Study on the Flow of Rural Labor Force and the Contribution of Terrain Factor in Shaanxi, China

Abstract

Abstract The flow of rural labor to urban is a significant phenomenon in China during the last 20 years. In spite of many researches focus on the driving force of economy, terrain is an important index in the rural development. There is a question that whether the flow of rural labor has some relationships with terrain. The study used the relief degree of land surface (RDLS) as terrain index, and the cost distance model and the center of gravity model to analyze the relationship between terrain and labor flows. The results indicated: (1) In the last 20 years, the rural labor force was not simply flowing to the low terrain region in Shaanxi province. And the RDLS was constantly strengthening the influence on the movement. (2) The RDLS was low in Guanzhong region, and the translation of rural labors relatively was not significant. Since North Shaanxi act as the energy industry base, the number of rural labors there increased faster than in South Shaanxi. (3) The movements of economical centers took an impor...