Land Use Change and Landscapes in Rural Areas in China in Forty Years of Reform and Opening Up

Abstract

AbstractOver the past 40 years, great changes have taken place in rural areas in China. The huge changes, including reform of the rural land system, the reform of the purchase and sale system concerning agricultural products, and the rapid development of township enterprises, have had significant impacts on China's economic and social development. From 1979 to 2019, the land system had faced different problems in different historical periods. The reform of the rural land system, the improvement of land use laws, and the protection and management of land rights and farmland have been given attention in Chinese rural land management practice. The reform of and innovation in the rural land system have been remarkable achievements. Rural land circulation, transfer of agricultural land and land with construction, taking the protection of farmers’ interests as the basic criterion, have been institutionalized, which is not only conducive to the intensive management of the scale of agricultural activity, but also meets the farmers’ social security interests. Land resources’ utilization planning had adapted the balance sheet accounting of land resources and the assessment of land ecological conditions, deepening the research on carbon emissions from the perspective of land use. In rural areas, the goal of returning farmland to forests and grassland had been implemented and consolidated the achievements. The scientific management of farmland had been strengthened. Land use has shown evidence of innovations land use patterns, the construction of a land space planning system and furthering of village level planning. Research on land engineering and technology had gradually deepened in fields of comprehensive improvement of agricultural land, technological innovation in reclamation and in methods of land pollution remediation. In the process of urbanization, cultivated land resources and national food security generate seriously questionable and challenging situations, and the comprehensive improvement and reclamation technology of agricultural land has assumed an important role. The constant changes taking place in Chinese land use and landscape are caused by many factors. Only rational policy on land management and land use planning can bring tangible benefits to the society. Research about rural landscapes is currently at an early stage in China, but some risks are already noticeable in relation to the country's cultural landscapes. Rapid and dynamic urbanization has produced some negative impacts on rural landscapes in recent years. Planned investments usually interfere with the environment, sometimes extending to the liquidation of valuable green areas, which constitute a cultural heritage. Another problem is the lack of the country's cultural landscape protection in land management. There are not specific rules for determining when planning disturbs the harmony of the landscape.KeywordsLand use changeLandscapeAgricultureChina