In the past decade, farmland expanded remarkably in many regions in the arid Northwest China. These changes occurred in the context of rapid loss of farmland and exacerbated degradation of local environments in China. Therefore, better understanding their causes is helpful for understanding land use changes in China and crucial for developing effective conservation and ecosystem management plans. In literature, it is suggested that local population growth, technological progress in agriculture, and policy prompting are the main causes. However, these suggestions root in statistical correlation without further empirical research. In this paper, we took Xinjiang region as the sample, and evaluated the rationality of these suggestions based on changes in sown area. The results imply that technological progress in agriculture and policy prompting assuredly accelerate the expansion of farmland, as the sown areas of leading crops increase at higher rates in response to the adoption of technologies and policies. Meanwhile, the increasing need of food due to population growth does not consequentially cause the expansion of farmland, as the sown area of food plants decreases in the same period. From the results of sown area changes, the pursuing for scale benefit of crops with higher returns can be inferred as the main cause of farmland expansion.

Land use has generally been considered a local environmental issue, but it is becoming a force of global importance. Worldwide changes to forests, farmlands, waterways, and air are being driven by the need to provide food, fiber, water, and shelter to more than six billion people. Global croplands, pastures, plantations, and urban areas have expanded in recent decades, accompanied by large increases in energy, water, and fertilizer consumption, along with considerable losses of biodiversity. Such changes in land use have enabled humans to appropriate an increasing share of the planet's resources, but they also potentially undermine the capacity of ecosystems to sustain food production, maintain freshwater and forest resources, regulate climate and air quality, and ameliorate infectious diseases. We face the challenge of managing trade-offs between immediate human needs and maintaining the capacity of the biosphere to provide goods and services in the long term.

农区是保障我国经济社会可持续发展的根基,基于土地利用转型这一独特视角前瞻性地研究城镇化进程对农区环境的影响及其调控途径意义重大。现有研究在着眼于城镇化驱动土地利用转型及其“格局—过程—效应—调控”方面的系统性分析尚显不足,未来可从宏观到中(微)观尺度、理论到实践2条研究主线协同推进相关研究。在此过程中需解决的关键问题有:土地利用隐性形态变化的定量识别与模拟,转型进程中环境效应的产生机理与调控位点,以及耦合经济与环境多重情景的土地利用转型调控机制与合理模式。未来土地利用转型及其环境效应研究应坚持综合的方向,体现多维、动态视角,探索多学科、多尺度的综合分析方法和手段,为构建农区“土地—环境—经济”协同发展的动态耦合机制、有效促进城乡一体化发展提供科学决策依据。

Farming areas are the foundation of China's socio-economic sustainable development. The forward-looking studies on environmental effects of urbanization process as well as its regulation countermeasures from the aspects of land use transitions are of great significance. Previous researches show insufficient performance in the aimed issue of urbanization-driven land use transitions and the systematic analysis from the aspects of “pattern-process-effect-regulation”. Future researches can be arranged by two main lines, namely, the studies from macro scale to medium scale and micro scale, and the studies from theories to practices. Three key issues need to be addressed in the above-mentioned work, i.e., the quantitative identification and simulation of changes on recessive land use morphology, the generation mechanism and regulatory points of environmental effects during transition process, the regulation mechanism and rational mode of regional land use transitions coupling with environment and economic evolution. Future researches on land use transitions and their effects should adhere to the comprehensive direction, reflect multi-dimensional and dynamic perspectives, and explore multi-disciplinary and multi-scale comprehensive analysis means, so as to provide scientific decision-making basis for establishing the dynamic-coupling mechanism of “land-environment-economy” coordinated development as well as effectively promoting integrated urban-rural development.

The pattern for utilization of rural space is closely related to rural transformation development (RTD). The problem of rural space utilization is an important manifestation of the uncoordinated relationship between land use patterns and rural development status during a transformation period. Considering the rural space utilization issue, this article seeks to analyze the interaction mechanisms between land use transition (LUT) and rural spatial governance and then build a rural spatial governance analysis framework based on LUT. Also, the paper explores the internal relationship between rural spatial governance and rural vitalization and discusses the research prospective of the interaction. The study found that: (1) Rural space utilization has systemic problems such as limited development space, ill-defined ownership and poor organization, which have become important obstacles for rural development. (2) The uncoordinated relationship between LUT and RTD is an important reason for the dilemma surrounding rural space utilization. (3) The LUT provides a basis for determining the timing of rural spatial governance, specifying spatial governance objectives, and clarifying rural spatial governance methods. (4) The construction of a comprehensive analysis framework of “matter-ownership-organization” of rural space based on the LUT has created conditions for the orderly promotion of rural spatial governance. (5) Rural spatial governance which facilitates the integration of urban-rural development is an important foundation for rural vitalization. (6) Interaction analysis of LUT, RTD and rural spatial governance is conducive to facilitating research on the operational mechanism of rural regional systems and to expanding the research field of rural geography.

以1995年、2000年、2005年和2010年四期Landsat TM影像解译数据和社会经济数据为基础,借助ArcGIS分析手段,探讨了期间湖南省的土地利用转型情况。借鉴全球生态系统服务价值的最新研究成果,结合中国实际情况对生态系统服务价值系数进行了修订,进而对湖南省土地利用转型导致的生态系统服务价值变化进行了测度和分析。结果表明：1995-2010年,湖南省土地利用发生明显变化,主要表现为城乡建设用地增加及耕地和草地面积的减少;1995-2000年,湖南省生态系统服务价值略有提升,由8807.8亿元变为8829.5亿元,增加0.25%。但自2000年以后,生态系统服务价值持续下降,由2000年的8829.5亿元降至2010年的8770.9亿元,下降0.66%。最后,提出保障湖南省生态系统服务功能的土地利用优化配置建议。

With the rapid development of Chinese economy, many negative effects of land use transitions under the pressure of rapid urbanization on local ecological system and environment have occurred. This paper examines the dynamic patterns of land use transitions in Hunan province, using high-resolution Landsat TM (Thematic Mapper) data in 1995, 2000, 2005 and 2010, and socio-economic data from both research institutes and government departments, and assesses the changes of ecosystem services value (ESV) by drawing a connection between the observed land use dynamics and the evaluation of ESV, based on the latest research of Costanza et al. and some revisions adapted to the situation of China. The outcomes indicated that, during the period from 1995 to 2010, the land use changed significantly, characterized by the increase of construction land and the decrease of cultivated land and grassland; ESV of the study area decreased by 0.42%, from 880.78 to 877.09 billion RMB, due to the losses of large quantities of ecological land to construction land. Then, some of the major implications for improving the land use of Hunan province were discussed. The authors argue that it is fundamental to meet the demand of construction land for socio-economic development, meanwhile, to protect regional ecosystem services function and maintain its stability; only in this way Hunan province may realize the sustainable use of ecological resources in the process of rapid urbanization, as well as the integration of economic, social and ecological benefits.

解决经济高速增长、社会快速转型中存在的国土开发秩序混乱和资源环境代价沉重等问题是人文—经济地理学在区域可持续发展领域的重大科学命题。党的十八大报告将优化国土空间开发格局作为生态文明建设的首要举措,并提出“促进生产空间集约高效、生活空间宜居适度、生态空间山清水秀”,由此构成的“三生”空间成为构建空间规划体系、完善国土空间开发保护制度和各类尺度空间落实主体功能区规划的重要基础。本文围绕国土空间优化和区域可持续发展目标,对国内外“三生”空间相关文献进行系统梳理,紧紧围绕“三生”空间的数量配比和空间配置两个科学问题进行综述,按照精度深化和尺度细化的要求,集中在“三生”功能分类、空间识别、空间优化等内容,从而勾勒出三生空间研究的框架体系。今后应重视三生空间动态演化,促进各尺度适宜性评价的统一和整合,响应“多规合一”的实践需求,最终服务于国土空间格局优化。

In the process of rapid economic growth and social restructuring, solving the problems such as spatial development disorder and costly resources and environmental impact has been an important scientific proposition of regional sustainable development in the field of human-economic geography. In accordance with the report to the Eighteenth National Congress of the Communist Party of China, optimizing spatial development pattern nationally is placed as the primary measure of ecological progress, followed by the specific requirements stated as "the space for production is used intensively and efficiently, the living space is livable and proper in size, the ecological space is unspoiled and beautiful." Shaping the ecological-production-living space by following these requirements will become the foundation of the spatial planning system. Moreover, it also contributes to improving the protection system of spatial development and implementing major function oriented zoning at all scales. Revolving around the target of optimizing geographical space and regional sustainable development, this article systematically reviews existing literature on ecological-production-living space both in China and internationally, focusing on the quantitative proportion and spatial layout of ecological-production-living space. Following the requirements of improving precision and increasing spatial resolution and with a focus on functional classification, spatial identification, and spatial development pattern optimization, this article finally put forward the research framework of ecological-production-living space. To promote the progress of theoretical research and practical applications on ecological-production-living space, the following measures can be implemented: (1) Establish an improved research framework and technical process through multidisciplinary partnerships. (2) Expand the scope of basic units of analysis. (3) Explore new methods for function identification and attach more importance to the dynamic evolution of ecological, production, and living spaces. (4) Promote the integration of suitability evaluation at different scales. (5) Meet the practical needs of multiple-planning integration and ultimately serve the national efforts of optimizing the spatial development pattern.

本文在探究“生产—生活—生态”三生空间理论内涵的基础上,分析了土地利用功能与土地利用类型的辩证关系,依据土地利用现状分类国家标准,建立了三生空间分类与评价体系,揭示了1990-2010年间中国三生空间的格局及其变化特征。结果表明：① 生产空间主要分布在胡焕庸线东南侧的主要城市群及粮食主产区,其扩张区域主要分布于东北平原、新疆西北、宁夏、兰州—西宁、四川盆地、环渤海、长三角、厦漳泉、珠三角等地区,缩小区域主要分布在黄土高原、呼伦贝尔大草原、江汉平原、闽南丘陵等地区;② 生活空间主要集中在全国主要城市及城市群,整体上呈现“东高西低、北高南低;大分散、小集聚”的空间格局,其扩张过程表现为环渤海、长三角、珠三角三大城市群的大规模、区域式扩张和各主要省会城市的小规模、点状式扩张。③ 生态空间主要分布在胡焕庸线西北侧,整体呈现“西高东低,南高北低”的空间格局;④ 工业化、城镇化是中国三生空间变化的基本动力,西北和东北地区的农田开垦、华北平原和三大城市群的城镇化建设、黄土高原的退耕还林等是导致三生空间区域差异的主要原因。本文可以为三生空间的分类规划和优化决策提供参考依据。

This paper created a land use classification system of production-living-ecological spaces based on analyzing the theories of production-living-ecological spaces and commanding the dialectical relationships between land use types and land use functions. The classification system perfectly connected to the state standard of land use classification. Based on this system, we examined the spatial and temporal patterns of production-living-ecological spaces in China between 1990 and 2010. The results showed that: (1) The production spatial pattern almost unchanged between 1990 and 2010, and the production spaces were mainly distributed in the southeast of the Hu Huanyong Line, including Northeast China Plain, northwest Xinjiang, Ningxia, Lanzhou-Xining, Sichuan Basin, Bohai Rim, Yangtze River Delta, Xiamen-Quanzhou-Zhangzhou, and Pearl River Delta, where China's urban agglomerations and main grain production areas were located in. (2) Living spaces were mainly distributed in China's urban agglomerations and cities, showing a spatial pattern of "high in the east and north regions, while low in the west and south regions". Its spatial expansion varied in different areas. Large-scale expansion of living spaces appeared in the Bohai Rim, Yangtze River Delta and Pearl River Delta, while small-scale and point-type expansion in the major provincial capitals. (3) Ecological spaces were mainly distributed in the northwest of the Hu Huanyong Line, showing a spatial pattern of "high in the west and south regions, while low in the east and north regions". The expansion of ecological spaces were mainly in the Loess Plateau, Hulun Buir Glassland and Tianshan Mountains, while the reduction of ecological spaces were mainly in the Northeast China Plain, North China Plain, Yangtze River Delta, Pearl River Delta, Ningxia and Xinjiang. (4) Industrialization and urbanization were the basic driving powers of changes of China's production-living-ecological spaces. The main reasons for regional spatial differences across China included farmland cultivation in Northwest and Northeast China, rapid urbanization in North China, Bohai Rim, Yangtze River Delta and Pearl River Delta, and reversion of farmland to forestland in the Loess Plateau. This research was valuable for the studies on classification and evaluation of production-living-ecological spaces.

工业化、城市化和经济的快速发展导致中国人地关系紧张,争地现象多发。为兼顾粮食安全、经济发展和生态保护之间的关系,需要协调土地不同功能用地的矛盾。现行的土地利用分类体系,注重土地的生产、生活功能,对生态功能考虑不够。本研究以土地的主体功能为出发点,兼顾其他功能,纳入生态用地的概念,构建了“三生用地”分类体系,统筹生产、生活和生态用地空间。通过先分区再分类的方法,提取了中国“三生用地”的分布范围。结果表明,生态用地、生态生产用地、生产生态用地和生活生产用地等面积分别为603.70万km²、135.38万km²、200.19万km²和20.73万km²,各占国土面积的62.89%、14.10%、20.85%和2.16%。生态用地主要分布在中西部,生态生产用地因其生产功能具有明显的地域分异,生产生态用地和生活生产用地则更集中分布在东部地区。

Rapid development of industrialization,urbanization and economy causes tension in the human-land relationship. To take into account the relationship between food security,economic development and ecological protection,one needs to coordinate contradictions and conflicts between different functional land types. The current land use classification system emphasizes the industrial and living function of lands but insufficiently considers ecological function. This study built an Ecological-living-industrial Land Classification System from the perspective of land functions incorporating the concept of ecological land. The new land classification is more suitable to coordinate ecological,living and industrial land spaces. The Ecological-living-industrial Land Classification System includes three levels. The first level includes four major types：ecological regulation land,ecological-industrial land,industrial land,and living-industrial-ecological land. The second level subdivides dominant functions into 15 functional land categories. The third level is based on land cover types. According to zoning and re-classification,we extracted ecological-living-industrial land and their spatial distribution at a national scale. The area of ecological regulation land,ecological-industrial land,industrial land,and living-industrial land area are 6 037 000km2,1 353 800km2,2 001 900km2 and 207 300km2 respectively;accounting for 62.89%,14.10%,20.85% and 2.16% of total area,respectively. Ecological land are mainly locate in central and western China, ecological-industrial land reflects obvious regional differentiation,and industrial-ecological land and living-industrial land are concentrated in eastern China.

“生产-生活-生态”(简称“三生”)空间识别与优化研究是在识别现状空间结构、格局及问题的基础上,对未来空间进行优化布局,实现空间的均衡、可持续性发展,是一种更具综合性的国土空间分区方式,已成为当前学术前沿和国土空间规划亟需解决的实践问题。论文通过文献调研法、对比法和归纳法,系统梳理了“三生”空间概念内涵、识别与优化研究现状。目前,“三生”空间识别研究取得了阶段性成果,但“三生”空间形成的内在机理与概念探讨不足,“三生”空间的定量识别方法与技术体系研究有待完善,“三生”空间动态演化及驱动机制、空间冲突诊断和问题分析较为薄弱,“三生”空间优化理论和技术体系尚处于初级阶段。未来,应形成“三生”空间识别与优化“质”“量”观,借鉴国际空间规划已有的研究成果,以“‘三生’空间形成机理与概念界定、定量识别、演化机制挖掘、冲突诊断与问题分析、优化调控与模拟”为主线,系统构建“三生”空间识别与优化的理论与技术体系;同时,重视具有水平方向和垂直方向特征的山区“三生”空间识别与优化研究。

以长江三角洲核心区为例,利用1990、2000、2010年3期遥感影像解译获取土地利用变化数据,按照“生产-生态-生活”土地利用主导功能分类,通过土地利用转移矩阵、生态环境质量指数、土地利用转型的生态贡献率等方法,定量分析长江三角洲地区土地利用转型、时空格局特征与生态环境效应。结果表明：① 1990~2010年,长三角地区基于“三生用地”的土地利用转型表现为生产用地减少,生态用地稳定,及生活用地快速增加。② 长三角地区生态环境质量指数从1990年的0.470持续降至2010年的0.444,整体质量有所恶化,较高质量区和高质量区面积与比重保持稳定。③ 1990~2010年,长三角地区同时存在生态改善和恶化的两种趋势,生态环境改善小于环境恶化的趋势。城镇和农村生活用地、工矿生产用地对农业生产用地的挤占则是导致生态环境质量恶化的重要原因。

According to land use classification based on leading function of production, ecology and living, we take the Yangtze River Delta as a case and made use of land use change/cover data in 1990, 2000 and 2010 respectively by remote sensing interpretation obtained from Landsat TM and ETM+. And then we quantitatively analyze the characteristics of land functional structural and spatial transformation as well as its eco-environmental impacts. The methods discussed in the article include land use transfer matrix, index of regional eco-environmental quality and ecological contribution ratio of different kinds of land changes. The results show that: 1) Land use changes in the Yangtze River Delta is chiefly manifested as the area decrease of productive land, stability of ecological land and increase of living land. Main types of transformation are the conversion from agricultural productive land into urban and rural living land, and that from water and pasture ecological land into agricultural productive land, which makes land use structure maintain the dynamic balance. 2) The index of eco-environmental quality in the Yangtze River Delta has been reduced from 0.470 in 1990 to 0.444 in 2010, therefore the overall quality has deteriorated. The percent of the lower mass area is about 45%, which constitutes the main body of land use environment quality. The proportion and the size of higher quality and high quality regions remain stable. And then, due to the rapid expansion of urban and rural living land, make the expansion of low mass region as “hot spots”. The regions of relatively low quality and quality mainly distributed in the periphery of the hot zone, and form the “core - periphery” structure with the low quality region in space. 3) From 1990 to 2010, there are two trends of ecological improvement and deterioration in the Yangtze River Delta region. In the whole, the eco-environment quality of land use pattern declines slightly. The critical factor of eco-environmental improvement is the conversion from agricultural productive land into woodland, water and pasture and that of eco-environmental degradation is the large occupation of agricultural productive land by rural and urban living land.

Recently, many sorts of index models have been widely adopted in the analysis of land use change in China. And they do play an important role in summarizing the rule of regional land use changes. However, according to the present research papers, there are some confusions and misuses in their applications, which root in faultiness, abnormity and misunderstanding of the indices or index calculation. By detailed exploration of the indices embedded in research materials, three classifications are identified on the basis of their application purposes: the change of regional land resources (change rate index and level change index), the direction of land use change (transition matrix and flow direction rate) and the spatial pattern of land use change (dynamic degree, relative change rate, adjacency degree, barycenter, frequency degree and importance degree). Then all the indices listed above are discussed under the purposed framework, including their concepts, calculation methods, application fields, misuses, and some application suggestions. This paper also gives a remark in the end that the research of land use change needs new breakthroughs in both theory and methodology. Index method is only a simple kind with limited functions, and much more efforts should be devoted to integrative, predictive methods in the coming days.

以江苏省为例,利用1985年、1995年、2005 年和2008 年4期遥感影像解译获取的土地利用变化数据,按照“生产-生态-生活”土地利用主导功能分类,通过土地利用转移矩阵、重心转移、区域生态环境质量指数、土地利用变化类型生态贡献率等方法,定量研究江苏省土地利用功能结构转型、空间转型特征及其生态环境响应规律。研究表明：① 1985~2008年,江苏省土地利用主导功能结构变化主要表现为生产用地面积的减少,生态用地、生活用地面积的增加。主要的转化类型为农业生产用地转化为农村生活用地、城镇生活用地,牧草生态用地转化为农业生产用地。② 1985~2008年,农业生产用地、生态用地、农村生活用地空间分布的不均衡性进一步加剧,工矿生产用地空间分布的不均衡性有所缓和,城镇生活用地空间分布经历了先加剧后有所缓和的阶段。③ 1985~2008年,江苏省的生态环境质量稍有下降,其中农业生产用地被农村和城镇生活用地大量占用是生态环境质量退化的主导因素,农业生产用地转化成水域生态用地是区域生态环境改善的主要因素。

According to land use classification based on leading function of production, ecology and living, we took Jiangsu Province as a case study and made use of land use change/cover data in 1985, 1995, 2005 and 2008 respectively by remote sensing interpretation obtained from Landsat TM and ETM+. And then we quantitatively analyzed the characteristics of land functional structural and spatial transformation as well as its eco-environmental impacts. The methods discussed in the article include land use transfer matrix, gravity center model, index of regional eco-environmental quality and ecological contribution ratio of different kinds of land changes. The results show: 1) Land use changes in Jiangsu Province is chiefly manifested as the area decrease of productive land and increase of ecological and living land. Main types of transformation are the conversion from agricultural productive land into rural and urban living land, and that from water and pasture ecological land into agricultural productive land. 2) From 1985 to 2008, the imbalance of agricultural productive land, ecological land and the distribution of rural living space are further sharpened while that of mining productive land is weakened. And the imbalance of spatial distribution of urban living land is intensified at the beginning while then slow down. 3) From 1985 to 2008, the eco-environment quality of Jiangsu Province declines slightly. The critical factor of eco-environmental degradation is the large occupation of agricultural productive land by rural and urban living land and that of eco-environmental improvement is the conversion from agricultural productive land into water.

空间分异是自然和社会经济过程的空间表现,也是自亚里士多德以来人类认识自然的重要途径。地理探测器是探测空间分异性,以及揭示其背后驱动因子的一种新的统计学方法,此方法无线性假设,具有优雅的形式和明确的物理含义。基本思想是：假设研究区分为若干子区域,如果子区域的方差之和小于区域总方差,则存在空间分异性;如果两变量的空间分布趋于一致,则两者存在统计关联性。地理探测器q统计量,可用以度量空间分异性、探测解释因子、分析变量之间交互关系,已经在自然和社会科学多领域应用。本文阐述地理探测器的原理,并对其特点及应用进行了归纳总结,以利于读者方便灵活地使用地理探测器来认识、挖掘和利用空间分异性。

Spatial stratified heterogeneity is the spatial expression of natural and socio-economic process, which is an important approach for human to recognize nature since Aristotle. Geodetector is a new statistical method to detect spatial stratified heterogeneity and reveal the driving factors behind it. This method with no linear hypothesis has elegant form and definite physical meaning. Here is the basic idea behind Geodetector: assuming that the study area is divided into several subareas. The study area is characterized by spatial stratified heterogeneity if the sum of the variance of subareas is less than the regional total variance; and if the spatial distribution of the two variables tends to be consistent, there is statistical correlation between them. Q-statistic in Geodetector has already been applied in many fields of natural and social sciences which can be used to measure spatial stratified heterogeneity, detect explanatory factors and analyze the interactive relationship between variables. In this paper, the authors will illustrate the principle of Geodetector and summarize the characteristics and applications in order to facilitate the using of Geodetector and help readers to recognize, mine and utilize spatial stratified heterogeneity.

中国复杂的自然要素、社会经济要素、区域发展战略和政策调控形成了当前中国不均衡的经济发展空间格局、土地利用空间格局和生态环境质量空间格局。厘清中国生态环境质量的空间格局及形成机理对中国土地资源的可持续利用和生态环境的有效保护具有重要的实践意义和价值。以往研究缺乏对中国县域尺度土地利用/土地覆被变化生态环境效应的空间分异性及形成机理的相关研究,本研究基于1995—2015年间中国土地利用现状遥感监测数据,尝试采用生态环境质量指数方法测度中国土地利用变化的生态环境效应,并且综合运用重心分析、热点分析工具（Getis-Ord G_i*）和地理探测器等研究方法,分析1995—2015年中国生态环境质量时空演变特征及形成机理。研究结果如下：① 东部季风区生态环境质量指数高于青藏高寒区和西北干旱区,东部季风区生态环境质量低值区主要分布在人口和经济集聚的城市群以及省会城市周边地区。研究期间中国生态环境质量重心持续向西北方向迁移;② 1995—2015年间中国生态环境质量变化的热点区域主要分布在西藏地区、新疆、重庆、贵州以及位于黄土高原的省份（青海、甘肃、宁夏、内蒙古、山西、陕西以及河南）境内,冷点区域主要分布在长江经济带沿线地区省份以及东南部沿海地区省份;③ 土地利用程度对于生态环境质量影响力显著强于其他因子,东部季风区的社会经济和交通区位因子对生态环境质量影响力强于青藏高寒区、西北干旱区和生态大区过渡带;④ 影响因子之间相互作用主要包括非线性增强作用和双因子增强作用两种类型,以非线性增强作用为主。

The complex physical elements, socioeconomic elements, regional development strategies, and policy adjustments have formed China's current unbalanced spatial economic development pattern, spatial land use pattern, and spatial eco-environmental quality pattern. The unclear eco-environmental quality formation mechanism would limit the sustainable land use and the effective conservation of the ecological environment in China. Few studies have examined the spatial heterogeneity and the formation mechanism of China's eco-environmental quality at the national scale. This paper uses the eco-environmental quality index method to measure the eco-environmental effects of land use/land cover change (LULCC) to provide an overall review of eco-environmental quality index under complex physical and socioeconomic circumstances in China. We analyze the spatiotemporal evolution features and formation mechanism of eco-environmental quality from 1995 to 2015 with the gravity center analysis method, hot-spots analysis tool (Getis-Ord Gi*), and Geo-detectors tool. The results are as follows: (1) The eco-environmental quality of the eastern monsoon region is higher than that of the alpine region of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau and the arid region of northwest China. The low-value regions of the eastern monsoon region are mainly distributed in urban areas with dense population and economic agglomeration. The gravity center of eco-environmental quality during the study period moves toward the northwest of China continuously; (2) The hot-spots areas of eco-environmental quality change during 1995-2015 are mainly distributed in Tibet, Xinjiang, Chongqing, Guizhou, and the provinces located in the Loess Plateau (Qinghai, Gansu, Ningxia, Inner Mongolia, Shanxi, Shaanxi, and Henan). The cold-spots areas are mainly distributed in the provinces along the Yangtze River Economic Belt and the coastal regions in the southeast of China. The cold-spots and hot-spots changes in China's eco-environmental quality are closely related to the regional development strategies and the implementation of ecological conservation projects in China; (3) Land use intensity has a stronger effect on the eco-environmental quality than other factors, and the impacts of socioeconomy, traffic road, geographic location in the eastern monsoon region are stronger than those in the alpine region of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau and the arid region of northwest China; (4) The interactions between physical elements and socioeconomic elements are stronger than the interactions within individual indicators. The interactions between the influencing factors mainly include nonlinear enhancement and bi-factor enhancement, and nonlinear enhancement is the dominant interaction mode.