With its focus on the increasingly complicated human-environment relationship under the background of rapid urbanization, rural restructuring study has become an important frontier research area of geography. Rural restructuring is a process of reshaping the socioeconomic forms and spatial patterns in rural areas in respond to the changes of factors both internal and external of the system, by optimally allocating and efficiently managing the material and non-material elements of rural development. It aims at ultimately optimizing the structures and improving the functions within rural territorial systems as well as realizing the structural coordination and functional complementation between urban and rural territorial system. Based on the perspective of "elements-structure-function" of rural territorial system, this article first elaborated the concept of rural restructuring from the aspects of behavioral mainstream, value system, and targets. Then, a framework of rural restructuring mechanism was analyzed, which consisted of inducing mechanism, supporting mechanism, constraining/promoting mechanism, guiding mechanism, and driving mechanism. Furthermore, in view of the guiding role of governments in optimal allocation of critical resources and rural restructuring, this article argued that it is necessary to restructure the contours of state intervention in rural societies and economies. Finally, the research contents of rural restructuring in the future were prospected.

With its focus on the increasingly complicated human-environment relationship under the background of rapid urbanization, rural restructuring study has become an important frontier research area of geography. Rural restructuring is a process of reshaping the socioeconomic forms and spatial patterns in rural areas in respond to the changes of factors both internal and external of the system, by optimally allocating and efficiently managing the material and non-material elements of rural development. It aims at ultimately optimizing the structures and improving the functions within rural territorial systems as well as realizing the structural coordination and functional complementation between urban and rural territorial system. Based on the perspective of "elements-structure-function" of rural territorial system, this article first elaborated the concept of rural restructuring from the aspects of behavioral mainstream, value system, and targets. Then, a framework of rural restructuring mechanism was analyzed, which consisted of inducing mechanism, supporting mechanism, constraining/promoting mechanism, guiding mechanism, and driving mechanism. Furthermore, in view of the guiding role of governments in optimal allocation of critical resources and rural restructuring, this article argued that it is necessary to restructure the contours of state intervention in rural societies and economies. Finally, the research contents of rural restructuring in the future were prospected.

Cities and villages are components of a specific organism. Only the sustainable development of two parts can support the prosperous development as a whole. According to the theory of man-earth areal system, urban-rural integrated system and rural regional system are the theoretical bases for entirely recognizing and understanding urban-rural relationship. To handle the increasingly severe problems of "rural disease" in rapid urbanization, accelerating rural revitalization in an all-round way is not only a major strategic plan for promoting the urban-rural integration and rural sustainable development, but also a necessary requirement for solving the issues related to agriculture, rural areas, and rural people in the new era and securing a decisive victory in building a moderately prosperous society in all respects. This study explores the basic theories of urban-rural integration and rural revitalization and analyzes the main problems and causes of rural development in the new era, proposing problem-oriented scientific approaches and frontier research fields of urban-rural integration and rural revitalization in China. Results show that the objects 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 housing-industry symbiosis. Rural revitalization focuses on promoting the reconstruction of urban-rural integration system and constructs a multi-level goal system including urban-rural infrastructure networks, zones of rural development, fields of village-town space and poles of rural revitalization. Currently, the rural development is facing the five problems: high-speed non-agricultural transformation of agriculture production factors, over-fast aging and weakening of rural subjects, increasingly hollowing and abandoning of rural construction land, severe fouling of rural soil and water environment and deep pauperization of rural poverty-stricken areas. The countryside is an important basis for the socioeconomic development in China, and the strategies of urban-rural integration and rural revitalization are complementary. The rural revitalization focuses on establishing the institutional mechanism for integrated urban-rural development and constructs the comprehensive development system of rural regional system, which includes transformation, reconstruction and innovation in accordance with the requirements of thriving businesses, pleasant living environments, social etiquette and civility, effective governance, and prosperity. Geographical research on rural revitalization should focus on the complexity and dynamics of rural regional system and explore new schemes, models and scientific approaches for the construction of villages and towns, which are guided by radical cure of "rural disease", implement the strategy of rural revitalization polarization, construct the evaluation index system and planning system of rural revitalization, thus providing advanced theoretical references for realizing the revitalization of China's rural areas in the new era.

Cities and villages are components of a specific organism. Only the sustainable development of two parts can support the prosperous development as a whole. According to the theory of man-earth areal system, urban-rural integrated system and rural regional system are the theoretical bases for entirely recognizing and understanding urban-rural relationship. To handle the increasingly severe problems of "rural disease" in rapid urbanization, accelerating rural revitalization in an all-round way is not only a major strategic plan for promoting the urban-rural integration and rural sustainable development, but also a necessary requirement for solving the issues related to agriculture, rural areas, and rural people in the new era and securing a decisive victory in building a moderately prosperous society in all respects. This study explores the basic theories of urban-rural integration and rural revitalization and analyzes the main problems and causes of rural development in the new era, proposing problem-oriented scientific approaches and frontier research fields of urban-rural integration and rural revitalization in China. Results show that the objects 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 housing-industry symbiosis. Rural revitalization focuses on promoting the reconstruction of urban-rural integration system and constructs a multi-level goal system including urban-rural infrastructure networks, zones of rural development, fields of village-town space and poles of rural revitalization. Currently, the rural development is facing the five problems: high-speed non-agricultural transformation of agriculture production factors, over-fast aging and weakening of rural subjects, increasingly hollowing and abandoning of rural construction land, severe fouling of rural soil and water environment and deep pauperization of rural poverty-stricken areas. The countryside is an important basis for the socioeconomic development in China, and the strategies of urban-rural integration and rural revitalization are complementary. The rural revitalization focuses on establishing the institutional mechanism for integrated urban-rural development and constructs the comprehensive development system of rural regional system, which includes transformation, reconstruction and innovation in accordance with the requirements of thriving businesses, pleasant living environments, social etiquette and civility, effective governance, and prosperity. Geographical research on rural revitalization should focus on the complexity and dynamics of rural regional system and explore new schemes, models and scientific approaches for the construction of villages and towns, which are guided by radical cure of "rural disease", implement the strategy of rural revitalization polarization, construct the evaluation index system and planning system of rural revitalization, thus providing advanced theoretical references for realizing the revitalization of China's rural areas in the new era.

The Province Kiangsu is one of the most prosperous agricultural regions of China. It yield 8.5% of rice, 12.5% of wheat, 20% of cotton, 16% of cocoon produced in the whole country.The province may be divided into four agricultural regions according to their predominate products:1. The northern region where wheat, kaoliang, maize, and millet are prod-uced.2. The central rice region,3. The southern rice and sericulture region, and4. The coastal cotton region.

The Province Kiangsu is one of the most prosperous agricultural regions of China. It yield 8.5% of rice, 12.5% of wheat, 20% of cotton, 16% of cocoon produced in the whole country.The province may be divided into four agricultural regions according to their predominate products:1. The northern region where wheat, kaoliang, maize, and millet are prod-uced.2. The central rice region,3. The southern rice and sericulture region, and4. The coastal cotton region.

Various attempts have been made to divide China into regions of agricultural significance. Both the divisions of Nyhus and Cressey are not very satisfatory. According to my recent study, China may be divided into nine greater agricultural regions which are quite similar to the climatic regions of Co-ching Chu.

Various attempts have been made to divide China into regions of agricultural significance. Both the divisions of Nyhus and Cressey are not very satisfatory. According to my recent study, China may be divided into nine greater agricultural regions which are quite similar to the climatic regions of Co-ching Chu.

Agriculture consolidates the process of natural reproduction and economic reproduction. Spatial pattern of agricultural region is comprehensively influenced by factors such as natural geography, economic and social development and advances in technology. Along with the changes of these influencing factors over a long period, agricultural pattern and agricultural function present regional differentiation and spatio-temporal evolution. This lays a scientific foundation for comprehensive agricultural regionalization. China is currently experiencing a new period of coordinated development of industrialization, urbanization, informatization and agricultural modernization. This paper firstly investigates spatio-temporal changes and dynamic characteristics of modern agriculture development conditions in China. Then, it puts forward the coupling measure index system of agricultural natural factors and regional function, zoning principles and scientific method of modern agricultural regionalization under the new development background. Using cluster analysis and qualitative analysis, it carries out a comprehensive research and puts forward China's modern agriculture regionalization scheme in the new era, which divides China into 15 agricultural first-grade regions and 53 agricultural sub-regions. After doing a comparative analysis with the new scheme and the previous one, which was published in 1981, the paper makes a systematic interpretation on current producing situation, regional function, spatial pattern changes and agricultural development trend of each agricultural region and the whole country at last. The results of this research provide scientific basis for strategic structural adjustment and development of modern agriculture in each region. At the theoretical level, this paper provides a research reference for the development of modern agriculture and rural geography. At the application level, it promotes integrated geography research to serve the rural revitalization and national development strategic needs in the transition period in China. The regional agriculture is a natural, economic and technological complex system, with the characteristics of complexity, dynamics and high risk. As such, based on the congnition of spatial differentiation of modern agriculture development patterns, it is necessary to deeply analyze the regional differentiation of agricultural endogenous power, agriculture and rural territorial types, to improve observational research of agricultural geographical engineering and technology, and the economic, ecological, climatic integrated effects of regional agriculture transformation, to summarize systematically regional agricultural models and regional transformation patterns, to explore the early warning mechanism of modern agricultural complex system, and to study continuously the theories and strategic decision-making for promoting agricultural modernization and rural revitalization.

Agriculture consolidates the process of natural reproduction and economic reproduction. Spatial pattern of agricultural region is comprehensively influenced by factors such as natural geography, economic and social development and advances in technology. Along with the changes of these influencing factors over a long period, agricultural pattern and agricultural function present regional differentiation and spatio-temporal evolution. This lays a scientific foundation for comprehensive agricultural regionalization. China is currently experiencing a new period of coordinated development of industrialization, urbanization, informatization and agricultural modernization. This paper firstly investigates spatio-temporal changes and dynamic characteristics of modern agriculture development conditions in China. Then, it puts forward the coupling measure index system of agricultural natural factors and regional function, zoning principles and scientific method of modern agricultural regionalization under the new development background. Using cluster analysis and qualitative analysis, it carries out a comprehensive research and puts forward China's modern agriculture regionalization scheme in the new era, which divides China into 15 agricultural first-grade regions and 53 agricultural sub-regions. After doing a comparative analysis with the new scheme and the previous one, which was published in 1981, the paper makes a systematic interpretation on current producing situation, regional function, spatial pattern changes and agricultural development trend of each agricultural region and the whole country at last. The results of this research provide scientific basis for strategic structural adjustment and development of modern agriculture in each region. At the theoretical level, this paper provides a research reference for the development of modern agriculture and rural geography. At the application level, it promotes integrated geography research to serve the rural revitalization and national development strategic needs in the transition period in China. The regional agriculture is a natural, economic and technological complex system, with the characteristics of complexity, dynamics and high risk. As such, based on the congnition of spatial differentiation of modern agriculture development patterns, it is necessary to deeply analyze the regional differentiation of agricultural endogenous power, agriculture and rural territorial types, to improve observational research of agricultural geographical engineering and technology, and the economic, ecological, climatic integrated effects of regional agriculture transformation, to summarize systematically regional agricultural models and regional transformation patterns, to explore the early warning mechanism of modern agricultural complex system, and to study continuously the theories and strategic decision-making for promoting agricultural modernization and rural revitalization.

With the implementation of reform and opening up policies, rapid industrialization and urbanization in the eastern coastal area of China has not only promoted the development of regional economy, enhanced the international competitiveness, but also influenced the vast rural area deeply, bringing great changes to the rural industrial structure, employment structure and agricultural production pattern, and the development of the coastal rural area has come into a new period of transformation and upgrade. The proportion of the primary industry decreased from 23.3% to 7.9% and that of the tertiary industry increased from 19.8% to 40.5%, while the proportion of agricultural labor force decreased from 90.8% to 47.9% during 1978-2005. Analysis shows that proportions of both production value of coastal agriculture in GDP and agricultural labor force in rural labors will continue to decrease to 8.0% and 44.5% by 2010 and to 6.0% and 32.2% by 2020. From 1990 to 2005, the average elasticity coefficient of cultivated land and labor force in the eastern coastal area came to 1.84, which means that the transfer of agricultural labor force is faster than the decrease of cultivated land and the labor productivity is increasing steadily. At the corresponding period, rural population decreased from 306 million to 219 million while rural construction land use per capita increased, indicating that the transfer of rural population failed to be linked to the decrease of rural residential land. The new countryside construction in the eastern coastal area must obey the rules of rural transformation and development, lay stress on scientific plan and regionalization, promote rural productivity and foster interactive and harmonious development between city and countryside by optimizing urban and rural land use and developing modern agriculture and rural characteristic economy.

With the implementation of reform and opening up policies, rapid industrialization and urbanization in the eastern coastal area of China has not only promoted the development of regional economy, enhanced the international competitiveness, but also influenced the vast rural area deeply, bringing great changes to the rural industrial structure, employment structure and agricultural production pattern, and the development of the coastal rural area has come into a new period of transformation and upgrade. The proportion of the primary industry decreased from 23.3% to 7.9% and that of the tertiary industry increased from 19.8% to 40.5%, while the proportion of agricultural labor force decreased from 90.8% to 47.9% during 1978-2005. Analysis shows that proportions of both production value of coastal agriculture in GDP and agricultural labor force in rural labors will continue to decrease to 8.0% and 44.5% by 2010 and to 6.0% and 32.2% by 2020. From 1990 to 2005, the average elasticity coefficient of cultivated land and labor force in the eastern coastal area came to 1.84, which means that the transfer of agricultural labor force is faster than the decrease of cultivated land and the labor productivity is increasing steadily. At the corresponding period, rural population decreased from 306 million to 219 million while rural construction land use per capita increased, indicating that the transfer of rural population failed to be linked to the decrease of rural residential land. The new countryside construction in the eastern coastal area must obey the rules of rural transformation and development, lay stress on scientific plan and regionalization, promote rural productivity and foster interactive and harmonious development between city and countryside by optimizing urban and rural land use and developing modern agriculture and rural characteristic economy.

Rural transformation is a leading human process accompanying urban-rural development and the transformation of economic development mode, under the background of rapid urbanization in the past few decades in China. In the study of rural transformation process, spatial reconstruction mechanism and optimal rural spatial reconstruction are of great significant. Using the theory of human-nature relationship in the territorial system, the process of rural transformation and interaction mechanism between this process and land use transformation should be analyzed in future studies to examine the mechanism of rural spatial reconstruction and the pattern of optimal spatial reorganization that affect the process of rural transformation. The integration of remote sensing and GIS and sampling survey and modeling methods should be used to: (1) analyze the process and dynamic patterns of rural transformation and its geographical types; (2) explore the collaborative mechanism between rural transformation and land use transformation; (3) establish models for optimal spatial reorganization that affects rural transformation; (4) identify typical patterns of rural transformation and land use allocation that affect rural spatial reconstruction indifferent functional types; and (5) systematically analyze the mechanism of different rural development patterns and the main regional geographical features. Combined with empirical studies, this research compares and analyzes typical development patterns in terms of the evolution process and interaction mechanism among various factors, to explore geographical patterns and methods for rural spatial reconstruction.

Rural transformation is a leading human process accompanying urban-rural development and the transformation of economic development mode, under the background of rapid urbanization in the past few decades in China. In the study of rural transformation process, spatial reconstruction mechanism and optimal rural spatial reconstruction are of great significant. Using the theory of human-nature relationship in the territorial system, the process of rural transformation and interaction mechanism between this process and land use transformation should be analyzed in future studies to examine the mechanism of rural spatial reconstruction and the pattern of optimal spatial reorganization that affect the process of rural transformation. The integration of remote sensing and GIS and sampling survey and modeling methods should be used to: (1) analyze the process and dynamic patterns of rural transformation and its geographical types; (2) explore the collaborative mechanism between rural transformation and land use transformation; (3) establish models for optimal spatial reorganization that affects rural transformation; (4) identify typical patterns of rural transformation and land use allocation that affect rural spatial reconstruction indifferent functional types; and (5) systematically analyze the mechanism of different rural development patterns and the main regional geographical features. Combined with empirical studies, this research compares and analyzes typical development patterns in terms of the evolution process and interaction mechanism among various factors, to explore geographical patterns and methods for rural spatial reconstruction.

Currently, both rural development and urban development in China are experiencing a transition period. the transformation of a traditional agricultural society into a modern industrial and urban society, and the economy is changing from a traditional planned economy to a modern market system. As a result, regional development factors reintegration and followed industrial restructuring have changed the rural areas in eastern coastal China deeply. Different rural development types were shaped basing on a carrier, which is composed of different industries. Accordingly, this paper defines four rural development types, i.e. agriculture-dominated rural development type, industry-dominated rural development type, balanced rural development type, and rural development type focusing on business, tourism and providing services, and classifies the rural development types in eastern coastal China. Then, an indicator system was established to assess the rurality index (RI) of different rural development types in eastern coastal China. The results showed: (1) Relying on the advantages of location and national lean policies, 57.6% of the total territory of eastern coastal China belongs to balanced rural development type, and 18.64%, 11.99% and 11.75% of the total area is shared by agriculture-dominated rural development type, industry-dominated rural development type, and rural development type focusing on business, tourism and providing services, respectively; (2) 59.1% of the agriculture-dominated rural development type shows a strong rurality (RI > 0.5); (3) In the industry-dominated rural development type, the area with a weak rurality (RI < 0.4) and a moderate rurality (0.4 < RI < 0.5) takes up 33.4% and 42.8%, respectively; (4) In the rural development type focusing on business, tourism and providing services, the area with weak, strong and moderate rurality shares 42.7%, 27.3% and 30.0% of the total, respectively; (5) Almost half (45.8%) of the balanced rural development type with a moderate rurality, 17.2% of this type with a weak rurality, and 37% with a strong rurality. In some cases, the big difference of rurality index value among the same development types is due to the development of multi-functionality of current countryside and place-based rural development mode under globalization and socio-economic restructuring. Rural development depends on the change of its influencing factors. So, the rural development types classified in this paper can not always keep the same situation, at least the quantitative change occurs momently.

Currently, both rural development and urban development in China are experiencing a transition period. the transformation of a traditional agricultural society into a modern industrial and urban society, and the economy is changing from a traditional planned economy to a modern market system. As a result, regional development factors reintegration and followed industrial restructuring have changed the rural areas in eastern coastal China deeply. Different rural development types were shaped basing on a carrier, which is composed of different industries. Accordingly, this paper defines four rural development types, i.e. agriculture-dominated rural development type, industry-dominated rural development type, balanced rural development type, and rural development type focusing on business, tourism and providing services, and classifies the rural development types in eastern coastal China. Then, an indicator system was established to assess the rurality index (RI) of different rural development types in eastern coastal China. The results showed: (1) Relying on the advantages of location and national lean policies, 57.6% of the total territory of eastern coastal China belongs to balanced rural development type, and 18.64%, 11.99% and 11.75% of the total area is shared by agriculture-dominated rural development type, industry-dominated rural development type, and rural development type focusing on business, tourism and providing services, respectively; (2) 59.1% of the agriculture-dominated rural development type shows a strong rurality (RI > 0.5); (3) In the industry-dominated rural development type, the area with a weak rurality (RI < 0.4) and a moderate rurality (0.4 < RI < 0.5) takes up 33.4% and 42.8%, respectively; (4) In the rural development type focusing on business, tourism and providing services, the area with weak, strong and moderate rurality shares 42.7%, 27.3% and 30.0% of the total, respectively; (5) Almost half (45.8%) of the balanced rural development type with a moderate rurality, 17.2% of this type with a weak rurality, and 37% with a strong rurality. In some cases, the big difference of rurality index value among the same development types is due to the development of multi-functionality of current countryside and place-based rural development mode under globalization and socio-economic restructuring. Rural development depends on the change of its influencing factors. So, the rural development types classified in this paper can not always keep the same situation, at least the quantitative change occurs momently.

For the sake of adapting to the changes of elements in both kernel system and external system of rural development, rural restructuring is a process of optimally allocating and efficiently managing the material and non-material elements affecting rural development, reshaping social and economic structures in rural areas and optimizing spatial pattern in rural territory, and approaching the structure optimization and function promotion of rural territorial system as well as the structure coordination and function complementation of urban-rural territorial system. Based on elaborating the concept and connotations of rural restructuring and the mechanism of promoting rural restructuring due to the evolution of "elements-structure-function", the paper probed the approaches of rural restructuring from the aspects of spatial restructuring, economic restructuring and social restructuring. In order to meet the current national strategic demands and meet the challenges of rural development in the process of urban-rural development transformation, it is in great urgency to strengthen the study on the patterns and processes, dynamic mechanism, differentiated development models, rural planning technology systems, strategies and policies for rural development, and the impacts of globalization on China's rural restructuring in the future. Finally, focusing on a series of problems in the implementation of some important government intervention policies, which is aimed at boosting the social and economic development of rural areas in recent years, a critical analysis and discussion is carried out.

For the sake of adapting to the changes of elements in both kernel system and external system of rural development, rural restructuring is a process of optimally allocating and efficiently managing the material and non-material elements affecting rural development, reshaping social and economic structures in rural areas and optimizing spatial pattern in rural territory, and approaching the structure optimization and function promotion of rural territorial system as well as the structure coordination and function complementation of urban-rural territorial system. Based on elaborating the concept and connotations of rural restructuring and the mechanism of promoting rural restructuring due to the evolution of "elements-structure-function", the paper probed the approaches of rural restructuring from the aspects of spatial restructuring, economic restructuring and social restructuring. In order to meet the current national strategic demands and meet the challenges of rural development in the process of urban-rural development transformation, it is in great urgency to strengthen the study on the patterns and processes, dynamic mechanism, differentiated development models, rural planning technology systems, strategies and policies for rural development, and the impacts of globalization on China's rural restructuring in the future. Finally, focusing on a series of problems in the implementation of some important government intervention policies, which is aimed at boosting the social and economic development of rural areas in recent years, a critical analysis and discussion is carried out.

Major Function Oriented Zoning (MFOZ) is the blueprint for the future developmnt and protection pattern of China's territory, and has been raised to from major function zones planning to major function zoning strategy and major function zoning institution. From 2004 to 2014, the author organized a series of research projects to compose MFOZ for the country, studied basic theory of regional function and MFOZ technical process, and proposed that space controlling zones of national and provincial scales can be divided into four types: urbanized zones, foodstuff-security zones, ecological safety zones, cultural and natural heritage zones. On this basis, major function zones of county scale should be transferred to optimized, prioritized, restricted, and prohibited zones. In this paper, a regional function identification index system comprising nine quantitative indicators (including water resources, land resources, ecological importance, ecological fragility, environment capacity, disaster risk, economic development level, population concentration and transport superiority) and one qualitative indicator of strategic choice is developed. Based on the single index evaluation, comprehensive evaluation using regional function suitability evaluation index is conducted, aiming at testing several key parameters including lower limit of protection zones and upper limit of development zones at the provincial level. In addition, a planning-oriented zoning method of major function zones is also discussed, which has brought the first MFOZ planning in China. According to the MFOZ caliber, it is forecasted that national spatial development intensity will rise from 3.48% in 2010 to 3.91% in 2020. Furthermore, according to caliber of the provincial integrated MFOZ planning, the area of optimized, prioritized and restricted zones accounts for 1.48%, 13.60% and 84.92%, respectively, and that of urbanized, foodstuff-security and ecological safety zones accounts for 15.08%, 26.11% and 58.81%, respectively. In combination of analyses of development level, resources and environmental carrying status and quality of the people's livelihood, the main characteristics of MFOZ were identified. Through verification, MFOZ draft of national and provincial scales, which is interactively accomplished with "MFOZ Technical Process" put forward by the author, is mostly above 80% identical with what have been forecasted.

Major Function Oriented Zoning (MFOZ) is the blueprint for the future developmnt and protection pattern of China's territory, and has been raised to from major function zones planning to major function zoning strategy and major function zoning institution. From 2004 to 2014, the author organized a series of research projects to compose MFOZ for the country, studied basic theory of regional function and MFOZ technical process, and proposed that space controlling zones of national and provincial scales can be divided into four types: urbanized zones, foodstuff-security zones, ecological safety zones, cultural and natural heritage zones. On this basis, major function zones of county scale should be transferred to optimized, prioritized, restricted, and prohibited zones. In this paper, a regional function identification index system comprising nine quantitative indicators (including water resources, land resources, ecological importance, ecological fragility, environment capacity, disaster risk, economic development level, population concentration and transport superiority) and one qualitative indicator of strategic choice is developed. Based on the single index evaluation, comprehensive evaluation using regional function suitability evaluation index is conducted, aiming at testing several key parameters including lower limit of protection zones and upper limit of development zones at the provincial level. In addition, a planning-oriented zoning method of major function zones is also discussed, which has brought the first MFOZ planning in China. According to the MFOZ caliber, it is forecasted that national spatial development intensity will rise from 3.48% in 2010 to 3.91% in 2020. Furthermore, according to caliber of the provincial integrated MFOZ planning, the area of optimized, prioritized and restricted zones accounts for 1.48%, 13.60% and 84.92%, respectively, and that of urbanized, foodstuff-security and ecological safety zones accounts for 15.08%, 26.11% and 58.81%, respectively. In combination of analyses of development level, resources and environmental carrying status and quality of the people's livelihood, the main characteristics of MFOZ were identified. Through verification, MFOZ draft of national and provincial scales, which is interactively accomplished with "MFOZ Technical Process" put forward by the author, is mostly above 80% identical with what have been forecasted.

Based on the structured questionnaires, this article uses the methods of questionnaire investigation and interview to analyze the spatial pattern and regional characteristics of rural poverty in Northeast China, and then the formation mechanism of poverty problems in the typical rural poor areas is discussed and deconstructed. The main conclusions are as follows. 1) The rural poor population and poor counties in Northeast China are centrally distributed in the southern piedmont region of the Da Hinggan Mountains, the provincial boundaries between three provinces and the eastern part of Inner Mongolia, and the border areas of Sino-Korean and Sino-Russian. At the same time, there are 2 major poverty areas in the east and the west: the west area extends from north to south in a belt, and two mass poverty population concentrated areas are in the east area. On the whole, the poor population shows the spatial distribution characteristics of “big agglomeration and small dispersion”. 2) There are 5 high incidence areas of rural poverty in Northeast China, including the northern and eastern border of Sino-Russian, the Songnen Plain, the west, and the border areas of Sino-Korean. The incidence of poverty is high in the north and east, low in the south and west. 3) The poor are mainly consisted in the middle-aged and elderly people with a low educational level. At the same time, their food and clothing and medical security problems are severe. Disease, lack of cultivated land and low utilization rate of cultivated land, are the main causes of rural poverty in Northeast China, thus developing modern agriculture and going out to work are important ways to eliminate poverty. 4) In Northeast China, there are 3 typical rural poverty areas: the farming and pastoral transitional zone of the western region, Korean nationality community of the eastern border mountainous region, and the eastern plains and hills transition zone. The poverty in the western region is mainly affected by the single agricultural structure, low agricultural product market prices, backward farmers' understanding of their own ideas, weak infrastructure construction and harsh natural ecological conditions. While the rural poverty in the Korean nationality community in the eastern border mountainous areas is mainly caused by the continuous outflow of the working age population. And the emergence of rural poverty in the transition areas of the eastern plain and hilly areas is mainly affected by the remote location and complicated topography, which leads to natural disasters and the shortage of cultivated land resources.

Based on the structured questionnaires, this article uses the methods of questionnaire investigation and interview to analyze the spatial pattern and regional characteristics of rural poverty in Northeast China, and then the formation mechanism of poverty problems in the typical rural poor areas is discussed and deconstructed. The main conclusions are as follows. 1) The rural poor population and poor counties in Northeast China are centrally distributed in the southern piedmont region of the Da Hinggan Mountains, the provincial boundaries between three provinces and the eastern part of Inner Mongolia, and the border areas of Sino-Korean and Sino-Russian. At the same time, there are 2 major poverty areas in the east and the west: the west area extends from north to south in a belt, and two mass poverty population concentrated areas are in the east area. On the whole, the poor population shows the spatial distribution characteristics of “big agglomeration and small dispersion”. 2) There are 5 high incidence areas of rural poverty in Northeast China, including the northern and eastern border of Sino-Russian, the Songnen Plain, the west, and the border areas of Sino-Korean. The incidence of poverty is high in the north and east, low in the south and west. 3) The poor are mainly consisted in the middle-aged and elderly people with a low educational level. At the same time, their food and clothing and medical security problems are severe. Disease, lack of cultivated land and low utilization rate of cultivated land, are the main causes of rural poverty in Northeast China, thus developing modern agriculture and going out to work are important ways to eliminate poverty. 4) In Northeast China, there are 3 typical rural poverty areas: the farming and pastoral transitional zone of the western region, Korean nationality community of the eastern border mountainous region, and the eastern plains and hills transition zone. The poverty in the western region is mainly affected by the single agricultural structure, low agricultural product market prices, backward farmers' understanding of their own ideas, weak infrastructure construction and harsh natural ecological conditions. While the rural poverty in the Korean nationality community in the eastern border mountainous areas is mainly caused by the continuous outflow of the working age population. And the emergence of rural poverty in the transition areas of the eastern plain and hilly areas is mainly affected by the remote location and complicated topography, which leads to natural disasters and the shortage of cultivated land resources.

Land is the solid bases for human life and development and sustainable land use is very important to the socioeconomic development of human society. Promoting comprehensive theoretical and engineering technological innovation for land resources is an important frontier in development transformation, eco-civilization construction, human-land relationship coordination and people's livelihood-land protection in China. Because of rapid industrialization and urbanization, land use, exploitation and management in China face serious problems. The current knowledge, study direction and technologies regarding land resources cannot support China's key land use problems and it is necessary to intensify the study of land resource engineering and application. Here, we discuss the main themes and content around land resource engineering, empirically analyze typical engineering cases, and investigate areal modes and the impact of land resource engineering studies. We found that land resource engineering indicates comprehensive engineering and the application of investigation assessment, planning design, exploitation consolidation and protection utilization of land resources usable for agriculture, forestry, husbandry and other industries. Land resource engineering normally includes engineering technologies for land investigation, assessment, planning, design, exploitation, consolidation, protection and utilization. It is necessary to further develop land resource engineering in China. For example, more attention should be paid to theoretical systems, regional diagnosis, technological methodology, standards, functioning modes, performance assessment and mechanisms. Particularly, the cross-integration of various subjects, public participation, absorbing local knowledge, innovating key engineering technologies, establishing multi-participants networks, and innovating mechanisms of land resources engineering should be intensified when there are problems such as land shortage, degradation and inefficiency.

Land is the solid bases for human life and development and sustainable land use is very important to the socioeconomic development of human society. Promoting comprehensive theoretical and engineering technological innovation for land resources is an important frontier in development transformation, eco-civilization construction, human-land relationship coordination and people's livelihood-land protection in China. Because of rapid industrialization and urbanization, land use, exploitation and management in China face serious problems. The current knowledge, study direction and technologies regarding land resources cannot support China's key land use problems and it is necessary to intensify the study of land resource engineering and application. Here, we discuss the main themes and content around land resource engineering, empirically analyze typical engineering cases, and investigate areal modes and the impact of land resource engineering studies. We found that land resource engineering indicates comprehensive engineering and the application of investigation assessment, planning design, exploitation consolidation and protection utilization of land resources usable for agriculture, forestry, husbandry and other industries. Land resource engineering normally includes engineering technologies for land investigation, assessment, planning, design, exploitation, consolidation, protection and utilization. It is necessary to further develop land resource engineering in China. For example, more attention should be paid to theoretical systems, regional diagnosis, technological methodology, standards, functioning modes, performance assessment and mechanisms. Particularly, the cross-integration of various subjects, public participation, absorbing local knowledge, innovating key engineering technologies, establishing multi-participants networks, and innovating mechanisms of land resources engineering should be intensified when there are problems such as land shortage, degradation and inefficiency.