PROGRESS IN GEOGRAPHY ›› 2021, Vol. 40 ›› Issue (11): 1839-1846.doi: 10.18306/dlkxjz.2021.11.004

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Rural economic resilience in poor areas and its enlightenment: Case study of Yangyuan County, Hebei Province

LI Yuheng1,2(), HUANG Huiqian1,2, SONG Chuanyao1,2   

  1. 1. Key Laboratory of Regional Sustainable Development Modeling, Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, CAS, Beijing 100101, China
    2. College of Resources and Environment, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China
  • Received:2021-05-07 Revised:2021-07-10 Online:2021-11-28 Published:2021-11-25
  • Supported by:
    National Natural Science Foundation of China(41771191);National Natural Science Foundation of China(42171208);Kezhen Excellent Young Scientist Fund of IGSNRR, CAS(2018RC102)

Abstract:

Resilience is a basic characteristic of the rural system, which plays a crucial role in rural revitalization. By the end of 2020, China had completed the mission of poverty alleviation in the new era. However, rural development in some areas is of low quality and when facing external risks and challenges, these areas have the risk of returning to poverty. Therefore it is urgent to improve rural resilience. This study selected Yangyuan County of Hebei Province in the contiguous poverty-stricken area of Yanshan-Taihang Mountains as the research object. The "Pressure-State-Response" (PSR) model was constructed to comprehensively evaluate the rural economic resilience. The study found that: 1) The average value of rural economic resilience in Yangyuan County is 0.13 (total score is 1), which indicates that the quality of rural economic development is not high. 2) The areas located near the town and township seats and close to the main traffic lines display high economic resilience. In contrast, mountainous areas and areas far from the main traffic lines display low economic resilience. 3) Low per capita income of rural households, low per capita arable land, and insufficient investment in rural fixed assets are the main constraints to economic resilience. The article proposed four aspects to improve rural resilience: establishing multi-level development system of "individual farmers-rural collectives-urban centers", strengthening the development of infrastructure such as rural transportation and communication systems, promoting farmers' skill training, and strengthening the collective economy of the villages. Developing key towns-central villages-new rural communities effectively accelerates the development of ruralization, which drives rural development together with urbanization.

Key words: poverty alleviation, rural resilience, rural revitalization, sustainable development