Spatiotemporal Evolution of Specialized Villages and Rural Development: A Case Study of Henan Province, China

Abstract

Regional economic development is inherently uneven as determined by the local conditions and available resources. Specialized villages (SVs) in China played a very important role in the development and economic transformation in rural areas. By integrating regional spatial structure theory, multilevel network theory, and spatial interface theory, this article examines the spatial and temporal evolution of SVs in Henan Province, China. Results from the analyses show that the development of SVs over time progressed in four stages, each corresponding to important adjustments in national agricultural policy. SVs were distributed unevenly in space and the distribution seemed to be scale-dependent. At a macrolevel, SVs displayed a dispersed pattern over a large area. SVs showed localized clusters at a microlevel, however, also exhibiting a core–periphery structure. Rural economic development in China showed that SVs formed a multilevel network hierarchy. We also observed that SVs were often in transitional areas including urban–rural and plain–mountain interfaces and administrative marginal zones. Finally, spatiotemporal clusters of SVs helped to identify the locations and time periods when SVs grew significantly for analysis of impacts by national policies on rural development.

区域经济发展取决于地方条件和可得的资源，因此注定是不均衡的。中国的专业村（SVs），在农村地区发展和经济变迁中，扮演着相当重要的角色。本文透过整合区域空间结构理论，多层级网络理论，以及空间界面理论，检视中国河南省中，专业村的时空演化。分析结果显示，专业村随着时间以四阶段进行发展，每个阶段皆与国家农业政策的重大调整相呼应。专业村在空间中分佈不均，且其分佈似乎取决于尺度。在巨观层级，专业村在广大的范围中展现出分散的模式。在微观层级中，专业村却展现出在地化的集群，并显现出核心—边陲的结构。中国的农村经济发展，显示出专业村形成多重层级的网络阶层。我们同时观察到，专业村经常位于包括城市—农村和平原—山区交界的过渡地带，以及行政区的边缘地区。最后，专业村的时空集群，有助于指认其显着成长的区位和时程，以分析国家政策对农村发展的影响。

El desarrollo económico regional es inherentemente desigual en cuanto se determine por condiciones locales y la disponibilidad de recursos. Las aldeas especializadas (AEs) de China jugaron un papel muy importante en el desarrollo y transformación económica de las áreas rurales. Integrando la teoría de la estructura del espacio regional, la teoría de redes a nivel múltiple y la teoría de la interfaz espacial, este artículo examina la evolución espacial y temporal de las AEs en la Provincia Henan, China. Los resultados de los análisis muestran que el desarrollo de las AEs a través del tiempo se desenvolvió en cuatro etapas, cada una de ellas coincidente con importantes ajustes en la política agrícola nacional. Las AEs estaban desigualmente repartidas en el espacio y la distribución parecía ser dependiente de la escala. Al nivel macro, la AEs desplegaron un patrón disperso sobre un área mayor. Sin embargo, las AEs mostraban agrupamientos localizados al nivel micro, exhibiendo también una estructura de centro-periferia. El desarrollo económico rural en China mostró que las AEs formaban una jerarquía encadenada de nivel múltiple. También observamos que las AEs a menudo se encontraban en áreas de transición, incluyendo las interfaces urbano-rural y llanura-montaña, y en zonas administrativas marginales. Por último, las agrupaciones espaciotemporales de AEs ayudaron a identificar las localizaciones y períodos de tiempo, cuando las AEs crecieron significativamente, para el análisis de impactos por las políticas nacionales sobre el desarrollo rural.

Key Words:

• China
• rural development
• spatiotemporal evolution
• specialized villages (SVs)

关键词：:

• 中国，农村发展，时空演化，专业村（SVs）。

Palabras clave:

• China, desarrollo rural
• evolución espaciotemporal
• aldeas especializadas (AEs)

Funding

Funding for this research came from the National Science Foundation of China (NSFC Grants 41171150, 41329001) and the MOE Project of Key Research Institute of Humanities and Social Sciences at Universities (No. 14JJD790011).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Jiajun Qiao

JIAJUN QIAO is a Professor in the Key Research Institute of Yellow River Civilization and Sustainable Development and the College of Environment and Planning at Henan University, KaiFeng, Henan 475001, China. E-mail: [email protected]. His research focuses on Economic Geography, especially on rural economic development.

Jay Lee

JAY LEE is a Professor in the Department of Geography at Kent State University, Kent, OH 44242 and an Adjunct Professor in the College of Environment and Planning at Henan University. E-mail: [email protected]. His research stems from a broad interest in the areas of spatio-temporal analysis of geographic events/objects. Lee directs Kent State Applied Geography Lab, organizes the annual Applied Geography Conferences, and edits the journal of Papers in Applied Geography.

Xinyue Ye

XINYUE YE is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Geography and Director of Computational Social Science Lab at Kent State University, Kent, OH 44240. E-mail: [email protected]. His research interests include space-time analytics, social network analysis, and urban/economic geography.