Abstract: Recently, related researches on land use transition combining with the characteristics of China’s socio- economic development have been carried out rapidly since the research field of land use transition was introduced to China. Land use morphology is the key content of land use transition research. However, the concept and connotation of land use morphology has been developed continuously with the in-depth research and socio- economic change and innovation. Based on the analysis of the evolvement of the concept and connotation of land use morphology, this paper argues that there are two formats for depicting land use morphology: one is dominant morphology, and the other is recessive morphology. The dominant land use morphology refers to the quantity, structure and spatial pattern of land use, and the recessive land use morphology includes the land-use features in the aspects such as quality, property rights, management mode, fixed input and productive ability. Then, a conceptualization of the models of land use transition was annotated based on the two formats of land use morphology. Land use transition refers to the changes in land use morphology of a certain region over a certain period of time driven by socio-economic change and innovation, and it usually corresponds to the transition of socio-economic development phase. Rural transformation development means the restructuring of rural socio- economic morphology and territorial spatial patterns resulted from local actors’responses and readjustments to the change, recombination and interaction of socio-economic development factors and rural-urban migration in the process of rapid urbanization and industrialization, including the changes in traditional rural industries, the employment mode, the consumption structure, and the social structure. Such transformation radically changes the urban-rural relationship and the relationship between agriculture and industry. Since farmland and rural settlement are the engines driving land use transition and rural transformation development, the interaction between rural transformation development and farmland and rural settlement transition was analyzed to understand the relationship between land use transition and rural transformation development. Finally, the future research fields concerning land use transition and rural transformation development were suggested as follows: the dynamic pattern and territorial type of land use transition and rural transformation development; the interaction and dynamical mechanism of land use transition and rural transformation development; the resources and environment effects of land use transition and rural transformation development; and the ways and countermeasures of optimizing and adjusting land use transition and rural transformation development.

Key words: land use transition, rural geography, rural transformation development