Future Development of Natural Villages in Rural China Based on the Analysis of Dissipative Structure Theory

Abstract

Recently, urbanization, economic development, and industrial structure adjustment are decreasing the number of permanent residents in rural areas in China on a yearly basis; the rural population is aging and the natural villages are gradually declining or even dying out. Considering the overall situation of rural natural villages in China, we selected a typical village in Shandong province as the object for field research. This study analyzes the idle situation of rural houses and the population distribution in the rural areas and summarizes the specific characteristics that indicate the decline of natural villages. Subsequently, it also analyzes the underlying reasons for the decline using the dissipative structure theory, and proposes that a new dissipative structure should be established by opening and activating conventional villages, protecting featured villages, and integrating declined villages. Furthermore, the internal management of the updated villages should be improved to increase the cohesion and self-organizing ability of the new system.