Planting industry in China is in a critical period of transitioning from a production-oriented to a quality-oriented presently. Therefore, it is of great significance to analyze the spatiotemporal differentiation and driving mechanisms of ecological efficiency in planting industry, such as achieving agricultural quality and efficiency improvement, promoting its economic ecological coordinated development, and enhancing people’s well-being. DEA-SBM model, carbon emission model, non-point pollution method, spatial analysis technology of GIS and geographical detector model were used in this study, and the conclusions were as follows: 1) From 2010 to 2020, 3 trends of increasing, decreasing, and stabilizing coexisted in the input, and an upward trend in the expected output, while increasing and decreasing trends in non-expected output. The administrative units with low levels of ecological efficiency for planting industry continuously transformed to higher levels, and the hierarchical structure was optimizing; 2) The ecological efficiency for planting industry was higher in the east and lower in the west, and the “upward” and “unchanged” regions alternated from east to west. The changes of ecological efficiency in the east-west and north-south were mild, there were multiple core areas and had a “center-periphery” feature; 3) The ecological efficiency for planting industry in the study area was influenced by multiple factors. Natural conditions are the foundation to affect its pattern and evolution, agricultural technologies are the driving forces, the impact of agricultural economic development has 2 sides, and the product market plays a decisive role; 4) In the future, the planting industry in the study area should focus on the issue of carbon emissions, improve the utilization efficiency of agricultural chemicals, strengthen environmental education and pay attention to the radiation and driving role of the central areas. This study has used indicators such as geographical indications of agricultural products and green foods that reflect the contemporary characteristics of the planting industry to improve the existing evaluation system. It helps to improve the research methods and techniques, provide scientific basis for optimizing agricultural policies, and assist in the strategies of rural revitalization and agricultural high-quality development.

To explore the variations of aeration zone soil specific yield under the condition of deep buried groundwater, The southern edge of Gurbantunggut Desert was taken as the research area by field in-situ observation.The complete specific yield under the condition of zero surface flux, the average releasing specific yield under the condition of evapotranspiration and the average charging specific yield under the condition of lateral leakage recharge were determined, and the effects of groundwater depth, infiltration and evapotranspiration on specific yield were discussed. Results showed that: 1) It is feasible to determine the soil specific yield under the condition of deep buried groundwater by the zone of aeration section water content method. 2) Under the condition of zero surface flux, the complete specific yield μ increases with the increase of groundwater depth H. When the groundwater depth exceeds the maximum rising height of capillary water, the change of complete specific yield is small and can be approximately regarded as a constant. 3) The average groundwater depth of interdune land in the southern edge of Gurbantunggut Desert is 8.80 m. The complete specific yield under the condition of zero surface flux is 0.36, the average releasing specific yield under the condition of deep buried groundwater evaporation is 0.13, and the average charging specific yield under the condition of lateral leakage recharge is 0.17. The results of this study can provide a new idea for the determination of soil specific yield under the condition of deep buried groundwater.

With the advancement of industrialization, globalization, and informatization, various subsystems within rural areas are constantly exchanging material and energy, and the population, land, and industry are important components and core elements of rural cultural, resources, and economic systems, respectively. Among them, the population is an important support for the development of rural industries, the land is the basic carrier for the development of rural industries and the lives of rural populations, and industry is the development path that promotes the prosperity of rural populations and the improvement of rural environments. Based on the 3 subsystems of population-land-industry, the evaluation index system of the rural regional system development in the water source area of the middle route of the South-to-North Water Diversion Project was constructed. The spatial and temporal pattern and evolution mechanism of the coordinated development of the rural regional system from 2000 to 2020 were explored, and the development types were divided by the average trend line. The results show that: 1) The rural regional system development level and coordination level has improved in 2000—2020, both present “East and west high, low in the middle, high and low values staggered distribution” spatial pattern, gradually developed into the northern county of Hanzhong City, Hanbin District of Ankang City, the Danjiangkou Reservoir area surrounding counties as the core of high level concentrated area, and has formed the Hantai District-Hanbin District-Dengzhou City horizontal development axis. 2) Rural regional system coordination type can be divided into 4 types: low coordination level-population development leading, coordination level-population development leading, coordination level-land development leading, high coordination level-industry development leading, and land and industrial development is the main driving force of spatial differentiation to promote the rural regional coordination level improvement. 3) Resource and environmental conditions determine the spatial pattern of rural regional coordination in the water source area in the initial stage, and under the regulation of industrial development and regional policies, the reconstruction of human activities, resources allocation and economic pattern in the water source area is continuously promoted. This study reveals the interaction and mutual influence between human activity intensity, land use change, and industrial and economic integration development in rural areas of water source regions. It can provide methodological and theoretical references for the implementation of rural revitalization strategies in ecologically fragile and extremely poor areas, as well as for the sustainable development of rural areas.

Technology-oriented enterprises are the primary drivers of urban innovation spaces and have become a key force for countries to enhance their comprehensive national strength. This study utilizes Point of Interest (POI) geographic big data to quantitatively analyze the spatial distribution characteristics and influencing factors of technology-oriented enterprises in China. The findings are as follows: 1) The overall distribution of technology-oriented enterprises in China exhibits a gradient decline from east to west, conforming to the distribution pattern of the Hu Line, with a micro-scale clustering model of “three cores-two rings-multiple nuclei”; 2) Large enterprises are concentrated north of the Yangtze River, mainly in the Yangtze River Delta and Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region, while medium-sized enterprises dominate in the Pearl River Delta and the southern part of the Yangtze River Delta, and micro-enterprises prevail in the central and western regions; 3) Manufacturing, scientific research and technical services, information transmission, software, and information technology services are the three leading industries among technology-oriented enterprises. Manufacturing is characterized by high-density core areas in the Yangtze River Delta and the Pearl River Delta, scientific research, and technical services form high-value clusters in the east, dumbbell diffusion in the middle, and single-core block distribution in the west. Information transmission, software, and information technology services are primarily distributed along the eastern coastal area , Yellow River Basin and the Yangtze River Economic Belt; 4) Market environment, industrial policy, and economic strength significantly impact these enterprises, with larger enterprises relying more on human capital and small and micro enterprises depending more on government policy support, market environment, and economic conditions. All industries are most affected by policies, with manufacturing also influenced by market structure and industrial layout, and the service industry highly dependent on talent, economic level, and industrial environment.

The rural transformation and development is a crucial lever for achieving rural revitalization, and the population migration of rural areas directly impacts the trajectory of rural transformation and development. This paper constructs a theoretical analytical framework for examining the relationship between the population migration of rural areas and the rural transformation and development, considering 3 migration types in terms of the migration-in, migration-out, and migration return. Based on a questionnaire survey of the population migration of rural areas and the rural transformation and development in Zhejiang Province, this article adopts the GIS analysis, the spatial autocorrelation, and multiple linear regression models to investigate spatial characteristics of the population migration of rural areas and its effects on the transformation and development. First, the result shows that the population migration of rural areas in Zhejiang Province has a significant spatial differentiation with 3 patterns in terms of the migration-in, migration-out, and migration return. A spatial pattern characterized by a gradual enhancement from south to north and from east to west is observed. Second, both the migration-out and migration return in Zhejiang Province show positive spatial autocorrelations, which indicates the presence of high-value clustering or low-value clustering. High-value clustering areas of population migration of rural areas are observed around the Hangzhou Bay urban agglomeration. In contrast, low-value clustering areas are identified in the southwestern periphery of Zhejiang. Third, socioeconomic characteristics of the migration population of rural areas, migration patterns, migration objectives, and their contributions and facilitations of the rural transformation and development are main factors that influence the rural transformation and development. Moreover, the migration-in, migration-out, and migration return exert varying degrees of influence on the rural transformation and development.

In the process of plant ecological construction in sandy areas, it is still necessary to conduct in-depth scientific research on what kind of herbaceous plants can achieve the best windbreak effect. This article uses a mobile wind tunnel to plant herbaceous plant communities (Astragalus laxmannii and Leymus chinensis “Zhongke No.1”) in the wild. The effects of two plant communities on sediment transport rate and wind speed profile were explored under four different vegetation cover levels (10%, 20%, 30%, and 40%) to clarify the windbreak and sand fixation ability The wind tunnel field test results show that Astragalus laxmannii has significantly stronger windbreak and sand fixation efficiency than Leymus chinensis, manifested as a significantly lower sediment transport rate than Leymus chinensis under the same vegetation cover and wind speed conditions, but a significantly higher wind speed reduction rate and wind erosion inhibition efficiency than Leymus chinensis. The optimal windproof coverage of Astragalus laxmannii is 30%, which can suppress about 90% of the sediment transport within 20 cm on the surface. When the vegetation coverage of Leymus chinensis is 32%, it can suppress 75% of the sediment transport within 20 cm on the surface. From the perspective of plant morphology and structure, plants with harder stems and multiple clustered stems have better windbreak and sand fixation effects.

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.

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.

Optimizing land use objectives offers effective tools for judicious resource allocation. Simulating future land use and carbon stock changes is vital for formulating regional sustainability policies and enhancing terrestrial ecosystem carbon storage. This article analyzed the spatial and temporal differences in land use and carbon storage from 2000 to 2020, predicted the spatial and temporal differences in land use changes and carbon storage under four development patterns, namely, “natural development pattern (BAU), urban development pattern (RED), cultivated land protection pattern (CPS), and ecological protection pattern (EPS)” in 2030 by constructing the coupled land use model (PLUS-InVEST), and estimated the economic value of the carbon storage by combining the formula of compounded present value and compounded terminal value in Lanzhou City from 2000 to 2030. The results showed that land use changes were dominated by the decrease of grassland area and the increase of building land area in Lanzhou City from 2000 to 2020, with a loss of 61.77×10⁴ t of carbon storage during the 20-year period. With the exception of the EPS, in which the carbon storage increased by 5.09 ×10⁴ t, all other scenarios showed different degrees of carbon loss compared to the 2020, with the largest loss of carbon in RED at 56.46×10⁴ t. In this study, the economic value of carbon storage increased by 10.3×10⁸ yuan in Lanzhou City from 2000 to 2020 through the compound present value method, which is mainly attributed to the significant increase in carbon price on the time scale. Compared to the economic value of carbon storage in 2020, the EPS has the highest economic value of carbon storage at 34.58×10⁸ yuan, which is the optimal development model for the study area. This study has important practical significance for the low carbon development of land resources and scientific decision-making of ecosystem management in Lanzhou.

The traditional flood risk evaluation takes into account the effects of regional flood risk solely, based on proximity to water or the number of partial river network systems, without considering the impact of river network system connectivity. To address the problem, this study proposes a three-dimensional comprehensive evaluation system for assessing the connectivity within a river network system. The flood risk assessment index system, which considers the connectivity of river systems, is developed based on this framework. Furthermore, a more objective game-theoretic combination weighting method is employed to determine the optimal weights, and the cartographic method for thematic mapping is applied by integrating natural and administrative boundaries. In the case of the Xiangjiang River Basin, this study investigates the feasibility and superiority of the system compared to the conventional flood risk assessment approach. The findings indicate that: 1) The structural connectivity and comprehensive connectivity of the Xiangjiang River Basin increase from south to north, and the functional connectivity of the northern rivers is stronger than that of the southern rivers. The hydraulic connectivity of the main stream is higher than that of the tributaries, and the hydraulic connectivity of the downstream tributaries is higher than that of the upper and middle reaches. 2) The overall flood risk in the Xiangjiang River Basin increases from south to north, and the medium risk area and the lower risk area account for 59.25%. The medium risk area is concentrated in the northern part of the Xiangjiang River Basin, and the southwest and central part of the south of the Xiangjiang River Basin, accounting for 25.01%. The low and lower risk areas are concentrated in the southern mountainous area and the western edge area, accounting for 22.48% and 34.24% respectively. The high and higher risk areas are concentrated in the lower reaches of the Xiangjiang River, accounting for 9.34% and 8.94% respectively. 3) The traditional flood risk assessment underestimates the flood risk in the upstream area of the basin and overestimates the flood risk in the downstream area. However, combined with the actual flooding situation in the Xiangjiang River Basin in recent years, we found that considering the river system connectivity is more objective and delicate than the traditional way to portray the flood risk evaluation results. The results of this study can further improve the scientificity of flood risk evaluation.

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.

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.

Under the dual influence of climate change and human activities, grassland degradation and land desertification in the Mongolian Plateau are intensifying, posing a threat to the sustainable economic development and regional ecological security of China and Mongolia. Based on the long-term series remote sensing data of nearly 40 years, the pattern dynamics and influencing factors of grassland net primary productivity (NPP) in typical areas of the Mongolian Plateau were discussed, and the comparative analysis between China and Mongolia was further carried out considering the differences in development models and policy orientations between China and Mongolia. The results showed that: 1) From 1982 to 2020, the average annual NPP of grassland in typical areas of Mongolia was significantly lower than that of China, about 4/5 of that of China; grassland NPP in typical areas of Mongolia showed an increasing trend, grassland was mainly restored, and the growth rate of NPP in China was about twice that of Mongolia, and showed significant performance. 2) From the first stage (1982—1999) to the second stage (2000—2020), the proportion of NPP increase in grassland NPP in typical areas of China and Mongolia increased by 19% and 22.1%, and the proportion of significance increased by about 19.7% and 10.8%, respectively. 3) The increase of grassland NPP in typical areas of China and Mongolia is mainly caused by climate change, followed by the combined effect of climate change and human activities, while the decrease of grassland NPP is almost entirely caused by human activities. The differences are: the increase of grassland NPP in Mongolia shows the driving evolution characteristics from two-factor to single-factor, while China shows continuous three-factor driving characteristics. The decrease of grassland NPP in Mongolia was manifested as a single-factor feature driven by human activities, while in China, it was manifested as a three-factor driving feature dominated by human activities. 4) Precipitation is the main factor affecting grassland recovery in China, human activities are the main drivers of grassland degradation in the two countries, but due to the differences in policies between the two countries, Mongolia’s regional grassland NPP reduction area accounts for a much larger proportion than China’s. Therefore, China needs to continuously strengthen ecological engineering construction and policy implementation to promote grassland restoration; Mongolia needs to learn from China’s experience, improve the industrial structure and management measures of animal husbandry, and accelerate grassland ecological protection and governance with policy guidance.

Based on the cognitive dilemma of physical space faced by the renewal of traditional village human settlements, this article constructed an analytical framework for the organic renewal of traditional village human settlements from the perspective of logical space and the goal orientation of realizing organic renewal. Taking Gaoyi Village, Huitong County, Huaihua City, Hunan Province as an example, this article explored the practical path of organic renewal based on logical space. The results show that: 1) As a medium for the transformation from entity space to logical space, schema language provides a method support for the renewal and cognitive reconstruction of logical space. The selection of typical schema, the extraction of spatial elements, the analysis of logical relationship, and the analysis of generation mechanism realize the schema expression of physical space while constructing the schema language system of traditional village human settlements; Analyzing context logic, combing grammar logic and connecting text system can make logical space readable and concrete, and realize the recognition of logical space. 2) Logical space is an important cognitive perspective of the renewal practice of human settlements in traditional villages, which can find a balance between the continuation of tradition and innovative development, and is common to the three layers of organic renewal. Organic renewal is the theoretical foothold of logical space renewal. Schema context and schema grammar guide logical space renewal and the concept of organic renewal are consistent. The renewal of traditional village human settlements based on the perspective of logical space is similar to the content of organic renewal, and it is an extension of the perspective of organic renewal theory. 3) Under the dual background of natural recession and destruction of tourism development, the stability of the logical space operation of Gaoyi Village has been impacted and gradually alienated. Based on the modifiability of logical space, this paper starts with the method of schematic language, continues the village pattern and weaves the spatial artistic conception in the residential environment system of Gaoyi Village; Transplant the texture of streets and alleys to repair the spatial order; Build a cultural field, inherit the regional context, and maintain the organic and integrity of the logical space with the implementation of the concept of organic renewal as the foothold, so as to achieve the purpose of updating the living environment. In order to provide decision-making basis and experience reference for the renewal of human settlements in traditional villages.

Population as a foundamental driving force in the development of socio-economic. Hunan Province as a typical province in the central region, the total population has witnessed a remarkable “shrinkage” phenomenon in recent years. The birth rate has dropped precipitously, and the issue of population aging and declining birth rate has becoming increasingly severe. Simultaneously, there is a pronounced trend of people migrating to large and mega-cities. As a result, the majority of counties have transformed into areas experiencing population shrinkage. This article systematically analyzes the population change trends and spatial pattern changes in Hunan Province from 2000 to 2020, based on data from the fifth to the seventh national population censuses and the statistical yearbook of Hunan Province, from a multi-scale spatial at the provincial, county, and major function-oriented zone levels. The results results indicate that: 1) From 2000 to 2020, the total population of Hunan Province has exhibited an inverted “U”-shaped demographic trajectory characterized by initial rapid growth, peak, followed by sharp decline, with negative population growth emerging in 2020. Spatially, a unidirectional migration pattern has formed whereby population flows shift from county-level administrative units (rural areas) to municipal districts (major urban centers); 2) At the county level, the intensity of population shrinkage exhibits a significant distance-decay pattern radiating outward from municipal districts. During 2000 to 2010, slight population shrinkage predominates in county-level units. However, after 2010, the scope and depth of shrinkage expanded significantly, 24 county-level units experienced persistent shrinkage, with 52 newly emerging population shrinkage county-level units identified; 3) Since the implementation of the major function-oriented zone planning, this planning has also has a profound impact on the spatial distribution of population.Due to the specific functions assigned to each geographical areas in this planning. The population flows into and aggregates in key development areas. In addition, both the main agricultural product producing zones and the key ecological function zones consequently undergoes passive population shrinkage driven by functional constraints. Finally, this article puts forward some suggestions on the balanced development of population space in provinces.

As an important part of global climate systems, the East Asian Summer Monsoon (EASM) and its variations are the focus of academic research. The associated precipitation is closely related to socio-economic development of East Asia, affecting on the production and life of billions of populations. It is thus important to investigate the variability of the EASM on various time-scales and to explore its underlying forcing mechanisms. However, monsoon precipitation over China exhibits large spatial differences, based on reconstructions from various types of paleoclimatic archives and proxies. An enhanced EASM is characterized by increased rainfall in northern China and by reduced rainfall in southern China, with this relationship occurring on different time scales during the Holocene. Moreover, the stability of the EASM during Holocene and the timing of the Holocene climatic optimum throughout its dominated regions remains controversial. These pending questions fundamentally limit our further understanding of the evolution of human-environment interactions and the prediction of long-term trends of regional and global climate in the context of global warming. The Linfen Basin is situated on the southeastern margin of the Chinese Loess Plateau, belonging to a transitional zone between semi-arid and semi-humid region and being sensitive to EASM variation. In this study, we chose Zhong Liang (ZL) loess section in the Linfen Basin as research object to reconstruct the variation of the EASM since the Last Deglaciation, by using paleomagnetic dating providing age control and utilizing magnetic susceptibility and elemental composition proxies reconstructing the variability of the EASM since the Last Deglaciation. The results show that a series of short-term climate fluctuation events have been recorded by magnetic susceptibility and elemental composition of ZL section since the Last Deglaciation, such as the Younger Dryas (YD), 10.2 ka B.P., 9.2 ka B.P. and 4.2 ka B.P. cooling event. However, the 8.2 ka B.P. cooling event was not evident in this region. These observations suggest the climate of Linfen Basin varies with global features of millennial-scale and high-frequency oscillation since the Last Deglaciation, meanwhile affected by regional climate changes. Generally, the EASM shows a continuous enhancement from 16.6 to 6.0 ka B.P., in which reaches a maximum during (7.6—6.0) ka B.P., and then a fluctuated declining trend after 6 ka B.P. Moreover, the EASM variation generally matches that of insolation during the middle Holocene, whilst lags that of insolation during the early Holocene, suggesting the evolution of the EASM was mainly controlled by the Northern Hemisphere summer insolation on orbital timescale, and meanwhile modulated by high-latitude Northern Hemisphere ice volume. Due to the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC) changes caused by the injection of global ice volume during the Last Deglaciation and early Holocene, variation and intensity of the EASM was suppressed to lag the response of Northern Hemisphere summer insolation during the early Holocene, and to cause the evident weakness of the EASM during YD and 9.2 ka B.P. period.

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.

Folk migration is a historical and social phenomenon worthy of study. However, most of folk migration in Chinese history does not have detailed written records and accurate data. Folk migration has left many traditional villages, whose settlement forms contain information on the “genes” of their folk groups and their evolution. Thus, traditional villages can be used as side evidence to reveal historical migrations. However, there is still a lack of means to study traditional settlement morphology on a large geographic scale, which makes it difficult to obtain overall universal patterns. Currently, artificial intelligence techniques for satellite remote sensing images show strong potential in earth observation. Applying these techniques is a promising way to restore the wholeness of traditional settlement patterns. In this study, we propose a remote sensing-based AI method to explore the evolution of traditional settlement morphology on a large geographic scale. In detail, a self-supervised deep learning model, called convolutional autoencoder, is applied to automatically extracting the folk prototype information of settlement forms from building footprint data and remote sensing images. The extracted folk prototype information is represented as feature vector format, which then is input to KMeans clustering algorithm to categorize the folk prototypes. In addition, cosine similarity is used to calculate the similarity space of the selected villages, in order to discover the topological relationship between the folk prototypes. Hanjiang River Basin area is taken as the study area and the traditional villages of Hakka and Teochew folk groups are the research objects of this study. The result of the convolutional autoencoder is combined with historical records of folk migration, in order to restore the process of the evolution of the settlement morphology. The results show that the prototypes of Hakka and Teochew villages exist in the basin of the Hanjiang River, and show a pattern of morphological gradual change along the migration path. From the data-driven perspective and historical records’ perspective, this article demonstrates that the Hakka and Teochew settlement prototypes derived from the migration-driven cultural fusion process have created a transitional settlement form “Hundred Birds Toward the Phoenix”, which combines the characteristics of Hakka and Teochew prototypes, and thus complements the existing knowledge of traditional settlement morphology. In detail, from the data-driven perspective, Type 2 is recognized as the transitional type between the Type 1 and Type 3 in the feature similarity space. Also, the villages of Type 2 are mainly located between the villages of Type 1 and Type 3 in the geographic space. From the historical records’ perspective, the villages of Type 1 and Type 3 are recognized as Hakka and Teochew villages. And the villages of Type 2 are identified as the settlement form of “Hundred Birds Toward the Phoenix”. In summary, the settlement form of “Hundred Birds Toward the Phoenix” is recognized as the transitional form between the Hakka and Teochew settlement prototypes. Using traditional villages as a medium, this article provides a feasible tool for exploring the morphological evolution of folk settlements on a large scale without manual survey and labelling. Currently, the method proposed in this article automates feature extraction, but the input remote sensing images of traditional villages still need to be manually selected by the researcher. In order to further improve the automation of traditional settlement pattern recognition, in the future, this study will combine other artificial intelligence tools to achieve automatic selection of traditional village remote sensing images and combine them with the method in this article to form a set of automated processes, which will further break through the limitations of traditional surveys, and bring more data for the study of historical population migration.

Tourism leisure street blocks are fusion development spaces with distinct cultural characteristics and sufficient tourism and leisure functions, which have attracted the attention of government departments and academic communities. Therefore, exploring their development paths is of great significance to meet the high-quality cultural and tourism consumption needs of tourists and residents, enhance the competitiveness of urban tourism, and promote sustainable economic and social development. This paper takes the National Tourism Leisure Street Blocks as research objects, evaluates the development degree of tourism leisure street blocks from the citywalk network influence perspective, uses software ArcGIS to visualize the spatial layout characteristics of tourism leisure street blocks’ citywalk network influence, extracts the core development elements with the help of network textual analysis method, and identifies the development paths of tourism leisure street blocks and the relationship between development elements through fuzzy set qualitative comparative analysis. The results show that : 1) Tourists pay more attention to national tourism leisure street blocks, and the blocks with high citywalk network influence are mainly distributed in Chongqing, Fujian and Guangdong, representing great regional differences. 2) A single element is insufficient to become a necessary condition for shaping the development path of tourism leisure street blocks, prosperous development is the result of configuration effect of the core development factors. Three equivalent development paths are formed through 5 elements’ configuration, which are the path of product intensive driving, dual-drive path of facility & format, the assisting path of culture & marketing. 3) There is a mutually exclusive relationship between conditional variable culture empowerment and product driving, and a synergistic relationship between facility support and format innovation. Therefore, scientifically and reasonably launching products and innovating formats by all means will help the tourism leisure street blocks gain a higher citywalk network influence.

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 elderly population is emerging as the fastest-growing demographic group within China’s aging population. This article utilizes data from national population censuses conducted in 2000, 2010 and 2020 at the county level. Using indicators such as the aging coefficient, concentration of the elderly population, and spatial auto-correlation, the study aims to examine the temporal and spatial distribution characteristics of the aging population in China, as well as its influencing factors. The conclusions are as follows: 1) The scale and proportion of the elderly population in China are increasing, marked by an accelerated aging rate and a notable aging trend. There is a significant urban-rural difference in the aging of the population, with urban areas experienced higher levels of aging compared to rural areas. 2) In terms of space, the aging level in the eastern coastal areas is higher than that in the central and western inland areas. The spatial pattern of aging population has not broken through the Hu Line, and there is a certain degree of stability. Additionally, notable differences in ageing exist in terms of gender, and between ethnicity and non-ethnicity groups. Aging demonstrates strong spatial correlation, with increasingly prominent spatial clustering characteristics. 3) In the past 20 years, the influencing factors of aging population in Chinese counties have shifted from demographic and natural factors to encompass multiple factors including population, nature, social and economic factors.

Bike-sharing is a new urban infrastructure with low-carbon and environmentally friendly pratices, directly contributing to the sustainable development of cities. However, most existing studies overlook both the distributed agency of bike-sharing and the dynamic ralational networks and operational logics underpinning it. Agency, as emphasized in assemblage theory, is not exclusive to humans but extends to non-human entities. Therefore, this paper adopts the urban assemblage perspective as its methodological freamework to analyze how bike-sharing is embedded into the fabric of everyday urban life and to uncover the theoretical logic behind this phenomenon. Urban assemblage provides a lens to navigate the complexity of urban systems, characterized by entangled materiality, emotions, governance, and non-linear causality. This study incorpoates two axes of material/expressive and territorialization, and two core concepts, distributed agency and relations of exteriority, to reveal the “black box” of bike-sharing through qualitative research methods. First, it examines the temporarily stabilized, multidimensional relational network of “human-technology-bike-space”, explaining the daily practices of bike-sharing in urban public spaces through a dynamic and non-linear perspective. The findings highlight that bike-sharing emerges as a product of continuous negotiation between human and non-human elements. Second, the paper reflects on urban ontology, social-technological interaction and technology influence on subjectivity, aiming to inspire social and cultural geographers to generate geographical knowledge aligned with the global trends of urbanization and intelligence. Finally, through the interpretive framework of multiple power game and spatial evolution, the research broadens the scope of society-technology interactions, offering novel insights into the transformation and sustainable development of Chinese cities from a new perspective.