As a recent theoretical trend in human geography abroad to reflect on the binary divide between nature and society/culture and to explain the intra-action between the two with the concept of socio-nature, the social construction of nature has theoretical applicability to the study of agricultural heritage. Firstly, as a bridge between human society and natural ecosystems, agriculture is inherently an important area for the study of the social construction of nature. Secondly, as a unique land-use system and agricultural landscape formed through the long-term synergistic evolution and dynamic adaptation of farmers and their environment, agricultural heritage implies a richer and more typical social construction process than that of general agricultural production activities. Again, the Globally Important Agricultural Heritage Systems (GIAHS) project initiated by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) essentially constitutes a challenge to the dichotomous heritage narratives of nature and culture in the mainstream international heritage conservation practice, and is therefore a typical target for the study of the social construction of nature in the field of heritage. In conclusion, the social construction of nature can provide a new theoretical perspective for the study of agricultural heritage as a socio-ecological system. Does the theory of social construction of nature only involve the binary relation between society/culture/human and nature? How can the concept of place be integrated into this theory? It was found that although human-nature interaction is the core interest of the study of the social construction of nature, it does not mean that the social construction of nature only demonstrates this dual relationship. The relevance of the social construction of nature to the construction of place determine that the social construction of nature is a network of relationships in which “human-nature-place” are closely interconnected. This does not mean that the place is a third party independent of human and nature, but rather aims to illustrate that the social construction of nature will change the materiality and social attributes of nature. After being constructed, nature, through its subjectivity and agency, can also shape the characteristics and meaning of the place and delineate the human-land relationship. Based on the “human-nature-place” relational network, the study on the social construction of Longji Rice Terraces, which was recognized as a GIAHS in 2018, and its place effect in the context of tourism reveals that the mechanism of tourism interest linkage between people and terraces, the history of terraces, and the boundaries of the terraces constitute 3 important socially constructed objects. Moreover, those are interdependent and closely integrated in the process of social construction, encompassing rich interactions and multiple constructions of natural-social elements, which profoundly induced the material changes of the Longji Terraces, as well as the competition among diverse stakeholders revolves around the question “whose terraces” regarding the identity of the heritage subject. Ultimately the 3 objects, as a force of production and reproduction of the place, jointly influenced and shaped the nature and meaning of the Longji area, making it a place that dynamically reorganizes with the changes in the relationship between people and the terraces.

This article systematically synthesizes the current research landscape, evolving hotspots, and prospective trends within the domain of resource-based regions or cities. Leveraging advanced information visualization tools like CiteSpace, we conducted a comprehensive analysis of high-impact journal publications from both CNKI and WOS databases up to March 7, 2024, generating a dynamic knowledge map to visualize research progression. Key findings include: The 21 century has witnessed innovation and technological progress as pivotal engines propelling the transformation and development trajectories of resource-dependent areas and urban centers. Contemporary research converges on critical themes such as technological innovation ecosystems, green transition pathways, industrial value chain modernization, environmental governance frameworks, and carbon management strategies. This concentrated focus underscores global academia’s heightened responsiveness to the dual imperatives of environmental stewardship and economic restructuring in resource-intensive localities. A comparative analysis reveals domestic scholarship prioritizes applied transformation strategies and sustainable development paradigms for resource-based regions, while international research emphasizes theoretical modeling of global value chain integration and adaptive environmental policy mechanisms. Domestic studies demonstrate methodological preferences for empirical case analyses and policy prescription, whereas international counterparts advance conceptual and methodological innovations through global comparative lenses—each identifying 5 distinct research trajectories. The evolution of this scholarly discourse exhibits distinct chronological patterns: CNKI literature progresses from foundational explorations of resource-based regional systems, through studies of urban economic restructuring, to contemporary knowledge-driven innovation and sustainability paradigms; WOS research transitions from initial resource-centric economic and management inquiries, to sustainability-oriented transformational frameworks, and most recently to digital-industrial convergence in the context of Industry 4.0 technologies. Building on these insights, we propose 6 priority agendas for future inquiry: developing adaptive strategies to global environmental transitions, advancing social inclusivity and equity in resource distribution, harnessing digital transformation for sustainable development, integrating international collaborative frameworks with SDGs implementation, fostering technological innovation-driven industrial metamorphosis, and exploring multi-stakeholder governance models. These directions collectively seek to generate innovative solutions and strategic frameworks that can effectively guide the sustainable development of resource-dependent regions in an increasingly complex global environment.

Immersion tourism context are crucial to the formation of memorable and extraordinary tourism experiences, and interaction is an important dimension in immersion tourism context, so it is valuable to explore the tourist multiple interactions and their group influence paths in immersion tourism context. This study analyzes the concepts and dimensions of tourist multiple interactions in immersion tourism context based on “context-cognitive-affective unit-behavioral unit” combined with CAPS theory, and explores the grouping paths of the influencing factors of tourist multiple interactions by using fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis. Firstly, the concept of immersion tourism context is proposed according to the existing literature, which is a virtual or real space integrating technology, narrative and interaction that deeply integrates culture and tourism. Second, based on the CAPS theory and the combination of qualitative and quantitative methods, a scale of 3 dimensions and 15 question items of tourist multiple interactions including cognition interaction, emotion interaction and behavior interaction was developed. Finally, among the 6 influencing factors of destination elements, destination charm, consumer innovativeness, tourist involvement, place identity and place dependence, a total of 11 grouping paths were extracted using the fsQCA, which were categorized into 4 types of logics, including place attachment logic, situational participation logic, image cognition logic and deep experience logic. This study provides an effective reference for future academic research related to tourist immersion experience, tourism context, and tourist interaction, as well as practical insights for immersion scene development, management, and marketing in tourism destinations.

As the primary industry, agriculture bears essential responsibilities such as ensuring food security, maintaining social stability, and protecting the environment. High-quality agricultural development is the cornerstone of high-quality economic development in China, and it is also necessary to accelerate the construction of agricultural power. Comprehensively measuring the high-quality development level of agriculture in the Yellow River Basin will help to exert the ecological protection barrier of the Yellow River Basin, ensure national food security, promote agricultural modernization, and accelerate the construction of agricultural power. An evaluation index system for high-quality agricultural development was constructed based on the new development concept. Taking 76 prefecture-level cities in 8 provinces (regions) in the Yellow River Basin as research objects, the AHP-entropy method was used to measure the high-quality agricultural development level in the Yellow River Basin from 2016 to 2020. Dagum Gini coefficient and Kernel density estimation describe its spatiotemporal evolution law. The results shows that: 1) The overall high-quality agricultural development in the Yellow River Basin shows an upward trend but is still at a low level between 0.25 and 0.35. The high-quality agricultural development in the upper, middle, and lower reaches shows a spatial distribution pattern of “high on both sides and low in the middle”. The development level of each dimension is generally low, especially the innovation dimension, which has the lowest development level, indicating that agricultural development in the Yellow River Basin lacks endogenous growth momentum. 2) The Dagum Gini coefficient shows that the intra-regional differences in the upper, middle, and lower reaches of the Yellow River Basin are constantly shrinking, showing an overall downward trend, and the inter-regional differences generally appear as upstream-downstream>upstream-middle reaches>midstream-downstream. Inter-regional differences are the primary source of differences in high-quality agricultural development levels in the Yellow River Basin, followed by intra-regional differences, with hypervariable density differences making the most negligible contribution. 3) Kernel density estimation shows that the center of the distribution curve of the entire basin moves to the right, indicating that the level of high-quality agricultural development in the Yellow River Basin is gradually improving. The distribution curves in the upper, middle, and lower reaches all have a right tail, indicating that the level of high-quality agricultural development in some regions is significantly higher than that in other cities in the same area. The distribution curves changed from single peak to bimodal or multi-peak after 2018, indicating that the high-quality agricultural development in the Yellow River Basin has polarized and stratified characteristics after 2018, showing a pronounced gradient effect. Accordingly, it is necessary to adhere to the development strategy of promoting agriculture through science and technology, assisting agriculture through science and technology, and empowering agriculture through science and technology. Downstream regions must fully play their role as “leaders” and promote the construction of systematic projects for agricultural innovation-driven development and high-quality development. Taking the coordinated development of agriculture in the upper, middle, and lower reaches as an essential focus to promote the high-quality development of agriculture in the Yellow River Basin, each region must capitalize on its unique advantages, adapt to local conditions, and coordinate as a whole to promote the overall high-quality development of agriculture in the Yellow River Basin. Central regions should leverage the spillover effect and radiation driving role on the surrounding areas, smooth the channels and mechanisms for cooperation and exchanges between regions, and truly achieve “point-to-area” assistance.

The Yangtze River Delta (YRD) region is one of the most entrepreneurial regions in China. Investigating its spatio-temporal differences in entrepreneurship and the underlying impact mechanisms is of great significance for optimizing resource allocation and strengthening local innovation and entrepreneurial development alliances. Based on open-source data from 2 platforms include Qichacha and Tianyancha, this paper calculates the entrepreneurial rate of 41 cities in the YRD from 2002 to 2022 and identifies its spatiotemporal patterns. By differentiating types of entrepreneurship, this study constructs an analytical framework that incorporates multiple factors such as regional institutions, financial environment, infrastructure, and foreign direct investment. Using a Spatial Durbin Model (SDM) with time fixed effects, the paper explores the influencing factors of regional entrepreneurship and its spatial effects. The findings are as follows: 1) During the observation period, entrepreneurial activity in the YRD steadily increased, with opportunity-driven entrepreneurship (ODE) exhibiting significant spatio-temporal differentiation, and all entrepreneurship rates displaying dynamic dispersal characteristics. 2) The spatial patterns of entrepreneurship differed significantly across periods. In 2002, cities with higher entrepreneurial rates in the YRD followed a Z-shaped distribution, with a trend of diffusion towards inland areas in 2012, and by 2022, Jinhua City had stood out prominently. 3) Government attention to entrepreneurship, urban innovation capacity, and improvements in infrastructure had a significant positive effect on ODE. However, enhancing urban entrepreneurial services had a stronger positive effect on necessity-driven entrepreneurship (NDE) compared to ODE, while the role of urban financial development had the opposite effect. The entry of foreign capital suppressed ODE but indirectly promoted NDE. 4) The optimization of the urban financial environment not only helps improve local entrepreneurial levels but also promotes entrepreneurship in neighboring cities through spillover effects.

Exploring the evolution paths of urban spatial form has practical guiding significance for cities’ healthier growth and regions’ more-sustainable development. This study takes the 183 cities and counties as the research objects including cities and districts in Sichuan Province. Firstly, the mean location centrality index, the mean location centrality agglomeration index and landscape pattern index are taken to quantify the spatial form and expansion of cities from 1990 to 2020. Secondly, this paper classifies urban forms by clustering algorithms, identifies their changes and stasis, and combs through their evolutionary progression. Then, we compare and summarize the typical paths of urban form evolution in different landform types on the basis of macro landform types. The findings of this study are as follows: 1) In Sichuan province, the complexity and compactness of urban form increased, with expansion areas outstretching and backfilling. 2) The urban morphology types in Sichuan Province, with different characteristics of spatial and temporal distribution, are divided into: fragmented-growth small cities (Type A), scattered-clustering small cities (Type B), adjoining-agglomerating medium-sized cities (Type C), inside-compact edge-fragmented larger medium cities (Type D), and complex- backfilling large cities (Type E). 3) Urban form and expansion patterns are diverse at different stages of urban growth, with spatial diffusion and agglomeration co-existing. 4) There are significant differences in the typical evolutionary paths of urban form in different landform types, i.e. plateau-type: A→B; mountain-type: A→B→C; hill-type: A→B→C and B→C→D; plain-type: B→C→D→E. The insights gleaned from this research deepen our understanding of urban forms’ spatiotemporal evolution in Sichuan Province, offering a reference for the development and planning of cities in the upper reaches of the Yangtze River Economic Belt.

Population aging exerts a substantial influence on urban economic development, and the assessment of its economic repercussions and spatial differentiation represents a new direction in the geography of human-land relations. Utilizing the vulnerability analysis framework, we developed an index system encompassing three dimensions: exposure, sensitivity, and adaptive capacity. This system enabled us to evaluate China’s urban economic vulnerability to aging (UEVA), examine its spatial differentiation characteristics, and produce vulnerability type maps. The results show that: 1) Between 2010 and 2020, the exposure index rose from 0.346 to 0.498, with high exposure areas primarily located in Sichuan-Chongqing, Jiangsu-Anhui, and northeastern China. The sensitivity index declined from 0.494 to 0.454, with low sensitivity regions concentrated in the Yangtze River Delta, the Pearl River Delta, the Shandong Peninsula, and most provincial capitals and municipalities. The adaptive capacity index increased from 0.122 to 0.205, forming a circular structure centered on the Yangtze River Delta and decreasing inland. 2) From 2010 to 2020, nationwide UEVA trends showed improvement, albeit with a significant increase in northeastern China. Spatial distribution of vulnerability revealed low vulnerability cities clustered in southeastern coastal region, provincial capitals, and municipalities, while medium- to high-vulnerability cities prevailed in northeastern region and border areas of Shaanxi-Gansu-Sichuan, Inner Mongolia-Hebei, Hunan-Guizhou, and Henan-Anhui. 3) UEVA manifested a pronounced spatial gradient, wherein eastern region exhibited significantly lower economic vulnerability compared to central-western and northeastern regions. It is also characterized by the larger urban size and the higher administrative hierarchy, the lower the vulnerability. 4) Per capita GDP growth effectively mitigated UEVA, though GDP growth rates showed no mitigating effects. 5) In 2010—2020, spatial evolution of vulnerability types exhibited distinct ‘improvement in the east, and more vulnerability in north and northeast China’ characteristics.

The house disparity is an important issue concerning the harmonious society. There are much room for expansion in exploring the effect of geographical origin and the urban hierarchy of the inflow city on housing inequality from the perspective of the life course. This article uses the 2017 China Migrants Dynamic Monitoring Survey to examine how the urban hierarchy of the inflow destination and the geographical origin affect the housing inequality of migrant population in the inflow destination cities. The research findings are as follows: 1) Geographical origin and the urban hierarchy of the inflow destination have opposite effects on the housing property rights of the migrant population. The higher the level of geographical origin, the higher the level of housing property rights of the migrant population in the inflow destination; the higher the urban hierarchy of the inflow destination, the lower the level of housing property rights of the migrant population in the inflow destination. 2) The effect of the urban hierarchy of the inflow destination on the housing inequality based on geographical origin shows an effect of “continuous strengthening of the strong, orderly strengthening of the weak”. 3) The weakening effect of housing prices on the advantages of geographical origin is slightly stronger than the strengthening effect of market potential on the advantages of geographical origin. 4) The urban hierarchy of the inflow destination mitigates the housing inequality based on geographical origin through three pathways: human capital, family vulnerability, and the choice of employment units. The urban hierarchy of the inflow destination mitigates the housing inequality based on geographical origin by improving the employment performance and occupational status of the migrant population with a low geographical origin and the probability of entering employment within the system, as well as reducing the economic vulnerability of families in both the inflow and outflow destinations. This study shows that the urban hierarchy of the inflow destination has a weakening effect on the housing inequality based on geographical origin.

The employment migration issue of university graduates has become a hot issue of great social concern, as they are the main force of incoming labor force and the most important employment group. Under the background of severe employment situation, more and more university graduates who originally intended to work in economically-developed cities, have begun to rationally consider their career choice and actively choose to return hometown to seek development. Existing research focus on the return migration of floating population and migration of university graduates, while seldom concerning the new trend of the return migration of university graduates, and lacking the consideration of multidimensional distances. To bridge these gaps, this study firstly explores the characteristics of return migration of university graduates with statistical method, and then extends the analytical framework of multidimensional distance and proposes several research hypotheses, finally employs the logistic regression model to investigate the influencing factors on the return migration of university graduates and the individual heterogeneity of their effects to verify the hypotheses. The employed research data include the employment migration survey data of university graduates in 2022 and related city-level statistical data. The research findings are shown as below: the graduates who came from a higher-level city of hometown or studied in a lower-level city of university are more inclined to return hometown; graduates with higher human capital levels and lower family capital levels are less likely to return hometown; the geographic distance and institutional distance between the city of university and hometown exert significantly positive impacts on the return migration of graduates; the economic distance, information distance and technology distance exert significantly negative impacts on the return migration of graduates; the probabilities of return migration of graduates with a master degree and from double first-class universities decrease with the increase of economic distance and information distance, compared with those of graduates with a bachelor degree and from ordinary universities; the probability of return migration of graduates with non-agricultural hukou decreases with the growth of economic distance and the decline of technology distance, compared with that of graduates with agricultural hukou. These research conclusions provide scientific evidence and policy implications for reasonably guiding the return migration of graduates and promoting full and high-quality employment of graduates.

At present, the continuous and active intra-city migration has become an important factor influencing the dynamics of aging levels in different areas of the city, which is referred to as migration aging in this paper. However, there is a lack of methods to monitor the dynamic changes in the spatial pattern of intra-city aging caused by it and its spatial differentiation characteristics. To this end, this paper identifies the intra-city migration population based on mobile phone signaling data, proposes an evaluation index system of relocation aging and a method for classifying the types of migration aging, and explores the spatial pattern of intra-city migration aging and its relationship with the built environment, taking Wuhan Urban Development Zone as an example. It is found that in Wuhan, the impact of intra-city migration on the spatial pattern of aging is stratified: within the core area of the central urban area, the impact is generally low; outside the core area of the central urban area, the impact begins to deepen, leading to aggravation of aging; in the peri-urban areas, the impact is most significant, showing the polarization of aggravation and alleviation, with a multi-clustering trend, and including most of the aging-relief spaces within the city. Typing studies have found that the migration of both elderly and non-elderly people is the main contributor to dynamic changes in aging, and the latter is stronger, which is highly correlated with built environmental factors such as living environment quality and age-friendly facilities. The methodology and conclusions of this article can provide support for decision-making authorities to understand the trend of population aging within cities, and provide a reference basis for accurately allocating elderly service facilities, upgrading the level of grassroots aging-friendly services, and promoting the construction of a high-quality elderly service guarantee system.

The assemblages of macro-plant remains excavated in archaeological sites reflect both the intentional and unintentional utilization of plant resources by ancient populations and the anthropogenic landscapes they managed, controlled, and exploited. At present, the application of ecological methods to conduct multivariate statistical analysis of plant remains has emerged as a significant focus in archaeological sites and to reveal the utilization and development of plant resources by the ancestors under the perspective of anthropogenic landscapes, is becoming a new research growth point in the international field of paleoethnobotany. However, this area of research remains underemphasized in China. To this end, this paper utilizes biodiversity indicators (richness and evenness) and introduces for the first time the concept and research methodology of starchy plant assemblages (rice, foxnut, water chestnut, acorns, foxtail millet and broomcorn millet). The data base of macro-plant remains from 20 sites dated to 8200—3200 a B.P. in the lower Yangtze River region was statistically analyzed. Several tendencies can be shown from the results. The mean richness of plant species gradually increased and the mean value of evenness showed a decreasing trend during 8200—3200 a B.P. There were ephemeral changes in the proportions of each starchy plant. Among the starchy plants, rice experienced a rapid increase in its starch contribution between 7000—5300 a B.P. and remained the dominant starch source from 7000—4300 a B.P. The richness and evenness of plant resources as well as the starchy plant assemblages varied across different regions, including the Zhejiang-Fujian hilly region, the Ningshao Plain, the eastern Jianghuai region, and the Taihu Lake region. In the Taihu Lake region, where resources were relatively scarce, more diverse plant resources were exploited compared to the resource-rich Ningshao Plain. During the Liangzhu period, centre sites and peripheral sites also differed in plant abundance, evenness, and starchy plant assemblages. The diachronic changes in anthropogenic landscapes and starchy plant assemblages, as well as the regional differences, centrally reflect the ability of the ancestors to adapt to different environment, exploit different habitats and to select and intensively manage certain plants at different times. The ancestors in the Taihu Lake region, faced with relatively limited environmental resources, climate change, and growing population pressure, intensified their anthropogenic intervention and management of settlements and surrounding wetland habitats. This. The directional guidance and continuous refinement of management behavior led to a continuous increase in rice yields within this environment, further solidifying rice as the primary starch source and establishing a regional model characterized by paddy fields as the dominant landscape and rice cultivation as the leading economic activity. The exploitation of wetland habitats, land allocation, specialization of labor force and redistribution of resources ultimately promote the development of regional social complexity.

Global warming causes change in tree growth and even the whole forest ecosystem. The Jigong Mountain is located in the transitional zone between north subtropical zone and warm temperate zone. Tree growth in the Jigong Mountain is sensitive to climate change. However, the relationship between the radial growth of Pinus massoniana at the edge of the distribution and climate change is not clear. In this paper, the response and stability of whole ring (RW), early-wood (EW) and late-wood (LW) radial growth data of Pinus massoniana to climate change at peak of Jigong Mountain were analyzed. The results showed that the residual chronologies of RW, EWW and LWW of Pinus massoniana in the Jigong Mountain contained more climate information, and there was a high correlation between RW and EWW and LWW chronologies. The response of RW and EWW chronologies to climate was better than that of LWW chronology. There was also a certain difference between RW and EWW and LWW chronologies and the climatic factors. RW and EWW were mainly affected by the temperature and precipitation in the early and late growing season of last year, and the combination of water and heat in the spring was the main limiting factor affecting the radial growth of Pinus massoniana in this area. LWW was mainly affected by the precipitation in last autumn and the combination of water and heat in the early growing season. After the abrupt change of annual mean temperature in the Jigong Mountain in 1994, the annual ring index of RW and EWW increased obviously, but the annual ring index of LWW did not change visibly. The response of RW and EWW to temperature was enhanced while the response of LWW to temperature was not obvious. Therefore, through the analysis of different indexes of the annual rings of Pinus massoniana at Peak of the Jigong Mountain, we can deeply understand the different responses of radial growth of Pinus massoniana to temperature changes, and provide a scientific basis for forest renewal, protection and management in the western Dabie Mountains.

Evapotranspiration is an important part of the water cycle and also one of the most difficult items to be measured. This study selected the Xijiang River as an example, which is the main stream of the Pearl River, and flows through Yunnan, Guizhou and Guangxi provinces. The controlled watershed area above Wuzhou hydrological station is 32.7×10⁴km². Karst landforms are widely distributed in the watershed, and the distribution area of carbonate rocks accounts for approximately 70.1% of the total watershed area. Based on the basin water balance equation, the actual evapotranspiration in the Xijiang River Basin is estimated by using observed precipitation, runoff data and GRACE Terrestrial Water Storage (TWS) data. Then two evapotranspiration products are evaluated, and the temporal and spatial characteristics of the actual evapotranspiration are analyzed and the influencing factors are discussed. The results showed that: 1) The increasing trend of the TWS in the Xijiang River Basin from April 2002 to December 2022 is 0.028 cm/month. From 2000 to 2020, the annual precipitation in the basin shows a gradual decrease from east to west, with average value of 1482.5 mm. The annual water discharge at Wuzhou hydrological station is 1 978.9×10⁸m³, and is converted into an average runoff depth of 605.2 mm in the basin and a runoff coefficient of 0.408; 2) GLDAS-Noah and ERA5 products performed well (NSE>0.72, R²>0.78, P_bias = −11.0% and 10.6%, respectively), and P_bias reduced to −0.2% after the two products ensemble averaged; 3) The spatial distribution of evapotranspiration showed a decreasing trend from southeast to northwest. From 2000 to 2021, the annual mean evapotranspiration was 866.5 mm with a significant increasing trend of 2.7 mm/a. The annual evapotranspiration in Karst areas showed a similar increasing trend as the entire basin, with a slightly lower annual evapotranspiration of 854.5 mm; 4) The annual average NDVI in the Xijiang River Basin showed a significant increasing trend of 0.005/a from 2000 to 2022. The increase of evapotranspiration was mainly caused by vegetation restoration, and is not significantly related to precipitation and temperature changes. This study provides a reference for the study of evapotranspiration and water cycle processes in Karst watersheds.

The hypsometric index (HI) plays a crucial role in quantitatively evaluating tectonic activity, geomorphic features, and the evolutionary stages of watersheds. In this study, the global spatial autocorrelation Moran’s I index was utilized to assess the spatial distribution pattern of HI, with calculations performed on a 2 km × 2 km grid. Through hotspot analysis and GIS spatial analysis, the characteristics and control factors of HI in the Lanping Basin were investigated. The results reveal the following: 1) HI in the Lanping Basin exhibits an aggregated distribution pattern. Across all grid cells, HI values range from 0.198 to 0.746, with an average of 0.495. This indicates that the basin has reached a mature stage of geomorphic evolution. High HI regions are predominantly located in the Chongshan Mountain, the Longma Mountain, and Xuebangshan uplift belt, while low HI ones are mainly found in the river valleys of the Lancang River, the Bijiang River, and the Yangbi River. Overall, HI gradually decreases from west to east. 2) The correlation between HI and the size of the grid area is weak. However, HI exhibits significant correlations with topographic indexes such as elevation, relief, slope, roundness index, and precipitation. This suggests that HI is not scale-dependent and is unaffected by the grid size. Instead, it is influenced by the shape of the basin, topography, and climate. 3) The order of HI in different lithological areas of the Lanping Basin is as follows: igneous rock area (0.532) > metamorphic rock area (0.503) >sand shale area (0.494)>carbonate area (0.470)>loose rock area (0.446). This indicates that areas with stronger rock corrosion resistance tend to exhibit more mature geomorphic development and evolution. The correlation between HI and structural factors highlights the distance from the main fault as an important factor controlling the spatial differentiation of HI. As the distance from the main fault increases, structural activity weakens, leading to a gradual decrease in HI. In conclusion, the geomorphic evolution of the study area is the result of the interplay between tectonic uplift, precipitation erosion, and lithology resistance. This study provides important support for future endeavors focused on natural disaster prevention, water conservancy project construction, and ecological environment conservation.