Abstract:

Scientific and well-organized rural restructuring in the northern agropastoral area of China is an important path to modernization in these areas and national rural revitalization. This study focuses on the Inner Mongolia section of the Yellow River Basin, a typical agropastoral area, to explore the characteristics of rural restructuring and identify problematic areas using rural development indicators and econometric models. Key results from this study include the following: (1) Rural development levels in all dimensions of the study area have improved to different degrees from 1990 to 2020. Generally, the level of economic development is higher than space utilization and social development during this period. (2) During the same time frame, the average level of economic restructuring degree in the counties within the study area displays an initial increase and then a decrease. In contrast, the spatial restructuring degree increased continuously, while social restructuring degrees were considerably low during this period. Spatial distributions of rural comprehensive restructuring across the study area from 1990 to 2020 indicate higher degrees in the southern and eastern regions and lower degrees in the northern and western areas. Notably, the spatial differentiation in the degree of economic restructuring is relatively slight, whereas the degree of social restructuring is considerably great, with higher levels in the southern areas and lower levels in the northern parts of the study areas. Spatial restructuring demonstrated high degrees in the Hetao Plain areas. In addition, the coupling and coordination degrees of rural economic-social-spatial restructuring in the study areas from 1990 to 2020 first increase and then decrease, with higher coordination degrees observed in the eastern parts and lower degrees in the western areas. (3) This study identified 11 counties categorized into six problem areas of rural development and restructuring, mainly distributed in the western Yellow River and northern Yinshan Mountains within the study area. These problematic counties reflect the comprehensive impacts produced by the interaction of geographical environment, resource conditions, location and transportation, economic basis, regional policies, and other factors, which must be implemented countermeasures according to the actual situation of the region.

Key words: rural development level, rural restructuring, coupling coordination degree, the Inner Mongolia section of the Yellow River Basin