with 4.95% transitioning toward wetter conditions. Humid and semi-arid regions expanded significantly while sub-humid and arid regions contracted significantly. In the late 1990s, trends of the humid and sub-humid region shifted. Humid region contraction in northern China was driven primarily by precipitation decline, whereas the Tibetan Plateau responded to increasing potential evapotranspiration. During the same period, the retreat rate of the arid region slowed, linked to intensified aridification in the west part of northern China and a decelerating wetting trend in northwest China, both primarily driven by precipitation trends. Our study reveals the nonlinear response of the arid/humid patterns under climate change, providing a scientific basis for the improvement of regional climate resilience.

Flash floods pose a significant threat to life and property, as well as to the stable social and economic development in mountainous regions. Understanding the driving factors and spatio-temporal heterogeneity of flash floods is crucial for their prevention and mitigation. Geomorphic features are key determinants in the occurrence and development of flash floods across different scales. Therefore, this paper integrates geomorphic regions defined by three-level terrain and geomorphic type based formative processes to investigate the spatio-temporal variations, driving factors and heterogeneity of flash floods in China from 1985 to 2015, considering seasonal, interannual and multi-year scales. The findings reveal that the geomorphic regions based on the three-level terrain effectively capture the spatio-temporal heterogeneity of flash floods. Notably, interannual variation of flash floods occurrences differ significantly across six geomorphic regions. The most pronounced increasing trends are observed in the Southwestern Mountain region, the Southeastern Hilly Mountain region, and the Tibetan Plateau region. Seasonally, flash floods are most frequent in summer, followed by spring and autumn. Geomorphic types based on formative processes provide insights into the driving factors of flash floods. In erosional mountainous and hilly areas, key drivers include temperature, vegetation coverage, soil texture type, and land use. In karst landform areas, temperature, precipitation, land use, and soil texture type are the primary factors. In plains and terraces, the driving factors include soil texture type, precipitation and land use. This study enhances the understanding of the historical development of flash floods and provides a foundation for further exploring the mechanisms underlying their occurrence and evolution under different geomorphic conditions. Additionally, it offers valuable insights for flash flood planning and prevention strategies in the context of climate change.

In response to climate change and global environmental crisis, more and more countries have started to pursue a low-carbon economy. With significantly reduced or no tailpipe emissions, new energy vehicles (NEVs) - vehicles that are powered by alternatives to fossil fuels, such as electricity and non-traditional fuels - are gaining popularity and becoming the future of the automotive industry. Using NEV supplier data of Tesla's Shanghai Gigafactory (Tesla Shanghai), the paper performed a network analysis based on firm headquarter-subsidiary connections to map out the factory's global production network (GPN), revealed the spatial configuration of the network, and explored the forces driving its formation and development. The research yielded several findings. First, the global production of auto parts for Tesla Shanghai resembles a typical GPN with a core-periphery structure. Tesla Shanghai has established strong high-frequency connections with economic centers (or manufacturing centers with strong R&D capability) located in East Asia, North America, and Europe. Second, within the Tesla Shanghai's GPN, four supply chain systems - smart electronic components, battery and electric drive systems, thermal management systems, and chassis and trim - display varying hierarchical structures. Third, within each of the four supply chain networks, most communities (or subnetworks) span across geographical and administrative boundaries, connecting cities around the world through modular production of auto parts. These communities demonstrate strong internal heterogeneity with an emerging core-periphery structure of network nodes. Using the four explanatory variables of the GPN 2.0 framework (i. e., cost-capability ratio, market imperatives, financial discipline, and risk environment), the paper further analyzed the main factors that shape the highly complex NEVs GPN of Tesla Shanghai from the perspectives of global environment, market demand, technological linkages, and local competitive advantages. The study contributes to the new economic geography literature by providing an interesting case study. The findings of the research provide theoretical insights and practical implications for the innovation and sustainable development of the NEV industry.

Danxia landforms are unique land surface morphologies formed by long-term natural weathering and erosion of Tertiary red sandstone. An in-depth study of the spatio-temporal distribution characteristics of their surface thermal environment exhibits significant practical importance. This study quantitatively analyzes the micro-geomorphological characteristics of Danxia Mountain and their interplay with the spatio-temporal differentiation of land surface temperature (LST), integrating multi-source remote sensing imageries from the Sustainable Development Goals Science Satellite 1 (SDGSAT-1), Sentinel-2A/2B, and SPOT6 spanning 2022-2023. Firstly, the LSTs with a 30-m spatial resolution are retrieved for day and night across all four seasons using the three-channel split-window algorithm. The geomorphons (GM) terrain classification method is then applied for the finer GM classification of Danxia Mountain. Finally, the study analyzes the spatial and temporal differentiation characteristics of LST. Furthermore, we elucidate the impact of different micro-topographies of Danxia Mountain on the spatial and temporal variations of LST. The research reveals that Danxia Mountain comprises seven typical GM terrestrial landscapes, including peak, ridge, spur, slope, hollow, pit, and valley. These GM terrestrial landscapes are found to exert a significant impact on the seasonal and diurnal fluctuations of LST. Specifically, in the lower-lying areas of pits and valleys, the average daytime LST is relatively high, exhibiting the characteristic of "geomorphologic ravine thermal effect"; whereas in high-altitude peaks and ridges, the average nighttime LST is relatively high, leading to a "geomorphologic hilltop thermal effect". In spring, daytime LST and Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) show a negative correlation across different GM terrestrial landscapes. However, this negative relationship reverses in autumn, where a positive correlation between daytime LST and NDVI is observed, particularly evident on straight back slopes and convex back slopes. There exists a positive correlation between nighttime LST and the Digital Elevation Model (DEM), which is more pronounced in spring and winter. The results further reveal the spatial and temporal differentiation characteristics of LST under the micro-topographical conditions of Danxia Mountain in Guangdong's subtropical region. This provides important insights into the spatial and temporal variations of LST, offering valuable information for ecological environment research, biodiversity conservation, and climate change adaptation in regions where Danxia landforms are distributed.

Urban expansion, as a key driving force in the evolution of the Earth's surface human-environment system, profoundly influences land resource allocation and the stability of ecosystems. The horizontal expansion patterns and impacts of urban construction land are well-established at the global, national, and city scales. However, the expansion types, spatial characteristics, and driving mechanisms on the three-dimensional terrain gradient remain inadequately understood. Therefore, this study focuses on analyzing the slope variation characteristics and spatial interaction relationships of construction land, ecological land, and arable land in 2754 counties across China. By systematically categorizing gradient expansion types and employing a combination of random forest model and geodetector, this study delves into the driving factors of spatial differentiation of various expansion types. The results indicate that: (1) The rapid urbanization in China, with stringent arable land protection policies, has driven urban construction land to expand into areas with steeper slopes. In 78.18% of counties, the dominant gradient expansion type of construction land is characterized by an increase in slope. Meanwhile, the expansion type featuring increased slopes for arable land or ecological land is primarily concentrated in the northeast, northwest, and southwest regions. (2) The gradient expansion of construction land is closely linked to the gradient evolution of arable land, as the development of sloping arable land provides new space for urban construction land. In regions where the slope of arable land is notably steeper, the rate of expansion in construction land area is twice as high as that in areas where the slope is decreasing. Furthermore, the cultivation of sloping arable land serves as a major source for supplementing arable land resources. (3) The complexity of regional topography and the intensity of agricultural production are the main constraints and driving factors for the significant differences in the gradient expansion of China's urban areas. The interaction of topographical factors, including elevation, slope, and the proportion of flat land, accounts for 30% of the explanatory power in elucidating the spatial differentiation of slope changes in construction land. Quantitatively characterizing the spatial patterns, processes, and driving mechanisms of construction land expansion along gradients holds significant importance for mitigating construction land pressures in mountainous urban areas, protecting arable land, and promoting regional sustainable development.

Global change has significantly increased the frequency and intensity of extreme climate events, impacting the structure and function of terrestrial ecosystems. While climate warming has prolonged the growing season and increased carbon sequestration in temperate forests, the effects of extreme seasonal climate events on forest phenology and productivity remain unclear, which hinders a comprehensive understanding of the terrestrial carbon cycle. Based on the vegetation autumn phenology dataset extracted from the GIMMS NDVI3g data, this study assessed the impacts of extreme drought, extreme precipitation, high temperatures, and low temperatures on autumn phenology and gross primary productivity in temperate forests in China from 1982 to 2015 using partial correlation analysis. The results show that the mean end dates of the growing season occurred in 281-345 days with a delay rate of 0.5 days per year, and mean gross primary productivity occurred in 276-1367 g C m^-2 with an increase rate of 0.4 g C m^-2 per year on temperate forests in China. Increased drought severity and extreme high-temperature days during the growing season advanced autumn phenology and decreased productivity. In contrast, more drought and moderate high-temperature days delayed autumn phenology and increased productivity. Seasonal differences in phenology responses to extreme climate events were also observed. Spring and summer extreme high temperatures and drought advanced autumn phenology and reduced productivity, while autumn extreme high temperature and drought have the opposite effect. This phenomenon likely stems from elevated summer temperatures exacerbating heat stress and drought conditions, which collectively deplete soil moisture, and induce plant water stress, ultimately resulting in advanced autumn phenology and suppressed photosynthetic activity. However, cooler autumns make high-temperature events more conducive to forest growth, delaying autumn phenology and enhancing productivity. The study reveals seasonal differences of extreme climate events on autumn phenology and forest growth, suggesting that the timing of extreme events is crucial for understanding their effects on vegetation phenology and the terrestrial carbon cycle, which is essential to comprehend the carbon cycle of terrestrial ecosystems and their responses to climate change in the future.

China's national strategies concerning resources and the environment necessitate a reorientation of tourism geography research. Theoretically, the discipline's core research object is the "tourism regional system", which reflects the dynamic human-environment interaction within tourism contexts, analyzed across spatial, scalar, and objective dimensions linking activities in source, transit, and destination areas to resource conditions. Current Chinese research in this domain primarily focuses on four key themes: resource protection and utilization, climate change adaptation, achieving carbon peak and neutrality, and national spatial governance. However, there is a clear need to broaden this scope and strengthen comprehensive and cross-disciplinary knowledge integration. In terms of development imperatives, particularly since the 18th National Congress of the CPC (2012), the CPC Central Committee and the State Council have issued 51 policy documents concerning resources and the environment. These policies innovated a number of important systems, established key fundamental premises, developed various special regions, and integrated numerous advanced technologies. Marking a profound transformation from addressing "key issues breakthroughs" to embracing "systematic holistic protection and optimization", these policies demand that tourism geography research adopts views emphasizing large-scope resources, comprehensive systems, integrated governance, synergistic synergy, and broad responsibility, pivoting from an economics-driven paradigm towards sustainable development coordination analysis, while integrating multi-disciplinary theories, multi-domain techniques, multi-scale subjects, and multi-dimensional data. Future tourism geography research in China must actively serve national resources and environment strategies by concentrating on institutional development, policy implementation effectiveness and regional exploration. Priorities include deepening understanding in the ecological civilization construction, tourism system optimization and support under policy mandates, and ecological recreation in key spaces and protected areas. Continued theoretical and methodological development, coupled with interdisciplinary collaboration and innovation, is vital to contributing to China's ecological civilization and the "Beautiful China".

Developing new quality productive forces is a significant proposition emphasized at the meeting on promoting the full revitalization of Northeast China in the new era. Subsequently, research on the spatiotemporal evolution and spatial differentiation of new quality productive forces has become a cutting-edge and hot topic in geographic science. Based on the theory of productivity layout in economic geography, this paper introduces a spatial perspective from geography into the study of new quality productive forces and systematically examines the locational conditions and spatial layout of new quality productive forces from two dimensions: policy-side and factor-side. The paper constructs a three-dimensional evaluation indicator system for new quality productive forces, consisting of "new laborer-new labor materials-new labor object", and employs threshold regression model and coupling coordination degree model to explore the dynamic relationship and spatial characteristics between local government attention and the level of new quality productive forces from 2009 to 2022. The results show that: (1) From the perspective of policy-side, there is a growing trend of following the crowd and repetitive competition in the development of new quality productive forces among provinces. (2) From the perspective of factor-side, there is spatial heterogeneity in the level of new quality productive forces across different regions, presenting a gradient pattern of "high in the east and low in the west", and the spatial distribution of new quality productive forces is more imbalanced than regional development. (3) From the perspective of dynamic analysis, there is a U-shaped threshold characteristic for the role of government attention in developing new quality productive forces, and there is a positive coupling relationship between the two. Therefore, it is necessary to focus on the matching and connection between policy-side and factor-side of regional new quality productive forces. The conclusions of this study fill the research gap in the relevant fields of geography and provide policy inspiration for optimizing productivity layout, developing new quality productive forces according to local conditions, and promoting high-quality regional development.

This study examines the structure of the spatial association network of agricultural activities in the Changsha-Zhuzhou-Xiangtan urban agglomeration and explores its impact on urban-rural integration. This study employs social network analysis and a modified gravity model to analyze the spatial network characteristics of agricultural resource allocation. Furthermore, a coupling coordination model is used to evaluate the relationship between network structure and urban-rural integration. The results indicate that Changsha county, Xiangtan county, and Ningxiang city have strong resource adaptability and mobility, showing the potential to evolve into agricultural modernization demonstration areas. In contrast, Shaoshan city and Shifeng district exhibit significant weaknesses in resource utilization efficiency and factor allocation optimization. Based on these insights, this study proposes optimization paths and policy recommendations to improve the agricultural spatial network, enhance agricultural industry efficiency, and promote coordinated and sustainable urban-rural development. First, agricultural modernization demonstration zones should be established around Changsha, Xiangtan and Ningxiang, and agricultural science and technology innovation and infrastructure development should be strengthened to enhance regional resource flow efficiency. Second, efforts should be made to reinforce resource complementarity between core and peripheral areas in Shaoshan and Shifeng by increasing policy support and optimizing resource allocation. Finally, the agricultural industry chain should be extended to integrate agriculture with other industries and comprehensively improve regional agricultural modernization and urban-rural integration quality.

Global wetlands have experienced great loss over the past century. Accurately reconstructing wetland change processes and elucidating their evolutionary mechanisms are crucial for wetland ecological restoration and protection. On the basis of previous studies, our research expanded the types of wetland reconstruction, and took small wetlands into consideration. The Jianghan Plain, which has experienced the most typical wetland changes during the past century, was selected as the study area. Combined with the 1∶50000 topographic map of the Republic of China and the interpretation results of modern remote sensing images, we reconstructed the centennial-scale evolution of the wetland landscape in the Jianghan Plain. Then the influencing factors of wetland landscape changes to natural and human-induced factors were analyzed. The results show that the total area of wetlands in the Jianghan Plain in the 1920s was about 11613 km². Over the past century, the wetland area has showed a process of first decreasing and then increasing, and the total wetland area in 1985, 2000 and 2022 was equivalent to 57.3%, 62.6% and 63.6% of the 1920s, respectively. In the 1920s, lakes, marshes, rivers and mudflats accounted for 52.8%, 32.0%, 12.8% and 2.4% of the total wetland area, respectively, and the proportion of marshes in the total wetland area decreased significantly. Over the study period, the average area of wetland landscape patches decreased, and the distribution of wetland landscapes tended to be discrete. The shape's complexity and landscape's contagion of wetland landscape continued to decrease from the 1920s to 2000, and slowly increased after 2000. During the past century, the wetland landscape pattern of the Jianghan Plain has been affected by both natural and human factors, with obviously diverse dominant influencing factors in different periods. The results of this study can provide a reference for re-understanding the reclamation and wetland loss of the Jianghan Plain over the past century, as well as for the current wetland protection and restoration.

Digital economy enables the smooth transformation of cities in the Yellow River Basin, which is a key measure to promote ecological protection and high-quality development in this basin. This paper took the Yellow River Basin as the study area, evaluated urban transformation efficiency by using the super-efficiency SBM model, and constructed the spatial Markov transfer matrix, panel Tobit model and intermediary effect model to explore the spatio-temporal transfer characteristics of urban transformation efficiency and the driving effect of the digital economy on urban transformation efficiency. The results showed that: (1) From 2011 to 2021, the urban transformation efficiency in the study area was dominated by stable development, with certain "path dependence" and "self locking" effects; After considering spatial effects, the urban transformation efficiency mainly shifts upwards, and there was heterogeneity in the type transfer probability of urban transformation efficiency under different neighborhood types. (2) The digital economy had a positive effect on urban transformation efficiency, and the effect was regional heterogeneity, which was shown as follows: the middle reaches > the lower reaches > the upper reaches. (3) Technological innovation had a partial positive intermediary effect between the digital economy and urban transformation efficiency. The digital economy could promote urban transformation in the Yellow River Basin by improving the level of technological innovation; technological innovation had a single threshold effect of marginal reduction for the digital economy to improve urban transformation efficiency in the study area. When the level of technological innovation crosses the threshold value, the promotion effect of the digital economy on urban transformation efficiency begins to weaken.

The spatiotemporal evolution of settlements during historical periods is of great significance for a better understanding of past environment changes, land use, and the dynamics of human-land relationships. Chinese historical documents contain abundant information on settlements, serving as an important proxy for the study on the evolution settlements over the past century. Historical documents typically employ place names to record the spatial location of settlements, but the existing historical place names spatial databases often fall short in automating the precise localization of micro-scale place names, such as settlements, which in turn impedes the advancement of research on the spatial reconstruction and spatiotemporal evolution of these historical settlements. This study focuses on the automated matching method of historical settlement place names, utilizing Suzhou Prefecture during the late Qing Dynasty (1820-1911) as the research area. It selected 11340 settlement place names and their associated primary-level division data extracted from local chronicles, and combined contemporary place names matching techniques to construct a conceptual model for correlating ancient and modern place names. The study identifies characteristics of place names evolution, establishes rules for place names matching, and proposes an algorithm for the aggregation and matching of settlement names predicated on similarity metrics, thereby accomplish the spatial reconstruction of historical settlements within the research area. On this basis, the spatial distribution and urban-rural relationships of the reconstruction results were analyzed. The results indicated that approximately 98% of the settlements, relative to the total number documented in the literature, were reconstructed using an automated place names matching method. The spatial resolution of the reconstruction was approximately 1.4 km × 1.4 km, and the consistency between the automatic matching outcomes and the manually verified results was about 96%. During the late Qing Dynasty, the distribution of settlements in the study area exhibited agglomerative characteristics, with a hierarchical structure of settlement networks centered on the western suburbs of Suzhou city. However, urban-rural connections within the network were sparse. The findings from this study have enhanced the technical methods for the spatial reconstruction of historical settlement space and deepened the scientific understanding of the characteristics and influencing factors of long-term settlement evolution.